Maritimes - Day 25

Last night I realized that all the new stuff for me on this trip is over.  Everything from now on is taking the kids to someplace I've already been.  Though both Alex and Sandra pointed out things that were different today, so it's not like the rest of the trip is going to be boring.

Today started cloudy and rainy and with a bit of fog, as we left Halifax after grabbing some donuts at a fancy donut shop.  We then drove to Peggy's Cove, where it was very cool, put on our jackets and chased Bradley and Jonathan over the rocks, as they climbed and dashed everywhere with no regard for human safety.  Peggy's Cove was actually quite busy, despite today being a week day and with the weather not that great.  Once we had enough close calls on the rocks, we headed to the Swiss Air 111 memorial and then onto the highway to Mahone Bay.

This is a small fishing village near Lunenburg where everyone stops for a picture of three churches across the bay.  We stopped at the visitor center for lunch, and the man running it came out to talk to us as we were setting up - he has relatives from Regina and area, and he told us to check out the nearby cemetery, which is very old and one of the earliest in Canada.  After lunch, Sandra and I looked through a few of the marked cemetery headstones before we grabbed her picture of the churches and then headed into town to find a place to park.  There is a pewter store in Mahone Bay that she wanted to go to, as in addition to selling their works, they have a back area where they are making the items and show you exactly how it is done.

Essentially, they use a rubber mold and centrifuge, heat up the pewter and pour it in and then check the pieces to see what they look like.  Any that don't make the cut get dumped back in the liquid pewter and melted down for next time.  The ones that are good are then trimmed and polished.  Sandra bought a few things and then we drove down the road a bit to Lunenburg.

On the way in, we passed the B&B we stayed in back in 2005 when we were here, as well as the very odd three way intersection that I almost got hit at back then.  It wasn't any easier to drive this time.  In town, we found a spot to park and then walked down to the harbour.  It was quite warm in Lunenburg and the rain had stopped, so the kids weren't too interested in the town or the walk.  Alex actually wilts in the sun pretty quickly.

We viewed a bit of Lunenburg, but the big draw was the Bluenose II, which was out on a cruise when we arrived, but scheduled back in at 3:30pm.  We waited for it, and after it had docked, they let people on to walk around, which was a new thing that we didn't get to do last time.  The wood on the ship was really nice and it was interesting watching all the workers putting the sails away.

After that, we headed to Truro and our hotel, where we ate supper, played in the pool and then went to bed.  Tomorrow we are off to PEI.