Exploring my own province (pt. 2)

Completed: August 21, 2020 

This is a continuation to last week's blog as the 2017 trip made for a long post. Here I'll share about the other two. 

2018

High-tide at Burntcoat

Our next trip was for just as long and just as busy. We had our vacation booked for August 9 to August 19 in 2018. Mom and I visited some places we already had but we also travelled to some new areas of Nova Scotia. In 2017, we went to Burntcoat Head at low tide so for this trip we wanted to go back but at high tide. The difference is crazy. Since we were up that way, we visited the Walton lighthouse and Lawrence House Museum. The museum was really interesting, I've always been interested in seeing how people lived before I was born. There was a long enclosed walkway attached to the house that led to the outhouse the Lawrence family used for a bathroom. On our way home, we stopped at the Shubenacadie Provincial Wildlife Park and spent the afternoon looking at animals. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be but still cool to see all the different wildlife. I was expecting peacocks to be walking around on the paths so that freaked me out a bit but they are so majestic. 

A cave at Ovens

The next day we went back to Lunenburg so I could have the peanut butter pie again. To make it worthwhile, we booked a whale watching tour. I enjoyed the tour but the water was really rough so I actually ended up feeling seasick for most of it. We didn't see any whales but we did see some dolphins and seals. We checked out Ovens Natural Park and the Fort Point Lighthosue as well than I wanted to see the sunset at Peggys Cove which was so pretty. 

We drove up to the valley on the Sunday because we were picking up my grandfather's car for our next bit of travelling. In Windsor, there is a museum dedicated to the history of hockey in NS as the town is dubbed the birthplace of hockey. I had never been before which is surprising since I had been a huge hockey fan for about 10 years. It was cool to see all the old gear and everything else in there. 

We then spent 3 days in Cape Breton. We made a stop just outside Truro at the Millbrook Cultural & Heritage Centre on our way up. Once we got to CB, we drove straight to the Miners' Museum to check out the history of mining in the province and we had dinner at their restaurant which was quite good. The next day, we went to the Fortress of Louisbourg. Mom had been there back when she was in high school and mentioned that they had workers who showed you how people lived in the time period the Fortress was used so I was expecting that and there were only a few. That evening we drove along the cabot trail to the CB Highlands National Park so we could spend the night at one of the campgrounds. I forget what the kind of camping we did but all we had to bring was food and our clothes. The tent was set up on a platform when we got there and they provided us with all the tools for a fire and mats to sleep on. Neither of us had actually made a fire before and it was dark by the time we got everything sorted out so we were about to eat 'raw' hot dogs when a nice man from the site beside us came over to help. We cooked all the hot dogs because we didn't want to struggle again the next morning, it wasn't a very healthy breakfast but it was fine. We went on a hike at the famous Skyline Trail and I can see why it is so popular. The whole of the cabot trail that we were able to drive is beautiful. 

Fortress of Louisbourg

End of the Skyline Trail

To finish our vacation, we went to Joggin's Fossil Cliffs and did a bit of exploring in Pictou. 

2020

There were still some parts of the province we hadn't seen by this summer; the north shore and the Yarmouth shore so we checked off them during two different trips. Mom and I love the south shore so on our way to Yarmouth, we made another stop in Lunenburg but this time I didn't have the pie because I wanted to try a new restaurant. We did a walking tour of the town and it was really nice. With COVID, you had to make a reservation for the tour and the guide said that we were the first customers of the season even though it was the end of July by this time. The tour was very informative and our guide was really nice. I really wanted to do the Lighthouse Route so we drove most of the whole way to Yarmouth on the old Highway 3 which led us to some small towns like LaHave where we took a ferry across the harbour. We stopped at almost every lighthouse on our way which were all cool to see. We stopped in Shelburne for the Black Loyalist Heritage Centre and explored the Acadian Village in Pubnico. While we were in Yarmouth, we visited the Cape Forchu Lighthouse which had a nice walk on the grounds and checked out the Firefighters Museum.

Old fire 'engine' at the Firefighters Museum

In late August, we went to the north shore. I found a cool little place for us to stay while we were in that area called the Train Station Inn. We made our base for the few days in Tatamagouche and spent two nights in a remodelled train caboose. Not all my plans for this trip worked out so it was more relaxing than our other ones. We checked out the Museum of Industry in Stellerton, drove around New Glasgow, Pictou and Trenton, had some good food, watched the sunset at Blue Sea Provincial Park and a couple of other things. I would recommend getting the seafood chowder at Chowder House in Tatamagouche, it was delicious. 

