Friday, July 01, 2016

St. Martins and Fundy Trail- July 1, 2016

Happy Canada Day, Canadians!

This morning we drove to a little town east of St. John called St. Martins.  This town was once a prosperous ship building center in eastern Canada.  Today it is just a small picturesque town that is popular with artists and photographers.  We stopped at a touristy area that had some shops but it also had a lighthouse that now was used as an information center.  In the lighthouse we were allowed to climb the very narrow steps to the top level.  There were stacks of lobster traps sitting along the dock in this area that some men were loading up on a trailer.

Lobster Traps

A Serious Lobster

The boats docked along the pier were freely floating on water. 

Lobster Traps

A restaurant advertising world famous chowder caught our eye so we though we would grab a cup before going farther.  When we checked the prices a cup was $8.00 and a bowl $12.00- we decided we really didn’t need the chowder, famous or not.

From St. Martins we continued eastward on the Fundy Trail. 

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There is a fee ($6.50 for seniors) to go on this trail whether you drive or hike or a combination of both.  The drive presently is 10 miles but there is continuous work being done to expand the trail.  Following the northern coast of the Bay of Fundy, there are beautiful vistas of shoreline, beaches and a falls (Fuller falls).

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  Many pull off areas allow for picture taking or picnicking.  We did not come with a packed lunch, unfortunately, so we grabbed a bag of chips and some water at an interpretive center to tie us over until we could get lunch later.  The trail ended at a beach that was preparing for Canada Day celebration events later today.

Long Beach

We had to make a return trip going back through St. Martins.  When we got to the area we had stopped this morning the docked boats were now resting on mud, not water, as the tide was nearing low tide level.

The Harbor at St. Martin at Low Tide

The Harbor at St. Martin at Low Tide

Returning to  Rockwood Park where we are camped we decided to eat lunch at a restaurant in the park.  When we stood waiting to be seated for several minutes with waitresses standing around barely acknowledging our presence we left and returned to the motorhome to eat.   Tomorrow we leave St. John moving east but not on the same route of travel as today.