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Setp. 7 – Bouctouche, NB

“The journey not the arrival matters.” –T.S. Eliot

Today we stayed put and waited for Hurricane Dorian to come ashore in Halifax. It was nice to have a day to relax, but it’s a little disappointing that the hurricane is changing our plans. We spent the day doing a little research on what we’d like to see now that we aren’t going to Nova Scotia and watching TV. 

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Sept. 6 – Hopewell Rocks Park

“For the truth is that I already know as much about my fate as I need to know. The day will come when I will die. So the only matter of consequence before me is what I will do with my allotted time. I can remain on shore, paralyzed with fear or I can raise my sails and dip and soar in the breeze.” ―Richard Bode
We had another busy day, full of exploring. We drove up the Fundy Coast to Alma, Cape Enrage and the Hopewell Rocks…all great places to see the power of the tide in the Bay of Fundy. Our first stop was in Alma to see the harbor with it’s lobster boats sitting on the ocean’s floor. From there we drove at to Cape Engage to take in the view and look at the lighthouse.

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Fundy Trail Parkway

“Life’s a climb but the view is great.” – Miley Cyrus

Another one of our adventures on Thursday was to drive the Fundy Trail Parkway. It’s a 6,323 acre park featuring a 19 mile paved road that hugs the southern coast of New Brunswick. It has stunning views of the world-renowned Bay of Fundy, the park has been carved out of the Fundy escarpment, one of the last remaining coastal wilderness areas between Florida and Labrador.
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St. Martins Sea Caves & the Bay of Fundy

“I believe in the ocean…curing all bad moods. I believe in the waves…wiping away worries. I believe in the seashells…bringing good luck. I believe in toes in the sand…grounding my soul.” —Unknown

Our Nova Scotia adventure has turned into a New Brunswick adventure. Hurricane Dorian has Halifax in her sights…high winds and rain are predicted for this weekend, so we’re going up the Acadian Coastal. This path will take us inland and up towards the Gulf of St. Lawerence. It’s a road trip and we have no set plans, so anywhere new is exciting to us.

One of the places we explored yesterday was the St. Martins Sea Caves. They’re natural caves carved into 250 million year old rocks by the powerful Fundy tide. The sea caves can be accessed for eight hours each day, two hours before and two hours after each low tide. We spent the morning wandering along the cliffs and walking on the ocean floor that is under 35+ feet of water at high tide.
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Sept. 5 – St. Martins, NB

“As steady as the tides, Life constantly uncovers the treasures hidden within us.”  Unknown

Today we did a lot of exploring…too much to do one blog. So I’ll share what we did and what we saw in parts…first pictures of St. Martins. It’s a picturesque village rich in seafaring history. It was once one of the richest shipbuilding cities in the British Empire. More than 500 sailing ships were constructed here in the 1800s. Today the village is best known for its sandstone sea caves – submerged during high tide, and accessible to explorers during low tide. There are also miles of unspoiled beaches, two lighthouses and an active harbor with two covered bridges.   

This community’s daily rhythms are guided by the rising and falling of the World’s Highest Tides. At high tide, the colorful fishing boats bob almost level with the top of the pier. At low tide, the same boats sit in the red mud on the ocean floor.

Quaco Head Lighthouse – the original lighthouse was built in 1856 and sat off shore on a small island. This new one was built in 1985…the base is new, but the light is from the original lighthouse.

Views around the lighthouse

One of the covered bridges in St. Martins

There are cute little shops around the harbor. We had a spectacular day to explore St. Martins and the sea caves. 

Here are pictures taken at low tide and the same pictures taken about two hours before high tide. What a difference.

Low tide pictures are first…then high tide.

Looking towards town

Looking towards the second covered bridge in St. Martins.

Aerial view of St. Martins harbor at high tide.

St. Martins Wishing Rocks – Local legend has it the Mi’kmaq believed that a stone with a band of white completely around it was a sing of good fortune from Mother Nature. I was told if you find one of these stones you should make a wish. Once the wish comes true, you’re supposed to pass the stone on to someone else.

Sept. 4 – St. Martins, NB

“Live life with no excuses, travel with no regret” –Oscar Wilde

Today we drove up the coast of Maine, through little towns we visited on our boat in 2013 and 2016. It was fun to see the towns in a different way and it brought back wonderful memories of the summers we’ve spent here. We also had a chance to visit a few town we didn’t make it to while cruising. Lots of interesting sights along the way. 

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Sept. 3 – Freeport, ME

“Life is just a journey” – Princess Diana

This trip is about the journey…not the destination. Today we took the roads less traveled, back roads that took us through A LOT of small, beautiful towns. We traveled through new places we haven’t seen in New York, then across Vermont, New Hampshire and and up the Maine coast to Freeport.
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Nova Scotia Adventure

“What we find in a soulmate is not something wild to tame, but something wild to run with.” – Robert Brault 

Our newest little grandwonder arrived last week and we spent three wonderful days getting to know her and playing with her older brother and sister, but now we’re off on our next adventure.
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Aug. 22 – Minnewaska State Park Preserve

“The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.” —Arnold Palmer


We had planned to spend a few weeks doing a road trip to Nova Scotia starting last week, but we have a grand-baby due soon, so we decided we better stay closer to Pennsylvania until the baby arrives. We’d hate to have to do a 15 hour run from Halifax to Bloomsburg when Bryt goes into labor. So we’re filling our days with things around here. We spent two days with friends in Connecticut at the beginning of the week, we ate a lot, talked a lot and had a wonderful time catching up with Ted and Sally. 

On our way home we did a little hiking in the Catskills Mountains. There are A LOT of places to hike and beautiful places to visit in the Catskills, but we decided on Minnewaska State Park Preserve. It’s situated on the dramatic Shawangunk Mountain ridge, which rises more than 2,000 feet above sea level and is surrounded by rugged, rocky terrain. The park features numerous waterfalls, three crystalline sky lakes, dense hardwood forests, incising sheer cliffs and ledges opening to beautiful views, 35 miles of carriage roads and 50 miles of footpaths.

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Aug. 17 – Chimney Bluffs State Park

“Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” -John Muir 

On Saturday we finally got a nice day to explore and hike at Chimney Bluffs State Park. High water in Lake Ontario this past spring made hiking along the beach impossible, but today we were able to hike the beach and the Bluff Trail. We started with the beach and I was less than impressed…I guess my expectations were set too high. It was nice and I was glad we had come, but it just seemed like a rocky beach with cliffs that that weren’t too impressive…at least from the water. Well, all that changed as soon as we hiked to the top of the cliffs…the cliff definitely seemed higher and VERY impressive from the rim where we could have easily fallen off. The Bluff Trail gave us a wonderful view of the lake and an amazing look at the power of nature. 
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