Wolfville to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia

Ruth drove me down in Lindsey's car to pick up our car rental yesterday morning at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. We were handed the keys to a nice little 2013 Nissan Versa with only 11,000 kms (6,800 miles) on the ticker.

Shhh. The little blue car doesn't know we're cheating on him!

Road Trip!

As our regular readers know, we love a road trip.

So we've decided to rent a car for a couple of days and go on one! We've visited beautiful Nova Scotia several times, but there is one part of the province that we've never been to.

Gaspereau Valley wine

It is only recently that Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley area has become a popular winery region. The smaller Gaspereau Valley next door has also taken off as a prime location for growing grapes.

There are now eleven producing wineries in the Annapolis Valley and three more in Gaspereau. One of them, Luckett Vineyards, is on the opposite side of the valley from our daughter Lindsey's house. Yesterday, Ruth and I took a walk across the valley and up the hill on the other side.

Our Health and Health Care

We don't talk very much about our health or health care. That's because this blog is about our travels, it's not about politics or religion or current events. And health care (especially in the U.S.) is a very political topic. We definitely have our opinions about all of these things, but we've learned that people in general are very polarized when it comes to these topics and some people aren't able to grasp that if we disagree on something we can still be friends!

But our health and health care is related to our travels in some ways.

Kevin, ready for the War of 1812!

The acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us experience for the attack of Halifax the next, and the final expulsion of England from the American continent. Thomas Jefferson, Aug 4, 1812.

Apparently not.

The Traveler IQ Challenge

Came across a fun game yesterday that will test your geography and travel knowledge.

A screen showing a map appears. Different place names and famous attractions come up near the top of the screen and you have to place your cursor and click where on the map you think that place is. You are scored based on how close to the actual location that you clicked. But there is a time factor as well and you get bonus points if you click fast!

Planning for New York City

A week and a half from now, we arrive in New York City. The Big Apple! And so we're doing some planning. We're going to be there for four nights. We arrive November 2nd at Newark Airport in New Jersey and we depart November 6th from JFK Airport in Queens.

We were in New York City in October of 2000. Eleven months before the twin towers came down.

Great views at Blomidon Provincial Park

We dropped Cameron off at daycare yesterday morning, and then went for a hike at Blomidon Provincial Park. (GPS 45.25702, -64.351691). The park is closed for the season, but you can still leave your car at the lower day use area and go for a walk on the beach or the trails. We chose the trails, as we were due for some exercise and the trails are steep in places.

Noggins Farm Corn Maze. Amazing!

We had never been to a corn maze before this, and we're glad we chose one of the best around as our first attempt. We didn't realize that it's actually an educational game...you have to find various information stands in the maze and fill out a form to find hidden words.

Lots of fun for young and old. Besides the corn maze, there's also a special haunted house feature done by the local Red Cross as well as a rope maze, duck races, washer toss game, puzzle mazes, and the barnyard adventure area.

Fossil Hunting at Blue Beach, Nova Scotia

Yesterday, we went for a walk at Blue Beach, Nova Scotia. The rocks on this beach have produced some of the oldest fossils found in the world, dating back 350 million years ago!

Blue Beach is located on the northern shore of Nova Scotia, in between the towns of Windsor and Wolfville. It's also situated on part of the Bay of Fundy where the highest tides in the world take place.

Fun being grandparents!

A few raindrops yesterday, but not enough to stop us from going out and getting some fresh air. We looked up a hike to a waterfall, but when we got to the trail we found that parts of it were not suited to having small children with us, so we never made it to the falls!

Walk around Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia

Beautiful fall day yesterday, with the temperature reaching 22C (73F). That's pretty warm for a mid October day in this part of the world! Ruth and daughter Lindsey took grandson Cameron to daycare in the morning, and I went for a fast paced 5 km (3 mile) walk.

This is a nice area.

Nova Scotia does have some pretty scenery, that's for sure. We've been here quite a few times now, twice exploring with the motorhome, and a couple of times visiting by car and airplane.

Our daughter and her family live near the town of Wolfville at the far east end of Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley, a diverse agricultural area along the Bay of Fundy with a wide range of products from fruit trees to corn to milk and chicken production.

Arrived in Nova Scotia!

We are now at our daughter Lindsey's place near Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada. But we better get you all caught up on our activities of the last few of days and how we arrived here!

Let's go back to Saturday after we were finished our two night stay exploring downtown Ottawa.

Ottawa Marriott Hotel

The Ottawa Marriott Hotel has a distinctive design that stands out in the skyline of Ottawa, Canada's capital city. Built in 1972, the rooftop has a huge revolving room that spins at a rate of one revolution every two hours. It is the 8th tallest building in the National Capital Region.

It's a large hotel with 486 guestrooms and all the amenities a downtown hotel should offer.