"Farewell to Nova Scotia"

Hi one and all. This blog has been a little harder to write as we prepare to leave Amherst. We have been in the Maritimes since April 22 and have had the time of our lives. We will look back on this time with the fondest of memories. The people we have met and the time spent with relatives can never be replaced.

Last week we went for one last adventure with Kelly's Aunt and Uncle(Ann and Anson). We traveled straight south of Amherst and drove through Joggins Shulee Apple River Cape D'Or Advocate and Parsborro. All these places have a story to tell. At one time people could pick up coal right of the beach at Joggins. Joggins is also the home of The Joggins Fossil Cliff's which is an UNESCO world heritage site. Three years ago when we were here last we spent several hours exploring the beach and cliffs checking out the fossils. As we drove along telling lies and exploring, pictures were taken here are some of them.

This guy had about 75 of theses for his fence.

Yup that's ironing boards for fencing and they were every colour you can imagine. 

The brown waters of the bay of Fundy

Good times and Bad

Cape D'Or Lighthouse

Junkel and the lighthouse

The cliffs of Cape D'Or

Cape D'Or is and interesting spot where three different water currents meet causing some spectacular wave formations. It is a steep climb down to the lighthouse but worth it. It was quite windy while we were there but still enjoyable.

I think Ann and June have had enough of my picture taking.

We had a light lunch in Advocate and carried on our way. We saw 4 deer 3 squirrels possibly a porcupine and a couple of grouse. We took Anson's Ford Focus places they don't recommend and had a great time doing it. We stopped for supper in Parrsboro at one of Anson and Ann's favourite spots. Anson couldn't get enough of the scallops and we all had a good meal. After supper we walked to the beach and found these chairs and a nice person to take our photos.

It only took us 10 minutes to get out of the chairs

It was another great day and a fine example of our time here. Kelly's family had a big dinner for us last night at Saint Muriel's house(Kelly's cousin and if you met her you would understand the name) and we played cards till late.

On Tuesday we head to Moncton for an overnighter then on the 1st of October we cross the border heading for Bangor Maine. we plan on spending a week in New England checking out the leaves then California here we come.

Take Care we are thinking of you all and thanks again for reading my ramblings.

Junkel

Time Flies and Spud Island

Hi one and all, welcome to our anniversary edition of our little blog. On August 30 June and I celebrated One whole year of retirement. Yup a whole year has passed us by. We have been very busy ,but it still went by like nothing. It seems not long ago I was saying good-bye to fellow workers and moving all on the same day. We have enjoyed ourselves immensely and can't believe how lucky we have been. We have met many new friends and tried hard to stay in touch with the old ones(I know I should be careful how I word that). We tell everyone we meet that we have worked for a living and we have been retired and retired is way better. I have had jobs in the past that I have had a hard time being excited about, but I find I can give this retirement gig 110% every day. The only person enjoying it more than me is June.
We are presently on Prince Edward Island and we have decided that after B.C. comes PEI as our favourite. Don't get me wrong I like them all it's just that PEI is just that little bit better than the rest. 

We were at Cavendish Beach about 4 years ago and I got one of my best wildlife photos ever. It was an Osprey landing on a nest with its mate already there. We went back to Cavendish and took this one.

Same nest still in operation

Lighthouse at North Rustico

Indian River Village

We were here last just before the may long weekend and all the fields were Red, just the dirt. Now there is green every where. If you can sell it they grow it not just potatoes.

All the white is floats for a Mussel farm

Oh ya they have red/brown beaches here.

June beside "The Darnley Tea Cup"

The beaches that we have been to are hard packed sand beaches. Most of the beaches you could drive on without any worry. The Darnley Tea Cup is named after the nearby town of Darnley. If I zoomed out you can see where the cup use to be attached to land. The sandstone is very smoooooth and I am not sure how many more winters it will last. We have also enjoyed many great sunsets and moon rises here as the moon is full.

The day is done

The night is coming to life..........yup that's the moon

The internet is sketchy here so I will finish this up. We want to thank all of you that have made our first year of retirement so great. Special thanks go out to Marshall Berkin whose leadership caused a surplus of bodies so we could then retire. A very special thank-you to our family who have tried to understand the need we have to explore and have supported us this year. Take Care we love you all.

JunKel

Sister...Cousins......Peggy and the Ovens

Hi all when I last type we were heading for Yarmouth and the southern tip of Nova Scotia.  We spent 3 nights in Yarmouth and had a great time. We hooked up with June's sister Janet. Janet and her friend Claude were out visiting a good friend of theirs on Morris Island. It was about a 30 minute drive from the RV park to Morris Island and we spent an afternoon and evening telling lies drinking beer and BBQ'ing. Ah what a nice way to spend an evening. 

