Oka to Hudson ferry trip

Yesterday, we drove home from Moncton in about 12 3/4 hours.  It was the 400 year celebration of the colonization of Quebec city by Champlain and the CBC spoke of little else, but I digress.

The day started when Joan nudged me to shut off the alarm that I was hearing in my sub-conscious. It was around 5 am, it was an electronic alarm, and it wasn't mine to shut off.  Just maybe our hosts wanted us to leave earlier than the planned crack of dawn 8 am.  Again I digress.

After a leisurely but sorrowful departure at 6:45, we were on cruise control for hours, until the rains started.  I could have said 'rain' but I think 'rains' is closer to the deluge we actually experienced from mid-NB until we got close to Montreal.  The radio went on and on about Champlain, his statue, etc, and the miles kept whizzing by. 

The only real city that is hard to avoid is Montreal.  I'd been avoiding Montreal by taking the northern 'all Quebec ' route in recent years but Dale and Dave had suggested a much faster route using the 417 from Ottawa to the Quebec border, crossing the Ottawa river to Oka, then skirting the North of Montreal onto Quebec city. On our way to the maritimes, we sort of followed the advice but ended up on the wrong ferry boat landing, about 30 kilometers further upstream, thus exchanging about 60 kilometers of 100 kph travel for a pokey small road.

Yes, this is leading somewhere!  On our way back, we wanted to connect to the right ferry and just 'do it right'.  We arrived at the ferry landing as the old guy was walking towards the gate to close it.  Sweet timing!  I barely had the chance to notice that this isn't really a ferry boat, it's a barge [no motor! no steering!]  Dave had warned me that this was going to be different, and it was.  Getting on [or off] meant aligning your wheels to the two wooden ramps that this old guy lowered for us, and driving on.  I was too rushed to evaluate the risks...  

No sooner were we on the barge then the ramps were being lifted and a small boat took off like a shot from the dock beside us.  This first picture gives you a small idea of this smaller barge; good enough to hold 8 cars [that's us in the lower right].

As I mentioned, this small boat took off and towed us across the Ottawa river, which has quite a current at the point.  The GPS, Emma, told us we were going just a tad over 12 kph! Quite a feat for such a small boat towing a barge with 7 cars on it!  Look at this next picture that shows the tow-boat while you try to figure out how we're going to land...  Note that the captain is not a youngster either, his buddy had stayed with us collecting the $8.50 charge.

As it turns out, the landing was as smooth as any ferry boat landing we've had in the past.  The tow just keeps towing at speed, aiming quite a bit upstream, getting closer and closer.  When we're about a barge-length away from shore, the tow just scoots out of the way, goes and snugs up to our left side and goes astern to tighten up the lines that link him to the barge.  As he tries to go astern, the barge slows down and straightens out in one graceful move.  And voila, we're landed!  How slick was that?  

I'd hate to see a new guy practice, but that's another story.

Thanks again to all our hosts [and advisors] that made this holiday such fun.

Canada Day!

The weather forecast for Lunenburg said there was a 60% chance of rain, all day!  Not great news when you're expecting over 60 people for a Canada Day BBQ and pot luck celebration.  This was to be Roger and Susan's fifth straight Canada Day celebration, and they seemed to know something the weather-forecaster didn't.  

The view from their 'back-yard' is nothing short of spectacular.  It was sunny, and warm, and Joan was nowhere to be found.  I wonder if the grandchildren could help me find her?  She said she'd be in the back yard looking at the view while the sun was shining.

The day really started when Roger served his legendary porridge!  Maybe it was the porridge that made the sun stick around for most of the day.  Mid afternoon, the neighbours started showing up bearing bowls of salad, all manner of main dishes and deserts [of course!].  The BBQs were fired up, hot dogs, sausages, ribs were all shown some heat, and dinner was served.  

Roger and Susan live on a bridge accessible  island, and all the neighbours were invited. Many neighbours are seasonal residents, many from a fair distance [Ontario, Connecticut, Ohio, etc].  Since many had just arrived, the Canada Day party is a great excuse for absentee owners to catch up on the local news.  

