Fall 2022 Adventures List

I am late sharing this but it's been a busy time since my last post. Over the summer, I had a job that was shift work so it was very hard to make plans, plus I was sore from standing and the hot weather didn't help either. This led me to not doing more than my birthday trip that was on my summer list. I've been able to complete more on my fall adventures list but haven't had much other time or energy to write about them. So you get this post now without what I have actually done. 

Fall 2022 (Sep 8-Dec 3)
Visit a pumpkin patch
Drink hot chocolate from a local cafe
Take photos of fall foliage
Look at vintage cars
Have a Hallowe'en movie night
Participate in Maritime Race Weekend
Cheer on an original six NHL team
Eat from a food truck
Go on a scenic drive
Navigate a corn maze
Visit my best friend
Decorate for fall
Take the kids to the zoo
Burn a fall scented candle
Spend Thanksgiving with family
Check out the bean
Make a pot of chilli
Walk in the Valley Harvest Marathon
Go for a hike in another city
Visit the immigration museum

15 Things to do in HRM

I know there are many lists like this out there but I'd figure I would share my opinion about what a tourist should do in the Halifax Regional Municipality. Most of these will be in the downtown Halifax core but I've added a few out of that area as well. I meant to share this during the summer but here it is now so you can start preparing for your next trip or day off. 

Harbour Hopper - The Harbour Hopper is one of my favourite things to do and suggest to people as it gives you a history of the city and shows you different places around the city. The tour is about 50 minutes long, is done on an old military vehicle that actually can turn into a boat so for part of the tour you are in the water and it goes all around downtown. It is expensive which is why I haven't done it for a number of years but highly recommend it if you only have a few hours. 

Maritime Museum display 

Self-guided mural tour - A few years ago, the city started a project called Gritty to Pretty where they commissioned local artists to do some murals to give the downtown area a new look. You can do a self-guided tour to see all the artwork, there's anything from facade lighting to bees to animal buskers. I haven't done the tour yet but I have seen quite a few of them anyways, you can find out more on the website. 

Visit the museums - Halifax has a number of museums and pretty much all of them showcase some part of the city's history. I've been to all of these but it has been quite awhile since I visited a couple. You can visit Pier 21 to learn about immigration in Canada, the Museum of Natural History is great for archeologists and geologists, or learn about disasters like the Halifax Explosion and the sinking of the Titanic at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. Black history in Nova Scotia can be explored at the Africville Museum or the Black Cultural Centre. 

Halifax Central Library - The library is a good place to do schoolwork, read a book or check out some new material. Halifax built a new library across the street from the old one, which opened in 2014 and is five storeys high. It has floor to ceiling windows that allow you to see the downtown area and you can sit outside on the roof as well. 

Citadel Hill - One of the best places to see the landscape of the downtown area is on Citadel Hill. It is a designated historic site as the hill features a concrete star fortress that guarded the province over a hundred years ago. Throughout the summer, you can tour the fort either guided or alone while there is also ghost tours are available in October. The town clock also sits on the hill. If you are close by around midday, make sure you plug your ears as they shoot off a cannon at noon everyday. I hear it is also a good place to watch the sunrise or set. 

Georges and McNab's Islands - I have never been to either of these islands but the government did recently open them for the public to visit a couple years ago. Both can be accessed from the harbour either in a personal vessel or you can take a boat to them for a guided tour. 

Explore restaurants & bars in Dartmouth - Not many people visit the other side of the harbour but Dartmouth has changed quite a bit in the past decade with new restaurants, bars, small businesses and trail improvements. Some of these restaurants and bars include Chanoey's Pasta, Lake City Cider, Krave Burger, Pleasant Street Diner, New Scotland Brewing and Stone Pizza. There are quite a few other local restaurants on the Dartmouth side that have been around for awhile and are quite popular; Mic Mac Tavern, Two If By Sea Cafe and John's Lunch to name a few. 

Walking on Martinique Beach

Have a beach day - The Halifax Regional Municipality has a number of small beaches, mainly all of which are on the edge of lakes but there are a handful of provincial park beaches. My favourite to visit is Lawrencetown Beach on the eastern shore, it is rocky so not really a place for sunbathing but still a good place to read a book or watch people surf. 

