Day 14 - 2025 East Coast Adventure - Halifax!

7/31 - Linkletter Provincial Park, PEI to Smiley's Provincial Park, NS

Last night proved to be the toughest sleep of the trip so far. While the camp was nice and quiet, the rain in the middle of the night was not so quiet. While it wasn't an intense storm, without any trees or anything to slow down the drops, they slammed into our roof and made the storm sound much worse than it was. After about three and a half hours, the rain stopped and I finally got some good sleep. Thankfully, it seems that the rest of the family slept right through it.

Once we were up and moving, we a wonderful morning with more griddle pancakes. That helped with the lack of sleep!

The boys were really helpful as we attempted to turn our late start into a reasonably timed departure. We had asked the boys if they wanted to take the more scenic route to Nova Scotia that included a ferry or if they wanted to see the science museum of Halifax. They opted for the science museum and since it closed at 4, we had to get moving. 

Because of the time constraints, we chose to go back to New Brunswick via the bridge rather than spend more time in PEI and take the ferry back.  While this meant we missed much of the island, I guess we'll just have to come back.

After crossing back into New Bruswick, we travelled for a bit before going into our last new Province of the trip - Nova Scotia!  


We made GREAT time driving through Nova Scotia which turned out to be a very scenic drive with big rolling hills and various farms. We pulled into the Walmart parking lot near downtown Halifax just after noon. We unhitched the trailer and drove down to the port where the science museum was. There was a cruise ship in port which meant that there were an extra 3-4 thousand people wandering downtown Halifax. But once we were parked ($12 Canadian for the day!) and in the museum, we barely noticed. 

The museum turned out to be only so-so. There were some interesting pieces (mock plane flight, a tank full of starfish, and an exhibit on mazes), but overall, I'm glad we used our ASTC membership for it (meaning it was free). We did opt to watch the movie though which was on backyard wildlife. Some of us had seen it before, but it was still fun - especially learning that wood ducks leap out of their nest on the first day they hatch and bounce off the forest floor!


After the museum, we walked up the boardwalk to the beer garden. They offered a hot dog tower (veggie dogs for us) and veggie burgers so we thought it was a perfect spot for us. 


They had some live music that was a bit loud for Sebastian so he went for a walk with Amy after we ordered. While out for the walk, what did he find - Beaver tails!  For those of you that don't remember, Beaver tails are a flat pastry covered with ice cream and either syrup or something else sticky. They're remarkably delicious and VERY messy. So, the boys loved them. 


It has started to drizzle so we walked quickly back to the car. Then we drove back to Walmart, hooked up the trailer and hit the road. There was surprisingly little traffic and in less than an hour we arrived at camp. 

We set up camp (in the wrong spot as it turns out) in what proved to be a very empty campground. Then we walked down to the "river" (stream is generous to describe the flow) and over to th
e playground. After a bit of fun, we walked back to camp, showered in wonderfully warm water, and went to bed to the sounds of a gentle drizzle on the roof. 


Halifax represents our "end destination" and effective tomorrow morning, we are homeward bound. It's bittersweet to know that our trip is more than halfway done, but it's been amazing so far and we still have over a week to go. 

Here's to more smooth sailing - especially with our longest drive day tomorrow coming up!  Raleigh, here we (slowly) come!

 Trip mileage - 2,251
# states - 12
# provinces - 3 

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