Our Scavenger Hunt Wrap Up and Final Map

Our final scavenger hunt report 

• Moose
• Deer
• Hitchhiker
• Eagle/Hawk
• Licence plates from every Province in Canada - but you can not count the province you are in.  So if we see an Alberta plate in BC then it counts, but not if we are in Alberta. British Columbia Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Yukon, and North West Territory
• Skunk - saw a dead one
• Sheep
• Beaver
• Goslings
• Buffalo
• Goat
• Owl
• Bear
• Loon
• Crane
• Prairie Dog
• Fisherman fishing
• Canoe
• Hummingbird
• Antique car on the road
• Old VW Bug
• Car broken down on the side of the road
• Helicopter on the ground
• Airplane on the ground
• Speeding ticket- hopefully not our own
• Ambulance with sirens on
• Dump truck
• Line painting crew at work
• Mail delivery person walking their route
• Cruise Ship 
• Coyote 
• RCMP officer
• Hop on Hop off Bus
• Sea Glass
• Lobster

We did not get a few items.  Ironically we did not spot a Prince Edward Island license plate.  The North West Territory Plate does not surprise us.  

A coyote is another surprise too that we did not see.  

Lastly I am glad we did not see a speeding ticket, but I will say there were a lot of cops out but thankfully we did not get pulled over.

So Today's Stats 
Driving distance today 640 k
Total distance 9078 km

Day 46 - Finally Home Feeling a Little Odd

What an odd feeling.  Today is the last day of our cross country journey.  It does not take us long to get going and we are on the road by 8:15.

We plug in the coordinates into the GPS and we start heading east.  Both of us are quiet and feeling very odd.  After a half hour of total quiet in the car I put on a song from my phone.

Let It Be by the Beatles.  

When I find myself in times of trouble

Mother Mary comes to me

Speaking words of wisdom, let it be

And in my hour of darkness

She is standing right in front of me

Speaking words of wisdom, let it be1

Let it be, let it be

Let it be, let it be

Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

And when the broken-hearted people

Living in the world agree

There will be an answer, let it be

For though they may be parted

There is still a chance that they will see

There will be an answer, let it be

As we are driving and listening we start to chat and we know that things will be okay.  This feels right. Scary but right.  We will let it be.

The next sight is a M-O Truck.  I know that means nothing to you but Maritime Ontario is the company we used to ship our stuff to Nova Scotia.  While we travelled we kept an eye out for one of their trucks but we never saw one.  Bernie thought that was quite odd.  Well guess what, today on our last day we see one of their trucks.  

Then right away we pull behind a SUV and it has British Columbia plates. This is probably one of maybe five cars we have seen from home.  

I take it as a sign we are heading in the right direction.

So we arrive into Nova Scotia and we are so excited!

We stop and have lunch in Antigonish and we are no very close to the island.

Here we are crossing the causeway to Cape Breton.  Guess it is a good thing Bernie did not make me get out and kiss the ground.

We know we are home as we pass the iconic (to us at least) Lick-a-chick restaurant, yup that is the name.  Right next store is the Lick-a-treat restaurant.  

We are welcomed by Charlie as soon as we arrive.  A few minutes later Paul (both Bernie's brothers) arrives and he has our boxes.  So nice to see them here.

The night is full of setteling, seeing family and reflecting.

Sydney Mines, NS

Of course one of the first things I unpack is my espresso machine and first thing in the morning I am making my latte.

Day 45 - Day at Kings Landing

We decide that we don't have to rush this morning.  So we take our time getting going and leave the house around 10 am.  First stop is a bank and then coffee at a downtown coffee shop.  Have I told you how much easier this trip is because of things like Google Maps and Yelp?  Well it is!  A quick search for a credit union brings up the closest credit union.  Then search for coffee shop and bam there is one just around the corner.

As we sit outside in the beautiful hot sunshine we talk about what we have to get done when we arrive in Cape Breton.  You can tell the trip is almost over as this topic is coming up more and more.

