Halifax

Our first day in Halifax was largely spent resting and catching up on laundry. We did get out for a few hours to explore. We made our way up the large hill that dominates the downtown landscape. Halifax is and has long been a major port for Canada due to it's large, ice-free harbor. To protect this resource a series of citadels have occupied the top of this hill.

The next day we went to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, which had hundreds of ship models of every kind. There were also special exhibits on tug boats, the Titanic, and the Halifax Explosion. The Halifax Explosion occured in 1917 as a result of a ship collision with another vessel carrying war time explosives. 2000 people died and 9000 were injured. It remains the largest man-made accidental explosion to date. The exhibit was both interesting and tragic.





While in Halifax we wandered around the Public Gardens, heard bagpipes play, walked around the university, and drank in an Irish Pub. We relaxed and reflected, and tried to prepare ourselves for returning to our lives back home. We are going to miss the Maritimes and there is a part of us that wants to stay. But the part of us that misses our pets and realizes that vacations are less fun without a source of income won out, so tomorrow we return home.




Thanks for traveling with us!


-- Post From Shawn's iPhone

Route Overview

Just a map to put things in perspective.

Here's where we drove:

View Directions to Halifax, NS, Canada in a larger map

Zoom and pan around the map to make labels show up. Hope that helps things make more sense . . .

~Shawn

Fundy Fossils

July 11 and 12

This morning we awoke to an excellent breakfast of blueberry pancakes. We met several other people staying at Fitzroy hall and for the first time encountered Americans, two groups actually. Also for the first time on this trip I fielded a question about what I did, and breakfast turned into a quasi-lecture as an obviously fascinated guy from Maryland peppered me with questions about my work and going down in Alvin. It has been really nice to completely not think about work for a while, but I find myself newly energized to think about it now.

After breakfast we left Charlottetown and Prince Edward Island heading toward New Brunswick and the Bay of Fundy. Bay of Fundy is world famous as having the highest tides on Earth, an average of 35 feet with a record high of over 55 feet. We began at Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park where we watched the tide come in and even hiked down to the beach (otherwise known as bottom of the bay) and watched the waters quickly rush in. We then headed down the shore to the national park where we hiked a couple of trails and took an “auto trail”.

We stopped over again at the Residence Inn in Moncton and set off Sunday morning to explore the other (Nova Scotia) coast of Fundy. Fundy has played a very important role in paleontology and development of biological theory. The Bay is a rift formed as Africa and North America separated and very nearly severed the mainland of Nova Scotia from New Brunswick, but not quite. It is actually this long tapering shape, which is responsible for the high tides. It also exposed sheer cliffs on each side exposing the geologic and fossil record.

Our next destination, Joggins Fossil Cliffs (a UNESCO world heritage site), is the site where Charles Lyell and Richard Dawson did their groundbreaking work which formed a cornerstone of key theories developed and supported by Darwin, Huxley, Wallace, and others. This may sound boring to the non-biologists out there, but for a biologist this is a very special place. It was also very special as there were so many fossils just sitting on the beach waiting to be discovered. The high tides turn over and erode away new material every day, so this is an endless treasure trove of fossils. A highlight of our trip!

We continued our trip along the Fundy shore, visiting the Fundy Geology Museum where numerous fossils including pieces of the Burgess Shale are on display. Had a dinner and a wonderful butterscotch pie on the water, then continued to our final stop: a three night stay in Halifax. It has been great touring around, but we are both looking forward to sitting in one place for a few days to recover before heading home.

~Shawn

The white way of delight

July 10

I woke to a slightly sleepy “Happy Birthday!” today from Shawn, (and appreciate everyone’s well wishes to which I have now received!). Today we went to Prince Edward Island. I have wanted to come here since I was 10 and read L.M. Montgomery’s description of what must be a truly magical place. We crossed over the Confederation Bridge and were met with scenery quite unlike any we have seen this trip. Instead of mountains and rugged coastlines, there were gentle hills, idealic farmland and warm sandy beaches. We toured the home that inspired Anne’s Green Gables and even walked down Lovers Lane and through the Haunted Wood. I couldn’t stop smiling.

After enjoying a lunch of P.E.I. mussels, we drove along the shore where we saw a Great Blue Herron and an Arctic Tern. It was very warm today and the tern which was in it’s southern most range, seemed to wish it were just a bit cooler. We ended the day in Charlottetown, where we checked into the beautiful and elegant Fitzroy Hall. We went for a walk around the quaint downtown, where I found a great used bookstore, that had such a good collection I could have spent the rest of our trip there. We found a local brewery and enjoyed a honey wheat and a stout with an absolutely delectable maple curry beef dish. All in all, great day and a wonderful Birthday present.

