Moving Across the North Coast of Nova Scotia

Friday, May 11, 2018--Moncton to Middleton

We had a long road to travel today with many stops.  Leaving the apartment at 8:45, our first stop was still in New Brunswick where we explored Mount Allison University in Sackville.  It's a small campus with some nice buildings, a beautiful chapel, and a pretty lake.  It has been ranked as the top undergraduate university in Canada for many years and emphasizes the arts and the sciences.  We toured the art building with exhibits by the graduating seniors.  Unfortunately, we were too early to see the art museum that they have on campus.  But we wandered around enjoying the campus atmosphere as everyone was working to be ready for commencement ceremonies tomorrow. 

From there, we drove to the unique town of Parrsboro.  It is located near a major fossil deposit area.  And the town itself has a bit of a quirky appearance.  Our main reason for going there was to see the displays at Tyson's Fine Minerals.  It is a shop operated out of the back of a house by a major mineral collector who relocated there because of the chances of being able to find minerals nearby.  A nice young man who works at the shop showed us around and visited with us.  When he discovered we had been to the mineral museum at Ouro Preto, Brazil, he asked if we would like to the the owner's private collection.  Then he took us into the front of the house where there were two rooms filled with outstanding samples of minerals.

An interesting situation occurred soon afterward.  We were on our way toward Truro.  After stopping at Five Islands to see the lighthouse and the view of the islands, we continued down the highway.  Just in front of us, a truck pulling a very long mobile home out of a lot and onto the highway accidentally hit the front stops of the home next door.  The cab of the truck and part of the mobile home completely blocked the highway.  The workers rushed to the house they had hit and worked to remove the steps.  There was no alternative route for highway traffic--no parallel roads heading the same direction without lots of backtracking and rerouting far inland.  The highway had no shoulder, and the grassy side of the road was very soft from recent rains and slanted in a way that it was impossible for vehicles to try to go around the situation.  We just sat there with more and more cars backing up in both directions.  Eventually, they got the steps moved and were able to back up just a very short distance before another problem developed that stopped their movement.  All the cars on the road stayed in place, but Wes said he though they had left enough room for us to pass with our cars half on/half off the roadway.  Finally, a car from the other direction came through.  Then the car in front of us headed out.  So we followed.  We got by, but it was very helpful that I was on the passenger side and could guide Wes so that we were as close to the truck cab as possible so that we had as little of the other side of the car off the road as necessary.  More cars were doing the same as we looked back while driving away, but large SUVs and vans didn't have enough room to get by yet.  Fortunately, we lost only about 15-20 minutes, but it could have been hours given the situation.

In Truro, we went downtown to Victoria Park.  It is a large park with a hiking trail into a gorge to a point where there are two waterfalls.  It was nice to move, to be in nature, and to enjoy the beauty of the park.  But we went faster than we would normally have done due to the lost time and the number of other stops we still had ahead of us for the day.  On the way back to the car, lots of pine cones were tumbling from a tall tree to the ground.  It was a squirrel doing it.  Apparently the summer season is so short that he had to start early and work fast to collect enough food to be ready for next winter.  It was like he was bombing the area around the base of the tree!

After about another 45-50 minutes of driving, we pulled off at Grande Pre, NS.  It is the area where the Acadians were expelled from Canada for not being willing to declare their loyalty to the British Crown.  They dispersed to a variety of locations including Louisiana where they and their descendants became known as Cajuns.  There is a UNESCO World Heritage Site where they lived outside Grande Pre.  We saw the low-lying lands they had farmed after building dykes to hold back the high tides that exist in the area.  We also saw a church and a sculpture, and we read lots of details about their life and their expulsion.

It was a short hop from there to the town of Wolfville which is a very beautiful and very popular small college town.  We parked on the main street downtown and wandered up and down it seeing the wineries, shops, restaurants, bars, etc.  At the end of downtown, we explored the campus of Acadia University which is also noted among the better undergraduate universities in Canada. 

By then, we were exhausted and it was almost 17:00.  Therefore, we headed to Middleton, a town that is not a tourist site, but one where I had been able to find us lodging after unsuccessfully searching in the Wolfville area which probably was booked up by visitors coming to the commencement that they will have this weekend.  Our Hannam B&B is nice.  It is filled with antiques and is quiet with only one other bedroom rented out tonight.  We will be here tomorrow night, too. 

We ended the day by going to a restaurant we had seen as we entered town.  We ordered two different meals and shared them.  I ordered the scallops fried in a very light batter, and Wes got a breaded chicken breast stuffed with ham and cheese.  Both plates included a baked potato, carrots, and peas.  The scallops proved to be the best choice.