RV Road Trip Maritimes NB PEI Canada ~ Cavendish Moncton Dieppe Saint John Hopewell Rocks St George St Andrews

I'm back from my RV Maritimes Canada road trip to New Brunswick (NB) and Prince Edward Island (PEI). Here are some of my pictures from Cavendish, Moncton, Dieppe, Hopewell Rocks, Saint John, St George and St Andrews. (Note -- see comments at bottom for 2010 BC Winter Olympics RV park Vancouver)

Holiday Inn Express Airport Dieppe NB

Loved my room at the HIE at Dieppe. Close to the airport, free shuttle, friendly people! But best of all, I booked the reservations via Twitter.com @Airport_Dieppe. Twitter-booking was a first for both of us! If you follow me on Twitter (@karenzabawa) then you already know I got a good hot breakfast, free fast internet and enjoyed my night. (Hi April!)

RV Fifth Wheel and Truck ~ Moncton NB

Friends with the RV and big honking Ford truck left Truro NS early the next day and drove through pouring rain to Dieppe NB to fetch me at the HIE hotel before heading into west Moncton to Camper's City to park the RV. Still raining. Friends and Maggie the super dog helped set up RV. I watched and learned :-)

Hopewell Rocks Bay of Fundy New Brunswick

By mid afternoon, the torrents of rain had abated to a steady drizzle, so we decided to drive to Hopewell Rocks, to walk on the ocean floor of the Bay of Fundy before high tide. Was it ever windy! And chilly! Gotta love NB weather - fabulous or foul. Great seafood chowder at the on-site restaurant, though, to warm us up. Recall the entry fee was about $8.50 CAD.

Confederation Bridge New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island

Sunny the next day, so we left the RV in Moncton and headed to PEI for the day. Follow the signs to the Confederation Bridge that links NB to PEI . It's about an hour's drive from Moncton to the bridge. You can take the bridge to PEI then return by ferry, if you like.

The toll / fare is paid upon leaving PEI, and is the same for either. We bridged it both directions. Driving in the big Ford truck was a treat -- it's high enough so you can see over the sides of the bridge. NB and PEI have a lot of very good tourism info offices, so grab some brochures and maps.

Cavendish Beach North Coast PEI

By the time we got to Cavendish (had to see Anne of Green Gables setting), it was about 3 p.m. It had been so long since my last visit to Cavendish, I hardly recognized it! The enormous sand dunes are covered in sea grasses and shrubs, and the red sandstone that is the hallmark of PEI has been eroded and is still losing large chunks of itself to the Atlantic Gulf of St Lawrence.

Shadows Taking Photos Cavendish PEI National Park

Couldn't resist - we still had a long drive ahead of us south an hour to Charlottetown, then west an hour to the Confederation Bridge and an hours' drive back to Moncton and the RV. Keith is a fabulous driver - highly recommend his services :-)

Saint John NB ~ City Motto: Learn to Love Fog

I'm kidding -- that's not really the city of Saint John motto. On the plus side, though, the foggy dampness styled my hair into curls and waves. The two-hour drive as we moved the RV from Moncton to Rockwood Park in Saint John left enough time to go see my old house in Rothesay.

Highland Avenue Rothesay New Brunswick

Interesting to see the years have been kind to our old home in Rothesay, NB, though wow! have the trees ever grown! They totally shade the area where I had an enormous vegetable garden.

St Andrews By The Sea NB

A St Andrew's Remax agent has a sense of humour (click on the image to enlarge then click Back button to return to this page). We'd left the RV in Saint John and taken a day trip to St Andrews, about an hour's drive south of Saint John .

St George NB Mill and Fishways

St George is close to St Andrews on the Saint John (northeast) side. Great place to pull off the highway and pick up some lobster cooked to order. Many attractions and services in the Maritimes are open seasonally. Rockwood Park in Saint John was planning to close the third week of October as was the Four Cs Market (seafood) in St George.

I'll scan and post more pictures of my Maritime road trip on my website. Many thanks to my Rving friends for hospitality and a great road trip!

Cherry Creek Kamloops Lake B.C. Canada

More pictures from Western Canada this week, as friend Sheila in Kamloops sent along some photos of Kamloops Lake in the Cherry Creek area west of Kamloops, B.C. (Canada).

The first picture shows the trail up to the view point. This area is accessed from the Trans-Canada highway west of Kamloops, south of the lake.

The second photo shows the view from the top: This viewpoint is on private property.
A panoramic view of Kamloops Lake looking roughly northeast across to Tranquille; Kamloops lies further east. This picture was taken on a friend's property at Cherry Creek.
Sheila says:

The Kamloops paper today reports that this lake hasn't frozen in 12-14 years, ans that this is only the third time in 20 years! It is frozen from Tobiano (6 Mile Ranch) to Savona. I took this picture because of the rarity of the lake being frozen over, but I didn't realize at the time how rare it was. In this picture, the ice covers the entire surface of the lake (it's very clear ice) except for the part right across the lake at Tranquille. Now, a week or so later, the ice has likely receded even more, as the weather is getting warmer every day.

Years ago, Tranquille's King Edward VII sanatorium treated thousands of patients before it closed in 1958. After years of disuse, Tranquille is to be developed into a large resort community which will see the restoration of three Victorian cottages and a fire hall on the site.

See also South Thompson River Views east of Kamloops.

Update June 2008: See Sheila's new blog about RVing with pictures from B.C. Now that she is able to post her own photos, I guess these are the last I'll get from her!

It's Maple Syrup Time in Canada!

With the onset of Spring's daytime temperatures above freezing, and night temperatures below, the sap is starting to flow in the sugar maple trees. Though many sugar bush farms are too busy now to host tour groups, other groups step in to show how to collect maple sap, boil it down and make delicious syrup and maple candy.

In Mississauga (where I live), there's Maple Magic; a half hour's drive west is Oakville's Bronte Park, and the grandaddy of them all, billed as the World's Largest, in Elmira, Ontario. Last spring, I went to the Mississauga festival. If you'd like to see how old timers collect and process the sap, see my story and photos posted at Snapshotjourneys.com. There are also links to some of the local festivals for dates and times.

If you DO plan to head out and take in the fun, bundle up: It's still pretty nippy in this part of the country. But once the maple sap starts flowing, we know Spring is not far off.