~Sara

Comings and goings

July 8 and 9

After taking our leave from the Cape Anguille Lighthouse we set off in search of another. On our way to admire the recently restored Rose Blanche lighthouse we took a scenic drive through the beautiful Codroy valley, which is well know for the variety of birds that can be found there. This trip (and the awesome iPhone app, iBird) have inspired Shawn and I to become novice birders. The lighthouse was lovely and commanded a beautiful view of the Cabot Strait. As we then drove to meet the ferry that would take us back to Nova Scotia, we soaked in all we could of the picturesque green and granite island we have come to love.

The weather was favorable for our ferry trip back to North Sydney, NS and we crossed with out difficulty. We stayed at the same B&B on our return and were welcomed back as family. The next morning we woke to a wonderful breakfast and adorable company in our hostess. Shawn helped her with her computer while I finished getting ready to go. Today we were going to see the rest of the Cabot Trail. We were impressed at the views and the inclines and declines and the wonderful weather in which we enjoyed it all. We kept our eyes on the water hoping to glimpse some whales, but only saw cormorants and Herring gulls. After a couple of leisurely hikes we finished off our day by driving to Moncton, New Brunswick, a short distance from the Confederation Bridge, which we are going to cross tomorrow.

~Sara

Continental Drift

July 7

This morning we decided to hike the Phillips Garden trail along the Port au Choix coast. This is an excellent fishing area and formerly was also home to walruses and large seal colonies. Prior to the first French settlers, this area was occupied four different times by groups including paleo Eskimos. After a brief stop in the visitor center and lighthouse at the national historic site, we set off heading south down the coast. Weather was much better than the last time we drove this way and we made good time. The route passes right through the northern part of Gros Morne, so we couldn’t resist stopping for one last hike and chose a trail leading to the mouth of Western Brook. We were amazed by the evidence of the tectonic forces that folded the land here. Parts of the seabed have been pushed upward so that they form vertical sheets that read like a book of time as you walk further down the beach. All throughout these layers are various fossils which we excitedly searched for. This landscape of Newfoundland was the place that gave birth to the ideas that formed Wegener’s theory of plate tectonics, and looking around the island it is hard to not notice evidence of tectonics in action at every turn.

We then sadly departed Gros Morne and set out for the Cape Anguille Lighthouse on the southwestern corner of the island. This was our stop for the night as we managed to arrange a stay in one of four rooms available in the former lightkeepers quarters. It was a very beautiful setting with mountains in the backdrop, lighthouse right out our window, and a view that opened out to the sea. We enjoyed a beautiful and peaceful sunset (around 10pm). Sara took MANY pictures including some really cool after dark photos of the lighthouse.

It was a fun, but bittersweet day, as it is our last full day on this island that we have both grown very attached to. I have no doubt that we will return someday, as we have only managed to explore a small portion of this beautiful place.

~Shawn

Picture Post

The sun came up at 4am in St. Anthony today.

It was still raining and the wind was blowing, as demonstrated by the Canadian flag. It was about 5 degrees Celsius.

Due to the weather, we had to cancel our plans to take an iceberg boat tour. But we saw some from shore anyway.

We actually saw more than 30 icebergs!

We also went to the first Viking settlement in North America at L' Anse aux Meadows
The wind was still blowing...

We are amused by Canadian signage...

And on the way to Port au Choix the sun came out.

Which left us all smiling.

The end.

Midnight sun...sorta

This whole trip we have enjoyed long days due to our high latitude, with light until well after 10pm. Tonight we are as far north as we will go. Even though the sun will be beyond the horizon from about 10pm until 5am, we will have continual astronomical twilight. This means that there will be a glow on the horizon from the sun all night long. Not enough to see by, but still pretty neat.


-- Post From Shawn's iPhone

The Viking Trail

July 5th

We set off this afternoon along the western coast of Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula. This route is known as the Viking Trail and ends at the northernmost point of the island. The harsh winter conditions were apparent in the numerous construction zones along the way, several of these involved stripping portions of the highway back to a gravel base and we spent a lot of time inching along through these sections. The weather deteriorated as we drove, but the cold, wind, and rain really seems to fit the place, imparting a natural beauty of their own. After paralleling the Labrador coast for a while the route cuts across the interior of the peninsula for the last 60km to St. Anthony on the Northeastern coast. This last leg is as remote as any area I have ever traveled through with no towns and little evidence of humans beyond the shoulders of the road. To top off our drive, as we rounded one of the last turns before reaching St. Anthony Sara excitedly pointed out the first iceberg of our trip!

