Seal Island Light Museum Part 1

I must say, after a LONG day in the car, and a few failed attempts at seeing a few lighthouses due to uncontrollable issues (aka FOG!), the visit to the Seal Island Museum was a nice treat.

This museum is not (and was never) technically a Lighthouse. It is a replica of the original Seal Island Lighthouse. We were able to go inside this light and look around so I have quite a few pictures, so to keep my post from being too photo heavy and just plain long I am going to break this up in to two blog entries. First we will take a look at the lighthouse itself.For not being a real Lighthouse they at least found a nice little spot to put this light. Just off the road and up a little hill, a little bit inland, peeking out above the trees, it was refreshing to see a Lighthouse structure not hidden away by fog. This light is fairly large, classic red and white rings, and the interesting part of the light was in fact the light itself. The shape of the lantern makes this structure its own.

The cool part about this visit was the ability to go inside the Lighthouse. Inside there are some really cool artifacts for the Museum (I will go in to more detail on some items inside in tomorrow’s post). Naturally we all wanted to go to the top of the light – first speed bump, if you want to go to the top there is a small fee but well worth the price. Secondly the last two sets of steps are open back steal stairs. Now I know to most visitors that wouldn’t pose a problem but to me that was the end of the venture to the top. I am terrified of open backed stairs, but it was pretty sad that all of my kids were fearless and went up without me. lol

Now what you see at the top isn’t an overly spectacular view, however it is cool to see the surrounding area at a bird’s eye level. The other neat thing about going to the top of this light is the light itself. You can get right up close with the inner workings of the lighting unit and see how it all is put together.

So there you have the Seal Island Museum Lighthouse. As I said before I will be back tomorrow with some photos of items that are inside the light and some more info on the museum itself, so make sure to come back for the ‘full story’ J Until then…..

Happy & Safe Travels,

~Jenn

Pubnico Harbour

Here it is! The first Lighthouse we got to see along the Lighthouse Route (there are others before this one along the way, but due to time restraints this was the first one we could get off of the highway for to stay on track time wise), the Pubnico Harbour Lighthouse. This was a nice one to go visit, a nice short walk on the Breakwater and it brings you right to it. I must admit, with the foggy conditions and the waves crashing loudly on the side of the breakwater, I was a little more than cautious…. Maybe a wee bit scared (as a non-swimmer, I can say that I am a tad bit scared of open waters).

I liked the paint on this one, red on top, white on the bottom, I liked being able to get right up to this one and touch it. It wasn’t a ‘huge’ lighthouse, but it was big enough. If it weren’t so foggy, I should have been able to see a Power Windmill not too far off in the distance off the left side of the light…. There is a nice photo that shows what I mean over on the Lighthouse Friends website.

I didn't even realize until after I looked through my photos when I got home from our trip just how foggy it actually was when we first arrived at this light, but it was pretty thick as you can see.The first thing you see at the end of the road and all of these Lobster Units (sorry, I have no idea what the technical term is for them, guess I should have maybe learned that while I was in Canada's Lobster Capital...lol)......and since I do also enjoy taking random photos of things outdoors I thought this made for a good photo opportunity (and yes, an attempt by man to move them was made but they didn't budge a single bit).

and lastly before I end this blog post I did see a very special friend of mine.... Sponge Bob!!! lol I would like to say he was Sun bathing in the nude, however in this thick fog I guess maybe he was just bored and playing tricks on the tourists. ;) Stay tuned…. There are a few more blog posts to follow of our South Shore adventure. J

Happy & Safe Travels

~Jenn

1st Annual Fire Truck Rally

Welcome to the 1st Annual Digby Fire Truck Rally!!!

This was a great event put on by the Volunteers of the Digby Fire Department.  Departments from all over the province sent Trucks down for either the parade or the Show and Shine, or both! There were some challenges set up for the different departments to take part in if they wanted to such as the Bucket Brigade, the Vehicle Extrication and a Water Rescue, and as with any event in Digby there were vendors set up in town and there was plenty of entertainment to keep everyone busy and entertained.  Overall I think this was a great event to bring to the area, not only for something to take the family out to see, or to help DFD raise money, but as a way to recognize and show appreciation to all our Firefighters for all that they do.  Thank You!!

Now on to some pictures!  I've put together a few slide shows of the different things that happened this week-end. I hope you enjoy!

Let's Start with the Parade of Fire Trucks

Now on to the Challenges

Now to the Show and Shine..... some of these trucks were amazing!  It was pretty cool to check everything out inside an out.

and the last group I have to show you is random entertainment and demo photos

Before signing off I thought I'd share with you a little sentimental moment I had during the Fire Truck Rally.  As I walked down my street and saw the view of the trucks line up in town for the show and shine the first truck I see is the one which I had spent most of my time around. Bear River's #6.  #6 was the truck my Dad drove and manned for most of my childhood.  Though she is very old, and definitely wasn't the 'showiest' truck at the show she was definitely my Favorite because it was my Daddy's truck. :) The following is a Digital Scrapbook page I created of the photos I took of old #6 this week-end and what it meant to me.

Thanks so much for stopping by for a read today!

As always...

Have fun & Safe Travels

~Jenn

Smuggler's Cove

Just as a side note to our last trip to Mavillette Beach, there is a nice little Picnic park not too far from the beach. The picnic park itself is really nice, especially if you go in the evening and get to witness the beautiful sunset view.

Also within the park is a trail, and when I say “trail” what I really mean is there is a heck of a lot of stairs (certainly NOT as many as there were going to the Balancing Rock), that go down to a rocky ledge along the water. Once down the stairs however, you do get a history lesson with a great view.

