Well, today Walt planned our day and it was a very busy day. We started out very early, like 7:30 am. We left so early because the first stop was Hopewell Rocks. It was about a 30 minute drive on a very rainy day. They are rocks that look like Flower Pots when the tide is out. Flowerpot rocks created by the clash of continents, carved by melting glaciers, then sculpted by the highest tides in the world. The tides are one hundred billion tons of water drawn by nature’s force, flowing into the Bay of Fundy. The tide changed 36 feet today. We arrived so early because we wanted to see the site when the tide was at the low point. We had to wait until 9 am to get in the park and everyone would have to leave the site at 11:45 am because the tide would come in again. We bought our ticket and started to walk to the beach. It was a long ¼ mile hike and I made it with ease. Then we had 99 steps to go down to the beach. They had decks after 10 steps to go down a different direction. When we got to the bottom we saw these huge rocks which were like columns in weird shapes and with trees on the top standing on the ocean floor. The people who were walking thru them and around them looked like little ants compared to their height. We spent time walking around on the ocean floor and choose a few small rocks to say that “we had some rocks from the ocean floor”. Then I went up the steps and Walt took a longer walk and came up another stairs. Well, I made it up the steps with less difficulty than I had imagined. After the tour we went to the café and had breakfast. This was at 11 am.
After the rock excursion we went back to Amherst, Nova Scotia. This was about a 1 hour drive. The reason we went to Amherst was that there is a famous rug hooker who has a studio in that city. Her shop was a high point for me. She has a web site and I have researched it, so I knew what I was going to see. Deanne Fitzpatrick was not in the studio today but she had a very nice lady who answered my questions and gave me all kind of info when I said I did not know how to hook.
Deanne began hooking rugs in 1990. What began as a way of warming the cool floors of an old farm house, developed in an art that allowed her to tell stories, express ideas, and create a livelihood. She uses narrow strips of wool, yarn, ribbon and whatever will work to make a whimsical picture on her rugs. She is known for her whacky houses and large bottomed women. She uses very bright colors and a lot of seaside settings. If you would like to know more you can visit her web site at www.hookingrugs.com. It is a very nice website. When I get done with some quilts I may give rug hooking a try.
Our next stop was Fort Beausejour or Fort Cumberland. It depends if you use the French or English version. The star shaped Fort Beausejour, overlooking the Bay of Fundy, was built by the French in 1751 to defend their interests in the area. The fort fell to the British in 1755, and was renamed Fort Cumberland and repelled American and local rebel attacks in 1776. Reinforced for the War of 1812, it was abandoned in 1835 and declared a national historic site in 1926. Walt loved the tour. He cannot pass a fort or a lock when he is in the area of either one.
Next stop was at a winery called the Magnetic Hill Winery. They had renovated a 1856 house and the winery was in the lower level. Jeff, the owner, gave us a lecture about the wine industry in this area and how they were using fruits as their base for wines instead of grapes because they have not been able to find a grape that will survive the winters in this area. He said that Minnesota was working on some vines that would survive in their area so he was more confident about getting some vines from that area which may produce the grapes for grape based wines. We met a couple from Quebec who were traveling to Cape Breton for a week. We gave them some pointers of what to see and then we followed them to our next attraction.
We drove to the area just back of the winery to a park that had what was called a magnetic hill. The hill is the number 3 visitors’ attraction of the province, You pay $5 to stop at the top of a hill and put your car in neutral and the magnetic pull will hold the vehicle so it goes down at a very slow rate. Then when you get to the bottom you put your car in neutral and the magnetic pull takes you back up the hill. When we got about halfway we were moving at about 10 miles per hour. Walt had to try it a few more times and so did the couple we had met at the winery.
The Magnetic hill was only a few miles from the park that we were staying at, so we drove a few more miles to a grocery store and then went home for supper. It was a long but interesting day.
Talk to you soon because we get back to the US in the early afternoon if all goes well.
We have had internet service at this park so I hope we have the same in Maine.
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