A 11-day adventure by Nicole Read more
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  • Day 2

    DAY 2 - Peggy's Cove & Mahone Bay

    August 6, 2023 in Canada ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    Well we started the day by sleeping in until 10:30am! Oops - needed to check out by 11am! Had brunch at the hotel restaurant. Got into the truck and drove straight to Peggy's Cove. We all had so much fun climbing on the rocks. The girls made 3 inukshuks. We had the most gorgeous day of sun and blue skies. It was almost impossible to take a bad picture there! We were there for 2 hours or so and then drove to Mahone Bay. We walked around and checked out the little shops. It was a very cute and colorful town. We had dinner at the Mateus Bistro. We fortunately got a patio seat and there was live music! A nice man who looked like Santa but sounded like John Mayer was playing guitar and singing. It was fantastic! Then we got ice cream and sat out back behind a pewter store that had chairs and benches by the water. Sunset was beautiful in the bay. We drove to Lunenburg and have checked in to the Brigatine Inn which is right by the water as well as the Bluenose Ship. We plan to get to bed early so that we don't sleep in so long tomorrow!Read more

  • Day 3

    DAY 3 - Lunenburg, Blue Rocks & Hirtle's

    August 7, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We were up and moving before 9am! Had breakfast at a cute place called the Hodgepodge. Kinda Mexican design but normal/delicious Cafe menu. Walked the main streets and waterfront/boardwalk of Lunenburg. The buildings are all so vibrant and colorful! Jp did the fisheries museum while the girls and I spent more time looking at the Bluenose II and walking by the ocean (with ice cream of course!) We let the kiddos chill in the hotel while we did a distillery tour at Ironworks Distillery. We must have had 8-10 different tastings. We have tried many of the rums. I really also liked the vodka made from apples and the apple brandy. The pear eau-de-vie was also good. Really liked the gin Noir (blackberry) too 😋 Then we got the kids and headed to the Blue Rocks and went sea kayaking for a couple of hours. We loved it! Then we went for a bit of a Controversial Adventure to the Hirtle's Beach 😬 It was more of a detour than we thought it would be and everyone was tired and hungry but once we saw the white sand Beach and the waves crashing in we knew it was worth it! We played in the frigid waves and adelyn dug for stones while isabelle and jp made 2 inukshuks. We skipped rocks and hung out there for 2 hours until we were all cold and hungry. We had dinner downstairs from our inn at the Grand Banker. We are all pretty tired and are looking forward to tomorrow 😴Read more

  • Day 4

    DAY 4 - Bridgewater, Keji & Digby

    August 8, 2023 in Canada ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    Up at 9am again! Hodgepodge for breakfast again! They have really good ☕️ (from bear river!) Driving by 10:30am to check out Bridgewater. Accessible by Bridge only. It's the "main street" of the South Shore. More businesses, shopping, industry etc. A bigger town than what we've seen so far. We checked out the Mill in town. Not open for tourists due to damage from the recent flooding. Went on a short walk down a trail that used to be a railway. We drove around and decided that we should get a move onto the next stop - Kejimkujik Provincial Park (Keji). The bikes were unavailable so we decided to hike the 5km - Hemlock and Hardwood trail. Lots of "educational & historical plaques" to read. We found a campsite by the lake for a rest & snack. We drove to the next short 1 km hike to Mills Falls and the "Coca-Cola river" brown from organic matter. Lots of benches to sit on and rocks to skip. Jp even got a couple across the entire river! After a quick kiss on the bridge we scared isabelle half to death by pointing out the "witch's fingers"... re-enacted well by adelyn for video purposes. 🤣 Group decision - it was too late for a 3rd hike and swim so we hopped back into the sexy black truck and continued north to Digby - known as home of the best Scallops around! Checked-in to the Admiral Digby Inn right on the water and got ready for a seafood dinner! We ate at the Fundy Restaurant. Seafood sampler to start with scallops, shrimp, breaded haddock & fried calamari. All delicious. I ate a pineapple curry shrimp & scallop dinner. It was really good. We had a local Pinot Grigio from L'Acadia. Full and tired we went back to the Inn for showers and sleep! More wine tasting tomorrow 🍷 It is supposed to rain quite a bit ... 🤷‍♀️ I can think of worse ways to spend a rainy day!Read more