After checking in to our B&B we struck out for dinner. We ended up at a former lightkeeper's cottage turned restaurant, where we enjoyed excellent food and a stunning, if stormy, view of our second iceberg floating by. An excellent ending for our day!

Posted by Shawn

A walk in the woods

July,, 3-4

Summer is short here, the plants know this well and make good use of the season. So, right now, every growing thing is green and racing toward reproduction before it turns cold again. There are multitudes of wild flowers in every available niche and the conifers are laden with new pine cones. This all makes for very pleasant hiking. We saw lovely landscapes and beautiful flowers, and some spectacular waterfalls. We walked through enchanted forests, deserted tablelands, along the rocky coast, through peat bogs, and beside fresh water ponds. With every step we saw things that were unspeakably beautiful and all we could do is pinch ourselves and relish in the fact that we were here.

It got even better....one walk turned into a ride when we took a boat cruise on Western Brook Pond. The "pond" was once a glacier carved fjord, that has since been cut off from the ocean. It is also MUCH larger than what you think of as a pond being ten miles long. For our science friends, it is one of a very few ultraoligotrophic, pristine freshwater lakes in existence. It is 350+ meters deep in some places and is surrounded by sheer granite cliffs rising as much as 2000 ft above the water surface. It is a very unique body of water in that its water volume turns over only once every 16 years (as opposed to several times a year for many lakes/ponds). The isolation of the place is brought home by the fact that we had to hike 3.5km to get to the boat dock and were told that the boat had to be brought in four pieces by helicopter.

We left a little of our souls here in Gros Morne and are already making plans for a return trip. For now...it has started to rain, and we are now going in search of Vikings and Icebergs.

Posted by Sara (with contributions by Shawn)

Bullwinkle

For some reason I have always thought of moose as a quintessential symbol of wilderness. I've traveled to "Moose Country" several times in my life, but each time have failed to spot one. I've had plenty of encounters with their cousins, deer, elk, etc., but for some reason moose always seem elusive and special.

We arrived at Gros Morne National Park Friday afternoon and decided to spend the rest of the day exploring the southern part of the park. About a kilometer into the first trail we decided to explore we came across a large bull moose only a few feet from the trail. At first we kept our distance, but slowly worked our way closer and got to take some really close up pictures of him. It was a really cool experience.

Moose are not native to Newfoundland. Two were introduced in the late 1800 from nearby Nova Scotia. Thinking that the introduction had failed, four more were brought in from New Brunswick in the early 1900's. From these six moose there are now over 100,000 moose on the island of Newfoundland, with Gros Morne National Park now boasting the world's highest density of moose, dwarfing the population of the native caribou. They have become almost a nuisance in some areas and are responsible for numerous fatal car accidents each year.

Posted by Shawn

New found land

July, 2-3

We finally made it. It took us a couple more days than planed, and we are in a different part of the island than we had planed, but we are here. Here, is where the Vikings explored in the eleventh century, where continents collided, and home to a unique culture influenced by the french, and irish, by the land itself, but mostly by the cod. Newfoundland (pronounced by the locals as New-fin-LAND).

Our ferry didn't get in until 2:00am due to the fog, and after a little trouble we found our hotel. We stayed at an inn that had real brass room keys, and country music from the early nineties playing in the lobby. It was dated, but clean and comfortable. The next morning we started the 3 hour drive to Gros Morne National Park. Along the way, the sky cleared and we saw some of the most amazing scenery, but it was only an appetizer for what was to come.

Posted by Sara

Northward bound

Greetings from the Gulf of St. Lawrence! Impressively, our Newfoundland-bound ferry has wireless internet (. . . although very slow).

Today was a lot of fun. We rose at 6, so we could take advantage of our time on Cape Breton Island. Our hostess at the B&B prepared us an excellent breakfast, including a very tasty quiche with sausage.







We then set off for the famous Cabot Trail which traverses the Cape Breton Highlands. The area is absolutely beautiful with dense forests, swift streams, cascading waterfalls, and beautiful ocean views. In a lot of ways it reminded me of coastal Washington or British Columbia (which is among my favorite places). We spent half the day driving up the coast and briefly venturing across the interior which is more remote and comes complete with many moose crossing signs. We had no actual moose sightings, but did see an enormous bald eagle resting on a rock a short distance from us.



