On the Go with Momma Jo & Steve

Living life, one mile at a time!

Month: May 2019

Time to Go

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On 31st May 2019

In Campgrounds

We have to get Winnie back to Niagara for her maintenance check up. OK, it is really just another reason to get back on the road. When you have an RV, being in one place for a length of time kind of gives you itchy feet. So, we head west.  Our goal today was Edmondston, New Brunswick. They have the Grey Rock Casino at which you can stay in the parking area for free. (Check in with the security person first).

To break up the long day we have a few of our favorite stops that we frequent.  One reason is to stretch our legs and get Max out for walk and of course to get a little treat. Thank goodness there is only one Covered Bridge Chips, along the road!

We decided to eat out this evening and found this quaint little restaurant in St. Jacques, New Brunswick. The “Le Patrimoine“. It is nestled in a residential area, so when you are looking for it, be sure to keep going and trust you haven’t gone the wrong way. It was an extremely popular place! The unique décor created a great ambiance – we had our pizza to go but would love to eat in the restaurant next time. They serve “Authentic Pizza” so we decided on the Meat Lovers and a Hawaiian; we both loved the Meat Lovers but the Hawaiian had red onions and was not our favorite (just a bad choice on that one). It definitely was good pizza and the service was extremely friendly and efficient. Just a note; if you do try this place out, just mention that you were at the Best Western and get 10% off!! It’s all about savings!

The best part is that the Parc de la République, a New Brunswick Provincial Park – was right around the corner (we never knew even after driving this route for years!) A great little park. We stopped for the night, Yeah!!  Enjoyed our Pizza, Big Axe Beer, Covered Bridge Chips and a game of dice; how does it get better than this? 

We had planned to go for a bike ride in the morning, unfortunately when we uncovered the bikes, they were a little rusty as they did not weather the winter well. Something to save for next time, as we will definitely be back!

Amenities

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On 29th May 2019

In Places We've Been

Like I said yesterday, one of the deciding factors is are we close to amenities? So today we are going to check this out. Along for the drive (and to give their final approval) are Momma Bear (Nan) and Grampy. We drove them to the last four lots that we considered to check out the location and the view. Then we headed around the area. Our first stop today was the Country Bread Basket Bakery and Coffee Shop “You need the bread, We knead the dough”. Beautiful, fresh-baked goods and bread! YUM! Our table had a view of the field that on first glance looked like canola but it was yellow dandelions. It is funny how these in our lawn in Ottawa would drive Steve crazy, but here they just added to a picturesque view. We tried the fish chowder and the lobster roll on a freshly baked bun with chips. Then for a treat to go we got the brownies! This is a quaint little spot that is only open for breakfast and lunch. The service was good and their food was great and they also have a gift shop that supports all the local artisans in the area. Jo showed great restraint on buying anything. Definitely a place to revisit!

Next, we headed back to Tatamoughe. We have blogged about this town a lot recently. So today (and many times before) we checked out the Appleton Chocolates Company. Jo met the original owners when the chocolate shop was a small cottage in the woods in Wentworth Valley. Actually got a few tutorials way back then on how to temper chocolate. The business is still family operated and all the chocolates are still hand made / dipped. They feature traditional flavors of the Maritimes (Nova Scotia in particular) wild blueberries, cherries, cranberries, lavender and maple syrup. Today we were lucky enough to try out their new creation coffee filled milk chocolate. Chocolatier Michael Foote asked us to try this and give our opinion! Who doesn’t want to give their opinion when free tasting is provided? LOL. Now, as for the shopping – Jo had no restraint. Yep, a bunch went home with us but did not make it back to Ottawa. Hey shop local – and support our community.

Last stop today was back at Tatmagouche Brewery where they now know our name!

Happy Anniversary!

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On 28th May 2019

In Events

Imagine; 30 years ago we got married in Nova Scotia. A lot of things have changed since then but the one thing for sure is that we always said we would head east when we retired…. So here we are….  East! Our goal at this point was to be RVing as much as possible, to downsize the RV which we did and to downsize our house too. Well, we are working on this. Now this has not been an easy decision but has always been the goal to move closer to family, to move home – to Nova Scotia. The house hunting was a bust so we decided to look at land and possibly build. Build a house for Momma Jo and a carport for Winnie!

Lake or Ocean? Well lake implies cottage – but I have Winnie, and a wanderlust. So, ocean seems more logical. Oceanfront or view? Front may mean shore erosion so let’s go with view with beach access. Seems to be a good compromise. Location location location. Accessibility – are you close to the amenities – or are you in a remote location (for remote I have Winnie and the RV on the go). Can people find you when they come to visit because we have invited everyone we know to make sure they come and visit. Can we get actively involved in the community where we end up? Are we close to Jo’s family?