  • Day 5

    DAY 5 - Annapolis Royal & Wolfville

    August 9, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    We woke up to a very rainy Wednesday in Digby. We packed up and had breakfast upstairs at the restaurant attached to the Inn. We enjoyed an ocean view and tried to decide if it was a dolphin fin or a bird enjoying breakfast at the same time as us. We hit the rainy road and drove to Annapolis Royal. We walked around and learned about the French, English, Acadians & micmaq. It is the oldest city in North America. We visited Fort Anne. It was too rainy to walk around town so we decided to head towards wolfville and find some wineries to visit. We went to Benjamin Bridge first and tasted outside under a large tent. We liked their cab franc rose and bought some. Then we went to L'Acadie - known for their sparkling wines and bought one for home. Lastly (the only one open after 5pm!) We went to Grand Pre and enjoyed so many wines that we bought 5 bottles!! Then we checked into the cutest micro boutique condo! It's on the 3rd floor and had a few of the sea/salt flats. We walked along them and learned about the tides while we waited for our table at the Church brewery. It was actually a church and had such great food and beer flights. Stuffed and tired we headed back to our condo. Tomorrow is the riding adventure and lots of driving. Off to cape Breton we go!Read more

  • Day 6

    DAY 6 - Parrsporo & drive 2 Cape Bretton

    August 10, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    We woke up early and enjoyed a breakfast in our cute little condo. We had bought muffins, fruit & yogurt parfaits! Had local coffee and off we went to drive to Parrsboro. It was only 37km directly across the water from us but because of the tides the ferry was discontinued and we had to drive ALL around the water to get to it.. 2.5 hrs later! We had made one random stop to use the washroom and it turned out it was the exact middle between the north pole and the equater. We took the appropriate photos and then continued on our way. We got to the Spirit Reins Ranch where Faith got us geared up and ready to leave on our trail ride. I got a lazy ex-barrel racer (again) but this time i knew how to "encourage" him to get moving. We drove to the trail head and headed out through the forest and then through a couple yards to get to the beach. It was amazing. I've always wanted to ride a horse on the beach- bucket list ✔️ !! It was even more cool though because it was actually along the ocean floor. We got a photo on a sand bar. The horses liked the seaweed and salt water. They got trotting for most of us and adelyn even got to canter! The Bay of Fundy has the largest tides in the world in volume and speed. We were sad that the ride was over after a couple hours but Adelyn was the only one of us who could walk properly afterwards. We drove to town for some pizza and ice cream. Cute tourist town with a shop or 2 that we checked out but apparently it all shuts down in the winter when the tourists stop coming. We drove to Antigonish for some groceries and then finally completed our drive to Baddeck on Cape Bretton. We got in around 9:30pm...much later that I had anticipated!
    Jp was awesome and drove the entire way! We had some tacos and salad and then went to bed...late but comfortable. This air bnb is so cute! We are enjoying the space after having shared a single room all together everyday thus far! The girls have their own room with seperate beds and we have a king size! Very white and clean and ikea! Love it here! Can't wait to see it in the daylight! Sleep😴
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  • Day 7

    DAY 8 - Cabot trail & Inverness

    August 11, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We had a lovely sleep here in Baddeck. We could seriously get used to a cute cottage like this! So much so that we are already looking for something like this in Ontario for next August! Today is Cabot trail day! First we must stop along the way for lunch food at the Dancing Goat 🐐 (as per Mari MacNeil!) Wish we had known about the online order and pick up though! We waited an hour for our sandwiches but they were absolutely delicious! So were the Sparkling Ginger cookies that we bought while we waited! We drove to the park and got our pass. The girls learnt about animal droppings and measured themselves against moose and eagles... both of which made them look tiny! We drove to the top of the mountains to do the Skyline Trail but we had to wait 30mins bc there were too many people there already. So we went and hiked the bog trail to kill time and it was very interesting. Also the weather started to clear the longer we waited which I was happy about bc the view on the Skyline is breath-taking. So we hiked it in a couple hours and took loads of pics which look like we have found the edge of the world. So beautiful! Lucky the sun came out too! Then we drove to Inverness Beach (as per Mari MacNeil) and the girls played in the waves, skipped rocks and hunted (very successfully) for sea glass! Beautiful sunset! We wanted to go to the Red Shoe Pub for live music but it was too far away by the time we finished at the beach. Luckily we got a table at a beach side (fancy) restaurant called the Annex. We got our snitzel fixing and jp got seafood! It was more $$ than we would have liked but it was delicious and the portions were great. Then we drove back to Baddeck for a well earned sleep!Read more

  • Day 7

    DAY 7 - Louisburg

    August 11, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    After a late night we all slept in! Loving the comfort of our air bnb in Baddeck we slept so well. Up around 9am - leisurely breakfast and coffee on the deck overlooking a picturesque river. We got ready and drove to Louisbourg to see the Fortress. Not much to see in the actual town but the Fort was awesome. The staff are all in costume and character as if they live there in the 1700's. We toured many buildings and spoke with the soldiers & servents. We saw the soldiers march and shoot their muskets. We found the Fortress Rum tasting also just as it was starting to rain! Then we drove back home in the pouring rain. Stopped to get groceries. We made a delicious pasta and got ice cream for dessert. We watched a movie and had popcorn with a bottle of red from Grand Pre. A little more relaxing of a day. We had hoped to get to a beach but the rain was too heavy.Read more