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Mrs. Slidebite and I are going East for once from Western Canada. We have never been before so I would like a hand. We only have about 1 week in the Maritimes so our time is fairly limited. We are flying to Ottawa the Sept long weekend spending a few nights there, then taking the overnight train to Halifax. We are then planing on staying in Halifax for 3 nights (possibly down to 2 if we MUST go elsewhere), renting a car to drive around NS and end up in Charlottown for our flight back west on the 17th. We have the beginning and end of our trip booked, but the actual sightseeing portion is still pretty free and we have a little bit of flexibility on the Halifax side of things. Where the hell should we go for people that have never been before? We are history and geography nerds. Schedule is like this: Arrive in Ottawa evening of Sept 5th -> Sept 9th AM 9th- 10th - Train Sept 11th -> 13th AM - Halifax Area (could possibly leave on the 12th AM if we absolutely need to time to go elsewhere) Day/Night of 13th (open) Arrive PEI - Evening 14th -> Fly out 17th AM Are 3 days too much/too little for Halifax? Should we head North/South a day early? We do need to hit PEI Monday, Sept 14 for sure but while on the island we have a lot of free time and want to explore. Also looking for ideas for Ottawa but I'm pretty sure we'll find enough to keep us busy for 3 days there.
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Aug 17, 2015 19:19
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 15:49 |
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Lunenburg makes for a really nice day trip. It's an old fishing village that's on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Bluenose II lives there, though she wasn't in port when I was there. Blomidon Provincial Park near Wolfville also make for a good geography day trip, with a hike through the park along the cliffs to the tip, watching the highest tides rush in or out to the Minas Binas. The park closes in September so just double check your dates. In Halifax proper, the Seaport Farmers Market is quite nice and a good place to start a walk along the harbour. The Citadel, Pier 21 (Canadian Museum of Immigration) and Maritime Museum of Canada should satisfy the history nerd. Since you're driving to PEI, consider taking a detour to Cape Breton and doing a loop through Cape Breton Highland National Park. It'll add about 600km to your drive (about 900km total from Halifax to Charlottetown, taking the ferry across), but the park itself is quite pretty and has some really classic views along its western side. Most of the western coast is also Acadian, if that's of interest to you as well. You could break up the drive by staying in Chéticamp the night of the 13th.
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Aug 19, 2015 10:40
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If you visit the Halifax Citadel, be sure to be there for the cannon firing. PEI has three well-marked scenic coastal drives. I did the central one and really enjoyed it. Good places to stop and wander around are Port-la-Joye - Fort Amherst and PEI National Park. See how many places on the island you can find that somehow try to capitalize on Anne of Green Gables (beware of tourists in Cavendish).
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Aug 20, 2015 04:07
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spoof posted:Lunenburg makes for a really nice day trip. It's an old fishing village that's on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Bluenose II lives there, though she wasn't in port when I was there. Blomidon Provincial Park near Wolfville also make for a good geography day trip, with a hike through the park along the cliffs to the tip, watching the highest tides rush in or out to the Minas Binas. The park closes in September so just double check your dates. As for Lunenburg, I was planing on it but I'm not so sure if it's worth it based on what I've seen on "what to do" there. Bluenose II would be kind of cool, but if it's just otherwise a quaint village I'm sure there are several of those we'll see elsewhere, wouldn't there? e: Also, thanks very much for recomending Cheticamp. That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for if we need to spend the night in a small town  lavaca posted:If you visit the Halifax Citadel, be sure to be there for the cannon firing. Anne of Green Gables does nothing for us so we won't get suckered into that. Any beaches that are recommended if we just want to kick back for a couple hours on the island? slidebite fucked around with this message at 19:16 on Aug 20, 2015 |
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Aug 20, 2015 19:01
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For PEI, pretty much any beach along the North Shore is probably a safe bet. Personal favorites are Brackley or Stanhope up in the national park, or the beach at Blooming Point. Also good is Basin Head over on the SE portion of the island. All are good swimming beaches and Basin Head even has natural white silicon sand, which is pretty rare around here. Cavendish beach is nice, but usually pretty crowded with tourists. I'm kind of biased because I work there, but, if you like theater, Confederation Centre of the Arts will have a show opening while you're here. Evangeline is a musical/love story about the Acadian Expulsion. It premiered here a couple of years ago and is a really solid show that got good national good press when we ran it last time. It'll only be preview nights while you're here, but on the flipside the tickets will be much cheaper. Get icecream from Cow's while you're here. Expensive, but totally worth it. Any of the coastal drives are a good bet, lots of good shoreline.
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Aug 26, 2015 21:03
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 15:49 |
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Actually, taking in a show could certainly be on the agenda. We do quite like theater and that Tuesday evening show might be do-able so thanks for the heads-up. If you see a couple of out of their elements Albertans walking around, say hi So here is a tentative schedule to what we have planned: Halifax area - Sept 10 depart 12th. That gives us Thursday evening, all day Friday and Saturday AM.. maybe even early afternoon in the Halifax area. I spoke to a friend of mine who used to live there and he said to skip Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg if time becomes an issue which we probably will. Day of the 12th - make our way to Cape Breton area. Night in Sydney area probably. Actively seeking recommendations for places to stay that side of Cape Breton. Day of the 13th - Cape Breton Highlands/Cabot trail. Make our way westwards towards Bay of Fundy. Night in New Glasgow...maybe Truro if we can make it before too late? Day of 14th - Hopewell Rocks, catch the morning tide being out and check out the sea floor. Access ends at around 11:30, hang around for a while to watch the tide start to come in. Then maybe Moncton area and make our way towards PEI for that evening. Rest of the time, just bum around and get aquainted with PEI and depart back west 6AM on the 17th. slidebite fucked around with this message at 19:55 on Aug 27, 2015 |
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Aug 27, 2015 19:52
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