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Old Posted May 27, 2018, 5:57 PM
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Atlantic Canada Vacation Thread

Mods feel free to delete - a thread on vacations in Atlantic Canada seems overdue (probably could be a Canadian one in the Canadian forum as well).

I'll post a bunch of pictures and comments here on my May trip from Victoria to New Brunswick/PEI after I've sorted through some more photos. While there were no disappointments, one city clearly blew me away - looking forward to going back for a much longer visit in the future!

One picture to start with, approaching the first stop, Moncton:

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Old Posted May 28, 2018, 12:08 AM
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8 day trip to NB - Moncton was the starting and end point, two days in the new Wyndham in Dieppe and the last two at the Delta Beauséjour in town. We were visiting family in St. Quentin, and toured a big chunk of New Brunswick.

Starting off with impressions of Moncton, and keep in mind all of these subjective impressions are based off of totally insufficient time to really know the area, and based solely on where our feet, car happened to travel.

Most of NB didnt' seem to have a big foodie/restaurant/coffee/alcohol culture, but in every place we went there were good restaurants and the local home cooked foods were great (crouton, salted herbs, etc.).

We went twice to Tide and Boar in Moncton - very good, only two in house brewed beers, but both good.



There wasn't any liquor stores at all downtown and the town shut down pretty early, but wasn't a big deal as we weren't looking to party all night.

While Moncton was the least picturesque of the places we visited, it was still nice, so that's saying something. Obviously a booming city, not sure why it needs to be developing a suburb like Dieppe so rapidly or with the lower density there, but still, it's well laid out and traffic is minimal. In fact we found everywhere the traffic was basically non-existent. Even on the highways, it felt deserted, amazing if you don't want to be stuck in traffic and who does. And going off tangent, the roads from Moncton north are terrible, potholes the size of small countries all over the place, in fact we hit one on the 180 (I know..but they said that road was fine). It dented the rim, flattened the tire, and we limped along, filling the rental car tire with air every five km before it flattened out. It took us about 90 minutes to get to the peak of Mount Carleton before we finally got cell service late at night, and a tow truck had to come all the way from Bathurst to tow us to St. Quentin. Some locals did stop at first and offered to help, we thought we could make it at first.. and then we were pretty much deserted with a vehicle coming only every half hour or so. Good times.

We did find that from St. Quentin back to Moncton the roads were just fine.

Back to Moncton - friendly people, really friendly, helpful, down to earth, no pretension. Cars stopping to let you in even when they had no reason to. Maybe it's like the Calgary of NB, can do attitude, but with zero bravado. It seemed in all the stores French or English was spoken, not even sure you could get hired unless you were bilingual? Made a quick stop to the main mall in Dieppe to get groceries, it was here I really noticed the bilingual nature - nice mall for a smaller city, heck for any city if you're into malls.

The main strip was enjoyable to walk along, felt like you could feel at home pretty quick here and know most of the shop owners, etc. Tons of churches, great churches. Some of the historical homes right by downtown are amazing, and incredibly priced. Even if Moncton is not the jewel of NB, hard to argue with the lifestyle you could have with affordable heritage homes right downtown, or a huge plot of land in the country a 15-20 minute drive from town.

CATHÉDRALE NOTRE-DAME DE L’ASSOMPTION






Downtown









Don't ask me how I missed taking a picture of the tallest office building in town.. I'll have to check my files for that!

More to come, including PEI, Shediac, Bathurst, St. Quentin, Grand Falls, Fredericton, St. John, Hopewell Rocks, etc.
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Old Posted May 28, 2018, 12:30 AM
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Great pictures! Love to hear your feedback on our corner of Canada.

PS: I recognize that 1st picture as Caissie Cape.
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Old Posted May 28, 2018, 1:59 AM
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Sweet pics. I've been trying to get a photo of that entire building for a bit but fail every time. Obviously you have the skill and the equipment.
The bilingual thing is one of the coolest facts about Moncton. People from away are blown away by it. Don't fool yourself about needing to be bilingual to work here I've had about a dozen careers [yes I am old{ and have never even been asked if I'm bilingual. Certainly one's job prospects increase if one knows both languages.
Lots of visitors are floored by hearing both languages used with such fluidity, often in the same sentence lol.We take it for granted.
Roads here are used as political capital. This helps, to a degree, to explain why some roads are great and some are not so great and why we have so many roads for so few cars. Some would say, and I'm one of them, that we are paving our way into bankruptcy.
Hope you had the boar poutine at the Tide and Bore. If not, go back and get some.
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Old Posted May 28, 2018, 2:38 AM
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L'homard - Yep, I was very impressed with the immediate and perfect bilingualism, even among the teenage staff! Have to say the service is Moncton was very professional and those we dealt with take a lot of pride in their work/store/services/churches. The Home tourist shop and the Stile clothing store are examples of that - good quality merchandise, well displayed and great staff.

