Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Peggy's Cove {Nova Scotia}


We stayed 3 nights at King Neptune Campground in a site overlooking the water.


The kids enjoyed hours of crabbing and exploring with other kids right outside the RV.



Peggy's Cove, a popular little fishing village with a famous lighthouse, is nearby.


We learned that lobster traps like these have two main areas. The lobsters enter the trap thru the holes to reach the bait in the "kitchen". When another lobster enters, the first will back away right up the ramp to "the bedroom" where they cannot escape. Lobster fishing is a major business here. Getting a license is extremely difficult as they're mostly passed down from generation to generation. People have been killed over messing with someone's traps. Yikes!


A whole lot of traps! Asher wanted to go lobstering so, so bad. We told him when he's old enough he could work on one of the lobster boats for a season. He's looking forward to it!


We loved the beauty surrounding the area. Smooth hills of rock, green grass, large bolders, dramatic cliffs, just beautiful.






A family we met at Kejimkujik warned us to stay off of the black rocks. There are rogue waves that come in and someone dies on those rocks each year. A rogue wave is one that is MUCH larger than the others and if you have your back turned or you're on a rock, it can knock you down and drag you right out into the ocean.


As lovely as the area around the lighthouse is, I prefer the quiet beauty we found just a few kilometres east. When we drove this road on our first day, I was commenting how I want to explore this landscape, just as I spotted a tiny trail leading from the road.











We spent a few hours just enjoying the dramatic vistas. It was a feast for the eyes and soul.



Sending Marco Polo video messages to their cousins.







While birding with the couple camped next to us, we discovered the Swiss flight 111 memorial. The plane crashed here in 1998 killing 229 people. From here we watched as two whales breached in the distance.

We spent a day in Halifax, walking on the floating boardwalk and around the marina. 
The "drunk lightposts" were a funny sight. 



I rely heavily on TripAdvisor recommendations for food, and the reviews showed Ken's seafood and pizza was a local favorite. It looks a bit scary from the outside, but it's run by a sweet family who is warm and welcoming. We'd been told we need to try a donair. It looks similar to a gyro, but made with beef, a sweet sauce and wrapped in a lighter bread. Ahhh, so delicious! They originated in Halifax, but for some reason are not widely found in other parts of Canada.

On our last day, we stopped to pick up a live lobster, 2 pounds of mussels and some oysters. The kids enjoyed helping me cook the lobster and mussels. The oysters we ate raw. They loved everything!



Taking photos on their Kindles.








Kejimkujik National Park- The Land of little fairies


We attended a campfire where we sipped apple cinnamon tea while the rangers acted out a scene from the past when hunters would hire Mi'kmak guides to assist them. The guide would lead, set up camp, prepare food, clean animals the hunter shot, just about everything but carry them. And sometimes they even did that!


The playground was just behind our campsite, so the kids enjoyed being able to play there with new friends all week. While daddy enjoyed a nap in the hammock and the kids played with their friends, I took off on Flowing Waters trail. It was a lush trail along the Mersey River's silently flowing, black water.




I swung back by our site to pick up my family and rent a canoe to explore Keji from the water. We paddled to Fairy Bay where we found a red-throated loon.




Journey was a bit nervous about canoeing and didn't enjoy it as much as the rest of us.

Another day we walked the Mersey Meadow boardwalk and then down to Mill Falls. The water is so dark, it's an unusual looking waterfall.








We worked on Xplorer books at the beach so the kids could earn another dogtag. This is Canada's version of a Junior Ranger program that we have in the US.



Fun hair-cap moss


A teeny tiny toad



Finally we hugged new friends goodbye and headed off to Halifax (pronounced "HELL-ifax" here apparently).