The national park is interspersed with private land and we were very suprised at how many for sale signs we saw. Some of the properties were right on the water and had spectacular mountain views. Very nice spot for a summer retreat.



We then retraced our route back to North Sydney and boarded our ferry. Tomorrow morning we drive to Gros Morne National Park and its even more remote wildeness. Internet may be hard to come by, but we will try to stay in touch.

~Shawn

"I now walk . . . into the wild." - Alexander Supertramp (a.k.a. Christopher McCandliss)

Success!

July, 1 2009 (uploaded later)


Not only did we arrive in Halifax without incident, (except that I tragically left my book I was reading on the plane with my favorite bookmark) we hired a car and brought it all the way to Cape Breton. Along the way we took in some lovely scenery, though it did get mistier and foggier as we drove north. We stopped at a town called Antigonish along the way, primarily because I liked the sound of its name when I said it out loud, which I did frequently enough that Shawn (who was driving) was compelled to stop. It was a cute little university town that had an interesting looking used bookstore, which was of course closed for Canada Day.






I love how everything is also in French.







Further down the road we passed through St. Peter’s (a small town, not the actual saint) which was also quaint, although it seemed to distinguish itself by painting all of its fire hydrants to look like cartoon characters. There was Tweety Bird and Marvin the Martian, Goofy and others. On the outskirts of town they became more contemporary; Homer Simpson and South Park characters. But we almost swerved off the road from laughing at the very last hydrant on the way out of town…it was none other than South Park’s infamous Mr. Hanky.

Now we are cuddled up in an adorable bed and breakfast that is well-cared for by an adorable innkeeper who has been staying up late and making breakfast early for patrons “all by herself” for 18 years.
We are so glad to be here, and to have new reservations to replace the old, and to catch up on our sleep and to wake up to coffee and quiche and waffles and crumpets. Hopefully we will also wake up to clear(er) skies, although it is so refreshingly cool here, even with the humidity, that it doesn’t really matter to us, it is all beautiful.





Posted by Sara

Enter Canada: Check!

We finally made it into the air and have landed in Toronto!

Unfortunatley we also found out that we can't catch a ferry for Newfoundland until tomorrow night (all full . . . Canada Day?). This very sadly means that we will have to cancel our Labrador/Quebec portion of our trip. But we are excited that we will get to spend extra time at Cape Breton and Gros Morne National Parks instead!

Here's to an uneventful flight to Halifax!

Take 2

So...after New York's tower refused to let any planes escape around the storm yesterday, we found ourselves spending a night in the lovely Philly airport Marriott. Our room overlooked the runway, and it was very cool to watch the air traffic as we replanned our vacation. Then we settled down for a quick (4 hour) nap, and are now eagerly awaiting our new flight to Halifax.


-- Post From Shawn's iPhone

Ok. Let's try this again...

Happy Canada Day everyone!






-- Post From Sara's iPhone

…and we are….

Grounded!

Well, there was this storm you see….somewhere….that was preventing many people from going anywhere, and causing many blood pressures to rise, and many people to get frustrated with airline employees, because they obviously control the weather and did this to spite everyone. Here is how we spent our first day on vacation…

We sat and waited for our plane to board…
We sat as it was delayed for 20 more minuets…

45 minuets later the pilot came over the sound system and told us the worst case scenario…could be 90 minuets more. But…he was optimistic, loaded the plane and taxied in line…so we could make a run for it.

We sat….
I read…
I napped…
We taxied back to the terminal…

After many lines, phone calls, we are now booked on a flight to Halifax tomorrow morning.
We will miss our air Canada flight to Deer Lake Newfoundland….which we can’t reschedule….which will mean we won’t be there to rent our car….which means that our highly scheduled plans are no longer scheduled…so for the next 15 days we will have the opportunity to be creative.

We are good at creative.

We nearly lost our luggage but found it again.
Checked into the airport hotel.
Ordered room service (which was very good), and got a new car reservation.
Took a shower, and got a wake up call for 3:45am.

Yay vacation!

PS. Shawn will have to tell you all about how this is somehow New York’s fault.

Posted by Sara

Airportage

We are taking advantage of arriving at the airport early by enjoying lunch and cold beverage. It is technically afternoon, so we don't feel bad at all.


-- Post From Sara's iPhone

All packed!

We had some help...





-- Post From Sata's iPhone