Canadian Deja Vu

They say history repeats itself and in our case, some of the campgrounds we are visiting in the Maritime region of Canada are repeats - in fact, June 2007 saw our first RV trip in to Canada.  On that trip we went to Kiwanis Oceanfront in St. Andrews By The Sea, NS, Ponderosa Pines in Hopewell Cape, NS and Crystal Beach in Summerside, PEI.

Five years to the month we returned to Canada (we’ve crossed the border with the RV yearly, but  this time it’s special - remember, we’re full-timing now). Our first stop was back the Kiwanis Oceanfront in St. Andrews By The Sea.  They’ve made some changes to their campground in terms of the layout of some spaces - redesigned a few and added some others.  Because our first trip was in a 21’TT (travel trailer), our site back then seemed fairly large.  Now that we’re in a nearly 36’ 5er (fifth wheel) with slide outs, the space is more confining.  We only stayed 1 night there this year as we wanted to get on to new destinations.

Next stop was Ponderosa Pines, closest campground to the famous Hopewell Rocks, geologic formations of stone. The “flowerpot rocks” as they are dubbed,  have been eroded near their bases over the years as the tidal Chocolate River flows past them.  With the tide rising and lowering over 40’ twice a day, these delicate natural wonders should be on bucket lists.  Because of the timing of our travel, we stopped at the Rocks before we arrived at our campground, which allowed us to walk on the ocean floor due to it being low tide.  The next morning, as we departed the area, we stopped back at the attraction to view them with the water covering the bases.  

Ponderosa Pines had not changed any from what we recalled of 5 years prior.   A few sites near the office under tree cover, with the rest out in a large field with views of the water.

From Ponderosa Pines and the Province of New Brunswick, we made our very first RV journey into Nova Scotia.  This Province is extra special to us as it’s where we honeymooned, taking the overnight ferry from Portland Maine to Yarmouth NS and then driving around the region for a week before taking the ferry back.  Our last visit to Nova Scotia was in 2002 as the ferry stopped running the following year.

Our first destination in NS was Five Islands RV Resort on the northern side on the Minas Bay. Because we’ve recently extended our discount RV club membership from yearly to lifetime, we chose Five Islands as they are a member campground.  While the view from the campsite was spectacular, and the park was very quiet, it was not the best of campgrounds for me.  Most of my issue is with their write-ups in various publications. Things they claim are there or have been done, really don’t measure up to what I was agree with. Example, they say they recently renovated the bathrooms.  Maybe there’s new paint on the walls, or lights that sense someone entering and turn on, but old toilets and sinks, as well as stained drop ceiling panels with holes cut in them allowing one to see the cobwebs on the rafters does not match my definition of renovated.

Because we signed up for 4 nights when we first arrived, we tried to make the best of our situation.  Needing groceries we asked the owner where a store was - he said 20 minutes up the road.  More like 45 minutes and it was more a convenience shop then what we wanted.  We drove another 15 minutes and found what we needed.  A suggestion given to us Mrs. owner at Five Islands was to go to some of the waterfalls in the area.  We decided we’d try that one day. As soon as we turned off the highway to the falls, the road was no longer paved, but dirt.  We drove and drove, through forests and blueberry barrens, worried about what we had gotten in to - there was no place for us to turn around.  Finally we saw a sign that indicated the falls were another 2km.  We got to the parking area and started to follow the trail to the falls.  Then we found the stairs, leading down to the base of the path and the falls.  40 or 50 stairs, then packed dirt for a further descent, another steep staircase, more dirt descents. Got the the base and found a so-so waterfall. (A rockslide a few years back has affected this location and it’s no longer as spectacular as it was in the photos we were shown).  Now we have to climb the hill and drive all the way back through the dirt and mud.  Needless to say, we should have realized what we were getting in to when we learned the name the waterfall, “Economy Falls”.  These falls are located in the community of Lower Economy, NS.

Leaving Five Islands, we headed to Cape Breton, an island that makes up the eastern portion of the Province of Nova Scotia.  We chose Adventures East for our campground, again because it was a member of the discount camping club.  We were allowed to pick our site as they were not busy yet.  Once again we decided to stay 4 nights.  While at Adventures East we got to kayak on Baddeck Lake a few times, we also drove the Cabot Trail, a very scenic drive along the coast and through the forests over mountains.  Because we loved the campsite we had, as well as the location of the campground, we extended our visit another 6 nights.  It was hard to leave when we did as the weather had been so nice, we were enjoying our style of camping and our camp hosts was a terrific person - both in terms of information on the region as well as someone I would want to have as a friend. 

