Nova Scotia

A wonderful vacation trip by Linda (Wikstrom) ’60 and Ed Moran.

Hi Everyone, 

Ed and I just returned from Nova Scotia. What a truly beautiful area of the world. 

We flew from Fort Myers on September 11, 2002.  Our arrival was Newark and then Halifax. Unfortunately, Hurricane Gustav arrived in Halifax about the time we were scheduled to land. Continental Airlines cancelled our departure from Newark to Halifax and we spent the night in the Sheraton compliments of them. 

The next morning the only thing we had was a borrowed toothbrush from "If you forgot anything let us know." No makeup, no fresh clothes, etc.

Our flight was rerouted to 9:30 am from Newark to Halifax. Some of the passengers on the previous flight were assigned 8:30 pm. Luckily, we chose to arrive at Newark Airport at about 7:15 am for our assigned flight. We got the last two seats on that plane. Some of the wonderful new friends we made the previous night (from all over the world) did not get on to that flight. Overbooking.

Upon arrival we picked up our rental Ford Explorer and proceeded to our rental cottage in Upper Economy.  What a truly nice place. We had all the amenities plus a woodstove, which is of course, just what we love. The area overlooks the Minas Basin that has the extreme tides. Really extreme. We spent three nights here and toured during the day.

Then on to the Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick. The tide change is 67 feet and we walked on the floor before the tide came back in. Have lots of pictures of this.

North Rustico Harbor, Prince Edward Island. Lobster traps ready to replace those on the way in.

 

Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick. In a few hours there will be about 67 feet of water here. Almost time to leave!

Then the next day on to Prince Edward Island.  Our approach was by the Confederation Bridge. The longest bridge in the world. Took about 15 minutes from the mainland to the Island.

We rented a brand new cottage in the town of North Rustico with two bedrooms, deck overlooking the bay, washer dryer, etc. A truly lovely place, central to the Prince Edward Island National Park where we went and picked Mussels off the seashore.

This is only about 20 minutes outside of Charlottetown, the Capitol. This area was, we think, the best part of our trip.  It was truly serene and the most comfortable.

 
We did seek out the Atlantic superstore, which is a Grocery chain with the best baked goods ever. The breads were fantastic. And, of course, throughout the area is "Tim Horton’s": the best bagels in the world. For $1.69 Canadian - a great cup of coffee and a toasted bagel with butter.

We left there for the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island.  This is North of Halifax.

We spent several days traversing this area. The views are absolutely remarkable. We even were able to spot a school of whales on this portion of our trip. I had wanted to go whale watching in a rented boat but it was to windy and they were closed. So I got my wish anyway.

 

We then continued on to Baddeck, Nova Scotia, which is also part of the Cabot Trail located on Bras D'or Lake. The Alexander Graham Bell Museum is located in this town. He was truly an amazing man. Bell was not only responsible, as we know for the invention of the telephone, but devoted much of his life to helping the deaf and hearing impaired. His wife was deaf and when he taught her to talk with the help of sign language, they were able to communicate.

Bell was very instrumental in the creating of the first airplane to fly in Canada in 1909. He also built one of the first Hydrofoils which the US Navy was very interested in for use during WW I.

Many things of interest are displayed in this museum and it is not to be missed if visiting the beautiful area.

From there we went down to Peggy’s Cove where the Swiss Airlines plane went down several years ago.  There is a wonderful homage represented to this horrendous accident.  It is something to see, however, sad.

The Light House in Prince Edward Island National Park. The Memorial Plaque on the side is in memory of those shipwrecked here.

 

Linda gathering mussels on Prince Edward Island.

We continued back to Halifax where we had not previously spent any time except to land at the airport.

Lo and behold (Jerry) there is a Casino in the Sheraton downtown on the waterfront.

On Tuesday, Ed won about $700 and on Wednesday I won $1,000 (Canadian).  This paid for the last three nights of our hotel and for the entire Ford Explorer rental car.  We had free meals, parking, etc.

This trip is definitely a highlight of our lives.  We would recommend it to everyone.

We were very impressed by the Canadian people. All very nice and helpful. If ever you consider a trip here, we have the addresses of some wonderful places to stay and itineraries to consider.

Love to all and think VACATION and TENNIS

Linda and Ed

 

Please e-mail Linda with your comments (just click her name).

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