We wanted an early start today so we packed and all met at 8 for breakfast ready to checkout. An interesting British couple ate with us as did a shy Japanese woman. The Brits were having a longer road trip than ours but were touring many of the same places in the Maritimes. They started in Quebec and also did Newfoundland. We shared some photos of nature, ate breakfast and bid "adieu" to all at Heritage Harbor House Inn, a very comfortable, pristine and well located B&B.
After our am coffee stop at Starbucks for some and the local coffee place for others, we were on the road at 9:45, ready to close the loop on our road trip by ending our day back in New Brunswick almost at the Maine border. Pretty soon it started to POUR!! Our first soaking rain of the trip! We were headed for the Confederation Bridge, one of only 2 ways to leave PEI (the other being the ferry). The bridge is 8 miles long and is the longest bridge in the world over icy waters. Because of the rain it was hard to appreciate the view and the bridge itself. We began to wonder if we'd be able to do all we wanted to accomplish today.
In spite of the rain, once over the bridge into New Brunswick, we headed for Hopewell Rocks. By the time we arrived there at noon, the rain was over and the sun was shining in a brilliant blue sky! What luck! And, we arrived just in time to take the shuttle to the beach to explore the ocean floor before the tide came in. There are amazing rock formations there that have eroded because of the amazingly high and ferocious high tides in the Bay of Fundy. They are called Flowerpot Rocks, are exceptionally tall and at high tide they look like islands in the water!
A guide at the interpretive center gave us some great advice about our next destination and we were back in the car by 1:30 ready for our next adventure. We continued driving along Fundy Bay with vistas that were incredible. Our destination was Cape Enrage where a lighthouse dominates the cliffs overlooking the Bay and the rising tide. We were the ONLY people there and we were ecstatic to climb to the lighthouse, walk along the boardwalk and just bask in the glory of nature. Peter said it was the highlight of the trip for him.
Ann, the Hopewell Rocks guide, had also recommended a stop in Alma for lunch at the Harbor View Restaurant, a local place with local food. So, off we drove to Alma, a town that supplies everything for the Fundy National Park. We found it easily and by 3:45 we were eating local mussels, clams and seafood chowder. Delicious!! And we still had to drive to St Andrew's where we had reservations at the Kingswood B&B.
We arrived there shortly after 7 and, thus, completed our loop of the Canadian Maritime Provinces. Ten days ago, we had passed the village of St. Andrew's, just over the border from Maine, on our way to Saint John. The sun had just set when we arrived and Gary, our host, met us in the driveway. The B&B is just outside of town, an imposing 160 year old home. We were tired, had a drink, some grapes and peanuts, played a game of Hand and Foot and retired in our spacious, fireplaced room. A highlight of the day was The Osenton's Christmas gift to us, a water color painting of the PEI fishing village of French River that we had admired yesterday. Thanks, Bill and Francine!
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