THE MARITIMES
PEI - PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
At the time of our visit there was only one way to get to this
charming little island - by
giant
ferry. In fact we were here during the winter and it was
amazing to see how these ferries cut through huge and very thick ice flows.
It made quite a racket inside the cabin. Now folks can drive directly to
the island over the
Confederation Bridge. It opened to the public in 1997.
We spent nearly all of our time in PEI's biggest city -
Charlottetown.
One of my fondest memories on this trip was the unbelievably
calm and serene shoreline along the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It looked like
the Arctic -- completely frozen -- and walking along the edge there was
absolutely no noise because there were no waves. It was completely frozen.
The only noise came from the wind occasionally whistling by.
We stayed at the
Rodd Royalty
Inn and Suites Hotel. The kids absolutely loved the big indoor
pool and overall, it was a nice place.
We were pretty lazy on this trip and didn't do much exploring.
But there are some good sites to help you make your plans including the
Prince Edward Island Visitors
Guide and PEI Tourism.
Seafood abounds here especially in the summer time and the
island is world famous for its tender, plump, juicy, succulent
mussels.
One restaurant that we sampled was just great -
Lobster on the Wharf. My wife and I started our meals with a cup
of seafood chowder and then wolfed down a couple of lobsters.
NEW BRUNSWICK
During our whirlwind tour of the Maritimes we managed to spend
only a night in the nice little town of
St. John. And
getting there was the interesting thing.
We had driven our car onto a ferry on the Nova Scotia side of
the Bay of Fundy for the six hour crossing aboard a very big ferry. It
looked like it wanted to snow as we shoved off and the sun faded to clouds.
Later, it really let loose. It probably snowed 10 inches during the
crossing and when we arrived in
St. John, roads were really bad. Ironically the crossing, despite
the raging snowstorm, wasn't too rough.
We'll definitely be spending more time in the Maritimes and
highly suggest it to you.
NOVA SCOTIA
Halifax
is an invigorating city even in the winter time. It is also home to a huge
Canadian submarine base. You see them coming and going all the time.
At least we did.
The city sits on the waterfront with nice views. We spent
a couple of nights here and just drove around and enjoyed the various sites.
Our hotel was the
Holiday Inn Select and it was a very nice facility with a nice indoor
pool.
We weren't doing restaurant reviews at the time of our visit so
I can't help you there. But this is a very nice waterfront town.
Digby
is billed as the scallop capital of the world. And you know what?
If there is a better, fresher, more tender scallop anywhere in the world, I've
never bumped into him. The only thing that came even close--believe it or
not---were giant deep fried scallops at a buffet restaurant in Myrtle Beach,
South Carolina and of course, those had to have been delivered to the restaurant
frozen.
We sampled these beauties at a place called the
Fundy Restaurant. It
sits right on the waterfront and the fried scallops were out of this
world. We highly recommend this place to you.
The nearby Bay of Fundy
is home to the wildest tides in the world! They vary by up to 22 feet and
one river actually flows in two directions depending on whether there's an
incoming or outgoing tide. When driving your car onto a ferry sometimes
you drive up the ramp and sometimes you drive down the ramp at the
same ferry landing depending on those wild tides!
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