We spent days looking for land and narrowed it down to a few. Next to choose the style of house – how will it suit the land we choose. So now the final four! We had a contractor come with us and walk the lots to see which he thought would work the best for our style of house. With his input on spots to put our house, it definitely made it easier – now down to two! Money talks … cost yep cost – but as Steve and the contractor pointed out you can definitely plant a lot of trees where you might actually want them for the price difference! Welcome to lot #1 Sea Shore Drive, Sand Point, Nova Scotia. Wow we did it!

Family: where life begins and love never ends!

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On 27th May 2019

In Places We've Been

We continued the Glooscap Trail from Parrsboro to Glenholme along the Minas Basin. This road winds you through some very small community’s, such as Five Islands, Economy, Five Houses, Spencer Point, Portapique, and Bass River (to name a few).  The views are amazing! If you are driving this area, you should check out the Five Islands Provincial Park. (Unfortunately for us it was closed today).

The Glooscap Trail

The drive from the beach in Parrsboro was very short, but we made it to our own private Harvest Host at  Momma Bears aka Nan’s and Gramps place – this is where we stayed put for a few nights to give Winnifred and Max a rest. Max was so excited he ran out of the RV and straight into Nan’s place. I know it was because Grampie spoils him. Heck, I love it here, as Nan spoils me too! Fresh fruit, and PIE! (apple pie for me and lemon meringue pie for Steve). Let’s not forget to mention the best Nova Scotia Fish Cakes ever! – How does it get better than this?

The Reveal Party – Will it be a Girl or Boy? Are you on Team Buck or Team Doe? Interesting new concept – My nephew and girlfriend are expecting a baby and to announce the gender of the baby they had a Reveal Party where everyone at the party, including the parents to be, find out the sex of the baby at the same time.   Looks like a boy – Team Buck wins!

A Night on the Beach

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On 26th May 2019

In Places We've Been

We continued on our travel around the Glooscap Trail with no planned overnight rest stop. I guess you could say we were winging it.

We were within a couple of hours of our final destination of Momma Bear’s but with the weather being very summer-like, we weren’t ready to end this little RV experience. We decided to check out iOverlander and found Partridge Island Beach just outside of Parrsboro, NS. Further Googling about Parrsboro found that it also had a brewery and a bakery! Enough said; off we went!

We first checked out the beach and found it a little busy with a number of locals walking the beach so back to Two Islands Brewery for a flight of beers and some brownies from their sister company, Rising Tide Bakery. These establishments only opened in September, 2018 so they are very limited in their selection of beers and baked goods but they were still a nice way to end the day.

Back to the beach we headed; to walk the beach with Max and settle in for the night. We sat and watched the sun go down and chatted with a few locals who indicated staying overnight was no issue but there was at least one bear in the area so not to leave any food outside.

It was a pretty quiet night with an early rise to another gorgeous view from our kitchen window. We arrived at Momma Bear’s by mid-day and Max was very happy to spend the day on a non-vibrating floor!

Steve’s Sidenote : For those that aren’t familiar with iOverlander, it’s a “tool, by and for overlanders, which enables its users to submit, amend and find information and opinions, primarily about places that are essential for the act of overlanding, and secondarily non-essential places that are of interest to a significant group of overlanders“.

Now you may ask, what is overlanding? Well, Overlanding Journal describes it as “self-reliant adventure travel to remote destinations where the journey is the primary goal. … While expedition is defined as a journey with a purpose, overlanding sees the journey as the purpose“.

Essentially, iOverlander is a source of information for travelers allowing one to browse or search for camping areas (both paid & free), tourist attractions, fuel, food, and many other services. We use it and a few other tools to make life on the road a lot simpler.

Rock, solid, history

By

On 25th May 2019

In Campgrounds, Places We've Been

Well, our first stop today is the Joggins Fossil Cliffs – UNESCO World Heritage Site. The road into this place was crazy rough – definitely not solid. However, definitely worth the drive. We walked around and checked it out – but didn’t stay long, as we didn’t want to leave Max in the camper too long by himself.

Next up, Cape Chignecto Provincial Park. Now this was a beautiful park – but not an RV campground. We went for a long walk on the beach, checked out the hills, loved the red rocks and the view of the bay were spectacular – we could even see Cape Split across the Bay of Fundy! And here Max could join us too!

Continuing along the Glooscap Trail we came upon Cape d’Or Lighthouse, just outside of Advocate Harbour – this cape marks the north point of entrance into the New Minas Basin. Now getting up this dirt road was a little bit of a challenge for Winnifred but she did make it – there is a spot in the road that Steve thought he was driving an ATV and Jo managed to say a lot of prayers but we made it to the top. The views of the Minas Basin are amazing and the cliffs were stunning. SPECTACULAR! 

