Brier Island
Oooo, oooo, loud seal sounds
Echo from lighthouse to shore
Seals adorn the rocks
Shh, quiet. Please don't disturb my bicycle, she is taking a well-deserved rest today after carrying me around the western side of the province. Although come to think of it, she might not be resting since her home for the day is in the garage with that wonderful Model T. Maybe they spent the day dancing... For me, it was a day for traveling with two feet on the ground.
Filtered sunshine greeted me this morning. The sky wasn't cloudy, but it wasn't blue either. First things first, another wonderful breakfast to start my day. A mixture of delightful fruit followed by baked French toast and eggs set me up with energy for the day.
What's next? I set out in a gas-powered instead of a person-powered vehicle, heading to Digby Neck, and then on to Brier Island. The difference between traveling in a car instead of on my bike really hit me today. I drove from Yarmouth to Brier Island and back again. That would probably would have taken me four days on my bike. And yes, you're right, the territory I covered between Yarmouth and the turnoff for Digby Neck was very close to the road I followed my first day here. I stuck to the higher speed Route 101 today, so the scenery was slightly different. Plus, more autumn colors seem to be jumping out. At the beginning of my trip, almost everything was green, with an occasional tree sporting yellow or orange or red. Today there were entire bands of color painted across the sea of green.
My drive north was accompanied by Maine Public Radio. I was surprised to get good reception across the expanse of the Gulf of Maine. It disappeared as I turned down Digby Neck, but it was good to listen to one of the Sunday morning programs on the initial part of my drive. Ah, the end of the neck, time for the first of two ferries. The fare on each ferry was $4 round trip; I certainly can't complain about spending a total of $8 for four ferry rides. (And if you decide to follow in my footsteps, but on your bike - I believe bikes and people are free on these ferries.) By some stroke of luck, I arrived just as the ferry was boarding, no waiting here. Cars lined up, three rows of up to 6 or 7 vehicles. Pulling away from the dock, I felt a spinning sensation, and another spinning sensation as we docked on Long Island. When I talked with Bruce later about the feeling of spinning motion, he told me that there is a pretty strong current between the islands. The spinning feeling may have been compensation for the current pushing the boat. A little more driving, and I was at the crossing from Long Island to Brier Island. This crossing seemed slightly longer, but it was probably no more than 4 or 5 minutes. I rolled my vehicle off of the boat, and into the small town of Westport.
I quickly realized that I had no idea how to find the roads to the edges of the island. Why? For some reason there were no signs at all. That makes it more than a little interesting for a stranger to navigate. I drove into what appeared to be the central part of town, hopped into a shop, and said "I think I must be confused". The gal at the counter laughed, then pulled out a map to show me where I was standing. No longer lost, I headed to the lighthouse to the north. As I walked past the light I started to hear a somewhat erie sound. Oooo, oooo, oooo.
Oooo, oooo, oooo. Erie and loud. It was the seals, laying on rocks in the water, still quite a distance away. My feet carried me down the path, ears listening, eyes watching signs of life along the rocky shore. Grasshoppers hopping, sea gulls, a heron, seals! Low rocks, edging above the water, served as a resting spot for a large group of seals. You could almost imagine that they were just rocks, but then a seal would toss its head up and back. No, those aren't moving, living rocks, they are really seals. Slap, splash! There's a seal playing in the water. I stood and watched for quite a while, then continued down the path following the rocky coastline.
The rocks were dark in color, sporting streaks of white. It almost looked like a person had cemented the rocks together, but the different rock compositions were natural, not man-made. I believe the dark rock is basalt, but I'm going to have to satisfy my curiousity about the white lines once I get home again.
Hi - it's Rover again. Were you wondering where I've been hiding? I've been helping Denise by keeping an eye out for interesting things to photograph. Today I was trying to help her get a picture of a beautiful heron standing on the rocks close to the water. Unfortunately the rocks between where we were standing and that great tall bird were covered with seaweed. It looked much too slippery for us to attempt the walk, and Denise was pretty sure that if we moved any closer that the bird would fly away. What a beautiful bird though. And then we went on to see the seals. I really like wandering around here!
The ferries run once an hour, and if you take one ferry and drive directly to the next one you arrive at the right time to board. I spent all of my walking time on Brier Island, and then headed straight back - ferry from Brier Island to Long Island, drove directly to the next ferry stop and straight on to the ferry from Long Island back to the Digby Neck mainland. I had a good laugh while I was waiting to board the ferry in Westport (on Brier Island). The car in line next to me was a convertible (with the top down, of course). There was a white dog with a bright pink nose (yes, stuffed, not a live animal) sitting on top of a box in the back seat, strapped in with a seat belt. I asked the couple in the car if I could take a picture of their "dog". They looked at me a little funny, but said yes. I took the picture, and then Rover jumped out of his home with the cameras to say hello to the owners of the white dog. All of us had a good laugh at that; they definitely appreciated my travel companion.
Back in Yarmouth, still astounded by the distance I had traveled today... I wandered over to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia before dinner. There was an exhibit of photographs by Edward Burtynsky that fascinated me. He takes photos of industrial landscapes, things that I normally would consider ugly - and the photos are beautiful. Two of my favorites are kind of on the edge of industrial since they were shots of an abandoned quarry in Vermont. Another one that caught my eye was a photo of mounds of old tires. They were stacked and thrown in such a way that the photo looked like a landscape instead of a photograph of trash. I'd love to see more of his work sometime.
If you're interested in seeing some of Edward Burtynsky's work, he has included some photos in the "Work" section of his web site, www.edwardburtynsky.com.
As a true chocolate addict, I'm always on the hunt for good chocolate. And on trips like this I often opt for a piece of chocolate instead of a restaurant dessert. My preference is for dark chocolate, and to make me happy it has to be good quality chocolate. That can be a challenge when I'm looking for chocolate in convenience stores, but I definitely found an answer to my chocolate urge on this trip - Cadbury Premium Dark Burnt Almond. Yum! I wonder if this is a Canada-only product or if it's available in the states too.
(Of course I share it with Rover. And yes Rover, you're right. We will probably need to cut back on the chocolate when we stop cycling every day.) An after the trip chocolate update: As it turns out, my new favorite chocolate confection is not available in the United States. I think I've found a substitute though, so I won't need to (immediately) take Kate up on her offer to ship me some of those wonderful Cadbury Premium Dark Burnt Almond bars. Interestingly enough, according to the Cadbury UK web site, "Cadbury products in the USA are manufactured and distributed under a franchise agreement by Hershey Chocolate USA". Hmmm... that means that Hershey has the "skill" to create good dark chocolate, not their usual fare. I looked a little further, and discovered a relatively new Hershey product, HERSHEY'S EXTRA DARK. I tried HERSHEY'S EXTRA DARK Cranberries, Blueberries, & Almonds - and wow! That's good, and my new chocolate favorite for when I'm home. I'll continue to seek out Cadbury Premium Dark Burnt Almond when I'm in Canada though!
I'm planning a quiet day in Yarmouth tomorrow. I hope to repeat the short lighthouse ride I did on my first day here in the hopes of seeing something other than fog, and there are a couple of museums that sound like they could be interesting (gasp! I can't believe this non-museum-going gal is actually considering visiting a museum!). The ferry is scheduled to leave at 4:30, which means I need to be in line at the ferry dock at 3:30. Then back across the waters to Maine...
