Weekly Log 5-Aug to 11-Aug-2019: Canada!

Miscellaneous rambling:

• What is the only town that is in every state in New England?
• What the heck is "poutine"?
• Easy questions, right?  To be answered and elaborated upon within this write-up of our vacation to Canada.
• Brady is now a very well traveled dog.  From Key West to northern Nova Scotia and every single state and province in between, he's covered pretty much the entire Atlantic seaboard.  And that's before his upcoming trek to Texas.

From USA's Ocean State to ...

... Canada's Ocean Playground

I've always wanted to visit Cape Breton Highlands, and this be the year.  In truth, I wanted to combine it with national parks in Newfoundland, especially the famed and amazing looking Gros Morne, but the logistics made it too difficult for a one week trip, as Westerly to Cape Breton is already 14 hours, and Newfoundland a number of hours north of that by ferry.

Very nice rest area on the border between New Brunswick and
Nova Scotia

Monday:  2 hike
Arrived Cape Breton Highlands in the afternoon.  After checking in to our AirBNB rental (entire house with a swimming pool!), and having dinner, we went to the national park visitor center to get brochures and plan out tomorrow's run and hike.  Hiked "Le Buttereau" trail after dinner.

Really cool to have "our own" pool
as part of the rental.  We would be in the cold but refreshing pool
several times each day.

Le Buttereau trail hike

With dramatic cliffs and the famed Cabot Trail in the background

Finished up right at sunset

Tuesday:  5 run, 6 hike
Run:  Skyline Trail, Cape Breton Highlands NP, NS (5 miles, 620')
This is the only trail in the park that does NOT allow dogs and also the most popular, so Matthew and I got up early and covered this before the "crowds" arrived.  Crowds in quotations, as it's all relative, but there aren't really crowds anywhere way up here on Cape Breton Island.

Stunning views along the trail ...

Moose "Exclosure".  Interesting.
There was a science experiment going on inside to study growth rate of
seedlings, and the government didn't want moose to interfere.

Hike:  Acadian Trail (6 miles, 1,273')
Didn't have the same views as the Skyline Trail and unfortunately didn't have a true summit, but did have some nice lookouts.

Breaking for lunch.

Views along the hike.

Wednesday:  2 hike
Hike:  MacIntosh Brook Hike, Cape Breton Highlands NP, NS  (2 miles, 132')
More of a nice walk in the woods than a hike.  This was our final morning on Cape Breton Island before heading south back into New Brunswick.  I could definitely have stayed another day or two here.

Small, but nice falls

Is that a dog or a goat?
Surprised how Brady climbed rocks with ease.

Took off my shoes and socks to walk in the water.  Frigid!

The gang is all here.

Thursday:  6 run, 6 hike
Run:  White Rock Recreational Area, Hillsborough, NB (6 miles, 627')
Although we got ourselves twisted and headed in the wrong direction once, the trails were well marked, had occasional on-trail maps with "You are here" markers, and generally easy to follow.  There was quite a mix of terrain and trail styles.

Wide dirt "roads" with a lot of gypsum (the white mineral you see here)

... plus plenty of single-track with fun bumps,
twists, and occasionally humorous signs.

Post run:  Really cool cafe in Hillsborough, NB

Delicious breakfast, with fresh fruit and great coffee
As you can see, pet-friendly
(In fact, the waitress said she also had a dog named Brady)

Hike:  Hopewell Rocks (2 miles, 279')

Pretty cool view showing the Hopewell Rocks at low tide
(The downside, as you can also see, is way too many people)

Hike: Dickson Falls (1 mile, 203')
The first of three short hikes in Fundy National Park, NB.

I can't believe Mark successfully crossed the river on this log.
Brady looked at him and then just waded across.

... and this be "poutine".  I had some great meals in Canada,
including a lot of  local seafood.
Between hikes today, we had a late lunch just outside of Fundy NP.  My lunch
was crab cakes, a blueberry poppyseed salad, and seafood chowder, while Mark's was or included poutine.
As far as I can tell, it's french fries smothered with gravy.  Whatever
works, I guess.  Variety is the spice of life.

Hike:  Caribou Plains Trail (2 miles, 237')

Cool boardwalks and bogs

Brady found a stick of his liking ...

... and he was not letting go!

Hike:  Herring Cove Beach Trail (1 mile, 211')

Herring Cove Beach
I loved it here!  Practically deserted.

Beautiful area.  Frigid water, although Brady didn't seem to mind.

Three boys frolicking on rocks.  Note one of the three is wearing socks and shoes ...

but the tide came in quick, and now Mark is stuck on way back,
as the rocks he walked on are now underwater, he's wearing a shirt, shoes, and socks,
and those are sheer rock cliffs
on his left.  Yes, he ended up in the drink.  I guess that's one way to
learn about tides!