To keep everyone safe they had a permanent, built-in selfie post and a place for you to put your feet for the perfect picture. How does it get better that this! They also have a restaurant, The Lighthouse on Cape D’Or that wasn’t quite open for the season yet. But as the buoy said, the view is always open! I will definitely be back to see this spot again.

We were going to stay the night up on the cape but it was calling for rain overnight and Jo definitely did not want to do that road back down on wet mud in Winnie, and Winnie was very happy for the decision too.

In order to see spectacular views, one must often take the tougher trail.

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Beer & chips : perfect pairings for summer!

By

On 24th May 2019

In Places We've Been

New Brunswick; home to the French Fry capital of the world, the longest covered bridge, Hopewell rocks, the World’s biggest Axe and The Covered Bridge Potato chip company and now the Big Axe Craft Brewing Company.

Recently I read on the Food Network, that Beer and Potato Chips were the secrets to a long life. (oh yeah regular exercise too…) Matilda Curcia – who lived to 100 stated “I do my exercises everyday and have my beer, and three potatoes chip every night (sometimes a few more).

Ok, this leads us to our first stop in New Brunswick today.  My favorite stop on every trip through New Brunswick is the Covered Bridge Chip Factory located outside of Hartland, NB. This family owned and operated business makes an Old Fashion Kettle Style Chip with a traditional recipe that dates back to 1920’s.   

If you have time take the $5 Self Guided tour it is really nice to see and also very informative. At the end of the tour you will get a small bag of freshly made chips right off the line – then you go to the topping tasting area that has a gazillion different toppings for you to sprinkle on your chips. The kids always loved this stop. Now, if you don’t have time for the tour, their store is stocked with over 20 different flavors to choose from; grab a bag or two for the road.  

The next Stop is Nackawic, home of the world’s biggest axe. 15 meters tall and weighs 55 tones and 7 meters wide but the real attraction for us was the Big Axe Brewery “Beer & Saloon…. Yee-Haw”! This brewery is a Harvest Hosts member so it was our place of rest for the night as well as a nice watering hole.

The thing I love abut Harvest Host is that we can go to the establishment enjoy what they are promoting, and if it happens to be alcohol, we both can enjoy it because we don’t have to drive any further that day. They had some unique names and styles of beer and of course we both got a flight! Hops & Sickle, Lucky Draw, Sea Berry Sour, Roll in the Hay, Lizzy Bordon Red, and Shakespeare Stout. My favorite was the Lucky Draw – and got an awesome deal on the bottles I bought – because the fill wasn’t perfect! (Didn’t matter to me, as I never finish a full bottle anyway!) Steve, enjoyed the Shakespeare Stout. I don’t know how he didn’t buy any! Cheapest Harvest host stay ever; only $29.83.  They even let you bring in our own food and on weekends evenings they have special events and/or entertainment. Simply a great place to stop!

So, remember the perfect pairing for Summer is Beer and Chips – And New Brunswick is the perfect spot to have both and support local.

Now, the one thing about this Harvest Host establishment is that it is located on the St. John River and the morning views of the calm and majestic looking river were spectacular. Just an awesome and motivating way to start another fabulous day. Definitely one of my favorites so far.

Life is short, eat Chocolate!

By

On 23rd May 2019

In Places We've Been

12:18 PM – Well, today we made a break for it; packed up the RV & took Max and hit the road, a day ahead of our planned schedule!  Our goal was to at least make it to Quebec City, we pushed a little harder and made it to Berthier-Sur-Mer. (500 km in 6.5 hours). Max was exhausted!! We stayed overnight in the what iOverlander called a “Municipal Picnic area”. A rather blustery night with the wind coming in from the St. Lawrence River but it was free and a nice spot to spend the night.

9:00 AM – I see blue sky – YEAH!!! – lets get going! We stayed along the coastline of the St Lawrence on Hwy 132. Imagine, after 30 years of driving the Trans Canada we finally took this route.  It was lovely and long overdue. Our first stop this morning was in a small community called Montmagny, we found the campground at Pointe-Aux-Oies that we didn’t quite make it to last night! This park had a lovely boardwalk and an observation tower – we didn’t stay long as the wind was chilly & strong!!  But the view was incredible. Max was so happy to stand on ground that didn’t move. Next stop Saint- Jean-Port-Joli……in search of the Chocolaterie! Now, this shop was also the Patisserie.

I have to say it … How does it get better than this? Ok, the artistic designs on the pastries made them all so very tempting – but I had my eye on an exquisite looking chocolate treat. I can hear my mother saying “eat your lunch then you can have desert” but my Uncle, who was a pastry chef, would always “say life is too short, eat dessert first.” So, we compromised and the chocolate treat was Lunch!  It was heavenly chocolate bliss!!

Chocolate comes from Cocoa, which comes from a tree. That makes it a plant therefore chocolate counts as salad!

