Jul 21-Aug 4 2024

The rest of July we had more soccer camp. Evelyn enjoyed playing soccer! 

Now that Melanie is back, she got roped into coaching for soccer camp too.

Jennifer also had fun!

I did a lot of chatting.

Matthew worked hard trying to get the little kids to play soccer.

And Daniel helped him out.

Nathan was asked to help at Campfire again because they needed more male counsellors.

Evelyn worked on crafts. Paper mache and paint is always a fun combo for her.

Daniel practised his stilt walking regularly.

Then it was time to pack for a camping trip. I needed some help from my girls to stay motivated.

Our daily food piling up! It'll be heavy by the end!

Jul 19, 20 2024 journey home

Time to head back to Ontario. Melanie is on her way back from Korea as well, but she will be arriving before we get there. Fortunately Nathan, who has been looking after the home has offered to pick her up. Packing up.

 Unpacking.

Last night in a tent for a while!

Packing up. For the last time. Yay!

Home at last. All of us! There is no place like home!

Jul 18 Fortress of Louisbourg

The Fortress of Louisbourg was a highlight of this trip for me. We arrived on a foggy day...and apparently that is really typical. Just a short distance away the weather is sunny, but right here where they made a fortress, it is almost always cold and foggy.

There are so many well preserved historic buildings that you can tour through. A lot of them have a few people dressed up to match the era, and letting you know what life was like when they would have lived.

We got to hear all about how to shoot a musket, and how difficult and dangerous they are to use.

Apparently this fort changed hands between the French and the English several times. 

 

Once we couldn't take in any more sights, we drove out of the fog to a sunny beach. We could see the fog hanging over Fort Louisbourg from our sunny seats. We enjoyed a (relatively) bug free dinner. Not entirely sand free, though.

Jennifer caught a little crab. Then we headed back to our campsite for the night.

Jul 17 2024 Cabot Trail

 Our campsite near Baddeck was a waterfront property. But you couldn't access the water...we were on the top of a cliff. At night we could hear the bell on a buoy clanging far away. It sounded pretty neat, actually.

 After a luxurious breakfast we hit the road.

Opa and Oma joined us for a ride around the Cabot Trail. Lots of windy corners, and quite a number of quick stops for views and touring. 

 We did a few short walks. The longest one ended up being completely in the bush, going around a lake. It might have been Algonquin, including the heat and lack of water during a portage. We decided to opt out on any more walks and stick to views.

 

 Another stop, another view!

We also checked out a whale museum. We didn't stay long. Good thing the entrance fee wasn't much. In fact, most places we went in Nova Scotia were very affordable!

Jul 16 2024, Lunenburg

Lunenburg is a really pretty town! We only had time to see the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic because we had a longish drive to do yet and planned to meet Opa and Oma for dinner! They had been so kind as to go out of their way to Nova Scotia to meet visit with us. 

 We found lots of information about the Bluenose in the Museum. There was so much information here that we had to gloss over some of in by the end.

 We saved the best for last, which was the self guided tour of the flag ship schooner that was anchored next to the museum. 

 It made me think of the Hispaniola from Treasure Island...not a very big ship, but has everything you need.

Back on the road again.

And our home away from home. Opa and Oma met us here. In fact they even brought a home cooked dinner which we only had to heat up and enjoy. We had a great time visiting. Until the sun set and the bugs came out in hoards. Time for an early bedtime!

Jul 15 2024, Halifax

The next day we drove to Halifax and had a short visit with some old friends. We checked out the Citadel. It was very nice. And very hot.

The whole place is designed to protect Halifax and to attack any ships in the harbour. Now there are too many tall buildings in the way. 

Did I mention that it was hot? We all agreed that it would be worth hiking down from the fortress to the waterfront for some ice cream.

The ice cream was lovely and refreshing. Too bad the cooling effects didn't last long enough to make up for climbing all the way back up the hill again to the van.

 

The boats at the waterfront were fun to watch. We couldn't see the Bluenose anywhere. We certainly looked for it!

Before we stopped at our campsite for the night, we found a public beach where we could some. Some grumpy lady needed to be cooled off. Badly. Even buying her an ice cream wasn't enough.

We found our campsite and set up. Fortunately none of the other tent sites were booked, so we had enough space and privacy to enjoy our evening.

The hammocks were a bonus!

We also enjoyed taking our bikes and cruising along the road. We were off the beaten track from Lunenburg, so there was almost no traffic. And it was beautiful!

Jul 14, 2024 Day 3

After an early morning start we spent the day at a church with friends who moved away a few years ago. It was lovely to see them settled in to a good church in Nova Scotia.

We packed a dinner and planned to eat on the beach.

There were a lot of bugs near the parking lot, so we wandered along the shore to see if it would be better further on.

 

It was pretty. But as soon as we stopped moving the bugs were all over us. Tiny little ones. Maybe they were sand flies?

With a campfire to help (there were some bugs here too, but not nearly as bad as the beach) we ended up having dinner back by the tents instead.

We also enjoyed the sunset view that our Look-off Family campground was named for. We could certainly see a huge difference when the tide was in and and when it was out!

Jul 12-13 2024 trip to Nova Scotia Day 1& 2

Loaded up and ready to go.

We put in a lot of driving hours for this trip.

We spent our first night at Riviere du loop.

It's less work camping when you can just grab stuff out of the van instead of having to lug it across a few lakes first.

The second day we spent on the road again. Pretty much all day again.

We found a new favourite lunch. Chips and salsa. It's a nice change from crackers and cheese.

Yummy!

Since we hardly stop while we are driving, we always have to arrange the van carefully so that we can reach any food, books or music that we want to enjoy. There is a lot of passing things back and forth during any given day.

Yay! We made it to our campsite near Canning, Nova Scotia.

It's fun to zip around on the bikes and stretch our legs! We managed to get a campsite tucked away behind a cabin where we could have some privacy...since we plan to be here for two nights.