Smuggler’s Cove is the name of this place, and you get to learn about old time Rum Running! Exciting right?? 

The History Board is quite interesting to read, the view you have from this spot is of the cave where this all took place.

There are MORE stairs that go down to the shoreline, and if you happen to time your visit just right with the Tide Schedule, you can actually walk over to (and in to) the cave when the Tide is out. Our trip was not planned around the tide being out, as a matter of fact it was originally planned to go as it was in in order to have a good time at the beach without having to go too far to get to the water.

So there you have a quickie on Smuggler’s Cove. We would very much like to go back and actually make it over to the cave so if we do I’ll be sure to come back with a “Part Deux” to this entry and show & tell you all about it.

Back up the stairs we go.............

Happy & Safe Travels

~Jenn

Theodore Tugboat

“Oh Theodore…. Emily, Foddock, Hank and George & the Harbour Master too…”

To those who have ever watched Theodore Tugboat on PBS growing up, or whose kids have watched it, who doesn’t Love Theodore Tugboat?? I can remember watching him as a child growing up, I couldn’t wait for Theodore to come on tv! What made him even more special is with his stories being based out of the harbour right here in Halifax, NS he was more than a delightful character, he was a piece of “home” (growing up by the Bay of Fundy, I was quite partial to “Digby” the barge).

Back in 2009 I was fortunate enough to be able to 
make a special trip to the city of Halifax, and while there I made sure to take the boys down to the waterfront to see a very special someone….. of course that special someone was THEODORE!

He spends his summers here in his home Harbour in Halifax, NS. You can go to the water front to see him when he is in dock, here there is also a Theodore Tugboat gift shop, as well you can purchase tickets to board Theodore and take a ride all around the ‘great big harbour’.

During the off season he spends his winters on the shore in the south (Florida I believe), but he always makes his way back to his native land for tourist season to spend his summer in this beautiful land.

I hope you enjoyed having a look at Theodore in his home, if you’d like to learn more about him, his gift shop and his tours please visit his website.

Happy & Safe Travels 

~Jenn

A Brief Look At Halifax

One thing I don’t get to do very often is head out to the Capital City of Halifax. When I do get to go there I never seem to have much for money so I don’t get to do a whole lot while I’m there OR it’s just for appointments, like when I went in to get my American Passport, or the many trips to the IWK children’s hospital when my oldest son broke his arm.  There are plenty of great things to see and do while in the city though, someday I’d like to go just to be a “tourist” to the area.

A few things I’d like to make note of that I was able to quickly see in “drive By Mode” are, the Casino. Not overly huge or ‘grand’ looking from the outside, it’s unique shape, and location right on the water definitely does give it some appeal though.

Then there is the Discovery Centre. This would be a great place to take the family for some fun and learning. I have never been inside, however when I worked at Upper Clements Park many many moons ago we did have some exhibits there to check out and as a Ride Op / Attendant I did have a few opportunities to man the building and spend some time checking things out, and they were pretty darn cool.  I just keep thinking, that if that was the stuff they were willing to part with for the summer, what cool things they must have that they kept for themselves. They change things up often, but I’d definitely like to take the boys there someday.

I also got to spend quite a bit of time down at the Water Front taking in the sights there. Yet another great spot to spend some time just walking around, checking out the little shops and restaurants, or maybe even checking out one of the many different Harbour Tours.

   

  

  

Now, I can't forget to mention the Purdy's Wharf Towers.  Spent a LOT of time in those buildings when I had to go get my US Passport, and spent even more time in the Pedway system (which the kids though was pretty neat) going back and forth to the mall because they kept screwing up my Passport Photos (apparently they go by different specs for a US Passport than a Canadian one and they just couldn't get it right). Anyway, these two small towers (at the time I thought they were big, but since then I made a trip to NYC and yea, these so called "towers" are just little itty bitty "towers" LOL), are actually quite pretty, also nestled down on the Waterfront.

Now this next part may not be exciting to you, but we don’t have any trains in the area in which we live, so the kids really enjoyed getting out and taking some time to watch the trains do their thing with the containers off the big ships.

Speaking of the shipyard, check out this AWESOME view from my brothers apartment!  Pretty cool eh?  He says it gets noisy, but I think I could handle the noise for sure an awesome view.... then again I'm more of a country girl, so maybe not. Still think it's pretty cool to take a few to watch and enjoy.

That’s about it from my quickie visits passing through the city, there is so much more to see and do, including shopping, different parks, The Museum of Natural History, Events at the Metro Centre, Citidal Hill etc. So it is definitely worth a day (or two), of touring while spending time in Nova Scotia.

One last picture before I go.... the beautiful view on the highway as I drove back home.

Happy & Safe Travels

~Jenn

Lighthouse Preservation News Updates

Here I go again on another rant about the possible demolitions of many of our Lighthouses, all across Canada. I am pleased to hear that 155 petitions have made their way to Ottawa so far INCLUDING one for our beloved Peggy's Cove lighthouse here in Nova Scotia, but that's still a very small amount compared to the 970 that are on the chopping block.

Here is the most recent article I've come across on this topic, there are already some very opinionated comments from unhappy people all over the country that this is happening, and they should be!

I will definitely be following the action right to the deadline and I'm sure I'll be back with my final rant when deadline comes and be awaiting to hear news on the petitions that do get what they want, need AND deserve! In the meantime, I am going to continue to plan my summer of visits and get to as many lights as possible, and all you Lighthouse lovers out there should think about getting to visit some as well!

Safe Travels Everyone.

~Jenn