St. Andrews by the Sea, NS

By the time we received the expected news of our infant granddaughter’s death in Guatemala on July 8, we were already in Maine. We grieved and we pondered what to do about meeting up with the caravan in New Brunswick that evening. But our daughter, Courtney encouraged us to push on to our destination; and. Josh’s parents were due to land in Guatemala that same day. It’s not easy pulling a 34 foot Airstream with tears in our eyes and with choking voices, put we kept on rolling toward the Canadian Border. We again promised Courtney that we would see her and her beautiful family in November.Nn addition to everything else that had happened still had to get our quarterly business tax reports mailed to our CPA while on the U.S. side of the Border. That was accomplished during a three hour stay in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Bangor, ME. We pushed on toward Calais, ME where we would cross into Canada. Our good friends, Chuck and Joyce, were already at our rendezvous point in St. Andrews, Nova Scotia. Chuck called with the good news that there was a new bridge into Canada that would save time by by-passing downtown Calais. What a blessing that was. We crossed with no inspection, and it was nearly time of the caravan kick-off dinner at a local restaurant in St. Andrews. We did not take time to find the campground, as we lost a time-zone hour at the crossing. On we went with no clue as to where the meal was being served, except we did know the name of the restaurant. A friendly traffic cop gave good directions but suggested that we park a half mile from the restaurant due to the streets being blocked for a big Harley Rally. Fortunately, we found a big lot for our 57 feet of truck and trailer, and we asked a lady how to get to the Chef’s Café. See took one look at an already-exhausted Gloria and said, “That’s a long way down there. Let me drive you.” God always provides an angel at just the right time. As we walked in to the restaurant, our 59 fellow caravanners were already eating dessert, but our leaders made sure we found seats, and our food was delivered almost immediately. What an emotional and harrowing day!

It was nearly dark when we finally got set up in a lovely seaside campground. We already felt better, because we have several friends on the caravan that we have known for years. It will be fun to be them for the next couple of months. As well, we will make friends with several other couples.

The next morning Jerry went on a scheduled boat ride designed for whale watching. Gloria elected to stay in the trailer and rest after five long, emotionally draining days from Illinois to New Brunswick. We boat passengers saw beautiful islands and rock formations “growing” from the sea, We saw a couple of Minke Whales, a few eagles, and several lazy harbor seals lounging on the rocks. Our guide, who has a degree in marine biology, did a fabulous job informing us of the nature and habits of the various animals. We also passed by salmon farms and herring traps right there in the bay. In the beginning of our voyage, the skies were gloomy, but as the morning progressed, sunshine prevailed.

We also toured an old mansion once owned by the President of the Canadian Pacific Railroad and a botanical garden. The home and huge barn were interesting, but they need a lot of work to come up to U.S. Standards for historic homes.

St. Andrews by the Sea is a quaint, picturesque little coastal city It must be even lovelier without noisy Harleys which occupy every parking space along both sides of the main thoroughfare. But Harley riders spend a lot of money for motels, B&Bs, meals, and drinks. So the merchants must love to see them. After three nights we left the bikers behind and headed up the highway in groups of two or three toward the Province of Nova Scotia.