Sweet Silver Travels: The Last of the Loonies (Canadian 1 dollar coins) and back to paper money of the US

On the upper left in green are the towns of Port Royal, Annapolis Royal, Digby and Brier Island, our top destinations.

PORT ROYAL HABITATION SITE

Exterior of the small fort.

Courtyard view

Port Royal was settled by the French in 1605 and is across the bay from the first capital of Nova Scotia, Annapolis Royal. Port Royal Habitation is a National Historic Site in Canada but also is recreated to exact specifications. The history of this part of Canada run parallel to parts of Michigan history especially in the Mackinaw area as the land bounced between England and France with settlers caught in the middle.

Our Port Royal guide and teacher!

This man's decedents escaped deportation perhaps by hiding out deep in a wooded area. He is the 10th generation of his Acadian family still living in the area. We believed him to be the face of everything historical in the area, since his picture is nearly everywhere on promotional publications. That is until we realized his twin brother (below) is also active in Annapolis Royal history promotions, giving very popular cemetery tours every night.

Most of the proceeds from his tour support the Historical Society. His devotion to Annapolis Royal history is so strong, he has only cancelled twice in 25 years of nightly tours due to bad weather, from May to mid October.

The twin brother offers a cemetery tour in Annapolis Royal
recounting stories of famous people and events. Notice
how bundled I am for the 9:30 pm tour and he just has
a shirt on!
We noticed the locals do not consider 50 degrees
and a breeze chilly!

Who is an Acadian? Acadians are decedents of French families who settled in this area. Several generations were born here and considered this their homeland. But in 1755, the English started to expel the Acadians when they did not swear loyalty to the English. It is a very dark period in Nova Scotia's history as families were loaded onto boats and their farms burned to deter returning. Some eventually ended up in New Orleans as Cajuns, a distorted version of the word Acadian.

Wooden shoes are not just for the Dutch! Low landers in France also wore them and brought them to North America also.

Their shoes are ordered from TheWooden Shoe Factory in Holland, Michigan!!

ANNAPOLIS ROYAL is still a small but thriving village because of its importance in Canadian. history. But it also is home to a Tidal Power station, using the power of the tides to displace water to make electricity.

This is one of 3 blocks which make up the once capital of Nova Scotia. It does have a full time population, but there are always those who leave the winter behind. We met a man who flees to the warmth of Italy.

The view from Ft. Anne is also the place of the Acadian deportation.

DIGBY AND WHALE WATCHING

Digby is a medium sized fishing village at the start of the Digby Neck. The Neck is a series of small islands into the Bay of Fundy and is proud to be the scallop capital of Nova Scotia.

When traveling to Nova Scotia, a whale adventure has to be on the list.

It was a beautiful calm day and we really didn't need these survival suits with the temp around 60.

We were hoping one of the humpbacks would come straight out of the water and crash down! I guess they were feeling a bit lazy today.

Their is an unusual odor around a blowing whale. I thought it might have been the whale itself, but it is whale breath.

BRIER ISLAND, part of Annapolis Valley

As the end of a chain of islands, a trip to Brier requires 2 ferries to reach this remote land. Kids take the ferry everyday to school.

This is actually a beautiful lodge on Brier Island. The mowing crew working this afternoon might be part of your evening meal! Actually everyone eats fish around here.

In the background is the Bay of Fundy. You can often scan the water and see what appears to be verticle line of smoke. It is actually a whale blowing air out of his blow hole.

Last stop in Nova Scotia, Wolfville and the wine country

Woodville is home to Acadia University, several vineyards, a museum devoted to the Acadian experience, and marvelous hiking trails.

We have found wineries in the most unexpected places...
Texas, Arizona and now Nova Scotia!

Dry wines seem to be popular here, but we prefer the sweeter varieties of Michigan.

At the top of the blog page is my go to map of Nova Scotia. On the far right (in green) is a small hook shaped area of land called Cape Split. On this beautiful fall day, many college students and families made the 9 mile round trip just to stare at the amazing site.

Bring your lunch and hiking poles.

The church was important to the Catholic Acadians and is part of the museum and the beautiful grounds.

BACK TO THE UNITED STATES HEADING SOUTH

We belong to an organization call Harvest Host. Wineries and farms allow RVs to park over night. Some of our stops are pictured below from Maine to Virginia.