Humid, eh?

In my Coastal Waters blog, I complained about the dampness of the coastal morning fogs.

 

We moved on to Halifax.  And the rain gods laughed.

 

We have family in the city of Halifax, so we planned a slightly longer stay there. Our family allowed us to settle our home right on their front lawn. Bylaws be darned, as long as the neighbours don’t complain, we should be fine.  Well, their neighbours are wonderful, as east coast neighbours usually are, and we got to meet and eat with them and enjoy being their neighbours too.

Their home is located near the top of a hill leading down to the Halifax harbour, with lovely views of the downtown and Dartmouth areas from the top of the street.

 

My hubby, never one to sit still, found some projects around the house to do. 

An old deck got new decking. Overgrown bushes got trimmed, fences reinforced, a cupboard door fixed, and plumbing repaired.

We were only there for 9 days.  

During the first few days after we landed, Halifax had hot and muggy weather interspersed with fine misty droplets and occasional showers. I still complained (not always silently) about the dampness.

Then, 3 days before we were to leave, the rains came. Just steady rain at first, but by the second day it became a massive thunderstorm. Buckets of water came down, all at once.  We had a 3-hour monsoon that created a rushing river down our street. Downstream from us, roads were flooded and impassable. There was an incredible amount of damage to infrastructure and we were starting to wonder how we were going to travel out of the city when we leave.

It did stop raining on our last day, and we opted for taking a longer, but higher, route north. 

We safely reached our destination in Kouchibouguac, New Brunswick, and now we're basking in the sun.

I promise to stop complaining about the coastal mists. 

And I may start praying to the sun gods.

W

 

 

Flowerpots

 

New Brunswick in July is all about roses.  There are wild roses growing everywhere. They grow along roadsides, along rivers, and along walkways.  People make beautiful hedges out of them and the scent of the roses are lovely.

 

But there are other flowerpots in NB.  We made a special effort to see the Flowerpot Rocks along the Bay of Fundy.  

We made note of the time of the low tide – the optimal time to visit. But like the eager beavers we always have been, we were early.  Not too early; the tide was down and there were others there before us.  But once you make it down to the “ocean floor” as they call it, the rock bed I had expected was anything but rock.  It was mostly mud.  Slimy, thick, red mud.

The diversity in tackling the problem was there for all to see: people gingerly picking their way around the mud trying to stay on the firmer sand and gravel, children delighting in sloshing through the deepest parts, and some others in bare feet just enjoying the feel of the mud and alas sharp rocks/pebbles in their toes.

In hindsight, it would have been better to have waited for the full low tide to have drained the surface a little bit better.  And to have let all the other eager beavers go before, leaving drier footprints in some spots or even just making obvious the deeper slime as a place to avoid.

The flowerpots themselves were worth the mud.  Towering stands of rock with trees and shrubs crowning them were all along the bays and coves of the park.

And after taking advantage of the hoses strategically left at the top of the cliff to clean our feet, we could enjoy the roses along the walkway back to the parking lot.

Flowerpots on solid ground.

W

Coastal Waters

 

 

We traveled a couple of the coasts this past year. Padre Island National Seashore on the Gulf of Mexico was on our list of places to see and we managed to fit it in on our winter trip to Texas. What an education! Camping there was “first come, first served”.  No reservations.  If you get there after noon, there may not be a spot in the campground for you. And the campground is little more than a parking lot. No water, no electricity, just some pavement on the other side of the dunes from the ocean. 

Why do you want to camp there? It does have public washrooms.

If you don’t get a spot in the campground, and you still want to stay in that national park, you had to find a spot somewhere on the beach. Anywhere on the beach.  Hopefully not within reach of the tide.  And not too far from the water where you can get stuck in the soft dune sand. Boy, you have to be careful! 

The upside is that there are 50 miles of beach to choose from.  Although the rangers do suggest having a 4 wheel drive vehicle if you choose this option…

I like beaches, but ones that you walk on, not drive. This beach in Biloxi, Mississipi was delightful! Fine, white sand that you can sink your feet into is a delight.

And no vehicles allowed!

We will be seeing more of the eastern coast this summer, but so far we have been enjoying the views and tidal idiosyncrasies of Fundy Bay. 

We spent a few days in St. John, New Brunswick checking out the Reversing Falls over several hours, starting with low tide. The St John River is fairly fast, rushing over the rocks to the bay.  A few short hours later however, the tide is significantly higher than the river flow, and the flow is going a different direction! Even later, at high tide, the water is rushing again, but back up the river, and over the larger rocks that seabirds had been sitting on at low tide.

Believe it or not, these two pictures were taken in the same place.  As you can see, the low tide was in the morning, and the ocean fog blanketed the area.

The high tide, 6 hours later, has completely covered the lower rocks, and the flow is in the opposite direction.  

Morning fog is a theme along the coastal areas. Leaving Galveston in the morning was like driving at night – low visibility, lights on, drive slow.

After all this, and the fact that we have more coastal destinations planned, I find that I am not fond of the coast. Although the views are phenomenal, the thick fog and wet mist makes everything damp. It’s impossible to dry towels outdoors, and putting clammy clothes on in the morning is definitely not my cup of tea.

Is there any way to move those wonderful beaches away from the coast? I like my water liquid, not airborne.

W

Back On the Road

 

 

There’s gotta be a reason people leave a perfectly good and solid house behind and travel in a trailer.  Is it adventure? Maybe.  The idea of doing something different for a change?

When we travelled full time, our trailer was our home. Everything we needed and wanted was there. But it’s different now.  We have a very comfortable home in a lovely neighbourhood.

So for us it’s a desire to see things we haven’t seen before, or to return to places we want to see again that drives us.

Whatever, we have now begun to get back on the road.

We started with a little 12’ T@b trailer. It wasn’t much, just a place to sleep out of reach of bears, and a tiny fridge. No bathroom.  Good thing we only camped a few days at a time.

There was the first trip just across the border to Wellesley Island to see how it worked. It worked great, and we had a nice spot not too far from the campground showers.

It was a little different on a weekend trip to a balloon festival in northern NY State.  The “campground” was an open field above the airport runway.  There were no bathrooms or facilities at all.  Porta Potties were provided on the airfield, but you had to catch the bus to get there. 

Since we were thinking of doing longer trips, I insisted on a trailer with a bathroom.  “Essential” and “non-negotiable” I said.

It worked.  We got a 17’ r-pod with a bathroom. Yay!

Since then, this new-to-us trailer has been tested by a 35 day trip to Texas, and a 4 month stay by my hubby in Quebec. Starting in the still-winter month of March. Tested indeed.

Now that the pandemic restrictions have eased, we want to finish what we started back in our days of full time trailering. We still have a bucket list that needs ticking off before that bucket comes down on us.

So here we go again. Keep an eye out for future blogs as I attempt to recreate our new adventures.

At least we know how to get back to where our house is. 

W