Sunset at Blue Sea

All and all, a few really great summers. It was a little strange to travel around during 2020 because of COVID and all the restrictions put in place but I'm glad we were still able to explore. If you live in Nova Scotia, I would really recommend that you go out and explore, there are many interesting things to learn about especially the history of the province and beautiful scenery. Really, I would recommend anybody explore their own province or state or city region.  

Exploring My Own Province (pt. 1)

Completed: August 21, 2020

This is really something that is ongoing but I spent three summer vacations concentrating on exploring as much of my province as I could so I am saying this item is complete. 

I have wanted to explore my own province for a while and in 2017, we finally dedicated time to doing it. I had done some travelling around Nova Scotia as my grandparents live in Annapolis Royal and New Minas and I played Ringette growing up so I was pretty familiar with the Halifax Regional Municipality. 

2017

In the summer of 2017, my mom and I were originally going to visit Toronto but decided against it. However, we had already booked our vacation time before we made that decision so I suggested that we do day trips around the province instead. I'm glad we did, it was an enjoyable time and we had some new experiences. This trip was from August 11 to August 21. Our first weekend, we went to the valley and saved some money by sleeping at my grandfather's for a few nights. There was a festival at Grand Pre National Historic Site celebrating the history of Mi'kmaq and Acadian people so we spent sometime checking that out. We shared Mi'kmaq taco, listened to some music and browsed the booths of people selling their crafts. It happened to be the same week the Annapolis exhibition was going on so we made a trip to Lawrencetown to spend the afternoon hanging out there. In the morning, we checked out the Historic Gardens in Annapolis Royal for the first time and Fort Anne. The flowers were so beautiful. 

Mid-week, we drove up to Sherbrooke Village which is almost 3 hours away from Dartmouth so that was a long day as we woke up early. It was like going back in time at the village, we saw a woman churning butter, an old machine that hand pressed notices and old doctor equipment. Sherbrooke is supposed to replicate life from the 1860's. Not all the buildings were open which sucked because I really wanted to look at the blacksmith stuff.  On our way home, we stopped at the Musquodoboit Railway Museum and looked at the train cars outside as the actual museum wasn't open. 

To end the week of actual exploring, we visited Mahone Bay and Lunenburg. There isn't much to do in Mahone Bay but we were able to spend an afternoon there. We ate our lunch outside by the water which was nice, visited a soap shop which creates soaps that looks like food and walked around the town. We had a yummy supper at Mug Anchor Pub before heading to our Bed and Breakfast in Indian Point for the night. The next day, we explored Lunenburg including the fisheries museum and we saw the Bluenose II. Our lunch was at The Knot Pub and I tried their peanut butter pie. OMG! It was so yummy. 

Family was visiting during the end of our vacation so we went back to my grandfather's for a weekend and spent time with them. We went to the look-off and checked out a waterfall at Baxter's Harbour. 

Extra trip

Though not during our vacation, we did go to Burntcoat Head Park to walk on the ocean floor and to Mastodon Ridge before the end of the summer. It was really cool to see Burntcoat, our shoes and legs got a little muddy. Mom actually got stuck in the mud at one point. We then had lunch in Brookfield at a restaurant called Hurricane Heidi's Bakery & Cafe. I've wanted to eat there for a couple of years after I heard who owned it; Heidi Cooke. Heidi used to be a professional motocross racer and I watched her race a number of times when I was younger. Mastodon Ridge boasts a life size mastodon statue, a mini-golf course and visitor centre. 

Check out part 2 next week. 

Burger Week 2020

I was really looking forward to participating in Burger Week 2020 but because of the pandemic they had to postpone it from March and were finally able to put it on in October. This was the 8th edition with over 140 restaurant locations selling burgs. According to the website 'it is a city-wide burger-eating phenomenon and fundraiser for Feed Nova Scotia put on by The Coast. Creative burger offerings either have a set price of $6, or a higher price with the restaurant making a donation to Feed Nova Scotia from every burger sold."

I once again had six burgers this year. I was hoping to have more but some of the restaurants I wanted to try from the original lineup that they put out in March changed their burger for the new date. 