Shubie Park - Another place you'll find me quite often is Shubie Park. There is a campground here and over 9-kilometres of walking trails. The park is named after the Shubenacadie Canal which allowed boats to travel from the Bay of Fundy to the Halifax Harbour back in the 1800's. If you wanted to learn about waterway locks work and were used back in the day, a visit to the park's Fairbanks Centre will give you the information. A great place for a walk, to go kayaking or taking pictures in the fall. 

Putting edge - Glow in the dark mini golfing, that's all I'm going to say. 😊 

Mini golfing in semi-darkness is quite fun and very colourful but because it is a different experience, you pay more than normal mini golf courses. The business is located in Bayers Lake and will cost you $14. It normally takes a half hour when I go with someone else to get through the course so I don't go often. However, it is a great place to have birthday parties which I did multiple times as a kid or go do with a group of friends. 

Projection on old post office in
Dartmouth (Evergreen Festival show)

I'll end this with a few events that happen around the city on a yearly basis. 

Tree lightings - Since it's almost Christmas, you will find multiple tree lighting ceremonies around the municipality including the ones done at Grand Parade in Halifax (November 26) and Sullivan's Pond in Dartmouth (December 3). 

Evergreen Festival - This festival was created in early 2020 and the planning committee had to change their original plans after COVID hit so their inaugural event was different than the second edition that happened last Christmas season. It will hopefully be better and more well attended in 2022 when it kicks off on November 25. There is a market, small concerts every weekend of the festival and light shows throughout the city. I really have enjoyed it and you can too until December 18. 

Halifax Busker Festival - It's a human circus on the waterfront. The Buskers come to town every natal day weekend and it will next be here from August 2-7, 2023. 

Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo - A great event that brings the world together.  Many international marching bands come to Halifax to show off their stuff along with other performances like the bicycling grandfathers. Looks like the 2023 version of the Tattoo will celebrate Oceans over Canada Day long weekend. 

Leaving NS For 1st Time in 29 Months

For the first time in 29 months, I left my home province of Nova Scotia to go travelling and I was very excited.

I have done a few road trips around NS the past two years (that I have shared on this blog) as we have mostly been forced to stay close to home. The last time I went on a trip outside of this province was in February 2020 when I travelled to Winnipeg for a Jets hockey game. Just like last year, I decided to do a road trip to celebrate my birthday and once again my cousin came with me. We took a three-day road trip to Prince Edward Island in mid-July. 

PEI is the smallest province in Canada and the birthplace of Confederation. We didn't check out anything really that had to do with confederation because there were other things I wanted to do in Charlottetown. My cousin and I left Wolfville around 9am, met up with my dad in Windsor so he could wish me a Happy Birthday in person than remade a stop in Oxford. The town of Oxford, Nova Scotia is known as the wild blueberry capital of Canada and because of that, they have a gigantic blueberry statue which I have wanted to see for a while. After we ate lunch we kept going to Charlottetown some could check in to our motel and chill out for a couple of hours. I was really wanting steak for supper so we went to a restaurant called Redwater Rustic Grille and celebrated my birthday. 

The next day, we headed to the north side of the island to check out the Anne of Green Gables museum. I'm glad we got there before they even opened because by the time we left, the parking lot was full. It was raining that day but it didn't ruin really what I wanted to do. We than went to the Cavendish Boardwalk where I got some Cows ice cream. The boardwalk was not what I was expecting but it was still nice to visit it. 

Than we drove to the beach, the sun came out while we were there but we didn't go swimming. We hung around watching the kids have fun in the water than we just drove the long way back to Charlottetown. Part of our drive was through the Prince Edward Island National Park which was really pretty. 

On Wednesday before we went back home, we visited the Argyle Shore Provincial Park and Victoria. Argyle Shore is best known for its red sand beaches and that was one thing I wanted to see. It is very shallow for a long time so kind of hard to go swimming at the Argyle beach but we did walk in our bare feet which was really nice actually. 

I had a good time and it was so nice to visit another province. Hopefully I'll get to check more things off my summer fun list. Follow more of my adventures on Instagram at @adventuresofansgirl 

Summer fun list
- Road trip for my birthday ✓
- Walk on a red beach ✓
- Check out a National Park ✓

Summer 2022 Adventures List

I probably say this every time but I can't believe we are into another season already and now half way through 2022. A few years ago, I started doing these summer fun lists to look forward to doing stuff during the hottest months of the year and have created lists for the other seasons too. Fall has always been my favourite season with summer being my least, so having some direction is good for me. Things have changed over the last couple of years and I have a different job now as well so it is not as easy for me to check things off but I am going to try really hard to complete as many things as I can this summer. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram for more current updates of my adventures at @adventuresofansgirl. 

