29: Wrapping it up after 6,000+ miles (10/20-25)

Driving on Sunday from Halifax to Portland was kind of a surprise.  We had planned to make the 600-mile distance in two segments, but the day was so beautiful and the roads so empty and effortless that we decided to run the entire distance.  And, much to our chagrin, when we stopped in St. John, New Brunswick, for a quick look-see, that's when we discovered there still is a ferry across the Bay of Fundy, from Digby, Nova Scotia.  *smack self on forehead*

Portland's got a great year-round ferry system to the numerous populated islands of Casco Bay.

Thanks, Deb, for recommending Flatbread restaurant to us, where we had lunch twice because the first time wasn't enough.  Loved the menu covers, each a unique work of art.

One of the things we really liked about Portland is that it's a real working port, both for shipping and fishing.

So many varieties of oysters, so little time.

Portland Head Light, at the entrance to Portland's harbor.

And so we scooted on down to Rye, New York for the last two nights of our trip to visit with our cousins, Eero and Soile. Closing our trip with them made for a perfect and warm transition back to the land of doing our own dishes.  Our homecoming day was marked by the fact that it was our 27th wedding anniversary, and with a welcoming stop for home-made curried butternut squash soup at Deb's (Phil being away) in Oley, PA.  Deb let me glean some last-of-summer goodies from her garden, a lovely gift to bring him to an empty refrigerator.

The scale at home says….we both had way too much fun.  Time to say good-bye to pastries, artisan pizza, great local beer, and instead focus on veggies and lean proteins, do tons of laundry, and get the storm windows on the house.  A scolding cat, hard freeze, and baskets of mail make for our welcoming committee, all very much appreciated.

Thank-you for your comments and kind words.  Although I started out doing this as a memory-jogger for me and Allen, it's nice to know we've shared our stories with you, too, and I hope I haven't been too…..whatever about it all.  Karin

28: Halifax, Nova Scotia (10/17-19)

In Halifax, houses in a nice neighborhood back right up to the working elevators.

Who knew Samuel Cunard was from Nova Scotia and the ship line makes its home here??

My favorite Halifax apartment building, just because.

Haligonian municipal humor.

Halifax has a wonderful, lengthy boardwalk promenade lined with real working boats, museums, places to eat.

Loved watching the goings-on at the coming Nova Centre mixed used high-rise in the heart of downtown.

Again, at The Citadel, Allen makes for information back-and-forth conversation with the re-enactors, all extremely knowledgeable students from the local university.  This guy's outfit, btw, costs about $10,000 to replace.  I asked about it after pricing $275 tartan-pattern socks in a kilt shop in St. Peter.

Halifax harbour from Citadel Hill.

Interior of the Citadel.

Just like in Washington, historic facades are maintained against new structures.

The Lt. Governor's Mansion

Another cool mansion, where, upon closer inspection...

...I saw the Finnish Konsulat emblem, so of course I entered to ask about it.  Turns out it's a sweet deal between the law firm owning this building and The Finnish government in order to accommodate immigration and emigration paperwork for Finns in Nova Scotia.

And lo and behold, while walking by the Radisson, I noticed a Dale Chihuly fixture in the lobby.  Turns out it had just been installed the day before and I knew more about it and the artist than did the folks at the front desk.

We pretended we were foodies and visited the #1 Trip Advisor restaurant in Halifax, Stories.  Meal was wonderful, reasonable, and the star was this scallops-en-rice-paper-envelope appetizer.

From the MacDonald Bridge.

Davenport Farmer's Market

Maple syrup cotton candy vendors; why yes, we did!

Downtown Halifax from Davenport

Eastern Passage south of downtown Halifax

Saturday night brought "Nocturne," an annual performance/visual arts evening taking place in 100+ venues across central Halifax.

Nocturne included an open-house tour of the Lt. Governor's mansion.

In the Lt. Gov's house, the Queen is featured prominently in some great portraits and awful busts.

Formal Dining Room.  Our tour guide was a Mountie, a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who was a volunteer aide in mansion.

Hockey mask art

But the evening's highlight was a pole dancer who could hold on through any number of tough contortions.  Allen was mesmerized ;-)

27: Thanksgiving Day Cabot Trail Drive: lots of trees and rocks and one more moose (10/14)

We decided to spend Canadian Thanksgiving Day driving along the Cabot Trail and doing a bit of the east portion of Cape Breton Highlands National Park. It was a perfect day, weather-wise, and because it was a national holiday, we were by far not the only ones on the road.

We chose to take a shorter route involving the Englishtown ferry, a one-minute hop across a causeway opening to Lake Bras D'or (which is Canada's largest inland lake, btw). Because it was a nice day and the holiday, we waited 45 minutes for the privilege, much to our chagrin.

Cape Breton Highlands National Park is just one indescribably stunning scene after another, especially when autumn colors are at their absolute peak.

We enjoyed the east coast of our journey so much that we decided to continue and do the full Cabot Trail north circuit, including all of the national park.  For that we were rewarded with views of an amazing fault valley, the Aspy Fault.

Running perpendicular to the fault was a hanging glacier valley, something I learned about in college but had never seen for myself before now.

Looking to the north...

...and to the south.

The hills along the park road are impressively steep in spots, so much so that you wonder if your car is going to make it....

...and then you're rewarded with yet another incredulity as you go over the top.

And wonder of wonders, our third moose sighting!!  We saw this cow about 3:00 in the afternoon, so the warnings of watch for moose at dusk haven't applied to us at all (saw one at 9:00 a.m., and a pair at noon for our other sightings).

It was hard to get good photos when we got to the west coast, as we were driving into the sun.