You're right, so many roads and a lot of comments when we were there about road politics. Not to mention all the bridges, that has to be a fortune with so many crossings even in smaller cities. Jeez, in Victoria this tiny bridge took us over five years to build and $100 million and counting (although it does raise for boats to pass).





I did not have the boar poutine.. which is all the excuse I need for a return visit! Vorkuta, thanks for identifying that Cape.. I hoped someone would!
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Old Posted May 28, 2018, 2:53 AM
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Some typical Shediac tourist pics next, sorry. At first I thought the lobster was cheesy, but hey, its the world's largest and when you think about the detail and the many great potential poses that could be had on this - nothing to sneeze at. You can see by the pics that when we first arrived on May 17 spring was only getting started in most places, and it still dipped to near zero on several nights. The beaches we went to were freezing cold as it was super windy, in PEI it was 5 C with an incredible wind that must have made it below zero with the wind chill - we were the only ones on the beach. Seemed like we were stepping two months back in time. I think, and am sure that NB only gets more beautiful with the increased foliage, especially in the early fall. Not sure if I could handle the cold, or the short spring/summer season - but if it wasn't for that, I could see myself living in NB no problem. While I love Victoria, Vancouver, I'm not sure there is too much better in Canada (although I have not been to Montreal, Quebec or Nova Scotia - the first two definitely being too cold for me!).

Even for small cities the urban experience easily crushes most of Western Canada and the cities are far more pleasant than the Prairies.







The area above was closed - we found that a lot which was surprising, even in PEI, many touristy places were closed until the following week or June. No problem, less people to wade through.

More pics in the next couple days - including St. John - what a city!! This is in my top 5 Canadian cities, and per capita - maybe it's number one?! Not saying it's perfect, but wow.. looking forward to your thoughts on this place as well.
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Old Posted May 28, 2018, 3:20 AM
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The beaches we went to were freezing cold as it was super windy, in PEI it was 5 C with an incredible wind that must have made it below zero with the wind chill - we were the only ones on the beach. Seemed like we were stepping two months back in time. I think, and am sure that NB only gets more beautiful with the increased foliage, especially in the early fall. Not sure if I could handle the cold, or the short spring/summer season - but if it wasn't for that, I could see myself living in NB no problem.
We have a serious seasonal delay in the springtime, but we more than make up for it in the fall, with the temperatures staying pretty decent until the end of October.

The tourism season really doesn't start until mid-June (once the kids get out of school and are able to become seasonably employed in the summertime). The tourism season however has been creeping more and more into the fall season over the last couple of decades. This is partly due to leaf peepers, but also due to the cruise ship industry and some creative fall festivals. If (when) you come back, if you want to avoid the height of the tourism season, I would suggest trying late September. I think you would find that more enjoyable than early/mid May.
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Old Posted May 28, 2018, 4:10 AM
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More pics in the next couple days - including St. John - what a city!! This is in my top 5 Canadian cities, and per capita - maybe it's number one?! Not saying it's perfect, but wow.. looking forward to your thoughts on this place as well.[/QUOTE]

Enjoyed your posts. Great pics and great thoughts/insights. As locals we can forget what we got and instead focus on what we do not have. Fresh input is always welcome. I will be following this thread intently and especially looking forward to your take on Saint John. We have lived in Saint John for 16 years now and doubt we will ever live elsewhere. I have seen much change in Saint John since I first visited in the mid 1980’s. My wife was born and raised here and I told her before we got married that we would never live here as I hated Saint John haha. Never say never lol. Long story short, I now love Saint John. It’s not the biggest, it’s not the brightest, it’s not the shiniest, but it’s ours and we think it’s pretty special and has much to offer. The same can be said for other places in NB also as you (and I’m sure others) will attest to. I hope this thread gains traction, thanks for starting it.
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Old Posted May 28, 2018, 5:34 AM
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We have a serious seasonal delay in the springtime, but we more than make up for it in the fall, with the temperatures staying pretty decent until the end of October.
One of the things about the Maritimes compared to BC is you will always be rolling the dice. You can easily get bright sunny days or grey rainy days at any time of year. Here in BC the temperatures are more consistent from day to day and there are times of the year when you're almost guaranteed grey skies or blue skies. This is a bigger deal for visitors than residents since it is not convenient to plan a major trip around weekly variations in the weather. I actually like it as a resident since it means less monotony. But as a visitor it really blows if you happen to hit a bad stretch for your whole trip.

