Day 4: Fredericton

One of the things I couldn’t do last year on my 48 states in 48 days trip is hang out in bars and talk to people.  Last night I picked up some good information at the bar while having dinner. The first was from a guy who grew up on Prince Edward Island. When I told him I was thinking of driving to Cape Breton Island today, he said he had been there once in his life, during high school, he had a sporting event, and they drove there overnight – it was 5 or 6 hours away. The second piece of information was I learned that New Brunswick had instituted a new travel policy, and everyone had to apply to travel through the Province, this just went in effect to cut down on Covid.

On the first point of information, I confirmed the distance to Cape Breton, and quickly ruled out trying to make it there and back to New Brunswick today. It would have meant at least a 12-hour day, and something I need to keep on the list for future trips. On the second piece of information, I was able to download the form I needed, attach my vaccination record, and submit it to the Province for approval to travel today.

Now that I had extra time in Prince Edward Island, I went back over my list of things to see in PEI and decided to backtrack on some of the places I missed. I don’t think I have ever been to a more picturesque place than PEI. Everything is just stunning from the color of the houses to the boats, to the landscape and the ocean.  I was so glad that I slowed down to appreciate what was in front of me, rather than rush off to the next destination.

In Fredericton New Brunswick, I had to show my vaccination card at the hotel and at every restaurant or bar I went into. This was the law the waitress on Tuesday was talking about. The town is the Capital of the Province and a nice little city on the river.  I walked along the river and crossed over the river on a bike bath converted from a rail line.  Do you think Canadian’s are nice?  Yesterday before dinner, a guy walking down the street saw me about to put money in a meter, and he said “don’t waste your money, they don’t collect after 5” I replied that the meter said to pay until 6pm (It was 5:30) he told me “don’t worry about it, they are all union and don’t work after 5.”  today, as I was paying at another meter a women walked by and said, “there is a lot right there that’s cheaper.”

Podcast: This American Life The End of the World as We Know it – A story about a guy so caught up in Climate Change, that it destroyed his life with his family.

Song of the day: The Lighthouse Tale Nickel Creek – my cousins husband loved this song and seeing all the lighthouses today made me think of him.

Beer:  Patagonia Pale Ale: Graystone Brewing Fredericton, NB

 Day 3: Prince Edward Island

Headed out in the dark, back tracking to where I was yesterday, the Fundy National Park.  However, this time at the park, I turned north, destination Hopewell Rocks. Hopewell Rocks are the iconic Bay of Fundy tide location.  The tide is 46 feet here. I got lucky, low tide was at 8:00 am and I arrived in time for the 9:00 am opening of the park.  My travel style is: get to where I’m going, see it, get back on the road.  In this style I arrived at the Hopewell Rocks, hiked 15 minutes to the rocks, where you descend metal stairs to the sea floor, walk around the rocks and marvel at the tidal difference, then hike back out and get going.

My destination for the day was Prince Edward Island, to get there you can now cross an eight-mile bridge, completed in 1997.  It’s really something to see, it helped that the weather was perfect today. Once across, I had to stop for a Covid Rapid test. The island has kept Covid at bay, with its ability to control who comes in. I did hear at dinner that there was a recent uptick in Covid traced to a school, so they have put back in place masks mandates.  Since I didn’t get a call about my rapid test, and my border test results came back negative (that’s 3 tests in 3 days for me) I was free to explore PEI.

Fortunately, my wife, Michele, went for a walk on Sunday with a friend who has spent a lot of time in PEI. Her husband emailed me a detailed list of a 3 hour drive I could take and get a good feel for the island. I followed the itinerary, starting with a pub in Charlottetown, where I probably had the best fish and chips ever. PEI is just amazingly beautiful, and it helps that the weather is perfect and there are not a whole lot of tourists around.

Podcast: Smartless with Ken Burns – I like his films.

Song of the day: I found on Spotify the Prince Edward Island song by Terry Hachey – old time country tune.

Beer: House Wheat Ale, Gahen House Brewery

 Day 2: Saint John, New Brunswick

The old feeling from my 48 States in 48 Days is back. The feeling, lying in bed at 5:00am, that I can’t wait to get up and get going.  Yesterday covered territory that I covered before, today was going to be all new and the first time to use my passport in 2 years.

I woke up with a text that my Covid test results from yesterday were in and with the help from a nice desk clerk, who had me send my results to his personal email so he could print them out for me, I was off to the border. The border required pre-registering on an App that included a picture of my vaccination card, the printed test results and a “random” covid test at the border. There was only one other car there, so I was through and on my way in no time.

Fortunately, my wireless carrier now includes Canada in the plan. I need to use my phone for directions and for filling out information for the covid test at the border. Some years ago, I was coming back from skiing in Canada with my family. We had shut off our cellular data in Canada, to keep from getting charged. Once back in the US I gave our daughter the go ahead to use her phone. That night, at a ski area in Vermont, about 10 miles from the border, she got a text that she had used $200 worth of international data. My whole family including my brother and sisters, could hear me yelling at AT&T: “I’m in the United States of America I’m not paying for Canadian Cell service.”  I think they let me pay $25 for a retro international plan. My sister and brother never let me forget that.

First stop was St. Andrews By-The Sea a cute little village, known for being Canada’s first seaside resort. I did a walk around and grabbed a cup of coffee before heading to St. John. In St. John I had lunch and visited the 3 sites I had planned, the Reversing Waterfall, the City Market, and Irving Nature Park.  The stops were nice, but didn’t take me long, so I headed up the coast to Fundy National Park.  In the little town of Alma, I got to see large fishing boats at low tide sitting on crates to keep them out of the mud at low tide.  The tides here are so huge that the top of these boats was below the pier, amazing. The boats plan their daily schedule based on the tides.

Pod Cast: This American Life – today’s episode was about the importance of music in telling a story, something that really resonates with me.

Song: Tales of the Phantom Ship, Lennie Gallant (Spotify, looking for songs of Atlantic Canada)

Beer: Moosehead – brewed in Saint John – brings me back to my youth in Vermont – drank me some Moosehead.

 The Maritime Provinces

Day 1: Bangor Maine:

On the road again

I can't stay off the road. Since I finished my 48 states in 48 days trip last year, I have driven to Colorado and back twice and to South Carolina once. Today I hit the road again for a brief 4-day trip to the Canadian Maritime provinces.

My day started by getting a covid test (which I need, in addition to my vaccination card, to enter Canada) After a dentist appointment, that I didn't want push out, I hit the road heading to Maine for my first overnight.

I like Symmetry so my first night destination was Bangor Maine, same as last year.  However, since I had the time and wanted to go a slightly different route I got off the highway in Portland Maine and headed up route 1 to Camden Maine, before heading north to Bangor. Like last year, the weather was beautiful, and the coast of Maine never disappoints. Below are a couple of pictures from my trip.

For dinner, I found the same restaurant that I went to last year and ordered the same dish - pork ramen noodles.  This year I got to eat inside at the bar, rather than do take out, so I'm happy that hopefully the worst of covid is behind us and things can back to the new normal.  Still a lot of people wearing masks here in Maine, but it's a different feel – more of on an option vs. people being reckless not wearing them a year ago.

Podcast of the Day: Still listening to Smartless: Today was Tiffany Haddish - really cool story of a women who went from sleeping in her car, to Saturday Night Live, to planning on opening a Grocery Store in South Central LA, to help the people that have nowhere to buy decent food.

Song of the Day: Coastline: Hollow Coves ( I looked on Spotify for something to do with Maine)

Beer of the Day: Bangor Beer (Same as last year) this time a brew called 10-2.