June 19, 2019 - Lunenburg, Oak Island & Peggy’s Cove, NS

June 19, 2019

This morning, Yvan and Carole got up early, packed up and headed out. They wanted to get to Fredericton tonight on their way home which meant they had a tall day in front of them. After saying goodbye, Lynn and I decided to take a bit of time this morning to get a few things done. I spent some time writing this blog and catching up a bit and Lynn re-and-re’d some of our set-up on the bikes etc. We had a very rare slow and easy morning. By about 10:30, we were packed up and ready to go and headed back into Lunenburg. We hit the Dockside for brunch and sat out on their deck overlooking the entire bay. We had the best seats in town. Today was another beautiful, sunny day and the chowder at the Dockside was to die for. We sat there for quite a long time, enjoying the magnificent view and the lazy morning which was so welcome after 3 weeks of go, go, go...

We took the opportunity to ride through the town of Lunenburg itself which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the biggest and best preserved turn of the century towns in Canada. It looks like a movie set (in fact, it is frequently used in movies) as it is city block after city block of beautifully preserved heritage homes and commercial buildings, churches and lovely parks. Both times I’ve been to Lunenburg, I’ve thought of my mother who has a passion for heritage buildings. She would lose her mind here... (mom, you guys have GOT to visit Lunenburg!!)

We pulled out of Lunenburg and decided to make a short pit stop at Oak Island, near Mahone Bay. Yes, periodically we watch the Mystery of Oak Island and we're just pulled in enough to the story that we thought we didn't want to miss the chance to at least drive up onto the Island, even though we got skunked on tour tickets. So, off we went and we were able to go into the Interpretation Center which is also the little archive where they have all their "finds" on display. It was actually quite cool.

From Oak Island, we made our way up the highway to Peggy’s Cove. You can’t NOT go to Peggy’s Cove if you’re in the area. It’s about 25 kms off the highway and, along the way, you pass the memorial for the Swiss Air Flight 111 which crashed into the ocean in September, 1998. We stopped here again and it was just as moving as it was when we first saw it 6 years ago. All 229 passengers perished and the good people of the area (including Peggy’s Cove) responded, going out in fishing boats to try to rescue survivors. We spoke with a woman who lives near Peggy’s Cove and she said that many people in the area still suffer from PTSD from responding to the crash and for a long time afterwards, body parts washed up on the beaches. She said that even though it’s been 20 years, many local people are still very impacted by that event.

Peggy’s Cove itself is a major tourist attraction and the parking lot attendant said we just missed all the tour buses that had pulled out just before we arrived. There had been 27 buses today and this isn’t even the high season yet! We walked out onto the rocks and the lighthouse and enjoyed the beauty of this spot. I feel badly for the residents of what would otherwise be a quiet little fishing village with just a mere handful of houses, a church and some fishing shacks and wharves. Now they are inundated with thousands of tourists every day of the high season. I’m sure it’s a double edged sword in that tourism does bring economic opportunity but it must make them nuts having people like us wandering around their village every day. We try to be low impact visitors wherever we go but we did watch as some folks literally looked into the windows of private homes as if they were part of a museum display. Boy, that would get old after awhile if you lived there... I’d probably defiantly walk around nude in my home all day just to shock a few.

From here, we made our way to Halifax where I was anticipating a wonderful reunion with my friends Linda and Ross, whom I haven’t seen for over 20 years. They used to live in Vancouver and Linda and I went to UBC in our undergrad together 30 years ago. We arrived to warm, open arms and the best part was that we instantly found our groove, as if we’d only seen each other last week. They had a wonderful meal ready for us and we sat and ate and drank good wine and visited until late. It was so fabulous to finally see them and their beautiful home in Halifax. I’m so grateful that we have kept in touch over the years. We have a lot of shared history and there is something very special about that.