Mural on building beside McKelvie's restaurant
Taken June 9, 2022

Summer 2022 (Jun 13-Sep 7)

Visit a new to me bakery

Have a wiener roast

Search for murals in your city

Eat from a food truck

Take a photography class

Road trip for my birthday

Go on a picnic

Check out a national park

No screen day 

Hike a new trail

Play board games I did as a child

Visit the immigration museum

Touch a waterfall

Do an random act of kindness

Walk on a red beach

OnTree Fun & Adventure Park 

Read a new book

Go to Georges Island

Have a yard sale

Put together a summer photo album

Road trip with my grandmother

One thing I had on my spring adventure list was to do a road trip with my grandmother and a couple weeks ago, we made that happen. As you know I have been doing lots of travelling around Nova Scotia the last number of years and I have told my grandparents about all the trips I've done so my grandmother asked me if I would take her on one of my next road trips. I've been to the south shore a few times but we decided to go because there was still things I wanted to see. 

As I posted earlier in the week, my grandmother came down to Halifax on the bus and we spent the afternoon in the city. You can see that post here. The next day, we woke up around 7:30 in the morning and headed south on the 103 highway. We had originally booked a puffin tour that left from Peggy's Cove for this morning but the company emailed me a couple nights before to say they had to cancel because of mechanical issues. The puffin tour was the one thing we both really wanted to do but we licked our wounds and were able to visit Carter's Beach instead. This beach is past Liverpool and has been called Nova Scotia's Caribbean paradise. It has beautiful white sand and pretty clear blue water on a nice day but the downside is the water is not warm. It was well worth the 2 hour drive there even though we only spent half an hour looking around. On our way up we did a detour to the community of Hubbards which was pretty too. 

After the beach, we went back to Liverpool for lunch and to check out the Fort Point Lighthouse. You can go inside this lighthouse and even upstairs to see the lamp that powered the light back then. There is a little museum on the main floor and you can hear from the keepers in a video that plays on the second floor. Then we continued on to Lunenburg where we checked into our bed and breakfast, unpacked and had a nap before going back out for the evening. For supper, we went to The Dockside where I got mussels - can't go to a fishing town without getting seafood.

 

The Bluenose II (which was made in Luneneburg and is on our dime) was in port so we were able to go on the deck to check it out. It is a very nice vessel and the crew seemed to be happy that they are able to open the decks again after a two year absence. 

On Saturday, my grandmother and I had reservations for the Lunenburg Walking Tour which I have done before. The site said it would be an hour long but the tour ended up being 2 hours long though it was still great to walk around and learn about the history of the town so we finished just before noon. We were planning on going to the fisheries museum but I wanted to go to Mahone Bay still and I still had two hours of driving before I would get home so we just went straight to the bay. We ate at the Mug & Anchor Restaurant in Mahone Bay then walked around for a bit before stopping at an ice cream shack. 

Afternoon in Halifax

Considering I live in Dartmouth, I actually spend quite a bit of time in Halifax and travelling around the city as a whole but the other week my grandmother came down from the Annapolis Valley and spent a few days with me so we could do some exploring. The first afternoon we spent walking around downtown Halifax so I thought I would do a post about what we did and share some other things you can do in the area.

If you live in the city and want to visit the valley or the other way around but don't have a car, you can take the Maritime Bus for pretty cheap but it is a longer trip. She took the bus from Kentville to Dartmouth in the morning and I picked her up at the stop to start our vacation. Our first stop was lunch at Portland Street Creperie, which as the name suggests serves crepes but they also have a couple of other things on their menu like caesar salad and a soup & sandwich combo. I always get the ham & swiss crepe with garlic aioli instead of the spicy dijon they put on it normally and my grandmother got the eat your veggies crepe. 

Next, we took the bus from Dartmouth to the Public Gardens across the bridge in downtown Halifax. It's really nice to have a Victorian era garden in our downtown core and of course with it being spring, there were lots of new flowers around. There is also a few ponds on the property, a bandstand plus a little visitor centre/cafe. During the summer you can watch movies outside every Friday and they also have weekly concerts. 

