Our Eastern Canadian Adventure

Since Jon and I are both teachers and off all summer, we have lots of time to travel. Every summer we take at least one family vacation. Now, we go to Minnesota quite a bit throughout the year to see my family, but that doesn't count as an official summer trip. This year our destination was the Canadian Maritimes--Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island. We went with my parents, my sister, Debby, her husband, Jeff, and my brother, Patrick. It would have been a complete Martin vacation, but my brother, Nathan, and his wife, Amanda, had to work. :( Here's a "summary" of our adventure:

Thursday, July 9—After five hours of air travel and a layover in Chicago, we all arrived in Halifax around 11:00 pm...customs took forever, and we got to our hotel well after midnight. Liam was a great little traveler.

Friday, July 10—We drove through Nova Scotia, up Cape Breton, to catch a ferry at Sydney. We took a break at the Alexander Graham-Bell museum in Baddeck. Afterwards, the boys feasted on seafood chowder, mussels, and fresh lobster tails at a seaside restaurant. We also stopped at a Gaelic college along the way. Before arriving in Sydney, we found out that the ferry wasn't actually leaving until 3:30 a.m., so we waited in the car, lined up for the ferry for eight hours. Not fun with a 15-month-old. Thank goodness we had sleeper cabins on the ship.

Saturday, July 11—After being at sea all day, the ferry arrived at 8:30 pm in Argentia, Newfoundland, and we drove over two hours before we arrived at the Village Inn in the little town of Trinity.

Sunday, July 12—We had an amazing day! All day was spent whale watching on a little Zodiac boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. We went out in two installments--morning and afternoon trips, so there was a bathroom and lunch break in between. Liam, being a little young for the adventure, stayed with Grandpa in the morning, and then with Grandma in the afternoon. We saw humpback, minke, sperm, and blue fin whales. We also saw a seal, dolphins, bald eagles, puffins, and a gorgeous iceberg. That evening, we went to a two-person play that dramatized life in Newfoundland, past and present. It was a terrific performance!

Monday, July 13—We spent the morning saying good-bye to our new favorite village, Trinity, and then drove to St. John's...the largest city in the province. After checking into the hotel, we headed out to explore the sights. We started at the easternmost point of Canada called Cape Spear. The views were breathtaking, and we even saw more whales swimming below the cliffs. We were all hungry, so we found a restaurant downtown that served authentic Newfoundland dishes. My Dad and Jeff proved to have the bravest taste buds in the group and ordered fried cod tongue for dinner, AND they really liked it! After that, we headed to Signal Hill, the reception point of the first transatlantic wireless signal. That was incredible, too, because the sun was just setting, and on one side of the hill, St. John's sat, nestled against the harbor, and on the other side of the hill, the Atlantic Ocean. Jon stayed back at the hotel that evening with Liam, and the rest of us headed to the famous George Street, known for its hopping night life. We found a great Irish pub and enjoyed the musicians until it was time to head back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

Tuesday, July 14—Some of us slept-in this morning, but not Liam and me. We shared some Tim Horton donuts and walked around the St. John's downtown area, stopping into gift shops along the way. We met the nicest people. After we all got ready, we headed to a village called Cupids. Cupids is the site of Canada's oldest British colony which was founded in 1610. We popped into the museum and then had a tour of the archaeological dig that is currently underway there. After that, we needed to get to the ferry port in Argentia. We boarded the ferry around 4:30, and once again, we had sleeper cabins to make the overnight voyage comfortable.

Wednesday, July 15—After a very choppy night at sea, the ferry arrived back in Nova Scotia around noon. We immediate drove several hours to ANOTHER ferry (just an hour and a half this time) that took us to Prince Edward Island, the home of Anne of Green Gables. My Mom, sister, and I absolutely LOVE the Anne of Green Gables stories, so we had great girl-bonding time. That night we all went to a festive Ceidleigh (pronounced Kay-Lee), which is basically professional musicians who head-up an impromptu talent show. We had a great time. In fact, we all participated in the folk dancing section. Surprisingly, I discovered that my parents can really cut a rug. We stayed in Charlotte Town that night.

Thursday, July 16—Anne of Green Gables Day!!! We spent the late morning and most of the afternoon at Green Gables. It was super. We even had a picnic lunch in Anne's yard, just on the side of the house. Ahhhh...so great. The boys we real troupers and put up with our giddiness. As a side note, PEI grows the BEST strawberries ever, and we gulped down a pint faster then you can say "yummy." Anyway, we took the late afternoon ferry back to Nova Scotia and stayed at the Pictou Lodge. We had an incredible cabin that had a great screened-in porch overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Everyone had a delicious meal in the lodge's dining room. We could have stayed at least a week at the lodge, but we only had overnight.

Friday, July 17—We spent the morning at the lodge and then headed into town to explore Pictou. We walked around this little Scottish-influenced village and saw all the tourist attractions. Afterwards, we headed to Halifax. The tall ships were in Halifax this weekend, and it was unbelievable to be there during this celebration. People from all over the world came to town to see these impressive vessels. What was even better was that we stayed at the Marriott Halifax Harbor Front, right on the boardwalk and in the middle of all the action! That afternoon we saw lots of tall ships. People really got into it by dressing up like pirates, Vikings, sailors, etc. I think if we would have been prepared, Jon would have donned on a sword and eye-patch and practiced his pirate "Grrrrrrrr." Anyway, that evening, my Mom stayed with Liam, while Jon, Patrick, and I headed out to see the awesome fireworks display over the harbor.

Saturday, July 18--Liam and I woke up and did another Mama/Baby Walking Tour of the City. We ran across the most incredible farmers market ever! If I lived in Halifax, I would try to go every Saturday. We also walked up and down the boardwalk to see the tall ships again. It was nice and quiet, so we didn't have to fight the crowds. When we got back to the hotel, we watched a parade outside of my parents hotel window. We looked around the city until mid-afternoon, and then we headed up to St. Margaret's Bay to have dinner with Mom's cousin, Deb, her husband, Rick, and daughter, Caitlin. They had the coolest dinner for us on hot rocks. Basically, it was like a fondue, but instead of cooking the meat and veggies in oil over a flame, we each had rocks that were heated in a 500 degree oven and then kept hot with flames. We cooked our own food on these rocks. Rick prepared twelve different kinds of meat and marinades, and everything was delicious...and a fun, memorable dining experience. They have a beautiful home overlooking the bay, and we truly enjoye their company and warm hospitality. We stayed at a hotel near the airport that night because we were scheduled to take off early the next morning.

Sunday, July 19--Well, this was defiantly not a stress-free travel day, but everything worked out perfectly in the end. When we arrived at the airport, we discovered that our United flight had been canceled, and we were rescheduled on a flight the next day. That wasn't going to work, but a helpful guy from Air Canada was able to get us on a different flight. It actually worked out better because instead of having two connecting flights, we only had one in Toronto. Eventually, we got back to Minneapolis in the early evening. Liam was perfect on the planes.

We had an incredible, amazing vacation in Eastern Canada and made memories that we will be talking about for the rest of our lives. Jeff, Jon, and Liam all got initiated into a Martin vacation--a rite of passage in some cultures--and lived to tell the tale.