Wednesday, August 20, 2008

This was the first day of two that we are devoting to exploring the St. Margaret’s bay area. We headed off late in the morning - we can’t miss our leisurely wake up and coffee on the deck - and headed to Chester.

Chester is a beautiful little town about 45 minutes by car from Mill Cove. We wandered the shops, looked at the boats in the harbour and finally settled on a restaurant for lunch. We have heard here that frequently you have to make a choice - good food or a good view. Today at lunch we had a great view - although I thought my meal was quite good - clams and chips - not on my diet but then I am on a holiday!

After lunch we made our way to Mahone Bay. As we turned the corner on the highway this beautiful sight came into view - the Bay laid out before us with gingerbread houses and five church steeples on the far side.

We spent time wandering around the shops there with a bit of time in the Glass Lass shop. Pat has brought us a number of the beautiful glass pieces made by Sharon McNamara. Today Helene ordered a large serving platter. They will make it and ship it direct to Regina. I had visions of carrying a delicate glass piece around England and Italy for the next month.

The last stop was Lunenburg - a world heritage site - home of the Bluenose. Pat was pleased and surprised to see that the Bluenose was in port. Helene and I spent quite a bit of time onboard and talking to the kids that work the Bluenose for the summer.

It was interesting that all three spots are so similar and yet so different. All three have harbours and are clearly sea oriented. Yet Chester and Mahone Bay are clearly tourist destinations while Lunenburg is oriented to history and seems to be a working seaside town.

No dates, no descriptions, just pictures

Monday, August 18, 2008

This was our first full day at the cabin - the first day to see the sunrise, to relax on the deck and watch the water and the first day to explore and see the sights.

Shopping life here is defined by exits - Hubbards which has a few stores is on exit 6 but exit 5 is where the real shopping can happen - it even has a Tim Horton's!

So we went out to Exit 5 - stocked up on provisions and found Fred's Fish and Chip place for lunch. We took the sign seriously and we all ordered fish and chips - it was delicious - a very light breading on the fish and great french fries. We are determined to experience all the fresh fish and seafood that we can - meat and potatoes are easily available in Regina - we'll see how long that lasts before I start craving steak.

Our morning stretched out so long that by the time we got home from shopping it was time to start preparing dinner.

Dinner, the Olympics (more Michael Phelps), reading, a splash or two of Jameson's and I was ready for bed.