It was wonderful to be so warmly accepted by this very friendly community.

As you can see, the sun did its job and it was very warm and pleasant for the celebration.  Joan even helped lead us all into singing our national anthem! 

You may have noted the boat at the end of the dock in the picture above; one invited couple live on the island across the channel where it's  five minute boat-ride or a half hour car drive!  These people even built their own boat!  Here's a closer look!  

We're now back at Chris and Peter's place in Dieppe, near Moncton, after a very pleasant and uneventful drive from Lunenburg.  Tomorrow, it's back to Ottawa for us.

It's been a busy holiday and we have been spoiled rotten by everyone we have met.  The Maritimes seem to infect its inhabitants with great generosity and a certain joie-de-vivre that I don't detect very often in Ontario...  We'll just have to come back here again.  

"Thank you so much"  to everyone that made this happen, Chris and Peter, Brian, Susan and Roger!  What fun! 

Kingsport to Lunenburg NS

Sunday we toured the area and ended up at Look Off where the next picture was made.  It was fairly foggy so visibility wasn't at its best but the high viewpoint made for an interesting scene.  It was raining a bit and this ended up being one of the few pictures before the lens got wet...

We then drove to Hall habour where the tide was out.  It was fascinating to see the fishing and pleasure boats just sitting on the muddy bottom.  And to think, this happens twice every day!

Here are a few pleasure boats suffering the same fate!  The building in the background is a lobster pound; they sell lobster most of the time, raw or cooked, take out or restaurant.  The complex also includes a small gift shop with all sorts of stuff...

Of course, every self respecting harbour has a red building, a white lighthouse, a dory and the proverbial pot of pansies.  a tourist 'must see'...

 
We then drove to Lunenburg to visit Roger and Susan [Peter's cousin and Brian's sister] where we'll spend Monday seeing houses with Peter and Chris who want to retire here.  Then, for Canada Day, Roger and Susan are hosting their annual Canada Day party!  More to follow!

Kingsport Nova Scotia

We drove from Moncton NB to Kingsport NS in Peter's Saturn SUV.  It's a fairly compact SUV that could seat five but that had seating for four only since Cragen had the back all to herself.  All luggage, camera gear, snacks etc. had to be stuffed into the passenger area so things were comfortable but tight.  We were off to visit Brian, Peter's cousin, who's quite the chef and a fantastic host.  We arrived in time for dinner and were presented with the proposed menu for our visit.  The picnic was relocated to Brian's dinning room due to the weather, but the other culinary delights occurred as they should.  We could have gained some weight...

Now that your appetite has be whet by the menu, let me show you a few delights that we sa along the way.  We stopped at a little store with a large garden named the Tangled Garden.  The store had all manner of dried flowers hanging from the ceiling.

We also stopped in at the Grand Pre winery where we walked around marveling at the endless rows of vines and the wonderful buildings.  Here are two pictures of the same window, note that the inside table-top is a single piece of wood!

 

Back outside, the grape vines were busy growing and starting their grapes on their way to glory.  The vines are trained on these wires and are severely pruned back every year since the grapes come on new wood as opposed to old growth.

Here you'll see a few clusters of very young grapes.  Many of these will be pruned away so that the remaining grapes get sweeter.  It's always a choice between volume and quality!

In the winery store, they cut up some barrels that were not suitable for wine-aging and made display cases for wines for sale.  Note the balls woven from old pruned grapevines.

Joan, Chris and Cragen enjoying some relax time beside the vineyard.

Brian is a retired Navy Officer with very interesting ideas about interior design; he designed and commissioned these arches between the living-room, hall and dining-room.

Kingsport is a small village of a couple hundred people and the last weekend in June is celebrated as 'Gala Days'.  No celebration should be without fireworks so we walked over to a neighbour's back yard that overlooked  small bay and saw the fireworks from the town pier.  Great way to end a wonderful day!  What fun!