My Epic Year: #1 on the List

1. Visit every province in Canada
It's only July, and I can safely cross 3 provinces off the list.

The mission: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI
The missionaries: Me and my momma!

When we arrived, we decided to play the alphabet game. We had 2 weeks to make our way through the alphabet. Game rules included staying in order (which we mostly did) and capturing something of some significance, based on the letter we were on, that would symbolically remind us of our great trip together.

Here is the list we compiled:

A - Alice in Wonderland. Yes, you heard me. On our first night in Nova Scotia, we went for a picnic dinner in Point Pleasant Park. It was beautiful. As we were walking, to who-knows-where, we saw people running ahead. So we followed. To our surprise, there was a gorgeous spot where Shakespeare by the Sea was presenting Alice in Wonderland. It was a fantastic rendition and we enjoyed the sunset and talent all at once.

This was the Queen of Hearts. He/She was hilarious!

B - Bay of Fundy. We shlepped all the way from Halifax to Annapolis Royal on the North East coast of Nova Scotia. Thankfully this was the beginning of the trip and we were still excited by everything. Let's just say that our visit to Annapolis was "interesting". Everything was "interesting"; from the creepy inn-keeper at the King George Inn, to the fact that the town was all but completely abandoned. We did however see the Bay Fundy and a few other neat things along the way.

Bay of Fundy

C - Cemetary. In Annapolis, apparently the thing to do is visit cemeteries at night. In the rain. With candle-lit lanterns. So, off we went to the oldest historical site in Canada to learn a little about Canadian history. Funny, three weeks later, I can't remember a thing except how to clean a grave stone!

That's me. That's a grave stone. 'nough said.

D - Duke. Next day we booted it out of Annapolis Royal and trecked back down South to Lunenberg. Turned out to be our favorite town and we deviated from our plan and stayed an extra day. Rebels! In Lunenberg we went on a horse drawn carriage ride up and down the steep streets. Poor Duke. (He was our horse.) The fishing town of Lunenberg is quaint and colourful and an absolute gem. We loved it.

Duke was distraught. Poor guy almost bit Bea's head off!

E - Exit 5 to Peggy's Cove. We took a day trip from Lunenberg to go see Peggy's Cove. What a gorgeous site.

This is Peggy's Cove

F - FISH!!! Need I say more? Think all 5 senses. Ok, well think 4 senses (as we didn't really hear the fish) but we sure did eat, smell, see, and in Bea's case, touch the fish. Here is my brave momma touching a star fish in Lunenberg.

Brave Bea

G- Golf Course. No, we didn't go golfing. But check out this gorgeous pic of Lunenberg from the Lunenberg Golf Course.

Worth camping out in the rain with the mosquitos for this perfect shot. Good one Bea!

H- Hopwell Rocks. After leaving Lunenberg we ventured up to New Brunswick. I must admit we did not stay long. Just long enough to visit the Hopewell Rocks at low tide. It was a remarkable place to visit. The rest of our time in Moncton??? Well, we did laundry and grabbed a hotel room picnic at The Maritimes Super Store.

This is literally the ocean floor. Cool, aye?

The rock formations are from the waves that hit during high tide.
We left before the tide came in. Just use your imagination. We did.

I - Ice Cream. Next up was a 3.5 hour drive to PEI. Crossing the Confederation Bridge was pretty cool but not as "cool" as the PEI ice cream at Cows.

Check out Bea working the udders.

J - JB. So we rented a cute little Toyota Corolla and named him JB. J for Jenny and B for Bea and if you really want to know, JB cause I love the Beibster. Unfortunately upon awaking on our first morn in Charlottetown, we discovered JB had been vandalized. But don't fret. The gentlemen at "Good Guys Auto Glass" took good care of us and for $300 JB was as good as new.

The window that was.

K - K20 & K21. Our seat numbers at the Anne of Green Gables play. It was amazing. I loved every second of this fantastic musical. It was my childhood coming back to me through song, dance and fantastic acting. I give that show 2 thumbs up and if you are ever in Charlottetown, try to catch it!

Hey that looks just like me!

L - Lighthouse. Or shall I say lighthouses. Let's just say we saw lots.

M - Mother. If you have not met my mother, I would like to introduce her to you. She is a 65 year young bubby who has more passion and joie de vive than any other human being I have ever had the privilege to know. I will forever cherish this trip because I got to go with her. She made everyday fun and adventurous. She loooooooves her photography but most of all lives in the moment and lets nothing pass her by. Thanks for the memories mum.

At times, she can be a bit wackadoodle.

N- New Glasgow. This is where a lobster attacked me. Ok, not really. But it felt like it. My first and most likely last time munching lobster claws. Seriously, people eat the green gunk, that I learned was the lobster's liver. Must be hungry to cross that line. Ew...

See, it attacked me!

Mum tried muscles. She said they tasted like boogers!

O- Orange. Bye, bye PEI. Hello looooooong ferry ride back to Nova Scotia. Check out this sunset. The shot was taken in Nova Scotia at the Pictou Lodge resort. Fun little place for kayaking, biking and relaxing.

Nice shot mum. Check out the reflections in the water!

P- Potato Fields. We saw soooooo many. Here I am cheating a little in the alphabet game because potato fields were in PEI and if you are following the sequence, we are officially back in Nova Scotia. But I couldn't resist. Those potato fields were most definitely worth documenting!

Q - Quay. On the way out of Pictou, we stopped by the the famous Hector Heritage Quay. This was the ship that brought over the first 200 Scotts and started the wave of Scottish immigration to Nova Scotia. Hey, did you know that Nova Scotia actually means "New Scotland"? The province was first named Acadia and was changed to Nova Scotia to encourage more Scottish immigration. Cool fact, aye?

R - Running. #6 on my list is to run a 10K race. Well, guess what? I started training!!!!!!!

Don't I look like a natural?

S- Sou Western hats. See theses fisherman hats? We put them on EVERYWHERE. At the time they looked cute. Now I'm not so sure. But that was our "S" and I'm sticking with it.

Oy vey.

T- Trail. Yes, we spent 7 hours touring the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Glad I did it. Will never do it again.

That's quite the loooong trail.

U - Under the kilt. After our visit to Cape Breton, we stopped in Antigonish on our way back to Halifax. Great timing as the Highland Games were taking place on that very day! We saw so many cool competitions and felt very Scottish by the end of the day. Guess what's under the kilt?

Before

After.
Not what we were hoping for!

V- Very hard letter. We were stumped and losing steam with the alphabet game. Just being honest!

W- Wrong Way. Have you ever seen signs on the other side of the highway indicating "WRONG WAY"? I mean really, the signs in the Maritimes were the pits to begin with, but what were they thinking? If you were going the wrong way wouldn't you notice the onslaught of cars about to smash into you? These signs were everywhere. You'd think we were in Newfoundland!

X- HalifaX. We enjoyed this beautiful, clean, green, city. People were friendly, plenty to see and do (for 2 days max!) and lots of rich history. We were very impressed.

Y - YOLO - You Only Live Once. That's what my epic year is all about and this trip with my mom was the perfect way to kick it off.

Z - Zip Up. It's time to go home. Farewell Maritimes. See you again when I hit Newfoundland at some point in the next 12 months. Who wants to go with me?