The Dangers Of Speaking French! Who Knew?!

Longest covered bridge in the world!

Day 96     September 13, 2014

Somewhere in New Brunswick  to  Quebec City, Quebec

Canada

When I woke up this morning, and looked out at the lovely river view that we had from our camp site, all I could see was the massive amount of steam rising off of the water. I don’t imagine the water was warm at all, but that’s just how freakin’ cold the air temperature was!

I don’t know why, but I was still shocked to find out that the air temperature in the campground shower/bathrooms, was equally as frigid cold. Brrrrr!!! Mark and I decided that we’d go see Quebec City and Montreal, and then head the hell south. It was so cold that, for the first time ever, when we hit the road, we both turned on our seat heaters!

We took a detour to Hartland to drive across the world’s longest covered bridge.

Longest covered bridge in the world!

And another view of her….

And it spans this pretty river….

 

And on the inside….

And across we went, just to say we did.

And we stopped in Perth-Andover, where we had an amazing lunch at the Waterfront Bistro. Gourmet smoked salmon and asparagus panini. Delicious!

Chillaxin’ on the deck, waiting for lunch.

This would be our last stop in New Brunswick, which was a significant landmark. After this, we’d be crossing into Quebec Province, which is French speaking. I am not French speaking. Mark is barely broken-French speaking.

Our first stop in officially French speaking territory, was just over the borderline in Quebec, at Tim Horton’s. Using his not so stellar French, Mark tried to order one doughnut. We got six huge doughnuts. We proudly walked out of Timmy’s with a bag full of six doughnuts, and planned our strategy for survival.

It was time to bring out the big guns….the iPhone language translator app. Mark would speak French into the phone, and, in theory, the proper English words would be spoken back to us. Then, speaking as precisely as I could, I would try to mimic the French words into the phone, and then listen to the English translation spoken back to me.

Here’s a little chart of what I thought I said in French, and what the iPhone thought I said:

What I thought I said in French…………………..The IPhone’s English translation

I’m sorry, I don’t speak French…………………..I saved Jana Ronson

I’m sorry, can you say that again…..……….……I’m sorry, and you could diet

I’m sorry, repeat please…………………………..I’m sorry, pizza please

And then there was a translation that had something to do with telling someone they need pants. I decided that it’d probably be too dangerous for me to attempt speaking French.

At the end of our fun little day full of adventures, we checked into Motel et Camping Etchemin, just across the river form Quebec City. This was a combination motel and RV park. Lucky for us, the receptionist spoke perfect English. And so, we DID end up with a nice RV site behind the hotel, and NOT with a deluxe hotel suite!

You Call It Summer, I Call It Winter!

Local cuisine.

Day 95     September 12, 2014    part 2

Antigonish, Nova Scotia  to Somewhere in New Brunswick

Canada

There was still a lot of driving to be done today, so back on the road we went. We crossed most of New Brunswick on the highway, which meant that we didn’t see much, except for trees. New Brunswick has a lot of trees.

As evening approached, we found a really nice campground for the night. The place  was closing for the winter in three days, and it was pretty much empty except for a handful of New Brunswickians squeezing in their last few days of camping for 2014.

We had a site with a nice sunset view overlooking the river below. The view didn’t quite make up for the fact that it was butt-cold outside! We bundled up by layering on almost all of the clothes we had with us. Thank goodness we’d bought wool hats when we were in Newfoundland.

Once bundled up, we leashed up the pups to go on one last evening doggie walk. And that’s when we met a group of four New Brunswickians, out for an evening stroll around the campground. They looked at us, and we looked at them, and we all burst out laughing.

What was wrong with the picture was, that we were bundled up in lots of clothing, including hats, scarves, and gloves, and we were still cold. And they were out strolling around in shorts and t-shirts, and were perfectly comfortable.

When the New Brunswickians saw our California license plate, well, they said, “That explains it!” And when they found out we’d been living in the Space Shuttle for three months, one of them exclaimed, “Oh my gosh! You should be given some kind of award!” Haha!! Mark and I both laughed, and then agreed with her!

We bid these nice people good night, and went about our evening walk, in the frigid cold of the Canadian summer!

It’s cold out, but not so cold that we can’t drink a beer!

