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Sunday, July 10, 2011

Alma, New Brunswick

Yesterday was another short driving day. In fact, we had our drive for the day finished by 7:30am! As soon as we got up, we drove the 24 kms (15 miles) into the town of Alma.

Alma, New Brunswick is right at the entrance to Fundy National Park. It's a bit of a touristy place with a lot of guest cottages and rentals. And because it's a bit touristy, the main parking lot and the community rink parking lot both have signs saying "No Overnight Parking". So we parked at the community rink parking lot for the day, and made arrangements with the Alma Lobster Shop to overnight in their lot.

The town of Alma

It was an overcast, rainy day. We took the little car and drove into the park and took Whiskey for a walk around the main campground just to see how busy it was. The full hookups section has 29 sites and there were maybe 8 empty. But this year, the park has decided to rent out seasonal sites, and I asked how many they got. Turns out that 14 of those sites are taken for the full season at a cost of $2,000 each. Not sure I agree with having seasonals in a National Park, but they probably did this because the sites sat empty most of the time. Maybe if they weren't so expensive they wouldn't be empty? You can see their convoluted fee structure here... http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nb/fundy/visit/tarifs_fees_e.asp?park=17

The main campground was pretty quiet

Then, there are 85 unserviced sites. There were quite a few empty sites, but of course it was also a miserable day.

Then, we drove about 10 kms (6 miles) to the Point Wolfe campground. This is mainly a tenting campground, with no services and no dump station, although smaller RV's would have no problem getting in there. Again, not very busy, but we didn't count how many of the 157 sites were taken. There is a third, larger campground at the northern part of the park, maybe we'll visit there today.

It was pouring rain, and we spent the afternoon in Sherman reading, napping, and on the computer.

Around 4pm we walked to the main drag and bought some milk and a loaf of bread. We were going to buy a green pepper, but they wanted $3.95 for a single green pepper! This same store wanted $3.55 for a head of lettuce. Sherman's propane is getting low, and I checked their price...they wanted $1.19 per litre. For perspective, you can get it in some parts of the U.S. for half that! We'll try and make it to Maine before we buy propane. You can tell this is a tourist town.

But, they do have good prices on lobster. Because we are going to overnight at the Alma Lobster Shop, we went there to buy our dinner. $14 for a decent size lobster, and $10 for a pound of scallops. We don't often spend that kind of money, but this was a kind of a treat for us.

Fred, the lobster.

What a mess getting the meat out.

And this is what you get for your $14.

It was yummy though!

It was a good meal and lobster is nice for a change. I think it's pretty overrated myself though. Given the choice, I think I'd rather have a top quality steak cooked to perfection.

The people at Alma Lobster Shop are really nice though. It's a family run business and there was an older fellow standing by the lobster tank. Turns out he's been fishing lobster for over 50 years. He was really interesting to talk to and was showing us the lobsters in the tank. One weighed about 15 pounds and was about 100 years old. They are certainly interesting creatures.

Parked up at the Alma Lobster Shop

Today is supposed to be bright and sunny, and it's starting off that way! So we're off to do some hiking in the park!

Yesterday's drive, only 24 kms (15 miles)

12 comments:

  1. The seafood looks delicious, nothing like fresh lobster, it is a nice treat. But like you say I think its overrated. Enjoy your sunny day today!

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  2. New Brunswick seems so lovely, but it was nice to see that sunny photo. I love it that you post maps of your drives. I always want to see the route that I am reading about. Safe travels.

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  3. Fred looked pretty good and would look better with a steak laying beside him.

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  4. Looks like a lovely little town. I love lobster but I agree with you...don't get much for $14.00.

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  5. I don't think lobster is over rated,one can get a good lobster meal for under $100.00 and a good bottle of wine will cost more then that, what is over rated?
    Of course if one doesn't like Lobster, like some of my kids then yes it's over rated for them.
    I enjoy following you, being from Maine originally I look forward to your travels there. You always seem to find things that a lot of people miss.
    Mickey

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  6. I noticed that Ruth had to do all the work, at least she had a glass of wine at her side ( Kevin you should have refilled it for her ). Not sure I agree with the seasonal camping but from a government perspective I guess the income helps with the upkeep of the park. It seems to me that camping in down here also. Normally this park is jammed but lots of empty sites so far this season.

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  7. glad you enjoyed the lobster...did you like the scallops? How did you cook them? Sorry you had such a rainy day yesterday but today will make up for it....
    Elaine

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  8. Give me a steak any time. Guess that's my Montana upbringing. And $3.95 for a green pepper? No way. I know everything is going up but that is really up there. Seasonal sites in a Nat'l Park? Not sure I like that idea.

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  9. I have to vote for a large filet, with a great big baked potato, like the Great Northern Railroad used to have as a diner special, almost 2 lbs of potato made a meal almost by itself. Just got home after a week with little or know wi-fi, boy am I behind on blogs, looks like you guys have moved around a little in the last week. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna.

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  10. Finally after a month and a half, I cught up to you folks!! Reading wise that is. Love your travel blog and hope to see you in Mexico this season!!

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  11. George and Suzie...We enjoyed our dinner and usually try to have lobster at least once when we are out east. We will only buy it at a lobster/fish shop now, too expensive for us to go to a restaurant.

    Malone...We feel the same way. That way if we see someone's route we like we will try to do the same route ourselves. Noticed that you are including a map too. Glad you are having fun on your trip.

    Kenny and Angela...We agree, but couldn't find any steaks on sale.

    where's weaver...No you don't get much lobster meat for $14 but we also got a spot to park up at for 2 nights and the lobster was good, so no complaints!

    Mickey...For us $100 for a dinner is very expensive, but for $24 for a lobster over 1.5lb and 1lb of scallops and 2 nights of parking is great. We would rather buy the cooked lobster and make our own dinner with wine.

    Contessa...Kevin did refill my glass and he cooked the scallops. Kevin worked out the price of seasonal camping per night and it worked out to between $11 or $15 a night depending on if the season ended Labour Day weekend or Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. I think they did it to try and fill campsites but if they would just lower the price to between $10 - $15 a night with no services they would bring in many more people per night. We would have camped there for even $15 a night. We just don't get their price system! Isn't more better even at a lower price, instead Kevin read that Canada Parks are going to raise their camping prices, THEY think they're are to LOW!!!!!!

    Rick and Elaine...Yes we enjoyed the lobster. Kevin cooked the scallops with some butter in a very hot pan for about 1 1/2 -2 minutes. They were great. We had a beautiful sunny day yesterday, thanks!

    Jim and Sandie...Yep, we sure do love a steak. There was no way were going to pay that much for a green pepper! We still have mixed feelings about a seasonal site in a National Campground.

    Sam and Donna...All this talk of steak is making us hungry for steak! Glad you had a great time at the lake with Adam.

    trkdrivinfool...Thanks for following along with us, hope you enjoyed the ride. Sure would be nice to meet up with you in Mexico this winter too!

    Sue and Doug...Yes, poor Fred but he came to us this way and we really enjoyed him!

    Kevin, Ruth and Whiskey

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