Bake Day – Food Is Love

By

On 20th May 2019

In Events

Creativity is intelligence having FUN

Albert einstein

Finally, some time to wind down, time to have some fun / do something not related to moving or packing. Something that brings joy to the creator and hopefully to the ones enjoying them!

I have always believed that baking is one of those things that is multipurpose.

  1. Enjoyment in the fact that you can start a project and see the finished product in a short period of time. (Unlike moving)
  2. That you can get your creativity juices and express yourself with what you bake. Research Google recipes online to find different flavor combinations; be daring, be bold. Break away from your old standards. (Banana Chocolate Chip)
  3. That you can test out new recipe’s ideas for your cookbook (Blueberry Lemon Muffins, Cranberry Orange Muffins, & Lemon Poppy-seed Loaf)
  4. That you can stock up the fridge/freezer for the kids before you take off in your RV for the next adventure……
  5. That the kids enjoy the treats – and maybe remember their mother while she is on the road.

Remember Food is Love!

Sale Day – Home is Where the Family Is

By

On 15th May 2019

In Events

Hi folks, Steve is posting today, as this is our final day in our home in Greely. It’s been a wonderful 14 years here and will always be remembered as the home our children grew up in. Momma Jo found this wonderful location back in the spring of 2005 on Grapevine.ca for sale by owner. It was love at first sight and things fell into place that August, thanks in a large part to the relationship Jo built up with the previous owners.

Needless to say this was a rough day for all of us and especially for Jo. We will always have wonderful memories of our times here and will now take those with us to our new home in Nova Scotia.

Happy Mother’s Day!

By

On 12th May 2019

In Events

I am a firm believer that the most important gift you can give someone is the gift if time. So, for Mothers day I asked my family to sit around a campfire with me, eat pizza, make smores, drink cold beer and reminisce about times past.

I don’t know what it is about sitting around a campfire with family and friends. Is it the warmth or the ambiance of the flames? Is it the fun of roasting hot dogs to making spider dogs on a stick? Is it toasting marshmallows and trying not to burn them, or having the melted chocolate and marshmallows ooze out of the graham crackers when you take that first bite of the smore? Is it having to lick the chocolate and marshmallows off your fingers? Is it the storytelling or laughter from someone’s jokes?  Is it reminiscing of times past? Is it staring at the white stars against the dark skies? Is it having your friends and family share in this moment? Or maybe, just maybe,  it is all of it!

PERFECT!!

How does it get any better than this?!

Moving Day!

By

On 4th May 2019

In Events

Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.

SAM levenson

One definition of Travel is to go from one place to another….

Synonyms of the word Travel are move, proceed, progress, advance…

Therefore Moving is sort of Travel. Might not be the most fun type of travel but it is another adventure

Ok, whatever it takes to motivate myself to move from my amazing house in Greely to a smaller rental house in Barrhaven. Now I have to keep telling myself that this is for only 365 days; I can do it!  This is our temporary residence till we figure out what our next move is.

Trust me I would rather be in my RV. There is so much involved in moving and I feel like we were a good candidate for Hoarders Are Us.  The key to moving is one day at a time and just keep moving. Just think we will be doing this again with in the next year!! Yippee

Wanderlust!

By

On 1st May 2019

In Places We've Been

The Best education I have ever received was through travel.

Lisa LING

Ever since I was small, I always had “Wanderlust” – the strong desire for or impulse to travel and explore the world. It is not something that can be taught, it’s like it is part of your genetic make up like a “T” (Travel) chromosome and is just inherent in some people.  I had always hoped that with all the traveling we took our kids on, that we could instill this impulse or desire to travel within our children.  I have always found that travelling has given us a great education and appreciation into places, people, food and cultures.  One of the things that would make us proud is to see that our children have also developed a sense of Wanderlust.

So, as you can see with this post, – our son Matthew and his girlfriend Krystal have the travel bug and took their second trip to Europe; this time to explore Germany.  Their travels took them to these sights plus many more….

  • Von Trapp Family Home and Gardens, Salzburg, Austria
  • View Overlooking Salzburg & Biking in Salzburg, Austria
  • Charles Bridge, Prague Czech Republic
  • Romantic Road – route in Mottingen, Harburg Germany
  • Neuschwanstein Castle southwestern Bavaria, Germany
  • Dancing House Prague, Czechia (Fred & Ginger) – Prague capital of Czech Republic

They also enjoyed local cuisine and drinks, including but not limited to;

  • A Weisswurst – Traditional Bavarian Sausage (White Sausage) (definitely not their favorite)
  • Beire at HB – Hofbräuhaus- München – World’s most famous tavern!
  •  Bier und ein Bretzel – (Pretzel and of course Beer!)
  • Schnitzel

Matthew has definitely caught our travel bug!

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