After so many years married we now find we communicate so much better.  We both seem to talk about things much easier and we make sure we are both on the same page.  Of course there are some days when we are not even on the same chapter!  But for the most part we discuss our thoughts and ideas and how we can go about achieving it.  

I am going to miss all our time in the car.  It has been nice having so much time to discuss things together.

We also comment that it is so hard to remember what day it is.  Usually are mornings start with "what day is it?" and the other saying "Wednesday".  We often have to repeat it a few times too. 

The days just fly by and we are shocked at how quickly each day goes by.  Boy retirement is going so great and so far we have not been bored.

Today we are heading to Kings Landing.  Someone mentioned we should check it out and so today we are.

even I get to play dress up

isn't this cool

We then travel back in time when you cross the river.

We really love it here.  

Women weaving.

The first part of the park is more like a museum where you can tour the houses/building and things are explained to you.  

There was also a great Poet's Corner where a short show was performed talking about some famous poets from New Brunswick.

Kids playing.

Now you are still touring places but you are meeting people in character.  And they do not budge from character either. 

When they ask where we are from and we say British Columbia they are not sure where that is.  They ask if we travelled here in horse and buggy or by boat.

Some establishments are a little later and it is after Confederation and they know of British Columbia and they ask us about the railway that has just opened.  We tell them all about the gold that can be found in British Columbia.

We even sit around a table and listen to stories with some young boys who are on a break from chores and before school.

In some buildings we learn about their way of life.  

We stop and peak in the schoolhouse where a lesson is happening.  A lot of young girls sitting on the left and only a handful of boys on the right.  Hmmm wonder what they are up to?  

Bernie answers a question that the teacher is asking.  She gives him heck for not putting up his hand first!  

An Irish family that process the flax to make linen.

The Print House.

Listen to some fiddle music

The entire site is beautifully laid out and a great event for families, but even we had a great time.

a pub and restaurant

We enjoyed a meal at the Kings Head.

It has been a very hot day and we are exhausted and sweaty and we got some sun.  Yeah we have some decent tans right now.

We leave around 4 pm and travel back towards Fredericton along highway 102.  We fill up the gas tank with the lowest gas we have seen all voyage $1.20 a litre.  

For dinner we end up ordering a pizza.  Originally we were going to go out for a nice meal but again after a long day of playing tourist we are tired and we got a full day ahead of us tomorrow.

I Hear Back from Best Western with Regards to Our Hotel In Sudbury

Do you remember our hotel in Sudbury?  I am still trying to forget!

If you did not read about it or you want a refresher here is a link to our horrific experience there.

Many of you wrote that I needed to reach out to Best Western to let them know what we experienced.

So I did.

Their Social Media department reached out and got someone from customer service to contact me.  Note though it took me letting them know a second time that I had not heard from anyone 10 days after they said someone would get in touch with me.  I then got an email and a voice mail message from customer service.

They stated in the email they were sorry about our issue with the air conditioning.  

Hmmm obviously there has been a lack of sharing of information as it was a lot more than that.  So I responded to the email with a link to my blog that outlined all the issues.

I called them back yesterday and spoke to a lovely lady from customer service.  She did take the time to read through my blog and was aware of our issues.

They offered to bump us up another loyalty level with Best Western and to give me 6,000 points.  

Fine I said - it is not like I had much of a choice, plus my biggest issue is that they need to fix this problem hotel.  They did say they were investigating into all the issues with this hotel.  

Today I logged into my account with Best Western to see that yes the points have been added. Also I have been bumped up from a blue card to a gold card.  Which really means nothing (similar from blue card with princess to gold card).  

I then went to look to see how many points I needed for a stay and well I can tell you that I don't even have near enough for even a $100 gift card.  So pretty much the points are useless.