Stop #1: 2 Doors Down - The Steakhouse Bistro Burger $19
2 Doors Down is a higher end restaurant with two locations now, the original on Barrington Street and they have recently expended to Dartmouth Crossing. My mom loves this restaurant and I knew she would like their burger so we went together. The burger is described as 'house-ground chuck, gruyere, mushroom persillade, crispy onions, HP glaze, tomato, béarnaise mayo.' It's funny because I like HP sauce on my steaks but it on this burger along with the mushroom persillade, I wasn't fond of this burger - I couldn't even finish it because it was too sweet or something. For me not worth the 19 dollars. 

Grade: 5/10

Stop #2: King of Donair - The Garlieburger $6
Donairs are very popular here in Nova Scotia, I believe it's even our provincial food. King of Donair has this 'burger' every year and I have been wanting to try it each time but they are on Quinpool which is difficult to get to by bus. It's two pizza slices of garlic fingers, sandwiched around donair meat and sauce. It was pretty yummy but messy. I find donair meat a little spicy, however the sauce tames it. 

Grade: 8/10

Stop #3: The Chickenburger - The Maritimer $6
This was the one I was hesitant to try because I didn't think I liked green tomato chow but it being Maritime based, pushed me to trying it. Am I ever glad I did! The Maritimer is 'a fresh baked bun topped with our famous Chickenburger patty, loads of thinly-sliced fried bologna, then topped with a Dijonnaise, crispy fried onions and finished with a classic maritime favourite-green tomato chow.' Fried bologna is so good, I eat it as a snack sometimes and it really worked with the patty and chow. The only complaint I have is it didn't have enough sauce. Was for sure worth the drive to Bedford from downtown.

Grade: 9.5/10

Stop #4: Vandal Doughnuts - The Michael Scott $10 
Basically a bacon cheeseburger on a doughnut. It's described as a "smashed 4-oz patty on a sesame glazed doughnut. American cheese, mustard, ketchup, shredded iceberg lettuce and bacon. No BBQ sauce needed." Not quite as yummy as the burger they had last year but it was still delicious. I really think that the doughnut really makes it so good, the patty was cooked to perfection as well. 

Grade: 9/10

Stop #5: Humani-T Cafe - Gelato Burger
A "profiterole bun, dark chocolate gelato, topped with tulip lettuce cookie, strawberry 'ketchup'." Humani-T is a place that I hadn't been to before this trip as I didn't think I liked gelato and it's a bit fancy. I was disappointed by this sandwich, the flavours didn't work well in my opinion and by the end it was hard to eat the bun. I did enjoy the gelato however. 

Grade: 3/10

Stop #6: 360 Lounge - The Mushroom Swiss $9.95 (FeedNS donation $1)
This is a new restaurant on the Bedford highway and we wanted to try it before noticing it on the burger week lineup. My mom absolutely loves mushroom & swiss burgers so I knew she would enjoy this one. We met up with my grandparents for lunch and I originally ordered a Caesar salad, which I didn't enjoy. Before mom finished the burger, I had a bite of it and I'm wishing I just ordered it. I did buy one to have at home and it was delicious, fulfilling and messy. 

Grade: 9.5/10

Overall, it was another good year and was nice to check out some new restaurants around the municipality. Thanks for reading my review on the burgers I tried in 2020. I'm looking forward to seeing what the restaurants come up with for the next one and try more hopefully. 

Summer & Fall 2020 lists

Continuing my seasonal lists. With the pandemic right now, the original plans that we were going to do this year or hoping to do, had to change. We were planning on going to New Brunswick this summer but decided not to and explore even more of Nova Scotia. I had never been to the north shore so we made sure to check that off and while I had been to Yarmouth, it was just to pick up a car so we made our way down there too. 

Summer 2020 (June-September 21)
✓ Try a new food - On the way to Peggy's Cove, there's a restaurant called Cafe l'Acadie and I tried rappie pie bites. They don't look appealing but they were really good

Hike 4 new trails
✓ Go to a beach and have a swim - For most of my adult life, I haven't felt comfortable in my own body to go swim but we were going to supposedly the warmest waters north of the Caribbean so I decided to go. The water near Tatamagouche really aren't that warm. 
Read a new book
✓ Drive the lighthouse route - You can drive from Halifax to Yarmouth mostly on the old Highway 3 and it is now called the Lighthouse Route because of the many lighthouses on the shore
Lay under the stars
✓ Visit grandparents
✓ Participate in the EPIC Canadian - This is done every Canada Day (July 1st) and this year was done virtually. I did the normal route anyways
Take a road trip with friends
✓ Go to a museum
✓ Have a bonfire and s'mores
Watch the sunrise
Play mini-golf
✓ Visit a new ice cream spot
Do a random act of kindness
✓ Organize photos
✓ Have a picnic supper

Learn about another culture
✓ Check out 2 new waterfalls 

Pick blueberries
Go birdwatching
✓ Visit a town you haven't before 
✓ Try 3 new restaurants
Hang memorabilia in apartment

I didn't get to do as much this fall because of the protocols at some places and I didn't have as many free days as I thought I would. I wanted to take my friends' children to the corn maze & pumpkin patch but it didn't work out. 

