Travels with John: 2016

Maritimes Oct. 16-27, 2014

I was always my desire to go to the Maritimes! My bucket list if that's what you want to call it...

John gave me that opportunity in Oct. of 2014. He was wanting a visit with his family that are still settled around N.S. A perfect excuse to travel to a most beautiful spot in the world.

I must first show you my favorite spot. I always seem to find a peaceful spot on my journeys and "The Lone Shieling" proved to be that place. Perhaps after all I do believe in magic? Perhaps it is my Scottish heritage that was speaking to me?

John and I at "The Lone Shieling"

I loved this spot the moment I got out of car! It was a misty foggy day, perfect for a mystical journey.

We were a little late for the renowned fall leaves in N.S. but Cape Breton saved the day lots of beautiful red colors.

Me and my trusty poncho!

Oh my goodness, this is going to be a long blog if I can't even leave the Lone Shieling!
Just looking at these photos reminds me of the feelings of the place! I am so grateful to John for bringing me here and sharing this with me.....

Oct. 16 2014

Yes I'm afraid I acted like a typical tourist! Snapping photos from the airplane window.
We traveled Calgary-Toronto Air Canada flight 110
Oct. 16th 2014. I was so excited.

Beautiful sunny day in Calgary but chilly, Toronto developed some beautiful thunderclouds around 5 PM.
Air Canada flight 616 to Halifax 5:15 PM Toronto Time.

We arrived about 10 pm managed to pick up rental car, an upgrade from Hertz. Very large Chrysler van and after some long discussion in airport ( and good laughs) we decided John would navigate and I would drive for the week....
Listening to the accents of the clerks at Hertz I learned my Maritimes name is "Hedder" We laughed at that but in reality I loved it.... John often uses it still today.
As we left the airport on the way to the hotel I was immediately doubting my decision to drive, it was raining and dense fog and us not knowing exactly where we were going....!
After one detour that got us completely lost we finally found out hotel and settled for the evg.

Oct 17th, 2014

I must write these blogs earlier, I didn't think I would forget any detail of this trip, but I have! Thank goodness for dates on photos....Lesson learned.

We had brekkie at the hotel, packed up and headed to Peggy's Cove of course, our first tourist stop....

How beautiful it was.

My camera has GPS so for the first time I thought I would try it...Good feature, everywhere you stop it tells you the name of the date, road, bay etc. Another memory nudge.
One thing we did forget was to sync timezone on camera settings. One of us was on daylight savings time so our cameras ended up out of sync. A problem when downloading and cataloging photos as they file consecutively.

Callaghans Cove N.S.

Shad Bay N.S.

John's photos have the ID printed on them...I can't believe we were this far at 8:36 AM!
We had forgotten to double check the time zone on our cameras so they were not in sync with each other. yet another lesson, made it very difficult after they were downloaded as they are filed consequently...!

Peggy's Cove!

The weather continued!! Still very foggy and rainy and out in the open the winds were atrocious. It turned out Hurricane Gonzalo was in line toward Nfld. Peggy's Cove and N.S. was on the edge....John was disappointed, he wanted a bright sunny day for our photos but I had never seen winds like this. Southern AB has winds but here the rain and the waves were amazing....I acted like a complete tourist.....

My first view of Peggy's Cove and Gonzales

My Favorite Shot

Heather and Gonzales!

John and I decided to get out of the wind for a bit and have lunch at the Sou'Wester Restaurant, Peggy's Cove. We got a window seat (more photos) and I had my daily ration of scallops. I believe I had them almost every day on trip.

Sou'Wester Restaurant, Peggy's Cove N.S.

Views from Restaurant window

Can you just imagine living on the rocks (as they say) and the weather systems come in...
The winter storms, the hurricanes etc. Are these homes warm? They must be safe or they wouldn't still be standing!

Then it was back outside. Funny story, I had purchased a plastic poncho in the gift shop as I had quickly realized I wasn't protected enough in the elements....It ultimately was the end of me! As I stepped out into the wind the poncho blew straight up over my face and head!
I tried every which move I could, flailing my arms etc. trying to get it off my face so I could breathe . I saw John at one point, he was yelling something at me but I couldn't hear a thing with the plastic flapping over my ears. I finally got my whits about me and headed around the front of the building for a windbreak and managed to control the poncho. That $4.00 poncho did me numerous times throughout this trip. My best purchase! (John was to cool to buy one ;-)

Ther was a beautiful view point up on rocks with a great bench and even though I knew I would not be able to see a thing, I had to head up there. So I gave John my camera and it didn't take long to realize might not have been a great decision as the wind was so strong I couldn't keep my feet on the wet rocks.....

