We got out on the early side (for us anyway) and left Pete in the van so we could go out on the boardwalk across the salt marshes to the open ocean. The morning was peaceful with only a few people walking about and a father/daughter pair playing in the ocean. The herons were out, probably five of them standing stoically waiting for a fish. When a fish swims buy, they strike. We had brought mom's old binoculars with us, but I hadn't tried them out - they had been dropped - and the lenses are out of alignment. I have my eyes open for a new pair so we can peep on the birds and critters as we head towards Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.
We headed in to Moncton and finished off some of our chores - Pete was out of dog food so it was a bit of an expedition to find his brand and flavour of chow. I found a camera shop that carries some Nikon binoculars I thought were good, oddly closed on Saturdays though, so the hunt continues. We added in some groceries, and we are good to go for a couple of days. We stayed at another HHost, this time apple orchard and cidery. They had Haskep cider, quite good, as well as pear, didn't buy the apple cider but did get the other two. Apples are coming into season so we are getting apples that are fresh and crisp. Glad we are done with the soft US apples that seem to be prevalent in the stores.
As is his way, Pete made friends with the people in four other rigs that were parked at the orchard, his favourite person was a lady from Quebec that just loved him and he responded perfectly to her English commands while giving back a blank look at the French commands. It was good to have a space for him to be able to run free as he had to be on leash all the next day.
We headed to the other side of the bay to Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park and it was a leash only day for him. We did the trails down to the rock stacks, wandered the tidal flats and we all got pretty muddy. They have a hose station where we were able clean up our shoes and legs and hose Pete down. While not impressed, he took the spray like a champ and he cleaned up in no time.
We were wandering the flats at low tide, happening at 12:29pm, and the flats were dry for over half of the bay. We found a trail in the opposite direction that took us down to a mud flat that was drained of water. By 3:30 or so, the tide was shifting and all of the hollows in the mud filled with water, then the bay refilled with water and the muddy areas vanished. Impressive to see and watch.
We headed down to Bay of Fundy National Park, and found a campsite for one night (we were hoping for more); things are starting to shut down in the parks as the students head back to classes. We can expect things to be a bit more challenging for accommodations going forward I guess. With campsites getting tight in New Brunswick, we decided to head to PEI tomorrow (Monday). Harvest Hosts has been working out fairly consistently for us so we are doing that again. We also booked our ferry to Newfoundland; it is looking like the fires won't be a major issue.
We are finding that time is just flying for us, we are at day 37 and find it hard to believe we have been gone that long. We are both sleeping better, though I still catch Mandy looking at her phone in the middle of the night. Pete has settled into a bedtime and morning routine; we get excited good nights and rather frantic good mornings. If I say a single word, that is his cue to start the good morning routine that is soon followed by his morning pee routine. Of all of us, I think getting back to our home routine will be the most difficult for him!
Your trip looks amazing so far! Glad you decided on Newfoundland, it’s such a unique province. Cheers!