As we walked down the hill from the gardens to the waterfront, it started to rain so we didn't explore the boardwalk for as long as I would have liked but I did show her some of the new(-ish) things. We found refuge from the rain at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic which I haven't been to for a few years. This museum has exhibits on the sinking of the Titanic as well as the Halifax Explosion and lots of information on sailing and navy. There is also a Mikmaq exhibit now which we didn't check out but I will make sure to next time I visit. 

We finished our day with supper at McKelvie's with my mom. I had the seafood sampler which was good. It had bacon wrapped scallops, a fish cake and a few shrimp on the plate. I also had some focaccia cheese loaf as the sampler is an appetizer as well and not really enough food by itself. 

After dinner we went back to my place for the night. Check back soon for my little recap of the two days we spent on the South Shore. 

Burger Bash 2022

This isn't on my spring adventure list because I wasn't sure they were going to do it but I was able to try a couple of the special burgers that restaurants had during The Coast's Burger Bash 2022. This event is normally a week long (I have written about Burger Week in previous years) but the organizers decided to extend it to 10 days. I liked that it was longer but it still didn't help me get to any more restaurants. 

I was only able to try two burgers because I had just started my job and it was a busy time for my mom as well so we didn't get a chance to get together. 

The first stop I made was to Krave Burger to eat their Smoking Goat burger. It was okay, I don't like goat cheese so it wasn't my favourite but it was still good. Krave Burger now has a restaurant in Woodside as well (Dartmouth side) where the A&W used to be and their sister company, Vero Pizzeria is also in the same building so this is the one I visited. The Smoking Goat is a seared beef patty, topped with peppercorn goat cheese, applewood smoked bacon, grilled onions & roasted garlic mayo on a toasted bun. I'll give it a 5/10. 

The other one I got (with my mom this time - we did takeout) was the Pork-quoi Pas burger from Stillwell. This restaurant is on Barrington St but it was a bit confusing because Stillwell actually has three different areas in downtown. The burger was described as 'osprey's roost beef and bacon patty, house double smoked maple pepper bacon, American cheese, confit garlic, burger sauce on a Martin's potato roll.' Even with eating it like 10/15 minutes after we picked it up, it was still warm and really good. I'll give it a 8.5/10. 

Doing Some New Adventures

I can't believe it's already June. I wanted to write more blog posts but I haven't gotten out as much as I wanted to because I started a new job and I'm still in school so I thought I would do a recap of what I have done. Since I shared my spring adventure list, I have been able to complete a few things. 

Check out a new beach
On May 12, we had a super hot sunny day (it was 27 degrees Celsius downtown) and I was off from work with nothing else to do so I on a whim around lunchtime decided to go to a drive-thru then head to the beach. With thousands of kilometres of shoreline in Nova Scotia, the province has quite a few beaches and I have been to a handful. During this day, I drove across the bridge towards Sambro and visited Crystal Crescent Beach which I had never been to before. It is a very nice beach and quite long so even though there was lots of people it wasn't crowded. The main parking lot had not been opened yet so people parked along the side of the street so I almost didn't stay. It was about a kilometre walk to the beach from where I parked so I didn't go more than 10 feet away from the stairs down before I set up my chair. I spent a couple hours reading and people watching and just enjoying the sun. I did put my hand in the water which is very cold, but was great to be outside. I can see why it is a popular beach. 

Eat a strawberry shortcake
Normally, I don't like strawberry shortcake so I was hesitant to try one that my cousin made last year but I really liked it so it was nice to have it again this year. The strawberry shortcake I am used to uses tea biscuits, strawberries in juice and whipped cream. I just eat the strawberries in juice but my cousin made an actual cake for her dessert which she brought to our Easter dinner.  It was really yummy. I gotta say, my cousin is a good baker. 

Wake up early for a sunrise
On Saturday, I woke up early in hopes of seeing the sun rise. I drove out to Duncans Cove because it was suggested as one of the best places in Halifax to see the morning sun but I had never been there before so once my directions ended I had no idea where to park. It was still pitch black pretty much and I was alone so I decided to not spend anytime exploring the unknown and went back downtown instead. I ended up at Point Pleasant Park and once I got there, I wasn't sure I actually would catch the sun rise because it was very foggy but I did see a few minutes of it. Most of the time was watching a container ship coming into port. Check out the video on my Instagram for the full thing but below is a picture that I captured.

