Peggy’s Cove

Rather iconic and overcrowded Peggy's Cove near Halifax reminds me how mass tourism takes away from your travel experiences. Not to be selfish and want every spectacular view to yourself but it just reminds you that you have to careful when to visit these locations! Suggest crack of dawn before those ten tour buses arrive from the city!

GoT sandcastle competition

This was the best and most creative sandcastle in probably 50 entries on the beach today.... you can see the break in the wall and the White Walkers pouring through the gap and out the other side....

Folk Art House

What fun along a two-lane country road! Home and gallery of Barry Colpitts, Nova Scotia folkartist, located in East Ship Harbor.

Lobster season

Lots of jetties piled high with lobsters cages and market buoys mark the months between lobster seasons. The coast is divided up into districts with staggered dates and lobsters are warehoused for continuous supply. Live lobsters run $10 to $12 lb depending on weight. No supply shortage here!

Hike around Taylor Head - Nova Scotia

A stumbling 3 mile hike through overgrown trails around the Taylor Head peninsula! Hiking was very slow due to a very narrow trail with bushes, ferns and trees branches obstructing the path. The trail was mostly dirt with huge number of tree roots trying to trip you. Some sections took you along the beach and some other big crossings were on flat stones. Took at least a couple of hours to get around the circuit. The west coastline was overgrown forest and the prevailing wind east coast was open moor land with heather.

Nova Scotia island cruise

Brian Murphy who owns our current campground Murphy's-on-the-Ocean also does twice a day two hour cruises around the uninhabited local islands which are under conservation easements. Tent campers who brave the wild get dropped off on islands and kayakers explore the network of channels and bays. A desolate and pristine rocky coast with all the beauty of Maine but without anyone in sight!

Cabot Beach Provincial Park PEI

What a find! This huge hilltop campsite was mostly dry camping, so we tucked up in this corner with clear vistas ahead and created a grilling/seating area in the very private glen behind the Airstream. This long ocean beach was just down the hill. Solar system sustained us in our accustomed style, and we're doing well at gray and black tank management!

Revisiting Dalvay by the Sea

Took a day trip along the north coast of PEI and visited one of our quirky vacation resort destination from about 12 years ago! Dalvay-by-the-Sea is within a Canada National Park and has a pristine 10 mile sea shore, lighthouses and sand dunes. Memories of many wonderful dinners in the restaurant with Em & Kathy - this time we had fish & chips and lobster roll.

Quebec Covered Bridge

Our final lunch time picnic area stop on the way from Quebec to New Brunswick allows us to make a short detour and walk over the Routhierville covered bridge across the Matapedia River.... exceptionally well maintained inna scenic setting!

Sainte-Flavie

Campground on the St Lawrence Seaway with the Airstream as close to the water as we can get! Our bedroom view is awesome! Folks collect driftwood and build bonfires and party all along the beach. It's been a pretty good month in Quebec! Lots of spoken French, lots of interesting meats and seafood, comfortable weather, some superb waterfront camp site locations, costs way under budget with cheap Canadian $, new territory we haven't seen before, new friendships, lots of friendly people, longer stops in fewer places.... all is good!

Pointe-au-Père Lighthouse

Only 128 steps to the top! Then two narrow ladders to the rotating fresnel light, once whale oil and updated to electric. No longer an active light, just a tourist attraction!

Submarine tour

HMCS Onondaga - A Canadian Navy decommissioned diesel-electric Oberon class sub lies alongside the museum at Pointe-la-Pere and a detailed technical audio guide takes you through an opening in the stern for a claustrophobic inducing stumble though the narrow and contorted passageway, through multiple watertight doors, through the engine room, control room, galley, sonar room, officers and enlisted men's mess, to the forward torpedo room and a hatch to the outside. Half an hour is stressful.... how about a 3 month patrol!

Lobster grilling....

With a plentiful supply of low priced live lobsters at US$12 per lb, we decided to plunge into full grilling mode. With grill set on high at 400F, a preliminary two minute firing quietened down the crustaceans and allowed to next surgical stage to be performed humanely. Using our large cleaver knife we cut the body and tail into two halves and returned them to the grill for five minutes shell side down and nicely dowsed with melted butter. More melted butter and they were turned over meat side down for 3 minutes. Transfer to plate, pour a crisp cold wine wine, splash more melted butter, eat and enjoy this delicious tender lobster meat, crack claws, clean up, go back to grill and fetch next lobster, repeat until all lobsters are gone! Actually one 1-1/2 lb lobster each is quite sufficient but the grill is only big enough for one lobster so we cook the first one and serve half each and repeat for our second halves a few minutes later. Served with a potato salad made with shallots, mayo and white balsamic vinegar and white balsamic glaze. Memorable especially on a beach sea front camp site with a red sunset!

Rare Mongolian Blue Poppy

Visited the Gardens of Métis located in a micro climate zone along the St Lawrence River and admired the rare and difficult to grow blue Mongolian poppies largely found in Bhutan but these do not produce opium.... In the late spring of 1922, a British Himalayan expedition, led by legendary mountaineer George Leigh Mallory, discovered the plant on their failed attempt to reach the summit of the then-unconquered Mount Everest.

Les Jardins de Metis

Elsie Reford grew up in Montreal and enjoyed salmon fishing with her uncle on this property. Having no children, he left Estevan Lodge to his favorite niece. It's been over 50 years since she developed these gardens, and they contain specimens from all over the world, all named and grouped, including this kitchen garden. We meandered on the paths and came upon this art installation where the artist translated his belief that the Greek's took inspiration for their columns from trees.

Four girls...

We are camped out on the St Lawrence Seaway about 200 miles downstream from Quebec City where it is about 30 miles wide. The water temperature is icy.... only a few degrees above freezing! Some folks are brave enough to dip their toes including this family of four daughters enjoying the best of an exceptionally warm weather Sunday trip to river.

Fifty years ago...

Airstream camper was used as a mobile quarantine facility for the Apollo 11 crew return from the moon for 21 days... we spend nearly 8 months a year in ours.... but only traveled about a quarter of the distance to the moon in it!

Meanwhile back at home....

Only 30 miles from our home in Tappahannock, approx 1,000 Airstreams are gathering for their annual "International" rally in a heat wave of over 110F heat index. Happily we are 1,000 miles to the North in Quebec with a summer temperature range 60 to 80F.