William E deGarthe, one of Nova Scotia's most beloved maritime artists, created a 100 ft. carving of 32 fishermen, plus their wives and children.

They are looked over by a guardian angel using a granite wall as his canvas.

The carving is the centrepiece of the William E. deGarthe Memorial Provincial Park located in Peggy's Cove N.S. Unfortunately deGarthe passed away before the memorial was completed.

John and I then went over to a parking lot to watch the waves....Must have parked there for an hour taking photos and videos....Smiles on our faces.

Peggy's Cove N.S.

Braving the winds
taking photos of the harbor.
Thank goodness for that poncho.

Taking photos of the waves !

Oct 18th 2014
Lower Sackville
Marie Delorey's home

Marie, Jerome, Jean, Olivia, Heather & John

view from Marie's window...

Point Pleasant Park Halifax N.S.

McNabs Island Lighthouse

Theadore Tug, Halifax Harbor

Sitting on the dock of the Bay.......wasting time .....la la la la

Could be a sea captain with that stance.

After tour of Halifax Harbor we had lunch at a chicken place....(my first day without scallops
Then headed out to Edna and Laurie's place in East Gore for family supper.

Russell, Laurie, Jocelyn, Edna, Helene and John

Oct. 19th 2014

John and I had brekkie with Marie and headed out to the eastern Passage. on the east side of Halifax.

The zoom on the camera brings the background even closer also....never noticed that before, Halifax downtown streets look even closer.

Fisherman's Cove

My Maritime new buddy....The look on his face you would think I had my hand on his butt....
I should have made the same look!!!

Fisherman's Cove.

Lobster Traps.

Back to Sackville to pick up Marie and then headed over to Dave and Angela's house to meet everyone for another family supper.
I must say the hospitality was wonderful, every family I met made it very important that I was welcome into this family I so appreciated that.

John and his sisters....They were so happy to see him....love this photo...

Laurie, Edna, John, Angela and Helene

Russel, Heather, Laurie, Edna, John, Marie and Dave.
Jocelyn, Angela and Helene

Oct. 20th 2014

On the road again!

Masstown Market

We met John's brother Francis and wife Audrey for coffee. They were on their way to airport . We arranged to meet Francis vack at his place in a couple of days...

Drive to Margaret's home on Cape John N.S,

I found on this trip PEI is all Red Sand! The red silt in these waves amazed me. This is the Northumberland Straight.

Margaret, John and I having scones and tea!

My very own Sunbeam....

Caribou Ferry Terminal, Pictou N.S.

The ferry left Caribou about 5:30 PM arriving PEI about 8:30 PM and about 1/2 hr. drive to Charlottetown. We booked into the Holiday Inn (very nice) and quickly went out to find supper. Using navigation on Van we headed out to find a Swiss Chalet...I quickly found us being pulled over by police saying we had been speeding...(I knew I was hungry but didn't realize that hungry). I of course didn't agree that I was speeding. and inquired if he was sure because I didn't think I was. Had to admit I was watching navigation and not spedometer so I couldn't argue loudly! After checking papers, realizing we were paying tourists...he just gave me a warning and instructions to Swiss Chalet....which turned out to be closed....Out on the road again, no speeding to another establishment....Our bed at Holiday Inn felt very good that evg...

End of day Ferry ride to PEI from Caribou NS to Wood Island PEI

We traveled from Pictou Ferry Oct. 20 Return Oct. 21st Confederation Bridge

Evening Cruise Ship all a glitter

Caribou Island Lighthouse

Beautiful view en-route to PEI

Oct. 21st 2014

PEI

How I loved PEI, the Red Sands, the blue water and the fresh water smells....

The quaint little villages and beaches were for the most part empty....perfect for me....

We headed out on the Gulf Shore Parkway on a loop to north shore and return to Confederation Bridge..and back to Pugwash to meet Francis and stay at his place for the evg.