But a few weeks ago, I ran into my daily calendar from the year 2004, when I took a bit trip through the Maritimes, and I noticed that it was ten years ago on this day, August 27th, that I visited both the Hopewell Rocks and Moncton.
So, I thought it would be appropriate to publish this on these days, and get back to publishing more on the trip.
Enjoy!
The first time that I went to the Maritimes was with my family way back in 1989, the summer that we first attempted to reach St. Pierre and Miquelon, the two French islands off the coast of southern Newfoundland.
We went through New Brunswick, down to Nova Scotia, visiting some places along the way. I remember we visited Frederickton and Magnetic Hill, neither of which were terribly impressive for any of us.
Nova Scotia was impressive, I remember. We really enjoyed it, including some music by a band with bagpipes. Halifax was very nice, and Peggy's Cove was absolutely beautiful!
I made it back to the Maritimes in 2004, with a week-long trip with my then wife. We took the cruise from Bar Harbour to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and saw quite a lot on that first full day of the trip alone: Majone Bay, Lunenburg, and through Halifax. We were heading towards Louisbourg, a site that I had long wanted to see, and it was not disappointing. On the way back, we stopped again at Halifax, and made a point of visiting Peggy's Cove, which is something that you do not want to miss while in the area!
We then drove to New Brunswick, and found a decent campsite at Cape Tormentine, quite near Confederation Bridge, linking New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island. We visited PEI the next day, I remember, and it was a charming drive to Charlottesville, enjoying the rural farm fields and general greenery. We also went to the alien landscape of the Hopewell Rocks, along the Bay of Fundy, which have the fastest tides in the world! We headed back towards home after that, going through the Fundy National Park, before eventually crossing back into Maine through Calais.
Those two trips to the Maritimes kind of whet my appetite for another trip, and indeed, I made it back yet again in 2006, although for an abbreviated trip to New Brunswick only. Specifically, I went back to Frederickton, wanting to give it another shot. But it was not as nice as I was hoping. We got to visit Hartland,, New Brunswick, also - home of the longest covered bridge in the world!
Then, nothing. No trips to the Maritimes for the next eight years, although I took several trips to Ontario and Quebec each.
But I always wanted to go back. I remember on our way to Louisbourg, we were driving on Cape Breton Island, and it was probably the most beautiful drive that I have ever taken in my life! There was a huge waterway right by the side of the road, and the mountains were spectacular and dramatic on the other side, as we passed several villages and beautiful countryside on our side! I have always wanted to go back.
Which brings me to earlier this year. You see, I try and take my son to some sort of a trip that he and I can enjoy together each summer. At the time, I was not entirely certain where the main vacation was going to be, but I still half-expected to go to Poland with my girlfriend, although she seemed surprisingly reluctant. Having been laid off from my weekend job earlier in the year, which made money tight since, perhaps I should have known that Poland was not going to be an option, in the end. But since we would be paying for the flight mostly, and not any hotels or anything (remember, her family lives in Poland), I thought it might be doable.
But it was not happening.
In the meantime, I was still contemplating some possible trips to take my son on. Camping was always a possibility, even a probability, since it is cheap and fun. I thought of a few possible destinations, including the South, the Midwest, New England, or Canada. Initially, I was expecting yet another trip to Quebec City, which we have done many times before. But as I thought about it, it seemed to me that this trip might have a few more days than I had initially expected, and so a more elaborate trip seemed possible. My thoughts on the trip naturally gravitated towards the Maritimes.
I even began to think about actually making it to St. Pierre and Miquelon. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought that, yes, this could be done!
Eventually, I contacted my brother, knowing that he had always expressed an interest in going to the two French fishing islands near Newfoundland. And in fact, that was what we were planning to do for quite some time. What prevented it, ultimately, were exhorbitant prices, and a less than straightforward website from the site for cruises from North Sydney, Nova Scotia, to Newfoundland.
After St. Pierre and Newfoundland fell through, we had a surprisingly free itinerary, but not much time to work with to prepare. By then, I had committed to the dates, and instead of around a week (my initial expectations of the trip with my son), I had increased it to around a week and a half.
We decided that the trip would focus on the Gaspésie, the fishing peninsula of Quebec, although I thought it would be good to at least pass through parts of the Maritimes. My son has taken a strong interest in rocks and such, and I wanted to foster this a bit with a trip to the Hopewell Rocks, which are strange rock formations created by the fastest tides in the world at the Bay of Fundy.
We did not get to visit Nova Scotia this time around, although suspect that everyone was pretty content with what we did see!
Prince Edward Island, the Hopewell Rocks of New Brunswick, and quite a few lighthouses and much natural scenic beauty between the two provinces! Plus, a night out in Moncton, which seemed more city like than even I remembered it being like back in that 2004 trip.
Very cool!
One of the highlights from that 2004 trip was in New Brunswick - the Hopewell Rocks.
These are strange rock formations that look almost like an alien landscape. They are made that way by the tides of the Bay of Fundy - the fastest tides in the world!
Since my son has developed a fascination with rocks and minerals lately, and since we were going to be in the area anyway, I wanted to make sure that we took the opportunity to show him these rocks, with hopes of fostering, or even rekindling, that fascination a bit more.
Indeed, when we went, he was not disappointed!
There is something magnetic that draws you here. It is very different from almost anything else that you see around as a tourist site.
Located maybe around 40 minutes or so from downtown Moncton, these incredible rocks are not to be missed! You can see them during both high tide and low tide, although I would especially recommend seeing them at low tide, so that you can walk down to the area itself, and get a better perspective, a better sense of the size of these rocks, and the power of the tides that helped to form them over the ages.
In any case, it's better to see these rock formations via photograph, rather than my trying to explain them..
Better still, go and see them for yourself, if you ever have the chance! It's definitely worth it!
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