The seasonal lag means that May and October are about as nice of a time to visit. You're actually more likely to get sunny skies in October and you will get the fall foliage. The water is also much warmer in the late summer and fall compared to the spring.

The seasons can vary by weeks depending on where you are in the region. There are pretty substantial north-south differences and it matters a lot whether you're inland, by the Gulf of St. Lawrence, or on the Atlantic, etc.

Last edited by someone123; May 28, 2018 at 5:47 AM.
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  #10  
Old Posted May 29, 2018, 2:51 AM
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MonctonRad - I'll aim for mid-September to be on the safe side! Weather actually reminded me of Dublin, Ireland where it can change 3-4 times in one day, from feeling almost hot, to cloudy with a sudden cold wind then a burst of rain. As Someone123 says, the weather on the coast in BC is very predictable - easy to plan for. We headed out to Hopewell Rocks around noon one day- it was 18, it clouded over, temperature dropped drastically down to 5 and then torrential rain for a bit in the afternoon.

RR Drummer I totally agree - it's easy to get wrapped up in navel gazing when we look at our own cities- sometimes it's good to travel elsewhere to regain perspective, or hear the feedback from others. I think as SSP'ers we do it because we are so passionate about our communities.

Ok, now on to PEI - which was one of the main reasons we picked Moncton as a base due to its central location to a lot of areas, and in case we were going to go to Nova Scotia, but we ran out of time for that.

Not much to see going over the bridge as you all know - so coming into Charlottetown the first unusual thing, at least to me is the lights which have shapes.. square stop, triangle for yellow, round for green.



We didn't really have enough time to properly explore Charlottetown - yes it was nice, but maybe this is a case of it having a very high reputation while St. John in comparison does not - yah, not necessarily a logical comparison. Still, if I was to pick one as a destination it would be St. John. Again some of the restaurants by the ocean were closed as were some shops, but the parking was still free as tourism season had not started. We had a late lunch, only two other tables eating. Mussels were very good, three pounds of them, bigger and more gentle in flavour than the west coast version, almost more clam like for what I'm used to. Bizarrely the lobster was the same price per pound as I pay in Victoria for East Coast lobster - was hoping for at least a 30% discount!





Victoria Row:



St. Dunstan's outside and in





Opposite of the church are these houses:



Our timing sucked:



Off to Brackley Beach at 5 C with an icy wind.







Some drive by shootings:







Back in NB looking back to PEI:





The bridge park in NB:



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Old Posted May 29, 2018, 3:36 AM
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Excellent pictures so far. Thanks for posting! Can’t wait to see the ones you took of Saint John! Also - not to nitpick but Saint John is never abbreviated to St. John.
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Old Posted May 29, 2018, 3:46 AM
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Excellent pictures so far. Thanks for posting! Can’t wait to see the ones you took of Saint John! Also - not to nitpick but Saint John is never abbreviated to St. John.
Noted! I won’t make that mistake again

Next set are on the way to and including St Quentin. Then St. Quentin to Fredericton and finally one devoted to Saint John.

We simply didn’t have enough time anywhere really - I could see myself spending a couple days in the smaller towns and a week in the larger cities. I miss it all!
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Old Posted May 29, 2018, 12:09 PM
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Looking forward to your take on Saint John (where I presently live) and Grand Falls (where all my family is from)!

As much as people are going on and on about the fall being the better tourism season overall, you *did* pick the right time of year to visit Grand Falls. People go later in the year and wind up disappointed when the dam is closed up tight and the falls are just a trickle; in the springtime it's a whole different story!
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Old Posted May 29, 2018, 2:58 PM
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We didn't really have enough time to properly explore Charlottetown - yes it was nice, but maybe this is a case of it having a very high reputation while St. John in comparison does not - yah, not necessarily a logical comparison. Still, if I was to pick one as a destination it would be St. John.

Bizarrely the lobster was the same price per pound as I pay in Victoria for East Coast lobster - was hoping for at least a 30% discount!
I have only lived in Saint John for 2 years (Have lived in Ontario, NS, Alberta) and always had a low opinion of SJ prior to moving here. But this was primarily due to its reputation. From what I have been told, SJ has turned itself around int he last 5-10 years, prior to that, it was a common site to see boarded up windows everywhere.

