Better Outside Than In: Nova Scotia

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Nova Scotia - Hurricane

9-7 At days inn in Moncton NB Sat. Gym, pool. Trying to figure out what to do for rest of trip.
Raining hard and wind but nothing crazy at 6pm. Storm is supposed to peak tonight.
Camp grounds are probably the nicest place to stay. Cape Breton and Fundy camp grounds were very nice. Clean bathrooms, showers. The key thing is they are in very nice areas.
Quiet and nice walks around the area near sunset. With that said being in a hotel
room when it is supposed to rain 4 inches and blow 90 mph is a lot nicer than a
campground (for today). The storm is supposed to hit Halifax area and move NE through Cape Breton.
Halifax already has power out at 6pm and has 30 foot waves.

Picture in hallway - Days Inn

First and last hotel room for this trip

9-8 Amazing how quickly modern systems break down. Early in the drive I came to a flooded
road and needed to turn around. Trying to go south from Amherst to south and Five Islands
state park. I made it down on another road. Nice area but remote. Started noticing all gas
stations were closed. No power. Went near Truro and then west. This is high Fundy tide area.
Nice coast and got out for a few short walks. One park I tried to go to was gated and
another had trees blocking the access road. I went by a few towns with power but they
were out of gas because everyone in the surrounding area was going to them. Also need
gas for generators. Found gas toward end of day. Stayed at Irving Big Stop in New Minus.
They had power but no gas. Food was also wiped out. Every bag of chips, snacks, etc!
Went to Blomidon park at end of day. They were closed but I could still access the park.
Red cliffs to beach. Big waterfalls flowing over the cliffs. Someone native to the
area said they had never seen that much water coming over the falls.

I did not try to drive through this

Park entrance

Blomiden state park

Hill where campground was that I looked at. It was closed due to no power.

9-9 A day for decision. At gas station with no gas wondering to continue trip in Nova Scotia or perhaps spend the second week in Maine or further west in Canada.
Did email camp ground that said they were open in Lunenburg which is where I wanted to go next.
Decided to go. Found gas near Lunenburg. Lunenburg and the surrounding area had power and was not hit much by the storm even though it is on the water and close to Halifax.
Went to the museum in Lunenburg which is a good one. They have a large building with many pictures, artifacts, and an aquarium that had many of the local fish. They also had a 1962 fishing boat and a 1938 fishing boat on the water. Big difference from 1938 to 1962. 1938 was a wood boat with sails and an engine. The fishing was done from Dorry's and the fish was gutted and salted on the main boat. The 1962 was all metal, all engine driven, and dragged a large net off the back. The fish were iced and the time out on the water was much shorter. There was a person on the 1938 boat ready to answer any questions who was a retired fisherman. I talked to him for a while about the boat and fishing past and present. Nice guy. Cod gone because shrimp mostly gone, warmer water, over fishing. Today haddock fishing doing well, scallops, and lobster.
Went to blue rocks area past Lunenburg. Very nice area. Fishing boats and interesting rock and simple houses.
Talked to people in 100 ft yacht. They took off to Maine to avoid storm and just got back
to Lunenburg. Nice boat!
Too many pictures but Lunenberg had a lot of nice buildings and boats and is great place to walk around. Hard to decide which pictures to delete on this day.
Stayed at a campground on a small lake about 5 minutes from Lunenburg. Nice quiet campground.