I have to admit, we did not give New Brunswick a very good chance to impress us, but although we weren’t there long, our experience certainly turned out to be quite memorable! We drove into New Brunswick from Nova Scotia. We knew we’d crossed the border when the first thing we saw was a GIANT “Caution Moose” sign, complete with flashing lights. The thousands of pine trees helped too.
We drove to Moncton as our first New Brunswick stop. We got there fairly late, but we had a little raw veggies, cheese and crackers picnic in our van (in the VIA parking lot…we’d been hoping to steal free wifi), and we had a restful sleep. In the morning, we visited Magnetic Hill. I’ve been there before, but I don’t remember it being so touristy! They have a waterpark and everything now! Cloud 9 didn’t make it all the way up the hill, mostly because I stepped on the brakes on the way up because I couldn’t keep Cloud 9 straight while we were being “pulled” uphill. Lame, I know, but still an awesome experience. And to let you all know, the car after us, a TINY, easy-to-maneuver Echo or whatever, had to do the hill TWICE because he didn’t get up even close to half-way the first time. So I’d say I did a pretty decent job.
ANYWAY, right after Magnetic Hill (about 15 minutes all said and done) we high-tailed it out of Moncton and headed straight for the Hopewell Cape. We were there to walk the ocean floor, but we arrived in time for high tide instead. It was really neat watching the tide come in. It’s so quick! The tide rose 46 feet that day. Hopewell Cape boasts some of the highest tides in the world!
It was super cold while we were at the Hopewell Rocks. We cooked chicken noodle soup for lunch since we were waiting for the tide to go out, and we had a dessert of these crazy-intricate gummie animals on a stick. Mmmm…
Once 4pm rolled around, we went back into the park and down to the ocean floor. It’s a pretty awe-filling feeling to walk on the ocean floor. I was at the Hopewell Rocks once before when my friend Denise Cruickshank invited me to go on her family vacation to New Brunswick, but it wasn’t the same. I didn’t have the same appreciation for nature’s amazing ability to create such beautiful rock-sculptures…or her ability to work towards their complete destruction. The seaweed fascinated me too. It looked so much like plastic seaweed for a fish tank! I couldn’t get over it. I kept squishing the little air packs, to see what was in them. I’m weird, I know.
After we satisfied our curiosity on the ocean floor, Julie and I peeled out of the Hopewell Cape, destination: Grand Manan.
-Nicole
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