Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

July 25, 2017, 164.4 miles
Dunromin Campsite and RV Trailer, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

Our journey took us on the Evangeline Trail through the Annapolis Valley, known for its apple growing. We passed by the bustling town of Windsor, which is considered the birthplace of ice hockey. The game was first played around 1800 by the students of King’s Edgehill School.

We stopped at The Grand Pre National Historic Site which is a memorial to the Acadians who were forcefully exiled from their homes and farms during the Expulsion in 1755. We watched a movie that explained what the Acadians went thru during this time. This Site was once the largest Acadian community that exisited in Canada in the 1700’s. The British exiled the Acadians due to they not taking an oath of allegiance to Britain and to take up arms to fight the French. It seemed to have many similarities to what happened to the Indians in the US.

There was a line of motorhomes from our group waiting to park in campsites when we arrived in Annapolis Royal.  Will (our fearless leader) was trying to park the big rigs and small rigs into the proper size sites.

Unknown to us there had been a water leak on the back row, and it had also rained all night, the grassy area was very wet and muddy. Will was helping Guy park the coach as I was driving the truck, and this time, was I glad it wasn’t me directing. Guy had to back into the site behind ours, into the grass to make the sharp turn.

When he was trying to go forward all 6 back tires just slid on the grass and dug down!! It took about 2 hours and 20 people trying to put wood under the tires, putting the jacks down on wood trying to raise the tires, but every time he would try to drive forward the wood just flew out behind the coach.

Finally, the campground host brought about 10 buckets of gravel, Pat put down layers of wood blocks, and lowered both back jacks, poured in the gravel and more wood, attached a tow strap to Wills truck, and pulled the coach out!! Wahoo, no one got hurt, the truck and coach made it with little damage!! Our jack now leaks and needs to be repaired.

That evening we went to Forte Anne, a national historic site for a candle light tour of the old cemetery. Each couple were given lanterns to carry as the walk started at 9:30pm and was getting pretty dark. The tour was conducted by an 11th generation descendant of an Acadian family, who to this day still owns land that his for-farthers owned. It was fun watching the lanterns bob around not really able to see who was carrying them, walking under the trees, over tree stumps, up the stairs and hills, thru the grave sites.

The night couldn’t have been any better, so many brightly lite stars were shinning, no wind, it was so fall like, a little crispy, and fresh smelling. Our guide told the history of some of the people buried there as well as the Acadians. There were over 2000 Acadians buried in the area, there were no head stones, wooden crosses were used in the 1700’s which are long gone. What is there now is one granite cross commemorating the Acadians.

 

Another Acadien settlement site was nearby, so the group headed there the next day. The site was the settlement of the Acadians in1605.

The French in 1603, arrived in Port-Royal to establish the fur trade in North America and start French colonies. The Mi’Kmaq indians lived in the area at the same time and shared their knowledge, and customs and became military allies.

The reconstructions of Port-Royal Habitation opened in 1941. The recreation had captains quarters, kitchen, dining hall, trading post, Governors home, a bunkhouse for the single men.

We were to tour the Annapolis Royal Gardens before lunch, but some where I had misplaced my new glasses…I have a habit of taking them off, as they drive me nuts…and then it drives Guy nuts when I do that..I really wasn’t sure I had even brought them…Guy and I went back to the coach to see if by chance they were there…I looked….and at the same time checked the dryer and removed the dry sheets, added sheets from washer…took LaciLou out for a potty break…and got my phone. But no glasses…back to the settlement…we stated looking….then Guy went and asked if they had been turned in…no….we were just getting ready to call it quits…when someone turned then in!!! Wahoo…

Off to lunch we went to the German Bakery in town where we met up with the group. The restaurant is run by a husband and wife team and their daughter from Germany. We had preordered, sandwiches and chicken soup, with rhubarb custard crumble for dessert.

We then walked the town, along the boardwalk looking at the river, and down to a farmers market at the end of the street. Heading back to the car we stopped at Fort Anne and the cemetery so I could get a few pictures in the daylight. It was getting hot and we were tired so we decided not to take the tour of the forte and headed home.

On the way back we could see that the tide had changed and the water was now running thru the Tidal Power Plant. The plant uses the tide to fill a holding basin then lets the water back out as the tide recedes which drives a generator that produces 1-20 megawatts of power.

The facility is not bidirectional so it only produces electricity twice a day for 12 hours a day. We did not take the tour but watched the water flow in the opposite direction, also to watch the sail boats that were using the water flow to sail. We did watch a few of the sail boats get towed away from the current as it was taking them in the wrong direction.

Our next day we would be traveling to Lunenburg, NS, since it was only 89 miles away we could take our time. So off to Nautical Seafoods we all went. Wow!! This was a great tour, learned so much about lobster.

There are 2 seasons to trap lobster, Spring and Fall. The only restriction to catching lobster is, how many traps the lobster fisherman has a license for, (no more than 250 traps), and a female that has egss, she will be marked on the tail, put back in, and will not be kept again until she sheds her shell. This company is the only one in NS that buys and sells lobsters.

They do blood testing, grade them, and sorted by their weight. The ones that don’t measure up are sold to be canned or used in other ways. They will then store the best and heartiest in tanks for up to 6 months. They are stored in salt water that is extremely cold, 37 degrees, with water circulating thru the tanks from the river at all times.There can be up to 500lbs of lobster in each crate, once they are in the crate they hibernate and don’t eat or continue to grown any larger.

different color lobsters

In the ocean lobsters will shed their shell, but once in captivity they no longer shed. Bejing, China is one of the largest buyers of large lobsters, the 8-10lb ones. The males are kept separate from the females in the crates. We also found out that to cook lobster you don’t boil them, but steam them in about 2”s of water with salt, for about 15 mins, to check if done pull on the long whiskers and if it comes out then they are done.

 

Leaving the campground today was tricky, the front row needed to leave first as the back row did not want to back out and get stuck in the mud. It worked just fine, Guy and I were almost the last to leave, which we hoped by the time we made it to the next campsite everyone would be settled!!

Until next time y’all have a very Blessed Week. Come on back as we make our way to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.