DAY TRIP IN THE ANNAPOLIS VALLEY

My dad used to tell me to have the "Take the bull by the horns" approach to life. I've done my best to do that during my 50+ years on this earth.


However, I'm finding with age that I'm more of a "Take the cow by the ears" sort of girl.


Ahhhh! Never let it be said that I'm not adaptable!


***************************************

Sarita and I had a great trip to the Annapolis Valley on Friday -- all 345 km of it!

We drove over the mountain through New Germany and Parkdale/Maplewood, via Lake George, into the town of Aylesford where we visited Oakland Farms, a small family owned and run zoo. Lots of great animals - tigers, lions, leopards, exotic porcupine, monkeys, llamas, camels, and so on and so on. We've all seen either the animals themselves or pictures of them, right?

So, while Sarita is busy snapping up pictures of these wonderful animals, what do I take pictures of? Why their various garden plots, of course! There were several dotted throughout the property. But the nicest was the one next to the monkey enclosure near the koy pond. I loved their selection of plants and the arrangement of color and size. It was very pretty.

We had a picnic lunch (with various other visitors and 3 bus loads of loudly excited elementary school kids [repeatedly barging in front of you as you walked or stood looking at the animals all the while ceaselessly making various noises dependant upon which animal you were viewing]. Bless their little sainted hearts!

We sat out of the sun at a picnic table under a tree (which rained down the occasional little green worm [not on the food, thank goodness]. Some of those dear little school children were also having lunch next to us (or crawling over other picnic tables; or coming up behind you when you least expected and shouting "HI! I'VE GOT A PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICH!

Our table was also situated next to the fence where more of those same dear little school children were taking a pony ride (shouting "Miss McBride! Miss McBride! Miss McBride! Miss McBride! Miss McBride! Look at me! I'm taking a pony ride!) And those sweet little ponies! Why, they smelled very .... aaaaaaa ..... very natural! Yeah! That's the word for it - natural!

No - really!

I'm kidding (although not exagerating)!

It was great!

We were in the country, for goodness sake!

At a zoo!

Waddya expect, Sandy!

**********************************************

We drove south on the old highway, and I stopped at this great little garden ornament store (which I'll show you in a later post). Then we drove on to Berwick, a really pretty little town which claims to be "The Apple Capital of Nova Scotia" - a proud claim in a province known for it's wonderful apples. Anyone who visits Berwick simply MUST visit "Bargain Harleys". It's a treasure of a store with a little bit of everything at rock bottom prices. You never know what you'll find there! I got some great bargains (which I'll show you in the aforementioned later post).

We had nothing planned, so we just let the day dictate where to go. But we were really glad that we stopped at the tourist bureau in Kentville; we were greeted by this young female employee with the most beautiful smile and attitude and the best advice as to where to go.

We drove over the mountain to the Fundy Shore of Nova Scotia and came to a little hamlet called Hall's Harbour which has the lowest tides on the Fundy. Low tide was out, so we could see all the fishing boats sitting on the ocean floor. Pretty cool!

Then we drove across the Gospel Road to what's called "The Lookout" . From there, we could see Cape Blomidon on the left and the towns of Centreville, Wolfville and Grand Pre below us. The pictures my camera took don't do it justice; it was so beautiful.

We drove out to Cape Blomidon Park and walked down to the beach. The tide was out, so our sneakers squelched through the red mud of the ocean floor. I gave up once the mud started splattering the back of my heels; but Sarita walked all the way to the water. Youth apparently doesn't care about red mud stains on sneakers and socks!

We did our best to rinse off our shoes in a little water fall -- but mostly Sarita just made faces in the background of my pictures or tried to splash me.

We finished off with a drive to Grand Pre and a steak dinner at Joe's Pub in Wolfville. We ate sang and ate oatcakes on the 2 hr ride home. It was a wonderful day!