If any of your decide to put in an application at Fastrax please tell them the GrumpyOlTrucker sent you.

PS. I’ll be posting pics of the truck with the new decal package whenever the weather allows it to be clean again for five minutes.

The following morning,  Tuesday 25th of August, as I said in the last post, we breakfasted with Evan then bade him adieu and headed into Yarmouth to see what trouble we could get into.  First we stopped into Canadian Tire where Helen was already hard at work.  I love work, could just watch it for hours, but when Helen spotted us, she stopped working.  So, we had to buy some batteries for one of our cameras to keep her from getting in trouble with the boss.  Not exactly true, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Saying goodbye to Helen once more we descended on beautiful downtown Yarmouth and immediately discovered the Fire Fighters Museum of Nova Scotia.  Well I guess we didn’t exactly discover it as it’s been there for a number of years and the information lady in Kingston had given us a pamphlet.

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Entrance to the Yarmouth Fire Fighters Museum.

Firebell near the entrance.

One of many lovely restored fire engines on the site.

Speaking of restorations. Some were steam driven like us.....

.......And many were of the horse drawn variety.

Before that, man power was the way to go.

The museum boasts hundreds of fire brigade badges from all over the world.

Of particular interest to us was our own local volunteer brigade where we live now........

.......and where we used to live.

You wouldn't think they'd allow vagrants in the museum would you?

This was as close as we wanted to get to the flames.

The museum also has a collection of antique toy fire engines, uniforms, and a huge collection of shoulder crests, patches, and badges from fire departments around the world.  There are also many photographs from fires around the area, including the Circus Ship Fire of 1963.

By the time Marilyn and I had toured the entire museum (both floors) and taken numerous pictures, we were beginning to get hungry again.  I don’t know what it is about vacations that makes one so hungry but that seemed to be a common problem for us throughout the week.

In the next installment I’ll tell you about the pleasant afternoon we spent at the very scenic, and  Helen recommended, Yarmouth Lighthouse on Cape Fochu.  Don’t miss this exciting adventure.

The ferry from Portland Maine, known as the CAT, which is short for catamaran, was in dock, so the traffic was quite heavy on the local streets.  However, we found a parking spot directly across the street from Rudder’s Seafood Restaurant and Brew Pub.  We later found out they had a large customer parking lot of their own with plenty of room, so parking wasn’t a problem.

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The CAT in dock in Yarmouth, NS

We walked around the local streets, investigating a couple of art galleries and some craft shops.  The prices seemed a bit high on most things but then that’s typical in an area with a relatively high tourist traffic.

Mural on a local coal shed.

An example of local stone construction.

A fishing boat next to the ice loader.

Lots of boats but this one seemed especially tough.

Getting close to time for our supper date we wandered into a small shop selling leather items.  It turned out to be run by a young fellow who had taken over the shop from his mother, who still supplied some of the leather items that were on display.

The outside view of the leather shop. Owner told us all these works of art were created with rope.

I bought a small leather sheath to hold my utility knife on my belt when doing renovation projects around the house.  Having just spent several days shingling the roof at home this item would certainly have come in handy a few days earlier.  Oh well, I’ll have it for next time.

By now it was nearing 5:00 so we decided to head on in to Rudder’s Restaurant and find ourselves a table.  Rudder’s Seafood Restaurant & Brew Pub is located in the former Parker-Eakin’s Building which was built in 1867 as part of Young’s Wharf for John Young. The building was used as offices and a store for the firm of Young, Kinney & Corning until 1874 when it was leased to Parker, Eakins & Company who purchased the property in 1877.

Rudder's also has a seafood outlet in an old streetcar on the waterfront in case you want to walk around and eat.

Helen and Evan soon arrived,  having spent the day at their jobs with the local Canadian Tire store.  The prices weren’t too bad and the food was excellent.  Service was a bit slow but it was supper hour after all.  Our waiter, Cliff, was new on the job I think, or not very knowledgeable about his place of employment.  At one point I asked him if they had any ales on the menu as I can’t drink lager. Don’t ask me why, it has something to do with the brew process.  Lager gives me a headache, ale doesn’t,  Go figger. I know I’m weird.

Anyway, Cliff was pretty sure they had no ales, and went on his merry way.  I proceeded to read the menu, which I should have done in the first place.  It turns out that Rudder’s brews 5 different types of beer on premises, all of them ales.   Of course I couldn’t help rubbing it in a bit when Cliff came back.  He took it good naturedly.

