One More Night in Paradise - September 26, 2012

This morning I woke to the most breathtaking sunrise of our trip.  Like always I view every sunrise amazing, it simply signifies to me a chance to experience something more amazing than the previous day.  If you consider the Sailor’s Mantra though, the beauty in today’s sunrise could heed warning, “Red sky at night, sailors delight; red sky in morning, sailors take warning.”  If I were a sailor today, I’d listen to the mantra!  Sure enough, within 20 minutes of the sun disappearing behind the clouds, the wind became intense and it began to drizzle. 

Our hopes to stay another day in St. Andrews were somewhat squashed when the weather turned.  We thought it might be in our best interest to finish up the things we wanted to do and see here in St. Andrews and use the damp, dark day as a travel day in order to reduce the length of drives which lay ahead of us in order to get home.  Some last minute shopping, a walk to see a few more sights not yet discovered and perhaps a visit to the Aquarium would wrap up our day here in St. Andrews.  Unfortunately, the morning dragged on a little too long and we decided to not do the Aquarium, but instead head to St. Stephens, the Boarder Crossing City to Maine, about 20 minutes north-west of St. Andrews-By-The-Sea.  (The city is known as the “Chocolate City” – need I say more?)

St. Stephens was, well, not what we expected.  With only a stone throw away from St. Andrews, we figured it would be fairly similar with its own twist of beauty.  Once again, maybe because the day was dark and drizzly, it looked to both of us a “tired” town.  The streets were narrow and busy and the shops appeared run down and in need of some serious attention.  The folks in the visitor centre which overlooked the St. JCroix River were extremely nice and helpful.  Having said this though, Gloria and her staff directed us to a dinner for lunch, which was probably my first meal of disappointment on this trip. (It was bound to happen at some point and time!)  She also directed us to the Chocolate Museum Factory and Store outlet, and to a “lovely gift shop” just down the street from there.  First, I would not buy anything from the gift shop, maybe even if they were giving items out for free!  I know that sounds harsh, but I could not possibly begin to describe what we experienced in this shop with any positive spin.

By the time we arrived at the Chocolate Museum, Ken needed to use the facilities.  We had to pay an admittance charge in order for us to access the washrooms!  We weren’t sure we were going to do the museum, but the opportunities for other options were not in our favour!  So we paid our $13.00 entrance fee, used the facilities and then ate at least $15 of chocolates, truffles and candy!  I guess we got our money’s worth!  I forgot my camera in the truck, so unfortunately there are no pictures to share.  Admittedly, you didn’t miss much.  It was interesting, but if it weren’t for the samples, I am not sure I would go out of my way for it.  Besides, when we went into the store, they had FREE samples there – no charge for admission.

In returning to the truck, we found ourselves once again back on the road, winding our way over the curves and hills of highway 3.  Before we left the St. Stephens area we found a roadside market that specialized in local blueberry delicacies. We purchased a few things along with some peaches and cream corn for tonight’s supper and headed down the road.  It rained most of the trip.  We really didn’t know where we might stop for the night, but we reviewed 3 options the night before; Woodstock NB, Grand Falls NB or Edmundston NB.  As you may recall one of our previous blogs about Grand Falls, I was routing for this as our overnight stop, but it was Ken driving today as I was not feeling 100%, and I left the decision to him based on how he felt as we went along.

 

The drive was magnificent.  The tree lined Trans Canada highway was bounding with beauty of colourful displays of yellows, oranges, reds and greens.  Place that pictured image with the occasional backdrop of winding rivers and patchwork gridded farms and the images are like candy to an artist’s eye.

Ken pulled into Grand Falls at about 6:45, and this time we did not get lost getting here!  Like old pros, we wheeled through the town, made our way to the campground within the town and parked.  Both of us somewhat happy to get out and stretch our legs and once again use the facilities, only to find the public washrooms were locked!  The gates to the campground were open, but in reality, the campground was closed for the season!  We were both committed to driving no further.  We found a post with hydro (not all the sites had their hydro operational), dropped the trailer and then set out to find “back up facilities” which we could rely on during our stay.

The park is small and very lovely.  It’s one of those gems we wouldn’t have likely found, if it weren’t for our visit to the visitors centre here in Grand Falls at the start of our trip.  There’s a beautiful lookout over the canyon right within the park, only steps away from where we parked the TC.  The dispite the limited washroom access, the price was certainly right - FREE!! 

As darkness approached us, we headed in, heated up some hamburgers cooked the other night and cooked our corn on the cobs.  Supper never tasted so good!  A few beverages later (careful not to over do it with our limited facilities) I was heading for bed.  Tomorrow we will tour the town of Grand Falls, then continue on…stopping when we stop, exploring whatever the stop has to offer, all the while making our way back home.

It was hard to get my head around the idea of leaving the Maritimes today.  Tomorrow we will likely find ourselves somewhere in the province of Quebec again.  It’s the memories we have experienced that are helping me adjust to the fact this trip is winding down.  It will be good to see everyone back home.  It will also be good to find ourselves in bigger living quarters!   We love our TC hand over fist, but you wouldn’t catch us living in it full time.  There is something to be said about the stability and groundedness  (if that’s a word!) one experiences by always having that little place we call “home’.  I promise you though, we won’t be rushing to get there – we still have 3 nights and 4 days left!

From our last night in New Brunswick, we bid you good night!

"Au Revoir mes chères amis du Nouveau-Brunswick"

Goodbye my friends of New Brunswick,

Until we chat again!

Ken and Tricia