Our Outrageous, Enrage-ous Anniversary Celebration

@ Hopewell Rocks

Day 65    August 13

Today was our wedding anniversary. And what better way to celebrate, than to go visit a place called Cape Enrage. The irony. Ha!

We paused for one last photo op in Alma as we left Fundy National Park, and then we were on our way.

Low tide in Alma

Low tide in Alma

Darn…too early to stop here for lunch.

New Brunswick coastline

En route to Cape Enrage, we stopped at a remote little mom and pop winery to buy some celebratory booze. We picked up a couple bottles of their sweet blueberry wine, and a couple pieces of chocolate.

Let the anniversary gift shopping begin!

View from the winery, back out to the bay.

Rocky shoreline on the Bay of Fundy

And, in the other direction….

We made it to Cape Enrage, and it did not disappoint. Yep, it was yet another beautiful spot in Canada.

Cape Enrage! The ultimate in wedding anniversary destinations!

Crazy person ziplining @ Cape Enrage (not me, not Mark)

@ Cape Enrage

@ Cape Enrage

@ Cape Enrage

@ Cape Enrage

Before you knew it, it was time to get on the road and find a place to have our anniversary lunch.

Leaving Cape Enrage. Which way are we supposed to go?!

Scenic route out of Cape Enrage

Horses….what a life these guys have!

We travelled onward on Rt 114 until we came upon a nice little lunch spot, the Red Roof Restaurant. As is our anniversary tradition, we had dessert first, a lovely chocolate cake with boiled icing. I don’t know what boiled icing is. The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was in effect.

Anniversary lunch time!

Do dogs cause kitchen fires? huh?

Next major stop on the anniversary outing, was Hopewell Rocks. This is another of those extreme tide places. We happened to hit it at high tide, and watched a bunch of kayakers maneuvering around the giant rock formations. At low tide, it’s a completely different place. I took a photo of a poster that shows what it looks like at low tide, since we weren’t gonna wait around to see it in real life.

@ Hopewell Rocks

@ Hopewell Rocks

@ Hopewell Rocks

Way down there…kayakers at high tide.

Tourists @ Hopewell Rocks

Poster of Hopewell Rocks at low tide.

Ice cream and water break

The day was fun and eventful, for sure. But, the ultimate treasure, was celebrating our 26th wedding anniversary at Camper City campground in Moncton, New Brunswick. Hanging out in our camp chairs, Trixie and Dax by our sides, feasting on sushi and blueberry wine. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Doing a drive-through of Moncton, New Brunswick

@ Camper City on our 26th wedding anniversary!

@ Camper City on our 26th wedding anniversary!

Dumb and Dumber Go To Canada

Mark @ West Quoddy Head Light

Day 64     August 12

We were excited to be heading to Canada today, but first, we had to make sure we touched ground on the most easterly point in the contiguous United States, and that would be at West Quoddy Head, in Lubec, Maine.

West Quoddy Head

West Quoddy Head Light

West Quoddy Head Light

The Atlantic Ocean @ West Quoddy Head

Next stop…Canada!

We crossed into Canada at the very low key border checkpoint between Lubec, Maine, and Campobello Island, Canada, and made our first stop at the very beautiful Roosevelt Campobello International Park. The park is jointly owned by the USA and Canada.

We’ve arrived in the Great White North

The bridge from USA to Canada, from the Canadian side.

@ Roosevelt Campobello International Park

@ Roosevelt Campobello International Park

From Campobello Island, our plan was to take the tiny little local ferry boat over to Deer Island (1/2 hour crossing, cost $40 one way), and from there, take the bigger public ferry boat to mainland New Brunswick (about a 1 hour crossing, free) . Seemed like a good plan at the time, and it was quite fun and scenic, except for one little problem…extreme low and high tides for which this area is famous.

We’d been warned not to go on the ferry to Deer Island at low tide, so we went at high tide. The concern was the angle of the boat ramp, and the possibility of completely bottoming out in the RV. Surprise! There were extremely high tides that day, which caused the same dang problem.

The ferry boat that will take us to Deer Island

We did hit bottom, but fortunately, it looked and sounded worse than it was. We bent a metal piece under the rig, which Mark had to then remove. It would probably be expensive to fix…but not critical to our journey, so we tossed the metal piece into a drawer, and pretended it never happened.

