

4,500 miles or so and 30 days later, here we are in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Just like that. We left our wooded enclave in Headquarters Campground in Fundy National Park outside of Alma, New Brunswick, which was lovely in its wooded solitude and annoyingly buggy. After several days of cold, wet, overcast weather, the last two days have warmed to a summer-like 80s. But we wanted to get more of a taste of southern Nova Scotia than our original plans offered so we shaved off a few days from New Brunswick and headed to Halifax, a four hour drive that took us six.
Our route started through heavily wooded and gently rolling terrain and soon morphed into farmland, reminding us of the midwest. We saw a sign indicating food and gas so we exited, little knowing that the food and gas were 7 miles away, through a small town and over a river. Pleasant, yes, but not what we had in mind for a quick stop. But you know when you’ve already invested time or miles into a decision, you don’t want to turn around empty handed. So we asked two ladies standing outside the post office and they assured us there was a good Chinese restaurant a half a mile away. Yes there was, but to park our trailer and truck we went into a wider parking area next door where there happened to be a hair salon.
I went inside to ask if we could temporarily park our trailer and this effusive, delightful French-accented woman said, “But of course! Oh, you have dogs? Bring them in! They can stay here while you enjoy your lunch! I have water for them and I’ll put on my air conditioning!” So, we had a decent Chinese meal, fresh vegetables and all, picked up the dogs, gave Cali a chance to roam and Lily a bit of a run in the back where there was plenty of grassy area and we took off again. It delayed us more than we wanted but it was a wonderful window into the friendly, welcoming and generous people of New Brunswick’s small town country life.

Entering Nova Scotia, we read that nearly half the population identifies as Irish or Scottish with another 20% or so claiming German or Danish roots. Unlike New Brunswick where it seemed most people were bilingual French and English as were the signs, probably owing to its proximity to Quebec, Nova Scotia signs are in English and the people predominantly English speaking. It feels slightly more familiar here and while we arrived too late to our campground to explore Halifax, we definitely felt like we were in civilization with large grocery store chains, Walmart and Costco. Tomorrow, we hope to explore Halifax and restock our food supplies with fresh, hopefully organic produce.


As for a toe update, the color has returned to normal, it feels so much better, I’m in much less pain and I’m dutifully soaking it and taking my antibiotics. The blister is still there but I hope it will subside soon. Thank you for your concern.

This is our Halifax campsite for the next two days. Dianne, can you tell me what the blue square lighthouse road sign below means? I can’t figure it out for the life of me! It was just in New Brunswick so far, along the Bay of Fundy.

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