After an enjoyable meal Helen invited us out to their place for a visit and to camp in their driveway if we so desired. We graciously accepted as it meant not having to search out a camping site.  Helen and Evan live in the community of  Arcadia, a few miles south east of Yarmouth.

Evan and Helen and Marilyn just before the mosquitoes carried us away.

Well in the next few hours Helen and Marilyn discussed every fellow student, teacher, and principal they had both known during their school years.  Evan and I stood by and kept track of the casualties.  Yearbooks came out of nowhere, and brain cells got quite a workout, stretching back over the almost 40 years since these school chums had last layed eyes on one another.  We indulged ourselves in the coconut cream pie we’d brought from the restaurant, since we hadn’t had room to eat it there.  The coffee flowed and the memories started piling up in drifts on the carpet.

All too soon we had to call it a night, as Helen had to work at Canadian Tire in the morning.  Evan was the lucky one who could sleep in, as his shift didn’t start till noon.  We said our goodnights and packed ourselves off to our caravan in the driveway with warnings to Helen not to wake us when she left for work.  No point in all of us being miserable.

Somehow we managed not to get any of those giant starving mosquitoes in the van with us. Thank heaven for small favors.  The next morning we went in for breakfast with Evan and then headed back into Yarmouth to see what we could see.  More about what we saw in the next installment.

]]> http://grumpyoldtrucker.com/our-summer-vacation-part-8/feed/ 3 http://grumpyoldtrucker.com/our-summer-vacation-part-7/ http://grumpyoldtrucker.com/our-summer-vacation-part-7/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:33:27 +0000 grumpy http://grumpyoldtrucker.com/?p=186

After leaving Whale Cove we wended our way back along the picturesque drive back into the town of Digby. First settled in 1783 by United Empire Loyalists the town is named for Rear Admiral, Sir Robert Digby, who was Captain of the HMS Atalanta, a 24 gun Brigantine, leading the North American Squadron.

I first visited Digby on my first weekend pass from CFB Cornwallis a few miles up the road, where I took my basic training for the Canadian Armed Forces way back in 1971.  Seems like ancient history now but I have lots of memories of that time in my life and will be telling more about that in another episode of this vacation narrative.

In the meantime Marilyn and I did a bit of sight seeing on Water Street along the waterfront. I bet most of the waterfront towns in the Maritimes have a Water Street.  On the way to Water Street we found a store with a fine example of mural painting on the side.  We couldn’t resist snapping a few pictures of the mural.

Mural of the settling of Digby in 1783

Part 2 of the mural.

Down on Water Street we found a lovely little bake shop cafe for lunch, spent an hour or so browsing a dandy little used book store, and spent some time soaking up the ambiance on the water front.

The Lady Vanessa. A Fisheries Exhibit on board.

Some of the local scallop dragger fleet.

A great spot for lunch.

I have a hard job passing up a used book store.

Our visit to Digby was rather short but definitely high caliber.

Having made a date for supper in Yarmouth Marilyn and I soon headed for the edge of town and got back out on the highway.  Next episode we’ll cover our explorations of the Yarmouth water front and you guessed it, Water Street.  Our supper with friends at Rudder’s Seafood Restaurant and Brew Pub, and how we spent the evening.

Another search on the internet (man that wireless card on the laptop comes in handy) and a phone call helped us to decide on Whale Cove as the place to spend our second night.  That made Whale Cove Campground our immediate destination.

Out past Digby there is a long narrow strip of land called Digby Neck.  Quite a surprising number of people live on Digby Neck, which, in addition to the long part attached to the mainland, also consists of two islands, each reachable by ferry.  The first island is Long Island, the second Brier Island.  We knew we didn’t have time to travel to the end with the accompanying four ferry rides required for the return trip, but Whale Cove is situated just before the first of the ferries.

The Whale Cove Campground is owned and operated by Vaughn and Gloria Tidd.  Very fitting since the nearest community is Tiddville.  The Campground mascot is LobsterMan, a character fashioned entirely from lobster parts by Vaughn. (See photo below) This character adorns the signs along the way, guiding the first time visitor to the site.

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Whale Cove Campground. Lobsterman and a couple of mere humans.

Because the weather was still rather inclement we decided to rent the cottage offered by the proprietor, which turned out to be an older motor home, but actually also turned out to be quite comfortable.  By the time we got our stuff moved in for the night dusk was falling rapidly.

Whale Cove Campground's Honeymoon Suite complete with honeymooner.