Photograph the cherry blossoms
This was kind of a hard one to check off because, at least here in Nova Scotia, there really is only about a week in the spring that the blossoms are out. The cherry trees that we have in Dartmouth, I drive by them often and when I saw them back in April being empty I thought I had missed them but they come out in May. Park Avenue (which is by the Dartmouth Commons) has a line of cherry trees that blossom and seems to be the best place to see the pink flowers in the city. Next year I will have to try and get a video of tt but I did take a few pictures which you can see in the photography tab above. 

Spring Blossoms

The official start of Spring is in a few days and I'm not sure how it is that time already. While I don't use the actual dates of the seasons for my fun lists, I thought I would share this now. Last year, I wanted to get out more and it's the same for 2022 as well. The coronavirus restrictions that we have had in Nova Scotia are supposedly going to be lifted next week so I'm hoping that this will allow more opportunities to do things I want to do. 

Spring 2022 (Mar 6-Jun 7)

Read a new book
Wake up early for a sunrise
Search for murals in your city
Have ice cream with cousins
Do zip-lining and a ropes course
Try two new recipes
Eat strawberry shortcake
Check out a new beach
Play glow in the dark mini-golf
Walk in a 5k event
Spring cleaning
Hike on the Kentville trails
Grill outside
Road trip with my grandmother
Eat at three new restaurants
Complete 2 Conqueror challenges
Photograph the cherry blossoms
Visit the immigration museum
Yard sale day
Have a no screen time day

I'm going to try to write more blog posts this year so keep checking back for updates on this list as I complete the activities. Hope you all can enjoy the season. 

Fall & Winter 2021

Well, somehow it's early March and that means Spring is right around the corner. Since I don't follow the exact dates for my seasonal lists, my winter fun list ended on the 5th so I thought I would share what I was able to do and also recap the fall one as well. 

It was a pretty good fall in 2021, I did quite a bit and the restrictions in Nova Scotia were lessened a bit so I was able to get back to my favourite hobby; cheering on the Halifax Mooseheads hockey team. Below is my list.

Fall 2021 (Sep. 20-Nov. 20)
Visit a pumpkin patch
✔ Get back to cheering on the Mooseheads
Search for murals in your city
✔ Have a Hallowe'en movie night 

✔ Try a new restaurant 
Wake up early for a sunrise
✔ Pick apples in an orchard - went to Noggins Farm with my best friend and her kids, we also went through the corn maze there
Make a pot of chilli
✔ Navigate a corn maze
✔ Decorate for fall
Go on a scenic drive
✔ Valley Harvest Marathon
Burn a fall scented candle
✔ Spend Thanksgiving with family - such a nice weekend; I did a 5K around Wolfville than my aunt cooked a delicious roast supper on Saturday and on Sunday we had a turkey dinner for 11 people
Take photos of fall foliage
✔ Participate in Halifax Burger Week - I ended up only getting to like two restaurants this time
Read a new book
✔ Enjoy chocolatey mint cookies
Go for a hike

Winter was a bit different but still good even though restrictions returned in the province and changed my plans for a trip I wanted to take in March. 

Winter 2021 (Nov. 21-Mar. 5)
✔ Sip on hot chocolate
Bake some cookies
✔ Go on a snowy city walk

Attend a tree lighting ceremony
✔ Wear matching holiday pyjamas
Have a game night
✔ Check out a Christmas festival - my mom and I spent a Wednesday night exploring the lights at the Evergreen Festival. It was a bit more open than in 2020 so we were able to do the market part as well 
Do a random act of kindness
✔ Take cousins to a Mooseheads game
Read a new book
✔ Make goals for 2022
Go ice skating
✔ See a play at Neptune - we saw Alice in Pantoland which was a spoof on Alice in Wonderland and it was really good, they even used some local jokes/areas in the play and did a rendition of a Classified song (who is a rapper from Enfield, NS)
✔ Watch holiday movies - saw all my favourites and added a couple more DVD's to my collection. I'll try to share my favourites when the season comes around again
Have a no screen time day
✔ Decorate apartment for Christmas
Try two new recipes
✔ Look at Christmas lights in neighbourhood - my mom and I drove all over the place, up into Clayton Park, downtown Halifax and Eastern Passage/Cole Harbour area - some houses had impressive displays 

Thanks again for following along. I hope these lists give you guys ideas on what to do during the different seasons. I have some fun stuff planned for 2022 and really hope that it all works out so I can share even more blog posts this year. 

Don't forget to get a behind the scenes look at what adventures I'm up to follow me on Instagram at @adventuresofansgirl