Because I accumulated about 70 pages of handwritten
notes, I have broken them up into a number
of segments, each of which describes a particular leg of the trip. The verbage is my own,
although I have unashamedly included some fragments encountered during
web searches.
Each segment is accompanied by photos of
the area. Most photos are of the interesting places we went but there are a few campground shots too.
All photos were taken with our phones and digital camera, all 3000 of them! Some shots
were of necessity taken from inside the truck while driving, usually because there was
not a convenient place to pull over. I apologize for that.
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Prologue
Things in the Canadian Maritimes are often different than what we are used to in the US.
Here are some things you need to know about road conditions, money, food,
campgrounds, shopping and so on.
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Canada Speak
Although they speak English, Canadians have a lingo all their own. Before you go, here a few of
the words and phrases that you should know in order to communicate like a native.
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South Florida to Maine
It was a long drive from the south of Florida all the way up to Maine, but we got to visit
some friends and family. We stayed in some nice and not-so-nice campgrounds, and
visited some interesting places along the way.
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New Brunswick
Although NB is a rather long providence, we were anxious to get on to Nova Scotia so we didn't
spend a lot of time there. However, it did serve as a gentle introduction to Canada and allowed us to
get used to Canadian roads and highways (sort of), learn about the money, talk to the locals, and
in general immerse ourselves in Canadian culture.
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Nova Scotia
As soon as we got into Nova Scotia we knew we had found what we were looking for. Peggy's Cove
easily met everything we had anticipated from friend's stories and web searches. We made a
loop around the entire southern island and visited lots of nooks, crannies, fishing villages and
other fiddly bits.
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Cape Breton and the Cabot Trail
While in Nova Scotia a lot of people said "You think this is nice?
Wait until you get to the Cabot Trail."
We found the southern part of Nova Scotia to be very nice so we couldn't imagine that the
northern part would be that much better. It didn't disappoint!
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The Ferry to Newfoundland
Because we had our three dogs with us, we chose not to take the long ferry to NL. Rather,
we opted for the short ride instead, which lasted around six hours. We took the night
ferry so we didn't see much in the way of scenery, but the experience was quite pleasant.
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Western Newfoundland
When we got off the ferry and travelled northward a bit, we started to appreciate just how
beautiful and majestic this area truly is. By the time we got up to Deer Lake and saw
Gros Morne National Park, we thought we had died and gone to RV heaven.
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Great Northern Peninsula
This was hands down the high point of our entire trip. Working our way up to the tip of the
Peninsula involved a lot of driving, but getting up to the Lanse aux Meadows area turned out to be
quite magical. This is undoubtedly where we got our biggest infusion of what Newfoundland life is all about.
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Northern Newfoundland
We thought the Peninsula would be a hard act to follow, and we were right.
But I think our opinion might have been tainted somewhat because
we just didn't have time to take in all the little side roads to see where they led.
If we had we might just have changed our opinion.
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Eastern Newfoundland
While we didn't find the eastern part of the island as fascinating as the western and northern
parts, we felt that it was still worth the trip. Besides, how could we not have gone
to St. John's?
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Back to the Big Ferry
Sadly, like all good things our adventure in Newfoundland had to come to an end.
As the season was winding
down and the weather starting to turn, we needed to beat a path to the ferry at Port aux Basque
and head back to Nova Scotia.
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Prince Edward Island
I think that because we went to NS and NL first, we found ourselves a bit disappointed with PEI.
But we did manage to find a few interesting places to see and things to do. And
we took some nice photos that were
quite different from the other providences.
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Coming Home
We knew we had to come home eventually. Maybe because it was a bit like leaving the
parking lot after a day at
Disneyland, we decided to get on back as soon as possible, with the exception of re-visiting
a family and friends.
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| | Epilogue
You cannot go on a trip this long without coming back with a few words of wisdom.
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Dates and Campgrounds
This is a terse listing of our travel dates and campsites. Feel free to use it for possible
planning purposes without having to scan through the verbage of the above travel segments.
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Wildflowers of Newfoundland
I have always loved wildflowers. Perhaps because of this, and perhaps because Phyllis has
around 200 orchids out in our fairy garden, I couldn't resist taking photos of the beautiful
flowers growing wild everywhere in Newfoundland. If you are a flower person too, I hope
you enjoy this little photo essay.
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