Blake and Deb Far Away

Mahone Bay wasn’t initially on my radar for places to visit in Nova Scotia, but this south shore community was close to our Airbnb so it made sense to stop by and check it out. So glad we did. It’s a picturesque seaside town with lots of colorful historic houses and, as it happens, a scarecrow festival. First one of those we’ve heard of, and the community seems to really have fun with it. The festival was actually to take place the following week but many of the scarecrows were already out for public view. Nice to see such civic involvement in a creative effort. This is just the kind of town we could picture ourselves living in (if it were warmer). Tea time for Deborah in Mahone Bay Prince Harry as a scarecrow. The other royals got a similar treatment. Definitely pumpkin season in Nova Scotia. They are everywhere. Some of the scarecrows are tailored to the businesses they front. Deborah blends in with her braces. In front of ...

Our first stop in Nova Scotia was Annapolis Royal, a quaint little riverside town with many heritage buildings. Nearby Port-Royal was the first year-round French settlement in Canada in 1605, on land that is the traditional homeland of the Mi’kmaq. The historical site was reconstructed in 1939 using early 17th century building techniques and is open to visitors as part of Parks Canada. During high season they have costumed interpreters describing the daily life of a frontier colony. This being the off season, we only saw one costumed gentleman in a funny hat and rather uncomfortable-looking wooden shoes chopping wood in the courtyard. The whole complex was quite well done and actually looked like a cozy place to live, except perhaps for the thin straw mattresses and lack of indoor plumbing.  We also enjoyed a couple of museums in town, strolls through the historic core, and a great little farmers market where we stocked up for the next stops down the road. Port-Roya...

The Bay of Fundy is famous for its tremendous tidal range, said to be the highest in the world at up to 16 meters (52 feet). We visited the New Brunswick side of the bay (Nova Scotia is on the other side). In Bay of Fundy National Park we did a few hikes including a short but beautiful loop trail to Dickson Falls where the ground was covered in mossy green goodness. A separate provisional park toward the terminus of the funnel-shaped bay known as Hopewell Rocks gave us the best appreciation of the tides, especially when visited at different times of day, and features striking eroded rock formations known as flowerpots. On the Dickson Falls Trail in Bay of Fundy National Park Dickson Falls Colorful rocks on Point Wolf Beach, Bay of Fundy National Park (photo by Deborah) Viewpoint in Hopewell Rocks Park. The tide is out, exposing vast mud flats. Tide in... ...tide out. Hopewell Rocks Hopewell...

We completed our rounding of the Gaspé Peninsula and left Quebec for New Brunswick, but not before a couple of quick stops at Pasbébiac and Miguasha. Pasbébiac is home to a historical site consisting of several 18th and 19th century buildings of a former dry salted cod processing enterprise. Whole towns and villages in the Maritime Provinces were based on cod fishing (and overfishing).  Miguasha, on the other hand, hosts a world heritage site and museum devoted to the sea life fossils unearthed from the nearby cliffs which date to the Devonian Period (419-359 million years ago, also known as the Age of Fishes, including lobe-finned fishes that evolved into the first four-legged, air-breathing terrestrial vertebrates). So it was nice to see some of our finned ancestors. Our first stop in New Brunswick was Kouchibouguac National Park (pronounced koo-she-boo-gwack, its fitting slogan: “Difficult to pronounce…impossible to forget!”). It featured a really nice sandy expanse am...