Hello, Bonjour! That welcome phrase is very common in Canada, as many Canadians speak French and English. In fact, Canada is one of a few countries that have two official languages and most of their signs and maps are in both English and French.
With a long drive from Acadia NP to the first province New Brunswick, we were hoping to spot some moose or other wildlife. We saw plenty of prime habitat, but no luck on the moose. The border crossing was not busy at all, in fact we were the only car! The Canadian guard asked us a bunch of questions:
How long are you staying? Where are you from? What is the purpose of your trip? Have you been to Canada before? What is your job? Do the dogs have current rabies documentation? Are you carrying any alcohol or tobacco with you? Are you transporting any firearms or weapons?
Everything went really smooth, although we had to dig around the car for the dog folders with rabies documentation. We also found it interesting that we had to declare that we had bear spray with us, and he asked to see the size of the canister.
After entering New Brunswick, some obvious things changed. Speed limits were now posted in kilometers per hour, road signs had both English and French, and the gas is sold in liters not gallons. Other than that, the countryside looked very similar to the northeastern United States.
We didn’t make any stops in New Brunswick other than for gas and food, but we will be returning to this province later in the trip when we visit Fundy National Park. Our destination for the night was Prince Edward Island (PEI), the smallest Canadian province. There are only two ways to get to the island by car, either the Confederation Bridge which is 8 miles long or a ferry from Nova Scotia to PEI. Both options are pretty expensive toll, the bridge being $47 and the ferry is $78 Canadian Dollars. However, you only pay the fare on your way off the island. We drove the bridge into Prince Edward Island and then took the ferry to Nova Scotia. That route also helped us save some travel and gas miles. We crossed the Confederation Bridge right around sunset, so it provided some beautiful photos when we got to the other side.
The National Park on PEI really reminded us of Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. The views were incredible and the towns were quaint and cute. The National Park is a thin strip of coastline that is separated in three segments- Cavendish area, Stanhope area, and Greenwich area. We stayed at the campground in Stanhope, and the facilities were really nice. With visiting so many US National Parks, this was my first national park experience outside of the US. I really liked how this park focused on sustainability and recycling. For example, they had a compost bin right next to the trash and recycling bins, and they had pictures and writing explaining to visitors what goes in each bin. I would really like the United States to provide compost options for residents in town and with school lunches. The amount of organic waste that gets mixed in with trash is astounding and it’s pretty easy to separate the different waste. The other notable thing the PEI National Park did was give you a burlap sack for your firewood, and you filled it yourself. This is not only a reusable bag as an alternative to plastic wrap, but then you could also choose the wood that you wanted. I want the US National Parks to take some notes about the compost bins and reusable firewood sacks.
The following day, we visited the historic town, Cavendish. This cute town on the coast is home to one of the most famous Canadians, Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables. L.M. Montgomery’s home and the fictional Anne’s home are both located in Cavendish. Anne of Green Gables is one of the best selling novels of all time, selling over 50 million copies. The home and farm of Anne is a National Historic Site, managed by Parks Canada and is a part of Prince Edward Island National Park. This site was the busiest place in the National Park, with families from all over the world coming to see Anne’s home. It was pretty cool to see young girls so excited to be there and stand in the footprints of a fictional character.
It was almost like you could sense the magic and imagination in that space. Being there reminded me of when I was a little girl and loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books so much. My mom and I went to the Laura sites when I was 8-11 years old, and I will never forget the memories of running barefoot on the banks of Plum Creek and wearing a sundress like my favorite pioneer girl. Many of the girls at Anne’s home were dressed up and had their hair in pigtails, and a few had a straw sun hat on as well.
From Green Gables, we went to the Cavendish beach area. Dogs aren’t allowed on National Park beaches, but we were able to hike along the coastline and Dunelands trail, walking 4 miles in total. Canada’s National Parks have a trademark with red adirondack chairs set up along beautiful lookouts. The two red chairs were empty when we arrived to Oceanview point, and we soaked up the sun and the sounds of the waves. It was so relaxing we actually took a 30 minute snooze! It may have been the most beautiful setting for a nap of the entire trip. After making it back to the main beach area, we enjoyed some ice cream – I had sea salt caramel and Melissa ordered wild blueberry. Both were delicious!
The next morning was an early one – I couldn’t sleep and was wide awake at 4:30 am. Our campsite was only a ¼ mile from the beach, so I got up to see a beautiful sunrise. It was so peaceful to see the beginning of a day and have the entire beach to myself. I saw a Great Blue Heron and several other birds and watched as the sun peeked over the horizon. I’m always in amazement how fast the sun comes up, in just a matter of seconds its much higher in the sky. It was a good thing I got up as early as I did because I needed to catch up on the blog and we also had to be on the road by 8 am. As I said before, we opted to take the ferry across the Northumbeland Strait from PEI to Nova Scotia, and we were an hour drive away from the ferry terminal. The ferry left at 9:30 am, and we arrived at 9:10. The ferry crossing takes about 75 minutes, and it was a nice change of pace from all the car traveling we had been doing. We enjoyed a nice breakfast on board and got some great views leaving PEI and entering Nova Scotia. Next up – Cape Breton Highlands National Park and all things Nova Scotia!
Pasch Travels 