As we prepared to leave our campsite in Perce, it was drizzling, but shortly after we got on our way, it stopped raining, still staying cloudy throughout the day. We drove the last leg of the Gaspe peninsula which took us thru many small coastal towns such as New Carlisle, Rene Levesque’s birthplace. He was Premier of Quebec from 1976 – 1985. For a touch of originality and humor, we noticed that the fire hydrants were all painted as various characters. 
McKenzie couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have her picture taken with Tigre, the fire hydrant!
About 3:00 p.m., we made our way into another Canadian province, New Brunswick.
Once across the bridge that separates Quebec from New Brunswick, we stopped at the Visitor’s
Center and decided that since it looked like a rain storm was headed our way, that we’d just spend the night there in the parking lot. Thankfully, the weather has been cool enough at night for us to drycamp when we are just passing thru a city. Once the rain was over and we had eaten dinner, we took a walking tour around the city of Campbellton, the entry point to Atlantic Canada on the shores of Chaleur Bay. It is home to the “world’s largest salmon, Restigouche Sam” who is a 28 feet tall sculpture of an Atlantic Salmon.
Having become so proficient in French, we decided to drive down the east coast of New Brunswick along the Acadian Coastal Drive. Since most of the Acadian descendants were from France, they still speak mostly French even though most of them are bilingual. They settled in this area, set up their homes and began a new way of life from the one they had experienced in France. Thru many wars between England and France, England became the owner of this area. Because the Acadians would not pledge their allegiance to England and give up their religion and French speech, England had them deported to many of the 13 colonies. To prevent them from returning to their land, they burned their homes and buildings. However, at some point, many of the Acadians did return and rebuilt their lives. The gateway to the Acadian Peninsula is home to a very colorful lighthouse in Grande-Anse
and claims that its bays are the “warmest salt water north of Virginia.” McKenzie was very interested in the fishy smelling wooden box until she learned that it was a lobster “trap”. At the sound of that word, she gave her dad a worried look as if to say, “you aren’t going to put me in that stinky thing are you?”
Our first stop was at the New Brunswick Aquarium and Marine Center in Shippagan where we saw tons of fish and invertebrate species, who live in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and in the lakes and rivers of eastern Canada. This aquarium is the largest public aquarium in Atlantic Canada. They also had a history of the fishing industry, a seal tank, and believe it or not – a blue lobster! Evidently the blue lobsters are similar to albinos and when the lobster fishermen catch one, they bring it to the aquarium so there will always be one on display.
The seals are Harbour Seals and grow to 5-6 feet in length, weighing more than 198 pounds. They are remarkable divers and can last for more than 20 minutes under water and go as far as 328 feet.
In captivity, they will eat approximately 9 pounds of fish per day. As it was late when we finished with the aquarium, and we had parked the rig at the marina next door, we decided to spend the night there. We definitely drew as much attention as the boats. Everyone kept driving by and circling around our truck and trailer. Seems like everywhere we go up here, people stop and stare at our rig. In fact at one of the campgrounds, there were so many guys hanging around waiting for us to get set up so they could ask questions, that we thought they were a greeting committee!
Our third day on the Acadian peninsula found us heading toward Tracadie-Sheila. We learned that they had a museum which commemorates the only 19th century leprosarium existing in eastern Canada.
For 121 years, facilities in Tracadie served as a Lazaretto – a hospital for people with leprosy. The legend has it that a European visitor came to Tracadie and asked one of the Acadians for help. Being the kind person that he was, he took the European into his home not knowing that he had leprosy. Once the European died, the Acadian also became a leper. 
Originally the facilities were unattended with no doctors or nurses and the lepers lived in wretched conditions. In 1868, sisters from the Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph in Montreal, came to the lazaretto and begin ministering to the lepers. They continued this ministry until the last leper left in 1965. The historical Museum of Tracadie opened its doors in 1968. Inside the museum is historical data about Tracadie, hospital equipment, articles related to the pioneer’s life, and information about the leper hospital. Along the grounds is the cemetery where the sisters were buried – numbering 59.
A short walk further will bring you to the cemetery where the lepers were buried, which coincidentally, numbered 59. 
