What a Surprise!

The province with little reputation and a lot to offer!

So I hustled my way out of Quebec due to the rain but I arrived in New Brunswick with more rain ahead of me, I guess it was following me since it obviously has a crush on me! So it was the one time that I actually booked a hotel. It was just an ecolodge in Woodstock, nothing special but still cost 80 dollars. Despite the cost it was quite a blessing though because it was an opportunity to relax and watch television, which I haven't done in months, and sleep in a warm bed as the thunderstorm raged outside my window.

The next morning I headed out for Fredericton stopping in Kings Landing as I went. This was a super fun spot where an entire village has been preserved in time with characters who actually farm and make tools such as wagons, spoons, butter, blankets and so on and on and on and on.

After talking with a couple of them it turns out many of them are teachers who do the work seasonally which was a soft spot in my heart (theatre and teaching both of which I do in my spare time and professionally). It is absolutely worth a stop over if you can manage it ever. Pictures of proof...

The school

This was a decorative garden but there were many functional gardens as well.

After that stop I headed to my car to hit the road for Fredericton HOWEVER!!!!!!!!!

This became the worst night of my trip. It also speaks to the fact that society is addicted to our phones. So here's the story: I got back to my car and was texting my mom like a good girl when suddenly my phone froze. I was calm I figured it would catch up with it self eventually...I was wrong. Suddenly my phone went grey with a yellow line on it, I was still calm, it was time to restart. Only I couldn't the power wouldn't turn off....PANIC!!!!!!!!! I had no idea what to do it was 4 oclock on a Saturday, things  were closing and not opening again until Tuesday because it was Canada day, a holiday. MORE PANIC. When traveling your phone becomes pretty important: if I get lost it has gps, if I need to call ahead to book something I can do that, if I get lonely- a fault of travelling alone- I can text my friends or family. While my mind thought of all this my phone started to go into the light where all the edges started to blacken and it was burning up. So I dashed into the car and headed to the town for assistance. I got to a mall that didn't have any bell or apple stores, but  a lovely lady called to one of the loacations that could help me, they closed in 15 minutes and they were across the river of a town I didn't know how to navigate. EVEN MORE PANIC. I drove to the store with 5 minutes to spare and only getting lost twice. They were stumped. But were able to plug it into their computer and restart it. It still was frozen and now the screen was bugging out with the screen flickering so badly that it would cause seizures for someone prone to them. So they said that a shop in the main mall across town had an apple service desk and they should be open until 9. So off I went again. LESS PANIC BUT NOT CALM. I got to the store and only got lost two more times not including once I was in the mall looking for the store. I got there and they were impressed with how screwed up my phone appeared. They said really I should take it to an apple store but that was weeks away so they backed it up and did a factory reset.... this took FOUR HOURS I was there just passed closing and made friends with the lovely and helpful folks who worked there. The phone was still lightly vibrating but after 12 hours (the next morning) it was back to normalish. It froze every once in a while but for the most part it was good. I headed back to the campsite that night but when I got there it was dark (I got lost 5 times on my way to the site) and when I got there my site was taken so I had to have another one but it was near the washrooms and people who were intoxicated like to walk by talking and laughing obnoxiously loudly towards the bathroom where they threw up obnoxiously loudly then lit off fireworks until 1130 at night. Oh and killed my car battery trying to light the area where my tent was to go up. To put it mildly I was beyond cranky. The next morning I moved sites knowing that it was Canada day that night and things wouldn't get better. On a side note, I did finally take my phone to an apple store when I got back to Toronto and they outright replaced it because my plan was up in a month and they didn't have time to really get in there and look at it but most likely it was a very in depth problem so there you go apple customer service is great!!!! All of the fixing cost me nothing. Now I am calm.

Back to New Brunswick. I enjoyed this province quite a bit and spent a lot of time here though I probably should have moved on I was tired of driving.

I stayed in Mactaquak Campground 20 minutes outside of Fredricton. It was my home base for three nights. The first day I spent in Fredricton itself. It was a cute little town with little maritime looking houses and fun little markets. I caught it on a down day but I had a ton of fun anyway.

The town of Fredricton from across the river

 The second day I went to St. John, not to be confused with St. John's (you can get in trouble for this).

Parade time!!! 

Hungry!?

It was Canada Day!! So most things were closed but there was a parade and many activities. The town is built on a hill so I was hiking all day long. It was full of amazing architecture and felt very much like I had finally hit the east coast.

The perfect foggy day in St. John, it made the East coast the idilic place to spend Canada day.

Reversing Falls

 In addition I stopped at reversing falls where the tide from the Bay of Fundy changes over waterfalls so that they actually reverse direction with the tides! MIND BLOWN  I know. The tides are so significant in the Bay of Fundy that they can go down 40 feet or more in places!!

 On day three I left to meet up with a friend of the family in Memramcook just outside of Moncton. I really enjoyed the relaxing time with her. I got to go to the beach where we could eat on the roof of a building overlooking the fishing boats and the ocean, I got to catch up on my emails and jobs and well.... life. I also got the opportunity to plan my Newfoundland trip and book my ferry.  Much later in my trip I returned to New Brunswick on my way back west and stopped in Hopewell Cape where the tide goes out 40 feet and has created 'flower pots'.

Gorgeous, now picture it with 40 feet of higher water.

Dont get trapped that would be awkward! 

I felt extra small, not that I don't usually anyway...

New Brunswick in my opinion is an underrated province with a lot to offer. I may have spent too much time there just because I am limited on my time but I highly recommend it! Anyway I did Nova Scotia in two parts, the lower and the upper, weeks apart from one another. I did PEI and Newfoundland between the two, but I'll put it into one blog for efficiency sake. It'll be posted a little later on. In the meantime enjoy you summer, I sure am!!