The RV park has been having trouble with it’s routers so they had to be replaced. We’ve been without Internet for a few days during that process, so at this point I have a few random notes to catch the blog up to date.
Maine, at least the part of northern Maine that we drove through, is still wilderness. Fir trees everywhere and lots of streams. Oddly, the grassy areas between the road and tree line were all nicely mowed. There were a lot of “Watch for Moose” signs, but no moose.
When we crossed the border into Canada, they didn’t search the RV - YEAH!!! Last time we crossed going into Alaska they spent about an hour searching it. We don’t have anything to hide but it’s not a comfortable feeling, having strangers go through your house, opening every drawer, cabinet, storage units - everything.
The sunshine sure felt good - little did we know it was the last sunshine we would see for days. Canada, at least the part we drove through, was all wilderness, just like Maine. But with one interesting addition - there were miles and miles and miles of high fence on both sides of the roads. I have to assume, based on all the “Watch for Moose” signs, that those fences are to prevent collisions between moose and cars. They didn’t have to worry about us - we don’t ever see moose.
We stopped at a Canadian Tire in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and bought a few things, paying an extra 10% to use our US money. Here everything is printed in French as a second language (instead of Spanish, like most of the southern and western US). We spent our first night in Canada in their parking lot.
At Five Islands we settled in and spent a few days helping get the park ready to open. On our first full day off we drove around the area to see what’s here. Here’s an important piece of information: if you are ever in this area and you see the small Petra Canada gas station where road 2 joins highway 2, stop there. It has a small restaurant attached, and the restaurant is the draw. It’s not fancy but the food is sure good. The best part, though, is that a local lady cans fresh blueberry jam and brings jars to the restaurant for the customers! If your table doesn’t haver a mason jar of jam, ask the friendly waitress and she’ll fix you right up.
When we’re on the road we have mentally translate kilometers into miles - the sign that says 100 does not mean 100 miles per hour! It’s not hard, and it’s even easier to translate US dollars to Canadian dollars - just subtract 5 percent.
We drove through several small towns that look quite similar to little mid-west towns. The first thing you see when you come to a town is a tall, slender church steeple - often more than one. The houses are almost all two-story single-dwellings with wide yards. And no cookie-cutter houses here - each one has a unique look, with the trim, windows, porches, paint color, etc.
The town of Truro is the closest large town here although it’s not really big: there are about 12,500 people there. And a lot of it has the feel of an old town. We did not see any skyscrapers; I don’t think I saw any building over 3 stories, and those were old historic houses. There are a lot of those, with mansard roofs, arched windows and lots of details in the brickwork.
Outside of town we stopped at the Masstown Market. We walked in and I immediately liked it. It’s spotlessly clean, the fruit and vegetables are fresh and varied, they have big loaves of freshly-baked bread - I liked everything about it. They have fresh fiddlehead ferns here, too, which is a local treat.
Outside the market they have built a faux-lighthouse with historical displays at the top and a fish market at the bottom. Just outside of this building was a little boat (on land) where they served huge helpings of fresh fresh fish and chips - very good.
We are starting to find our way around. The Dominion Chair Company isn’t a chair company at all - it’s an all-purpose general store with cool antiques on the second level. At the Dutchman Cheese shop Randy bought Dragon’s Breath Blue Cheese. That name pretty much sums up how I feel about Blue Cheese, but I sure liked their spreadable Gouda.
It’s been cold and overcast. It’s been overcast since we got here, but the cold is new…However, on the local news we’ve seen the terrible times in Joplin Missouri, so no complaints here! We are safe and sound, and expect to see the sunshine any day now.
We found a man who catches lobsters and sells them at $5 a pound. His name is Adrian and he’s only been fishing since he turned 30 - but that’s 54 years!
The Canadian Postal Service is considering going on strike this week. I hope they don’t - I have a few things to mail to the US and it will take 2 weeks if everyone is at work; who know how long a strike will delay things!
Here’s a nice little story about a picture that I didn’t take. We drove to the nearby Provincial Park which is a surrounded by thick woods and has a beautiful view of the bay. There was nobody else in the park so a few deer were checking it out. As we turned around a bend in the road we saw a deer standing by the play-yard equipment. As she stood there, we saw the flick of ears in the grass below her, right between her hooves. She casually took a couple of steps away and after a moment we saw a tiny, tiny fawn struggle to its feet and follow her. The baby was so new it couldn’t even stand all the way up. It couldn’t have been more than an hour or two old. We stayed exactly where we were and didn’t even roll the window down so we would not bother them. So I didn’t get to take that picture . . . But I will always remember it!
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