It was pathetic to learn that in the next 24 hours, over 1,500 men, women and children will be diagnosed with leprosy. Most of them live in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Central America, and a few in North America. We did not know that leprosy was still a viable disease today, but learned that with multi-drug therapy, the disease can be completely cured. Just another reason for each of us to be so thankful today for our health.
On that note, we decided we needed something a little more uplifting, so we headed on down the road to Bouctouche to visit the Olivier Soapery.
This is Canada’s only soap Economuseum, dedicated to keeping the traditional craft of soap-making alive. Their theme is “if you wouldn’t put it in your mouth, don’t put it on your skin. They use wholesome ingredients and cold processes that preserve the integrity of the raw materials. Every product is made by hand and believe me, they have hundreds of products –soaps, deodorants, skin crèmes for cellulite, acne, diaper rash, athlete’s foot, and even their own brand of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The gentlemen who gives the demonstration is very entertaining as well as a good salesman. They claim their soaps last three to four times longer than the average bar and at the price of $7.95 and up, they would need to in order to keep people coming back. All in all, it was good, clean (no pun intended) entertainment!
The next morning, we drove in Shediac, New Brunswick which is appropriately named, “the Lobster Capital of the World” because of its lobster fishing, processing plants, live lobster tanks, and the famous Shediac Lobster Festival. Also, because here is where you will see the World’s largest lobster.
The giant lobster sculpture is 35 feet in length, 16 feet in height and width and weighs 55 tons. George and McKenzie also got to meet Captain Hook up close and personal!! 
Since we were there at lunch time, we couldn’t pass up some of the excellent seafood. George had fish and chips and I had a lobster roll that was quite good, just not enough of it. After lunch we drove on to Cap-Pele which is North America’s largest exporter of smoked herring. In addition, we visited Sainte-Therese-d’Avila church, built in the shape of a boat with the largest stained glass windows in the Maritimes. 
Later in the day, we made our way to Confederation Bridge which will take us over to Prince Edward Island where we will spend some time in Charlottestown. The Acadian coast has been beautiful an we'll be looking foward to the rest of New Brunswick later in our travels.
We’ll hopefully catch the southern part of the province when it is time for us to head back to the states. Join us on Prince Edward Island (PEI, as the local folk call it) for the next leg of our journey.
McKenzie couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have her picture taken with Tigre, the fire hydrant!About 3:00 p.m., we made our way into another Canadian province, New Brunswick.
Once across the bridge that separates Quebec from New Brunswick, we stopped at the Visitor’s Center and decided that since it looked like a rain storm was headed our way, that we’d just spend the night there in the parking lot. Thankfully, the weather has been cool enough at night for us to drycamp when we are just passing thru a city. Once the rain was over and we had eaten dinner, we took a walking tour around the city of Campbellton, the entry point to Atlantic Canada on the shores of Chaleur Bay. It is home to the “world’s largest salmon, Restigouche Sam” who is a 28 feet tall sculpture of an Atlantic Salmon.
Having become so proficient in French, we decided to drive down the east coast of New Brunswick along the Acadian Coastal Drive. Since most of the Acadian descendants were from France, they still speak mostly French even though most of them are bilingual. They settled in this area, set up their homes and began a new way of life from the one they had experienced in France. Thru many wars between England and France, England became the owner of this area. Because the Acadians would not pledge their allegiance to England and give up their religion and French speech, England had them deported to many of the 13 colonies. To prevent them from returning to their land, they burned their homes and buildings. However, at some point, many of the Acadians did return and rebuilt their lives. The gateway to the Acadian Peninsula is home to a very colorful lighthouse in Grande-Anse
and claims that its bays are the “warmest salt water north of Virginia.” McKenzie was very interested in the fishy smelling wooden box until she learned that it was a lobster “trap”. At the sound of that word, she gave her dad a worried look as if to say, “you aren’t going to put me in that stinky thing are you?” Our first stop was at the New Brunswick Aquarium and Marine Center in Shippagan where we saw tons of fish and invertebrate species, who live in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and in the lakes and rivers of eastern Canada. This aquarium is the largest public aquarium in Atlantic Canada. They also had a history of the fishing industry, a seal tank, and believe it or not – a blue lobster! Evidently the blue lobsters are similar to albinos and when the lobster fishermen catch one, they bring it to the aquarium so there will always be one on display. The seals are Harbour Seals and grow to 5-6 feet in length, weighing more than 198 pounds. They are remarkable divers and can last for more than 20 minutes under water and go as far as 328 feet. In captivity, they will eat approximately 9 pounds of fish per day. As it was late when we finished with the aquarium, and we had parked the rig at the marina next door, we decided to spend the night there. We definitely drew as much attention as the boats. Everyone kept driving by and circling around our truck and trailer. Seems like everywhere we go up here, people stop and stare at our rig. In fact at one of the campgrounds, there were so many guys hanging around waiting for us to get set up so they could ask questions, that we thought they were a greeting committee!Our third day on the Acadian peninsula found us heading toward Tracadie-Sheila. We learned that they had a museum which commemorates the only 19th century leprosarium existing in eastern Canada.
