CANEAST OCT 12345

October 1,

Spent today traveling to the west of NB and Bayside, St. Andrews, home of the earliest French settlements in Canada.  We spent most of the day at the Kingsbrae  Gardens which were amazing and beautiful.  They had many sculptures featured throughout and also in a special “sculpture” garden.  We had a very nice lunch there.  Next was downtown for groceries and checking out the various shops.  

I loved this quote on a bench

Not such a great shot...actually says u~pick

I think this was called "Windy" 

There are deer wandering around town (much to some of the resident’s dismay.) Actually, they are everywhere – lawns, roadsides, parks and they are not as timid as deer usually are.

October 2,

Special day… Elizabeth’s birthday.  We have some events planned, baking to do, brunch al a Gerard / Miss Adventure Too’s kitchen and a dinner out!  See this short 10 second’s and sing along if you wish:

I baked the traditional Brownie Cake but I guess I’m out of practice and it was “overcooked”.   However, it tasted great though most of it ended in the garbage.

We toured the Ganong Chocolate Museum.  St. Stephen’s is the home of the oldest continuously operating chocolate factory in Canada.  Still family owned and operated it was well worth the visit.  

Special Happy Birthday Certificate

We saw an employee hand dipping and decorating chocolates (a job which takes up to 5 years training.)  They were the first in Canada to produce the heart shaped chocolate box, which was originally created for Christmas but quickly became the Valentine’s Day special.  In 1909, one of Ganong’s candy makers created the “Pal‑O-Mine” chocolate bar.  It is still produced today and has been for 110 years. They also invented and patented for life a special embossed paper that puts the Ganong signature on the underside of their hand dipped chocolates.  The guide said they own the rights to all embossed papers.  We got many free samples and a few extra goodies for Elizabeth for her birthday and because she was able to open the huge secret safe.

I enjoyed a great day celebrating my birthday.  Our dinner at the Niger Reef Tea House was delicious.  It is a very small restaurant next to the National Historic Blockhouse in St. Andrews.  When our waitress (a lovely girl who looked just like Carmen Diaz) brought a dessert with candles, the entire room sang “Happy Birthday” for me.  It was fun.

October 3,4

Before we left the area, we stopped briefly at an International Historic Site about St. Croix Island.  This is the place of the 1604 French settlement – the first in North America.  Samuel de Champlain was part of the expedition.  After the first winter, when many died, they moved the settlement to Port Royal in Nova Scotia.  The island is in New Brunswick but is managed by both Canada and the USA.

St.Croix Island

We were going to travel into Maine and camp but we felt the weather, traffic, time zone changes and energy was good so we kept driving to Quebec.  This was likely the longest driving/hauling day we have logged.  Found ourselves in a nice KOA near Lac-Brome where we plan to see the home town and area of Louise Penny, a mystery novelist.  Elizabeth enjoys her books.

October 5,

This morning we woke up to -3C and the outside water tap was frozen.  Inside water and pump were fine.  Sun is out so I’m sure everything will be running as normal shortly.  We are going to tour the area with some kind of self-guided route of the places in Lac-Brome (Knowlton) that inspired Louise Penny’s writing.  (Water was running again by 9ish.  Another reason to be getting' home.)