And the only way to get a nice discount on lobsters are having fishing friends, or buying some fresh from a seller on the side of the road.
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Old Posted May 30, 2018, 6:04 AM
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Ire Narissis - We were very lucky on the Grand Falls timing! Ironically we weren't paying close attention and we went past it by 30 minutes.. decided to turn around, well worth the backtracking. Pics of that to come. Sorry it's taking me so long. NB ExistsToo - I knew St. John had a historic downtown, was more of an industrial town, often gets confused with St. John's which has a much higher profile, and that on SSP at least it tends to be viewed as the poor cousin to Moncton. It was high on my visit list, and was more than pleasantly surprised. But now to the task at hand - travelling from Moncton to St. Quentin.

Kouchibouguac National Park - love pronouncing or trying to pronounce that name. Interesting history on how some local Acadians living in the area were evicted to make way for it back in the 60's. Beautiful national park, maintained to an almost manicured state, large, lots of different areas to explore. One thing I noticed.. very few birds in NB, especially seagulls - would have expected to see seagulls everywhere like here in Victoria where they crap all over downtown and make a heck of a racket. We did see about five dead porcupines on the side of the highway though and a few squashed racoons. Luckily saw a couple red foxes trotting in the forest. Anyways, the sun looks great but another icy day by the beach.







Again with the unfortunate timing.. the boardwalk out to the spit was under repair and opening the next day. Was way too cold to make that long walk though. I like the starkness of the beach/ocean, almost like a still life painting, quite different from the rugged treelined coast beaches here with mountains in the background.

Bathurst was beautiful, lovely waterfront town, but again we didn't have a chance to properly explore.







We asked the tourism office staff for a good downtown local foodie type restaurant, for some reason they recommended one outside of downtown (which was very small for the apparent size of the area), the Cast and Crew. It seemed popular with the locals, but was just ok.

You could sense that the area was not as well off as say Moncton, but still a great town from what we could tell, with amazing house prices. We checked those out for fun, a lot of houses on the market for well over 6 months and longer. Congrats to them for winning the Memorial Cup! Didn't see the arena - NB has some good junior hockey teams going on with the Wildcats as well.

We then made the trip on the 180 to St. Quentin, where we hit the Giant Pothole and were stranded for a while. Oh well, got this great sunset pic as a result on Mount Carleton:

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Old Posted May 30, 2018, 2:20 PM
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Please tell me that is not snow in the foreground!
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Old Posted May 30, 2018, 2:41 PM
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Please tell me that is not snow in the foreground!
Zoomer can confirm the dates later; but we usually do have snow until late April/Early May, especially in the north and central parts of the province; so snow in those pictures is understandable.
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Old Posted May 30, 2018, 4:22 PM
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Please tell me that is not snow in the foreground!
Yes! There is still some up there right now
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Old Posted May 31, 2018, 1:04 AM
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Easier to keep the beer cold anyway.
My gf and I climbed MOunt Carleton after a park worker said it was about an hour and half climb up and hour back down again. Well, maybe for her it is. It took us most of the day! THough we climbed up the hard way and came down the easy way. It was a fantastic hike and we don't regret it. Just wish we had brought snacks. What a hoot! What a view!
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Old Posted May 31, 2018, 2:15 AM
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Yep that was snow on Mount Carleton, date was May 18th. Not sure where the trails are to hike, but we did see a few people heading there to camp, although it was going down to zero or slightly lower up there.

Apologies for the delay to getting to Saint John, figure I need to do this in order! Today it's Saint Quentin where my family was originally from before moving to BC in the late 1960's. This was my first trip to NB, the relatives are all Acadian, but most speak decent English. The town itself is 99% French, and is actually a pretty cool place for being sort of in the middle of no where. Potato farming, wood products and maple syrup. Obviously a more traditional area - older basic houses in town, but then again some relatives own 20 acres and have ATV's, multiple homes on the land, life isn't that tough! I think the short growing season and average soil limits what's grown. it has a unique beauty, the sense of family and tradition is very strong.

Where my grandparents had their farm back in the day:





Maple syrup farm:





The world's largest maple leaf



St. Sacrement Catholic Church - apparently my grandfather was the architect... Completed in 1944. Love the shiny metal roofs you see in some churches in NB.



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