For 121 years, facilities in Tracadie served as a Lazaretto – a hospital for people with leprosy. The legend has it that a European visitor came to Tracadie and asked one of the Acadians for help. Being the kind person that he was, he took the European into his home not knowing that he had leprosy. Once the European died, the Acadian also became a leper. Originally the facilities were unattended with no doctors or nurses and the lepers lived in wretched conditions. In 1868, sisters from the Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph in Montreal, came to the lazaretto and begin ministering to the lepers. They continued this ministry until the last leper left in 1965. The historical Museum of Tracadie opened its doors in 1968. Inside the museum is historical data about Tracadie, hospital equipment, articles related to the pioneer’s life, and information about the leper hospital. Along the grounds is the cemetery where the sisters were buried – numbering 59. A short walk further will bring you to the cemetery where the lepers were buried, which coincidentally, numbered 59. It was pathetic to learn that in the next 24 hours, over 1,500 men, women and children will be diagnosed with leprosy. Most of them live in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Central America, and a few in North America. We did not know that leprosy was still a viable disease today, but learned that with multi-drug therapy, the disease can be completely cured. Just another reason for each of us to be so thankful today for our health.On that note, we decided we needed something a little more uplifting, so we headed on down the road to Bouctouche to visit the Olivier Soapery.
This is Canada’s only soap Economuseum, dedicated to keeping the traditional craft of soap-making alive. Their theme is “if you wouldn’t put it in your mouth, don’t put it on your skin. They use wholesome ingredients and cold processes that preserve the integrity of the raw materials. Every product is made by hand and believe me, they have hundreds of products –soaps, deodorants, skin crèmes for cellulite, acne, diaper rash, athlete’s foot, and even their own brand of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The gentlemen who gives the demonstration is very entertaining as well as a good salesman. They claim their soaps last three to four times longer than the average bar and at the price of $7.95 and up, they would need to in order to keep people coming back. All in all, it was good, clean (no pun intended) entertainment!The next morning, we drove in Shediac, New Brunswick which is appropriately named, “the Lobster Capital of the World” because of its lobster fishing, processing plants, live lobster tanks, and the famous Shediac Lobster Festival. Also, because here is where you will see the World’s largest lobster.
The giant lobster sculpture is 35 feet in length, 16 feet in height and width and weighs 55 tons. George and McKenzie also got to meet Captain Hook up close and personal!! Since we were there at lunch time, we couldn’t pass up some of the excellent seafood. George had fish and chips and I had a lobster roll that was quite good, just not enough of it. After lunch we drove on to Cap-Pele which is North America’s largest exporter of smoked herring. In addition, we visited Sainte-Therese-d’Avila church, built in the shape of a boat with the largest stained glass windows in the Maritimes. Later in the day, we made our way to Confederation Bridge which will take us over to Prince Edward Island where we will spend some time in Charlottestown. The Acadian coast has been beautiful an we'll be looking foward to the rest of New Brunswick later in our travels.
We’ll hopefully catch the southern part of the province when it is time for us to head back to the states. Join us on Prince Edward Island (PEI, as the local folk call it) for the next leg of our journey.
1 comment:
Hello Jan and George, we have been keeping up with you through your Blog and it brings back memories of when we were in Nova Scotia. I know you are having a great time! Shirley & George
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