I think Brady could've stayed in the water all day.

Back at the cottage we rented, at the end of a long day.

Friday:  5 hike

We crossed back into the US today, which also meant as we crossed the border we regained service and the texts and voice mails for the week came in.  One voicemail of particular interest:  I FINALLY got an appointment with a rheumatologist, for late September.  One month to secure an appointment, and then 1.5 months for the first available slot.  A broken health care system.

(Place where we ate lunch in Bar Harbor)
I had to look this word up (meaning: to throw someone out a window!)
I wonder if it's from the German "fenster"
It apparently isn't spelled exactly correctly ...

... but looks nearly perfect as compared to this gem in
Pawcatuck, CT.  "Scorlership"?  "Detils"?  "Manger"?

Hike:  Thunder Hole, Acadia National Park, ME (1 mile)
More of a walk hopping on the rocks with the four boys (Mark, Matthew, Brady, me).  Fun time of course, as who doesn't like to jump on rocks?!

Hike:  Gorham Mountain (2 miles, 692')
Awesome ocean views on this hike, near the Precipice Trail.

Took a more technical trail down on return.

Yep, the trail goes right through there!

Hike:  Acadia Mountain  (1.5 miles, 608')
Short but fairly steep hike, in the heat.  82 degrees.  Followed this one up with a swim at Echo Lake.

Saturday:  5 run, 0.1 swim

Final day of vacation.  😢 Not that I have to go back to work for another two days, but I have certainly enjoyed my coastal vacation in Atlantic Canada and Maine.

Run:  Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, ME (5 miles, 817')
Matthew picked our run venue today.  Just a 9-mile drive from where we were staying in Warren (which is, by the way, the only town that is in every state in New England).  The alarm went off at 7am (I've really morphed away from the early morning person I used to be) and the three of us (including the black dog) were off.  I really hadn't researched this like Matthew had, so I was surprised by the continued climb.  Covering the full set of trails was just about 3 miles, at which point Matthew dropped off with some discomfort, and Brady and I went back out to make five.

Beautiful views from the summit

Brady took a well-deserved rest

Post-run, back at the farm house we rented,
it included a private swimming/canoe/picnic area, and
we availed ourselves of it.  Brady, the black lab, was
immediately in the water, and even swam with Matthew and
I out to the raft (10 o'clock in photo above) and back.

Sunday:  5 run, 2 walk
AM:  Stonington XC course preview, with Brady.  Not terrible, but not great either.  We are still 1.5 weeks out, but the course will need some weed-whacking plus chainsaws in two places.  Hopefully the Town of Stonington can get out there with DPW personnel and get this taken care of.

PM:  Walk with Brady at Ninigret, while Matthew ran.  Walked the first mile or so, but after that was just getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, so it was time to pick it up to a jog for the finish.

Sunset at Ninigret

Weekly mileage:  21 run, 23 hike/walk


Weekly synopsis:  All is good!  Any week that you're on vacation has to be good.  And it was!  In addition, this is the highest mileage running week (don't laugh; I know 21 is on its own embarrassing) that I've had since late May, and first week where I've done exercise all seven days also since late May.

Weekly highlight:  Crossing Cape Breton Highlands National Park off my bucket list and visiting a beautiful spot at the same time.

Weekly lowlight:  Just the end of vacation.

Canada / Maine trip reflections:

Pros:

• Visited a new area (always a plus for me), and a scenic one at that:  Cape Breton Island and Cape Breton Highlands National Park
• Lack of traffic:  In NB and NS, the highways are just clear sailing, whereas heading north, the traffic was backed up on I-95 all the way into southern ME.
• Gastronomy:  great local seafood in both provinces.  The seafood chowders were especially good everywhere we went.
• More advanced and secure credit card charging:  I don’t know if it’s Canadian privacy law or just custom, but never did I once physically turn over my credit card.  Even at outdoor restaurants, the staff brings over a portable payment device which they hand to you and you process it yourself.
• Acadia National Park variety.  Acadia has the most diverse hikes and scenic views of any of the three national parks we visited.

Cons:

• The amount of driving.  It's basically a 14-hour drive from Westerly to Cape Breton Highlands National Park.  It wasn't so much the driving itself that was tedious, as we broke it up (and thank you to Matthew for spelling me on sections in Canada), but rather the huge opportunity costs of not being able to spend more time in local spots.  I definitely would have enjoyed an additional day in Cape Breton Highlands, as there were sections of the park we didn't see.
• Acadia popularity.  The cost of the beauty and attraction of Acadia is that so many people visit the park, and the roads and limited parking spots just get totally jammed.