New River Beach, Saint John

Now we head west, our Nova Scotia end points achieved, but, lots yet to see! Back across the Confederation Bridge ($66 Canadian), through New Brunswick, down through Saint John, and stopped at the New River Beach Provincial Park on the Bay of Fundy with the largest tides in the world. Check out the high and low tide photos! This was another great find of a park. We were a short drive to Saint John and many coastal coves. We were pleasantly surprised at Saint John, a fun downtown with a lot of character.

Saint John, New Brunswick

New River Provincial Park, Canada

New River Provincial Park, Canada, low tide

Saint John, New Brunswick

Saint John, New Brunswick

Saint John, New Brunswick

Saint John, New Brunswick – Judy and the Moose!

Saint John, New Brunswick

New River Beach Provincial Park – high tide

New River Beach Provincial Park – high tide

New River Beach Provincial Park Campsite

New River Beach Provincial Park – low tide

New River Beach Provincial Park – tide out

Prince Edward Island (PEI)

Now for Prince Edward Island! We stayed in Amhearst, New Brunswick on the way, too long of trip from Annapolis Royal we found. Although Nova Scotia is not too large, getting around doesn’t happen in a straight line.

To get to PEI, we crossed the eight mile Confederation Bridge, what a structure! We stayed just outside Charlottetown, in Cornwall, about 20 minutes from the downtown. Charlottetown has a nice downtown, a combination working and tourist place. We had the best fried clams ever at a place recommended by a local. I had not expected so many tourists on Prince Edward Island though, it seems to be the vacation place to go for Canadian families. We visited Anne of Green Gables, rode our bikes on the Confederation Trail, and tried to see as much as we could. Next time a week or so! The campground was big but we had a nice quiet site overlooking the Northumberland Strait.

PEI Confederation Trail

Cornwall, PEI – campsite

Prince Edward Island

Charlottetown -PEI

Northumberland Strait

Amherst, New Brunswick – campsite

Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

Next we went to Annapolis Royal and stayed in Parkers Cove at the Cove Ocean Campground. It was a beautiful place, overlooking the Bay of Fundy. There were few people there, nice! Just a short walk from our site was a fresh fish store and take away. We had the best lobster roll and fresh fish you could ever find! From here we explored the area, explored Port Royal Historic Site, and planned to go to Kejimkujik National Park, but they had fires because of the dry weather and closed the road for us. Bummer. So we headed towards Prince Edward Island (PEI) a day early.

Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Parkers Cove

Port Royal National Park, Nova Scotia

Port Royal National Park, Nova Scotia

Parkers Cove, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Parker Cove campsite

Parkers Cove, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia – low tide

Parkers Cove, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

Port Royal National Park, Nova Scotia – red chair

Parkers Cove, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia – campsite

Parkers Cove, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia – low tide

Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

Parkers Cove, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

Annapolis Royal, Parkers Cove – low tide

Digby, Nova Scotia

Parkers Cove, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia – campsite

But we’re not done with Canada yet! Next we went to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. We stayed in the Lunenburg City Campground, near the downtown, on a hill, in the wind, overlooking a bay. The days we were there, the city hosted a music festival, we didn’t know when we made reservations, but it was fun. We represented the US at the campground! In most places we stayed, we were the only or one of few from the States, the only ones from California. We rodeour bikes to Mahone Bay for one of our activities, also a cute town. We ate lots of fish, and enjoyed our stay in the area.

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia – campsite

Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada – We made it!

Cape Breton Highlands is an amazing place. The farthest place east we’ve been, next is the Atlantic Ocean! Here there is great hiking, rocky beach walks, and wonder views. The National Park is quite large, very diverse, and rugged. Is is a contrast to our Pacific on the left coast of the US, smaller waves and it seems less sea live close to shore. We are here at an ideal time and I suspect in a storm, it’s pretty wild. The beaches are rocky as you see from the photos. I’ll let the photos show you the area from our lenses.

Some observations about our trip across Canada. We’ve found the people to be very friendly and helpful. The roads in BC, Alberta, and parts of Saskatchewan were very good, much better than out rough California roads. Nova Scotia main roads were also great, not so for secondary roads and the Cape Breton roads outside of the National Park. They were some of the most jarring roads we’ve experienced. But as I said, California roads are not so hot either!

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada – my artwork

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada – Red Chairs

Water Service – Cape Breton

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada

Antigonish, Canada – second stop

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Nova Scotia, Canada

Broad Cove Campground, Cape Breton, Canada

Broad Cove Campground, Cape Breton NP, afternoon rest

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Canada

Victoria, Cape Breton, Canada

Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Nova Scotia, Canada

Whiddens, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada

Almost to Nova Scotia! We crossed the border into Nova Scotia and into one of the worst rainstorms I had ever driven through. No place to stop but everyone was driving very carefully and slowly, at least those we could see! It lasted a long while but finally subsided before we got to Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Hope to never have that again, but with our crazy weather patterns, I’m not holding my breath. We stayed in Antigonish, a university town with a quaint downtown and good restaurants. We are now in seafood chowder country so we had our first! Wonderful! The campground, Whiddens, is nice, not fancy, right next to the downtown. It turns out we will stay another night on our way back through because the drive to Cape Breton Highlands was longer than expected. So, we needed two days to reach Lunenburg.

Mactaquac Provential Park

The next one night stop was Mactaquac Provincial Park, near Fredericton, New Brunswick Province. It too was very steeply sloped pull-through, just like the previous two Provincial Parks. The power was also hidden in the shrubs between sites as in the photos. Interesting setup. It was a beautiful location with nice walks and trails if we had stayed longer.

Quebec City, Canada

Next was Quebec City. Did I mention that the whole Provence of Quebec is French? All signs and language is French, we were back in France again! Although we knew this, to have all signage change after we crossed the border was a shock. Quebec City was as nice as it was described. We happened to be there at the start of the two week construction worker holiday, so the city was packed with people, but still fun. There are bike paths everywhere and so the next day we road our bikes from southwest of the city, through the old city, and all the way up the river to Montmorency Falls (chutes Montmorency), a beautiful 30 miles on wonderful separated trails. The beginning bike path was a newly completed linear parks with sculptures, viewing, and picnic areas.

Quebec City, bike trail

Montmorency Falls

KOA, Quebec City, Canada

Old Quebec City, Canada

Old Quebec City, Canada

Quebec City, Canada

Montreal Canada

Then Montreal, another beautiful city worth more time than the two days we stayed there. Again we stayed in a beautiful KOA, very different from those in the states. It was a 15 minute drive to the Metro stop and then into the city. On the first day we walked much of the city with rain threatening, and then it stormed! We hid in a small hotel until the rain let up and then continued. The next day was beautiful and we enjoyed more of the old city and the St. Lawrence River area.

Waterfront, Montreal, Canada

Clock Tower Beach, Montreal, Canada

Notre – Dame Basilica, Montreal, Canada

Montreal, Canada

Norte-Dame Basilica, Montreal, Canada

Montreal, Canada

KOA, Montreal South

Chambly, south on Montreal, Canada

Chambly, south on Montreal, Canada

Ottawa, Canada

We stayed in a municipal park on the outskirts of Ottawa, nice and relatively close to the bus stop into the city. We only had one night there so just a visit for the afternoon and early evening in the city. If we’re ever in the area again, we’ll stay longer, it is a beautiful city with lots to see and do.

Parliament, Ottawa, Canada

Major’s Hill Park, Ottawa, Canada

Major’s Hill Park, Ottawa, Canada

Ottawa River, Ottawa, Canada

Wesley Clover Park, Ottawa, Canada