Aaack!!! I watch in horror as the space shuttle hits bottom

Mark, checking underneath for damage. In the background, another RV owner also checking under his rig for damage after he also hits bottom.

Once on the ferry, we enjoy a peaceful ride over to Deer Island

Ferry to Deer Island

Approaching Deer Island

The next ferry ride was less eventful, with just a minor scraping bottom while loading. Piece of cake!

Deer Island

That’s us…the small dot…

Waiting in line for the ferry from Deer Island to the mainland

Approaching the mainland

And so, we had made it pretty safely over to the mainland. From there, we zipped up Rt. 114, and to Headquarters Campground in Fundy National Park. If you don’t already know this, the Bay of Fundy has some of the highest tides in the world. At this time, tides were at about 40′. So, when the tide goes out, it really goes out, leaving  you and your dogs with a gigantic beach to explore!

Mark & Dax

Bay of Fundy @ low tide

Bay of Fundy @ low tide & sunset

Trixie

The harbor at low tide

Low tide

Canada was already proving to be fun, exciting, challenging, and beautiful. And we’d only done a couple dumb things today, so, chalk it up as another great day

Were We Abducted By Space Aliens?

Low tide @ Lubec, Maine

Day 63      August 11

August 11th was a day full of crazy shit.

First of all, somehow, after doing a crap load of laundry the day before, we’d ended up with more laundry to do in the morning. Maybe it was the doggie blankets, I don’t really remember now. But really, how much laundry can you create while living in a van?

Next was the funny woman we met at our campground. She had recently purchased an Airstream Interstate, just like ours, but newer. And, just like we were a year ago, this woman was absolutely clueless about how to operate her space shuttle. She was begging us for help when she couldn’t figure out why her vehicle was beeping. Uh, how ‘bout putting on your seatbelt? Yep, that.

Next crazy thing was me talking to AT&T and finding out that our most recent bill was $575. WTF???? Put them on the list of companies I hate.

We left our campground and headed up Route 1, just a little ways, to Schoodic Point, which is separate from the rest, but still, part of Acadia National Park.

Schoodic Point

Fiona @ Schoodic Point

Schoodic Point

Snorkeling

A little help….please…..

Gumby & Pokey do another photo shoot.

Schoodic Point

Man in nature

Check out the view from up here

Wheeeeeeeee!!!! We made it to Schoodic Point!!

Schoodic Point

As we were parking Fiona in what definitely seemed to be a “no parking” kind of spot, we were approached by a ranger. He wasn’t coming to tell us that we couldn’t park there, but he was coming over to talk to us about our RV, and to weasel his way into getting a tour of the inside. Seems he plans to retire in about a year, and wants to get a space shuttle just like ours!

We finally had to get on our way, said goodbye to Acadia National Park, and headed north. Just as we were leaving Schoodic Point, we saw a cow on a leash in somebody’s front yard. Yeehaw!! Must be Maine!!

It was early evening when we arrived in Lubec, Maine, the easternmost town in the USA.

Welcome to Lubec!

The sign-in board, as you enter Lubec

We walked around the tiny town, watched the sunset and marveled at the extreme low tide. Met some really nice local peeps watching the sunset, and more nice local peeps inside the local tavern.

Lubec

Low tide in Lubec

Lubec

Lubec

The main street in Lubec

Fish mural in downtown Lubec

Tiny little main street in Lubec

Cute little town with cute little storefronts.

Lubec

It was in Lubec that we thought perhaps we’d been abducted by aliens, ‘cause the time indicated on our cell phones, kept switching back and forth by an hour. And Mark’s phone and my phone weren’t in agreement about what time it was either.

Finally, we figured out (‘cause one of those nice local peeps told us) what was happening. We were literally, at the border to New Brunswick, Canada, and New Brunswick is on Atlantic Time…an hour ahead of Eastern Time. Our electronic devices were confused, as they kept jumping back and forth to the Canadian networks and picking up the Canadian time.

Low tide @ sunset. Lubec, Maine

Low tide @ sunset. Lubec, Maine

Low tide @ sunset. Lubec, Maine

August 11th was a day full of crazy shit, but it stopped short of including alien abductions. Phew.