The campground included several unique features including these mobile fire pits. I was tempted to light ours up and take it for a stroll down the road but somebody talked me out of it.

If you like good old fashioned guitar and banjo music visit Vaughn and Gloria’s website.  It features a different tune on each page.  http://www.angelfire.com/country/campers/Welcome.html

The Whale Cove Campground museum. There were some old things in here. Marilyn said I was one of them. Can you imagine that?

After we had visited the museum and social room in the basement of the main building we packed up the van, turned in our key and paid a visit to the actual cove.  While Whale Cove is a very serene and picturesque little place we couldn’t see too much of it that morning due to the heavy fog.

We did however, manage to pick up some shells and interesting rocks and take a few photos before heading back toward Digby.

Look what washed up on shore in Whale Cove.

A very rocky shoreline at Whale Cove.

Somebody snuck up behind me while I was picking up shells.

See what I found?

Luckily there was a fuel stop out there on Digby Neck because somebody forgot to put gas in the van on our way through Digby.  While we were at it we replenished the ice in the cooler.

Another chance to try out the new siphon hose. Worked like a charm.

In the next episode we spend a few pleasant hours in Digby, a town I hadn’t spent much time in since my weekend leaves from basic training in nearby Cornwallis.  Don’t miss it.

Where we were, along the Evangeline Trail, we were only experiencing rain, at times heavy, and some gusty winds. From listening to the radio we knew that other parts of the province were experiencing more severe conditions. The entire south shore was getting hit much harder, and the extreme wave activity caused police to shut down access to such popular tourist attractions as Peggy’s Cove.

As we tuned in from time to time to the latest news reports and continuous storm coverage by the CBC, we learned that simple things like police barricades did not deter the foolhardy. Three teenagers managed to bypass the barricades by cutting through the woods. Got themselves onto the wave battered rocks and a couple of them succeeded in getting themselves washed into the raging water. By simple blind luck, for them anyway, I’m not so sure about those among their friends and family who had to admit knowing them, they managed to get washed back on shore, battered and scared but nonetheless alive.

Then as if to prove these young fellows were not the only brainless wonders in the province, CBC reporters said that hundreds of cars were parked along the roads and parents were taking their children close to the shore because, “They’d never seen waves like that before.” Shake your heads people.

The nice lady at the tourist information in Kingston had been very helpful, supplying us with maps and brochures of some of the things we wished to see on our travels. Because of the storm, a decision had not yet been made as to whether the Aviation Museum in Greenwood was going to open as usual at noon. Since it was by now only a couple of hours from noon, Marilyn and I decided to find something to occupy ourselves until then.

By now our cooler needed a replenishment of ice so we set off in search of a place to buy some. The first convenience store was out of ice so we headed over to the Greenwood Mall and there we happened upon a unique coffee shop specializing in various deli type sandwiches and several brands of Fair Trade coffees, ground, roasted and brewed on the premises.

T.A.N. Coffee was the name of it and in fact one of the most prominent things to be seen as we walked in the door was a huge coffee grinder and equally large roasting machine. By now Marilyn was feeling the chill from the steady rain and wind so a hot cuppa was very much in order. We ordered a medium dark blend and a couple of sandwiches and spent an enjoyable interlude watching the weather through the windows.

Our early lunch over with, Marilyn and I decided on some more indoor activities, window shopping in the mall. Well we didn’t buy any windows but we did find a few other items of interest in the large variety of stores which were almost all open in spite of it’s being Sunday. One of the things we were searching for was a siphon hose so we could drain the water from the cooler without removing and replacing everything within it. We were in luck. There was a brand new Home Hardware store which turned out to have two different siphon kits to chose from. Very appropriate because our oldest son, Jason, just happens to work at the Regional Office & Distribution Warehouse in Debert, NS.

After wandering around the mall for a couple of hours and picking up a few souvenirs we headed over to the Aviation Museum near the main gate to Greenwood Air Force Base and sure enough it was open. There was no admition fee to get in but there was a box for donations at the door.

As you will see by the following photos we had a snapping good time of it and between the two of us shot a couple of hundred pics. Aren’t you glad I didn’t try to include them all here?

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CFB Greenwood Aviation Museum

Chock full of real airplanes and parts of airplanes.

Plenty of static displays. And one that just gave me a lot of static. Marilyn the intrepid photographer.

Now that`s an engine! Put that on your Harley putt putt.

Now which dial was I supposed to monitor closely?

Lot`s of beautiful paintings on the walls.

Very life like.

