Boston, Massachusetts flight to Halifax, Nova Scotia
JTH Steps 9,517
Up real early, 4:45 am to get to Logan Airport. We were not sure how passing through immigration would be but it went smoothly. Found out passports are no longer stamped...total bummer. A slight mix up with renting the car, it was in downtown Halifax at the Westin Hotel, thirty minutes in the opposite direction we needed to be going. A $120 Uber ride later we had our car and were off. Oh well, another adventure. Next stop Point du Chêne, New Brunswick after a stop at Tim Horton's for lunch. We were so hungry and this was the first place we saw. I do have to say there cookies were great but not as great as my friend Renee's. Let's just say I will take McDonald's over Tim Horton.
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| Good bye Boston, hope to see you again |
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| Hello Nova Scotia |
Made it to Pointe-du-Chêne and found our cottage. Pam the owner had told us we would get the keys from Derek, Barry's cousin, but she decided to wait for us because a former renter had a cat and they sprayed in one of the bedrooms. She managed to remove the smell but wanted to make sure we didn't smell any residue. We didn't and told her not to worry. If we did we would just open the windows. She also owns the house next door and would be there through tomorrow if we had any concerns. She said they renovated it a few years ago for her kids and grandkids but they don't come so she rents it out. A few instructions, keys in our hands and she went back to her house next door. We unpacked the car, decided on a bedroom, it has 3 and walked down to Derek and Hayley's cottage.
This is the first time Barry is going to meet most of his cousins in person, actually touch them instead of a zoom call. We received HUGE HUGS by Derek and Hayley. Derek is Barry's cousin and Hayley his wife. I have met most of his cousins on zoom and we are facebook friends but seeing and touching is so much better. They made us feel right at home. We got a tour of their cottage, they took us down to the beach and then went up to their upper deck to sit and enjoy a glass of wine. They call the upper deck the Fishbowl. Their was constant chatter the entire time. Questions asked and answered.
The beach...amazing! The sand is white. The water is shallow and because of this there are sand bars that pop up. You can walk out about two or three hundred yards and the water is only waist deep. Weird to see how far out the sand bars go and people way out there playing on the beach. See pictures below. The water seems cool but not as cold as the water at Santa Cruz this time of year.
There are seagulls but not as many as our California coastal beaches AND they walk close by you. They are not afraid of humans. It was entertaining watching the toddlers try to catch them. We observed Hermit Crabs in the shallow water. Kids were making sand castles with water moats and putting the sand crabs in them. It was great to see how they left the crabs alone and didn't do anything with them but put them in the castle moats. As we walked along the water I picked up a few to look at them more closely. Fascinating creatures. They can really tuck themselves far back into their shells. I picked up ones that were as small as the tip of my little finger to the size of a fifty cent piece.
Susie, another cousin and Derek's sister, texted and said dinner was at 6:30 pm. Susie, her husband Glen, daughter Sara, Sara's partner David and their four month old daughter Emma are staying at the Henderson Cottage. Got that....LOL! We walked over to the Henderson Cottage and we were welcomed with open arms. HUGE HUGS again all around. Glenn BBQ'd salmon, and there was a green salad, couscous, and asparagus for dinner. We ate on the back deck and the weather was perfect. It was so nice to have a home cooked meal. Again, chatter never stopped as we all got to know each other more. Dessert was pie from a local bakery and delish.
After dessert we played a card game called Oh Hell. How to play was explained since we have never played the game or heard of it before. After about two hands we got the hang of the game. It's a fun game and even Barry enjoyed it. He says he doesn't like many card games but he had fun. I think just being we were with his family made it more enjoyable. We didn't get back to our cottage until midnight. A little tired because we were on a 4 hour time difference in New Brunswick and Boston is a 3 hour difference. Before we left, Susie gave us a bag of genealogy stuff to review. It was a lot of stuff so we will have to spend one day going through it and taking pictures. We walked back to our cottages with Derek and Hayley so we wouldn't get lost.
Such an awesome day and it was so heartwarming to see Barry with his family. Other than his sons, he doesn't have any blood family in the states.