All I could think of was "Oh Tommy Toad"

We spent one day walking the sea wall around the downtown of Yarmouth.

Got to have the welcome sign.

These "toy houses were all over town. They were a fund raiser for a Hospice.

We left Yarmouth and headed up to Bridgewater for 2 nights. We finally got rained out for the first part of the day. We headed out for some sight seeing but the weather and tides were against us. We were going to stay longer but with it being the long weekend the campsite was full so we headed to Kelly's Cousin's place in Lower Sackville. They had the longest drive way so they lost the draw and got us. Sheri and Steve were great hosts for the next 6 days. We went for a drive down to "The Ovens" a place where the wave action has eroded long caves into the shore. We spent several hours there exploring around.

Thunder Cave.........Well named

You could climb down onto a viewing platform on this one......Kelly with the thumbs up.

Cave entrance.....The colours in the rocks ...wow

Junkel in the Rocks

Kelly was hoping that when the tide went out you could walk up into the caves but alas no. In the 1800's they pulled a lot of gold out of here and you can still pan for gold today......for a fee.

Since we couldn't walk up into the caves we left and headed for one of our favourite places. Peggy's Cove. I know it is a cliche but it is so cool walking around on the rocks and it is a photographers dream place.

June and the Lighthouse ......Just a little windy

I wonder why all the rocks are so smooth?

June caught me doing what I like.

Back in Lower Sackville we made trips into Halifax and walked the water front, Citadal Hill, the public gardens and had a good meal out with Sheri and Steve. Steve had shown us around city hall earlier. It was high tech inside and 230 plus years old on the outside.

We left Lower Sackville on Thursday the 4th of September and went to Murray Harbour North on PEI. We will spent 4 days here taking in the sites.

Take care and thank-you for reading this.

Catching up....Seals...."and where did the water go?!"

Hi all ....long time no typing by me. We spent about a week and a half with very poor Internet and another week of Kelly having a writers block. So here we are now trying to get caught up. 
We left Amherst on August 19 and headed for Digby. We took the scenic route and stopped in Look Off at an Rv park for two days. Look Off is the right name, you drive up a hill to a "Bench" that over looks the Start of the Annapolis Valley. The Bench runs for about 130 kilometres to Annapolis and then on to Digby. 

 Annapolis Valley from "The Look Off"

We went on a hike and more by luck than good planning ended up back at the start. It was a trail as Webster would define it, there were no markers,maps,or any real indication where you were, What fun.

We left Look Off and headed for Digby where we stayed for 3 nights. The first day was spent touring the town and getting supplies, Day 2 was off to Long Island and Brier Island. The drive to long Island takes about 45 minutes to the ferry.

Long Island Ferry

The ferry runs every hour on the half hour and we were happy we left the trailer at the RV park. Once you are on Long Island you head straight for the Brier Island Ferry as it leaves every hour on the hour and it takes 20 minutes or so to make the run. The Brier Island Ferry is the same type as the Long Island Ferry and takes about 12 minutes to make the crossing.

North end Light House Brier Island

We stopped right downtown and bought a picnic lunch and then headed out to the Northern Lighthouse and Seal Cove. Seal Cove is about a 1.5 km hike in and it is also apply named. As the tide went out and more rocks were above water they were quickly covered with sun seeking seals.

I think they see me.

I think they don't care.

We ate our lunch and were entertained. We got back to the truck a couple hours later and headed for the Mid Island Lighthouse. We parked the truck and followed an old ATV track to a bay and saw even more seals.

They are everywhere.

I tried to find a beach ball to see if one of them wanted to play but I was out of luck. We also saw two people hauling out two huge bags of Periwinkles. Apparently they are good eating and a good money maker. After spending 6 hours exploring Brier Island we headed back to Long Island. We stopped at "The Balancing Rock" along the way. It is about 1.5 km in to the rock with the end of the trail being 275 steps down to a viewing platform.

Balancing Rock 4 feet by 20 feet

The rock was as stated just balancing there and I don't know how. Actually I don't know how it lasted with the winter they had.

Back in Digby the next day we explored the docks and the Subway for lunch.

Before lunch

After Lunch

The tides in Digby can and do go through 40-50 feet so you need a long rope to tie up your boat. We were walking on the water front and came across a park with the flags of Canada and could not resist this shot.

Yup it felt like home for a minute.

We left Digby and headed to Yarmouth and I will continue the next Blog there. We hope all is well with you all and thanks for reading our ramblings.

JunKel