Speaking of life like. Let`s take off eh?

Some of the aircraft on the grounds, covered a lot of ground.

Quite a number of monuments to aviation accident victims.

An old control tower stands upon the hill.

This plane couldn`t decide if it wanted to be a jet or a prop job so decided to do both.

I caught Marilyn trying to get this guy to talk. He just dummied up.

And so we bid a fond farewell to the now silent flying machines of Greenwood.

By the time we had completed our tour of the Aviation Museum the rain had stopped, the wind had died down a bit and the sun had made an appearance.  As we headed back out through Kingston and almost to the 103 highway we suddenly realized we were hungry and whats more, it was supper time.  And right there in our sights was a Dairy Queen.  We figured it was meant to be so we made the best of it.

Next episode I`ll tell you about the great spot we found to spend our second night, a remote little campground at Whale Cove.  Y`all come back now. Hear?

Now the Cross Roads restaurant isn’t anything special to look at.  It’s on the edge of Windsor on Hwy 14 and situated between some other nondescript businesses.  Where it distinguishes itself, however, is in the food, and as far as Marilyn and I are concerned that’s what really counts.  Marilyn had the fishcakes, and she’s still raving about them a week later. To be honest, I can’t remember what I had, but I know it was good. Darn memory.

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Cross Roads Restaurant, Hwy 14, Windsor, NS

Just look for the bright yellow sign. Good food, decent prices.

During supper we asked the waitress about local campsites and she informed us the closest one, Smiley’s, was closed due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Bill.  We thought that a little extreme, as whatever was left of Hurricane Bill was only expected to strike the south shore of Nova Scotia and parts of Cape Breton.  We expected to see no more than same rain and wind where we were.

After supper we did some research on the internet and decided on Klahanie Kamping in Aylesford, NS.  We phoned first to be sure there was an opening and by the time we arrived, payed our entrance fee, and located our site it was dark.  Hurricane Bill, or at least the rain from same, was supposed to arrive around midnight,  so we called it a night, even though it was very hot and humid.  We left the sliding door open in hopes of catching some air and waited for the rain to arrive.

Sunday morning at Klahanie Kamping in Aylesford, NS

Even though it got quite windy during the night and on into the morning we hardly knew about it in our campsite due to the heavy tree cover.  The tenting sites at Klahanie were very spacious, well sheltered and handy to water and washrooms.

Lots of trees at Klahanie

The Klahanie Kamping site at Aylesford, NS

The first drops began around 4 AM so I closed the door and we endured the humidity until daybreak.  Due to arriving in the dark and the rain the next morning we didn’t get many pictures so I’m including a couple of pics from our visit to the Visitor Information In Kingston the next morning.

Visitor Information Kingston, NS

Now that's a lot of Bull.

Sunday was a rainy day thanks to Hurricane Bill but as predicted the worst effects were felt along the south shore, far from where were were.  Next episode I’ll tell you about the interesting things we found to do despite the wind and rain.

]]> http://grumpyoldtrucker.com/vacations-can-be-fun-part-4/feed/ 1 http://grumpyoldtrucker.com/vacations-can-be-fun-part-3/ http://grumpyoldtrucker.com/vacations-can-be-fun-part-3/#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:30:10 +0000 grumpy http://grumpyoldtrucker.com/?p=148 From Burntcoat we continued along Hwy 215 through Moose Brook and Tennycape till we arrived at Walton which boasts the last original lighthouse on this piece of shore line.  Constructed in 1873 the flashing of the light was provided by a clockwork mechanism that the keeper had to wind each night.  Nine keepers tended the light during the nine decades it was in operation.   Manning of the light was discontinued in the early 1970’s, but today it is the last original lighthouse remaining in Hants County.

This may be beginning to sound like a lighthouse tour but that wasn’t our intent when we started.  It’s just that Nova Scotia has a lot of lighthouses and they tend to be a very important part of the province’s history.  As at Burntcoat, we found neatly attended grounds and some spectacular views.

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Walton Lighthouse

Looking past the light house there is a lovely view of the Walton River with Cape Blomidon appearing on the other side.

Walton River and Cape Blomidon

The signs on the lighthouse.

Setting up the next shot.

Stairway to the light.

Looking past the light to Minas Basin

The wind up mechanism that powers the revolving light.

View of the parking area from the top of the light.

View of the cliffs from the top of the light.

Stairs down from the second level.

The light keepers quarters was small and spartan.