Not wanting to overstay our welcome and to get back on the road, we headed over to Prince Edward Island and returned to Crystal Beach Campground.  This campground is at the foot of Malpeque Bay as the sunsets over the water are amazing.   The tides have been a bit tricky in terms of figuring out when high tide is.  Seems they get a high tide and a half tide - as well as 2 lows a day.  (Easy way to know it’s high tide is when the water surrounds the marsh right across from our camper.  Half tide the water starts to close in on the marsh, but doesn’t cover the bar completely.)  We’ve gotten out on the kayaks again, and are staying for 1 week before we pick up and move along. 

There’s still 2 opportunities for us to repeat Canadian campgrounds, but neither one is from our original Canada RV trip of 2007  (Hawkshaw NS and Niagara Falls ON). Will we make it to either one? Are they on the discount priced RV list? Only time will tell.

International Travel and trials

Having some free time between assignments in Bar Harbor, we decided to take our "home" and dogs across the border into New Brunswick, Canada. We've crossed the border in Calais / St. Stephen many times in the past 8 years and were ready for a quick, easy passage.

This trip across, they asked to inspect the camper and truck - we think they liked our Cameo and wanted to see one up close and personal. Inspection went very smoothly - Customs opened and closed every closet and drawer and moved on to the next -fortunately the inspector knew enough to keep her hand over the opening of the upper doors to prevent things from tumbling down as items shift in transit.

Our favorite place in New Brunswick is the quaint community of St. Andrews By The Sea. When we first came to the town, we'd stay at the Windsor House Inn, a beautiful property right on the main drag through town. Moneypenny gave them a full four paws on her visit - they spoiled her royally. A few years back we bought our first RV and stayed at the Kiwanis Campground out on the point in the town. We enjoyed our visit at the campground and returned 2 other years before this year. Prior to this year's trip, our visits to St. Andrews have been during "low season", i.e., not during July and August.

We phoned the campground to see if they'd have room for us for 2 nights and they managed to find us some space. We asked about staying 1 more night, so we'd be in town for Canada Day, but they are so full already, there are people "dry camping" or boondocking in the field in front of the rows of RVs. If you have an RV with slides and awnings, you want to put them out as soon as you get on your site so the next unit to pull in beside you knows how much room you need. We saw 2 units so close to each other, they were sharing the shade from 1 awning.

Later today we'll head out and return to a very small, quite campground in Hawkshaw, NB that we stayed at 2 years ago. The view from the campground is wonderful as they've terraced their sites and you look on to the St. John River. Not much to see or do there, but that's what vacations are all about. And we'll want a few quite days after yesterday's trial.

We had taken Rugby out for a walk and a chance to chase his ball. Moneypenny hadn't seemed interested in a walk at that time, so she was left behind in the camper. While playing ball, we noticed a deer feeding along the road and it seemed to be intrigued by our 4 legged creature as it moved in the same direction as us. After the deer left, we headed back to the campground down a trail blazed through the woods behind the campground. After crossing a small wooden bridge, Rugby started acting extremely weird - whimpering, shaking paws, trying to lick them, kicking out in a spasm twitch. We quickly felt his pads for burrs, thorns or rocks but found nothing.

We got back to the camper as quickly as we could and tried to calm Rugby down. He raced about like a crazed creature and wouldn't let us touch his paws. Because we had no idea of what was going on, we got on the internet and found the number for a local vet. We were blessed that there was a vet in the town, and although it was 4:47pm on the day before a major holiday weekend, the vet would be in and we could come by - only a 5 minute drive. As we headed towards the vet, we were trying to remember exactly where we were and what happened when I remembered seeing small ants on the bridge when we had crossed it earlier in the day - could they have been fire ants I wondered? (I thought they were in the southern U.S., but perhaps they were in the Canadian Maritime region.

The vet saw us immediately on arrival and when we made the comment about ants, confirmed that there were indeed fire ants in the region and combined with our description of Rugby's actions, felt it was indeed the reason for his behavior. Dr. Sandra Holdway, DVM quickly checked Rugby over and then gave him an injection. The entire time time we were at the vet, I was thinking in my mind about how much an after hours, holiday weekend, emergency visit was going to cost. The emergency call portion of the bill was only $90 Cdn. Total bill was $200 Cdn. A major relief for us. And hopefully the pet insurance we have will cover a portion of this.

Rugby rested well all night and seems none the worse for wear this morning. Maybe Moneypenny skipped that walk intentionally.

Time to get the camper ready for the road. Happy Canada Day from us in Canada and Happy Fourth of July for the U S - bookends for the weekend. May the only fireworks you experience be in the skies at night.