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Nova Scotia Lobster fleet

We’re at the southern tip of Nova Scotia preparing to board the giant high speed catamaran ferry for Maine, 5 hours away. We like this town, a popular tourist destination.

We drove north all day to a National Park at the tip of Nova Scotia. We’ve had zero cell/ WiFi service, I’m sending this at a restaurant. There’s a small number of Americans here, a fellow Vermonter greeted us.

We left the National Park in Western Prince Edward Island (PEI) and drove to a small Provincial (State) park on the far Eastern shore. The entire PEI is intensely farmed and cultivated with little feral land. The island has a distinct European feel to it, carefully maintained and always a sense of order. The pride in home ownership and land stewardship is everywhere. They appreciate what they’ve got and are trying to preserve it, something that’s been apparently lost in America.

This peninsula sticks way out into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, a remote land with fewer tourists. We were happy to have a windbreak of trees protecting us from the constant blowing on shore winds. Once again we are the only Americans here. The Canadians are the world’s most polite, friendliest people.

We are baffled how the Canadians afford the prices here. Gasoline is almost $ 7.00/ gallon and groceries are staggering. I’ve quizzed people about wages and they’re about par with Americans . Since we crossed the border, prices have been 30%+ above our inflated numbers but Canadians seem to be somehow dealing with it.

We depart PEI tomorrow boarding a ferry to Nova Scotia

We are staying in a beautiful National Park camping 100 ft from the beach pictured. A strong storm blew through yesterday, the sound of the roaring surf woke me up several times last night. The sun came out today and we wandered down this empty beach enjoying the mild weather. Tomorrow we head to the opposite end of PEI staying at another National park. There’s virtually no Americans here. Canadians don’t liter, this island is very neat and the farms and villages are spotless. We are enjoying the wonderful seafood.

We started our journey heading due north to the Quebec border and crossed into Quebec at Derby Line Vt. We drove all day and spent the night at an underwhelming campground across the St Lawrence River from Old Quebec City. This campground was huge, 200 campsites filled with ridiculously expensive huge RVs. The owners rarely appeared outside , we think they were watching TV. We departed the next morning in the rain and drove up the Gaspe peninsula along the coast of the vast St Lawrence bay. We ended up spending the night at a small municipally run campground abutting a wheat farm, spotlessly clean and very pleasant. After a leisurely breakfast, we headed up the coast before turning inland to enter into New Brunswick. We crossed into the Atlantic time zone1 hour ahead of our time. This entire area is rich farmland meticulously run by those farmers who clearly take pride in their land and farms . We spent the night at a Provincial Park on the coast across the bay from PEI. This park was also a ski resort so it was sort of weird staying there. It was clean and private but glad to leave. We arrived on PEI after crossing the bridge from the mainland.This endless 8 mile long bridge costs $50 to cross. We are staying at a National Park and are parked 100’ from the beach. Very nice. We drove almost 1000 miles to get here. Will send more pics .

We’re in our 3rd week in Canada and heading home today. We’re taking the high speed catamaran to Maine landing in Bar Harbor. The ferry ride is a 115 mile crossing taking 3 1/2 hours. Canadian Customs searched our camper before boarding, they took all fruit and veggies, eggs etc. The agent told us the food would be donated to the needy. We really enjoyed our stay in the Maritime Provinces and especially loved PEI, Prince Edward Island . It was like stepping back in time. It reminded me of Maine 50 years ago . The cost of living in Canada is very high, food, gas, etc is double that of the US. The Canadian kindness, friendliness and generosity made up for the difference. We hope to return soon.

The vehicle deck had 2 levels for cars with taller vehicles in the center