Fall 2020 (September 22-November)
Visit a pumpkin patch
✓ Go on a hike - We drove two hours to Port Joli and went for a hike at Keji Seaside. I'm glad we waited to go in late September because I was still sweating. A beautiful hike and we saw some seals. 

Navigate a corn maze
✓ Have a Hallowe'en movie marathon
Visit the zoo
✓ Decorate for fall
Go apple picking
✓ Trick or treating
Go to a farmers market
✓ Have family over for dinner - They aren't actually family but I have know them since I was like 7 so basically. My mom's coworker and her mom came over to my apartment for dinner a week after Thanksgiving as we didn't celebrate together this year.
Burn a fall candle
✓ Eat Hallowe'en candy
Make a pot of chili
✓ Be thankful

Our meal on Thanksgiving day

Lay under the stars with a blanket
✓ Take a drive to see fall foliage
✓ Participate in Burger Week 2020 - Check that post here. 

Seeing my favourite player again

I love travelling in winter apparently but I guess that is to be expected since I LOVE hockey. Early in 2020, before the pandemic really hit North America, I made a trip to Winnipeg and boy, February is the wrong time to go. 

When I am not travelling or exploring my province, I am in a rink most times. Since the 2012-13 hockey season, I have been a Halifax Mooseheads season ticket holder. In June 2013, a player from Denmark named Nikolaj Ehlers was drafted in the import draft by the Mooseheads and he made the team for the 2013-14 season. Pretty much immediately he became a fan favourite including myself. He was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League in the 2014 NHL draft and made it to the big leagues for the 2015-16 season. This means for the last 5 years, I had been watching him on television which wasn't often because Winnipeg is 3 hours behind Nova Scotia so their games are on tv at 11pm here if they even are on television. I really wanted to see Ehlers play live again so I was able to save money to take a trip to Winnipeg in February. 

I left on February 12 very early in the morning, it was an interesting drive in a blizzard and I had a plugged up nose so the flight wasn't very fun. I landed in Winnipeg, picked up a cab and checked in to my hotel before I did a little shopping for medications and food. It was so cold that first day (-40 with windchill) and I was sick that I didn't go outside again until the following morning. 

The game was on Valentine's Day, Nikolaj's birthday, and Winnipeg played the San Jose Sharks that night. I got to the arena early so I could look around and picked up some memorabilia. It was a very nice rink, I'm always surprised how big the concourses are coming from the small Scotiabank Centre here in Halifax but NHL rinks have twice as many spectators. There were a lot of food options including a Pizza Pizza and a hot dog kiosk. I had supper at the arena which was a hot dog wrapped in bacon, cheese and dough wrapped around it. It came with chips and a dip, it was so yummy - I almost went back to get another one. My seats were in the first row of the 200 level but it wasn't very high up so I had a good view anyways. Nikolaj played okay and got an assist but the Jets didn't win which really sucked. San Jose has a former Mooseheads player on their team as well; Timo Meier and he scored the game winner. It was over way too quickly but I still had a good time cheering on my favourite player with my new jersey. 

I did some exploring around the city and actually was able to get to an American Hockey League game as well. I wanted to go because the Manitoba Moose had been loaned another former Herd player in Danny Moynihan about a week before I went. I found out after I got to the game that he was scratched for that game which was unfortunate but I'm happy with watching any hockey. 

This was the fourth NHL arena I have visited. 

Hello

Hello there! My name is Ashley and I am from Halifax, Nova Scotia. I love hockey, chocolate, travelling and hiking. I wanted to do a post to reintroduce this blog to my readers as I have rebranded it. 

I'll be filling this blog with my adventures around the beautiful east coast as well as checking items off my bucket list. Expect blog posts with recommendations, food experiences, bucket lists and much more. I have enjoyed exploring Nova Scotia the last number of years, there is so much to see and do even though it is a small province. 

Despite the coronavirus the past year, I was able to do some fun stuff in 2020 so I will post a few stories in the next few posts about that. 

For my full bucket list, you can click on the tab above. 

If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to contact me.