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Our Trip to the Canadian Maritimes

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Although we have taken a number of interesting and fun trips in our RV, this is the first where I set out to document it from the outset. As a result, it is the only trip that I am posting on this site so far. However, we plan to make another extensive trip out west next year (2019) to visit as many national parks as we can, so I will try to do the same thing for that trip and post the blog when we get back.

The blog contained herein describes the particular places where we went, what we did and what we saw. However, there are many other routes to take and places to go. So if you plan to go up to the Maritimes be sure to do your research for campgrounds and sights. I recommend using Google searches, Google Maps or Mapquest, and Google Earth. And reserve your campgrounds as early as possible, especially during the high season. But if you do find yourself visiting some of the places mentioned here, then by all means let me know if you have other suggestions or comments and I will try to integrate them into the dialogue.

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.

By the way, have you ever seen the Lucy and Desi movie The Long, Long Trailer? We saw this a while ago and it was funny before, but now that we have been to Newfoundland, it's downright hilarious! Every RV-er should see this after they have a few trips under their belt.

If you're eager to see photos now and would rather not wait to read through the blog, click on the link below to see a collage of the more interesting photos taken on our four-month trip. There are no titles or captions, so you will likely not know where the shots are taken. If you find the photos interesting and would like to learn more about the places shown, I encourage you to go through each leg of the journey below, where you will be able to better associate photos with places.

Click on the map to the right to see our complete travel path, all 15,000 miles of it. The little dots on the map don't represent campgrounds, stops or anything in particular; they're simply side-effects of using the mileage plotting feature of Google Maps.

 
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Click here to see a gallery of most of our photos.

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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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!


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.


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.


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.


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.


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?


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.


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.


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.


Epilogue

You cannot go on a trip this long without coming back with a few words of wisdom.


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.


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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