At first I thought I would maybe stay at one of their hotels again with what they were offering but with what they actually provided it really is not worth it and I will not be staying there any time soon unless there are no other options in the area.

Sadly Best Western has let us down again.  

Day 44 - Bay of Fundy and Wow Check Out Those Tides

Today is a day that Bernie has planned.  When we originally were planning what we wanted to see the Bay of Fundy was on my list.  We had hoped to spend a few days in the area but time has limited us and we are heading there just for the day from Fredericton - a little over an hour away.

The Bay of Fundy is a bay that borders the Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and a bit of the state of Maine.

It has the highest tidal range in the world. The Guinness Book of World Records (1975) declared that Burntcoat Head, Nova Scotia has the highest tides in the world.

The tides rise and drop anywhere between 55 and 71 feet twice a day.  

So some things are completely underwater and 12 hours later you can walk on the bottom of the bay's floor.  Pretty cool!

We head towards the Bay and stop at small towns along the Bay. Such iconic images - oh and smells too as most are fishing villages.

A quick stop in St. John for coffee.  We visited here four years ago on our Canada New England Cruise twice as we did a back to back.  

that is a toy sailboat in the water 

A NCL cruise ship (the Gem) is coming into harbour.  Should be docking for around 11 am I guess so we don't want to be around when the crowds descend on this small city. 

We are back on the Fundy Bay Trail - a wonderfully marked road that guides you along this stunning scenery.

Every so often we pull over and go for a little stroll.

We stop in a town called Saint Martin.  Love the covered bridges.  You will find a lot of covered bridges here in New Brunswick. 

Today we end up at the Fundy Trail Parkway.  We actually thought we were in the Fundy Provincial Park but they are two different places.  

Oh well - I am a firm believer you end up where you are suppose to be.

We take a map and start exploring. A beautiful park with tons of trails, lookouts, beaches, a nice shop and interpretive center and so much more.

 

But after about two hours here it is now 1 pm and we are getting tired and hungry so we leave and head back towards St. John.

 

You know you are in New Brunswick when every sign you see is in both French and English.  The only officially Bilingual Province in Canada!  

Both of earlier commented "I wonder if the passengers from the cruise ship take tours to the Bay of Fundy Park".  Well guess what, as we start heading back we pass around 8 full passenger buses full of cruise passengers I am guess.  So yes I guess they do tours to here.

A quick stop for lunch in St. John, well really it is lunch/supper as it is now 3:00 pm.  

On the hour drive back to Fredericton I start to question Bernie about the trip and I take notes on the highs and lows and memorable and not so memorable events of the trip.  I am preparing information for a final blog about the voyage.  So stay tuned.

Oh and I spotted a piece of sea glass at the first beach we went to as soon as I walked towards the water. Another sign!!!  I put it in my pocket as a souvenir.

Our scavenger hunt - we crossed off a Newfoundland License Plate today.

• Moose
• Deer
• Hitchhiker
• Eagle/Hawk
• Licence plates from every Province in Canada - but you can not count the province you are in.  So if we see an Alberta plate in BC then it counts, but not if we are in Alberta. British Columbia Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Yukon, and North West Territory
• Skunk - saw a dead one
• Sheep
• Beaver
• Goslings
• Buffalo
• Goat
• Owl
• Bear
• Loon
• Crane
• Prairie Dog
• Fisherman fishing
• Canoe
• Hummingbird
• Antique car on the road
• Old VW Bug
• Car broken down on the side of the road
• Helicopter on the ground
• Airplane on the ground
• Speeding ticket- hopefully not our own
• Ambulance with sirens on
• Dump truck
• Line painting crew at work
• Mail delivery person walking their route
• Cruise Ship 
• Coyote 
• RCMP officer
• Hop on Hop off Bus
• Sea Glass
• Lobster

If you have any items you think we should add to our scavenger hunt list, let us know.

So Today's Stats 
Driving distance today 400 k

Total distance 8838 km