Saturday dawned windy and showery, off and on. Needed to keep our jackets on as we went to the "rocks" again to view the site at high tide. A bit disappointing as the tide was not as high as we hoped, but did get the general idea..still, a spectacular site. We read that the rock formations should last at least another 10,000 years, in spite of the horrific pressure of wind, tide and rain. Simply amazing. The restaurant at the top entrance beckoned us and on the recommendation of a couple of the guides, we had a late breakfast there. Quite good actually and reasonably priced.
Then we headed into Moncton to explore a little and we were hopeing to find a Royal Bank that would be open on Saturday so we could get our traveller's cheques. No such luck tho'..no banks anywhere were open. Oh well, do it on Monday. Moncton is quite a charming town and has a nice downtown shopping area as well as shopping centres in outlying areas. Again, lots of older buildings and homes; many dating from the 1800's so each has such interesting architectural character.
We lucked out in Wal Mart (!)..and found Corel dishes on at 65-75% off!! On the way from Halifax, Dale had asked for a cup of tea..I got up to make it and had the cupboard door open to get a mug out, he rounded a corner a "little quick" and before I could close the door, plates and bowls came flying out! They definitely do not bounce too well on the tile floor. What a mess...... So, finding them on sale was a bonus so we stocked up and are ready for the next surprise!
For dinner we went 11 km down the road from our campground, to a restaurant known as "The Barn". It is part of an 1100 acre farm, family run, and they converted part of an old barn into a restaurant. The service is incredibly slow, but the atmosphere and the food was fantastic! They actually had homemade buns that tasted like mother used to make. Dale and I commented on them to one of the gals so they bundled up a half dozen for us to take home!!! Bonus, eh.
Sunday for weather was somewhat better. Dale went off to church in Moncton so left around 9:30 for the drive in. I stayed behind to catch up on the financial end of our trip (hadn't done any bookeeping since the end of July), catch up on laundry, made some cookies..generally a puttering morning which I find is good for my soul.
After all this was done, had a quick shower and went for a walk. Decided to head towards Moncton knowing (hoping) Dale would be along soon and I wouldn't have to walk both ways. Well...I went about 6 kms..no sign of Dale..so turned around and started back and fortunately, after about 2 kms Dale showed up. He had taken a wrong turn out of Moncton at Dieppe, and was headed towards Halifax and couldn't get a turnaround for miles and miles! I asked him why he hadn't looked at the maps that were on the floor (one was of the city of Moncton) which would have got him out of his conumdrum....after a slight pause he said he didn't see them!! Okayyyyy
Dale did say tho' that the minister at the church was Rev. Liz Wall, which we had met at Vancouver First Church and that the music and sermon were just wonderful, so he was very glad he had gone.
While it was getting on in the afternoon, we still went for a drive out to Cape Enrage (I think I called it Cape Escape before, in error); then carried on our drive along Rte 915, winding in an out of teeny little settlements until we finally got back on Rte 114 and back to camp. Cape Enrage has the oldest existing lighthouse, still in use, in New Brunswick (and I think, in the Maritimes.
Originally we had planned on leaving Hopewell Cape on Monday, but decided it would be easier to stay an extra day and go into Moncton to do our banking etc., than try and chance it on the road. So after a morning of Dale sorting out the "basement" and putting on a full tank of fresh water, flushing black water, we headed into town for a few hours. While it is only 38 kms to Moncton it does take about 45 minutes as the road is fairly narrow and quite windy..no shoulders either so you really need to pay attention.
Tuesday was travel day and we woke to bright sunny skies and pretty gusty winds. We were experiencing some winds from Hurricane Igor as it was passing by. Nothing serious for New Brunswick (NFLD and LAB were getting the worst of it), but we really didn't need to be visited by our 3rd hurricane! We finally got away at 9:45 and carried on, on Rte 114 thru Fundy National Park until we hit Hwy 1. Rte 114 was terribly rough and narrow. Considering it is a major tourist route one would think "they" would keep it in better shape!
We stopped in Saint John (what a pretty city on the harbour) for lunch and a quick look see before we continued on to St. Stephen, where we went thru customs (no problems thank goodness) and before we knew it we were in Calais, Maine. We drove as far as just southwest of Brewer (near Bangor) and have pulled into a rest stop for the night. Once we crossed into Maine we also turned our clocks back one hour so we thought we'd stop "early" to readjust our internal clocks and will get a good start in the morning.
So now the US part of our adventure begins, so should be most interesting.
Hope you are enjoying following this saga, so till next time...keep well, travel safe.
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