There were plenty of pictures and newspaper clippings on the wall about the local area.  Once the prime industry in the area was a barite mine.  Ships from around the globe docked here to load barite and a railway was constructed to accommodate trains.  Two huge cement silos still stand near the shore where the barite was stored for loading on ships.  The mine is no longer in operation.

Picture on the wall of the open pit barite mine.

My stalker in the parking lot.

Flowers near the door.

All in all Walton light was another pleasant interlude in our day.  Since we didn’t leave the house till around noon and it is now nearing supper time we have already had a big day. Next episode will include our supper stop in Windsor and our search for a place to spend the night with the impending arrival of Hurricane Bill.  Pretty good name for a hurricane don’t you think?

The lighthouse that exists on this site now is a replica. The original, built in 1859 got separated from the mainland when the 50 foot high Bay of Fundy tides washed away the narrow neck of rock connecting it to the shore.  A new lighthouse was built in 1913 but by 1972 the light was no longer in use and the tower was destroyed in a fire.  The current replica was constructed in 1994 by the East Hants Tourism Association.  The lighthouse contains an interpretive center with information on the light’s history and geography of the area.

The main path from the parking area includes a small foot bridge.  Seemed like a good place for a photo op.

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A pause on the bridge.

The Plaque

The sign says it all.

The Burntcoat Lighthouse.

The view from the top of the light.

Another view from the top.

Inside view from above.

Just another tourist.

Good place for a rest.

Steps and walkway leading down to the waterside.

Me at the bottom of the steps.

A view of Cobequid Bay.

King of the Rocks

Some trees will do anything to attract attention.

Looming over the trees from the back side.

Marilyn and I spent an enjoyable couple of hours in and around the Burntcoat Light even though the weather was quite hot and muggy.  Despite the fact that there are signs posted as you enter the grounds stating that swimming is not allowed, I passed an entire family heading down to the waterside area with towels slung over their shoulders.  I don’t think they were planning to dry off the rocks.  Just another example of so-called adults teaching their children that rules don’t apply to them.  We saw many examples of that on this trip.

In my next post we move on up the shore to the only original lighthouse left on this shore, and another chance to photograph more breathtaking vistas.

Two years ago we went for a short (5 day) trip to Newfoundland and enjoyed ourselves immensely but this year due to money constraints and trying to get the roof of our house re-shingled we decided to do our vacation thing on the cheap.  Of course nothing is really cheap when you come right down to it, especially with the truck sitting in the driveway, not making any income.  But you know what I mean.

The only real plan we had was to get as far as Yarmouth, NS at some point in our trip to visit with an old school chum of Marilyn’s she had not seen in 40 years and just recently rediscovered through her art gallery website http://MarilynsArtGallery.com.  We had no set itinerary for several reasons, not the least of which was the predicted arrival of Hurricane Bill on Sunday.  We weren’t too concerned as the storm was expected to hit mostly along the south shore of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton.  Since we were traveling along the Fundy Shore we didn’t expect more than a bit of wind and rain and that turned out to be the case.

Since we live at the tip of the Bay of Fundy near Truro, NS we decided to focus our trip along the Nova Scotia edge of the Bay of Fundy.  Having no itinerary the plan was to drive till we saw something of interest and then investigate.  Where ever we happened to be come evening we would look for a place to spend the night.  On our Newfoundland trip we had stayed in hotels and bed and breakfasts.  This time we removed the seats from our minivan, put an air mattress on the floor and packed our supplies around it and on the roof and we were ready to roll.

First stop was the Visitor Information at Maitland, NS where we managed to pick up a new map of Nova Scotia (our old one was a couple of years old) and some brochures of some of the sights and attractions along our intended route.  The folks there were very friendly and helpful and we snapped a few photos in the area.

Maitland, NS Visitor Information

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South Maitland Tidal Observation Deck

Marilyn took advantage of our trip to get lots of practice with the camera.  It turns out her artistic talents come in handy for things other than just painting, scrapbooking, knitting and crocheting.

Marilyn was determined to get some good shots.

There were many peaceful rural and maritime scenes on our way.  Not wanting to bore my readers I’ll include only a few.

One of many peaceful scenes along the way.

Marilyn couldn’t pass this old church without taking a picture.  Who knows? After Hurricane Bill it might no longer be there.

This church has definitely seen better days.

A short way down the road from the old church we spotted this rustic seat near the road as if inviting passersby to set a spell.

Rustic chair.

In my next post we’ll continue along the shores of Cobequid Bay and some of the interesting things we found.