Canada, eh?

Part I 08/04/2024 – 08/10/2024

This week takes us as far north as we will be travelling this summer, Bathurst New Brunswick Canada. Bathurst? Where in Canada is Bathurst and why are we going? Bathurst is in the northeastern part of the maritime province of New Brunswick and it sits on the Bay of St Lawrence. We are here because this is where Bill’s paternal grandmother is from and where his grandparents retired way back in 1963. Bill has a ton of fond memories of visiting his grandparents here and playing in the river that ran behind their house. While travelling thru the US and visiting his cousins, I have heard wonderful stories of their childhood times spent at Grandma and Grandpa’s in Bathurst. I couldn’t wait to see this magical place!

Where Are All the Moose???

07/28/2024 – 08/03/2024

Before I get into our Canadian visit, I want to backtrack a week and share a little about our week in Maine. We needed a stop over between New Hampshire and Bathurst and what better spot than the north woods of Maine? Home for the week was the little town of Medway, gateway to Baxter State Park and Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.

Baxter State Park

Baxter State Park is home to Mount Katahdin, Maine’s highest peak and the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. We are still on our quest to find a moose. Bill still maintains that we will see three. Maine has the highest concentration of moose in the lower 48 and Aroostook County has the highest concentration in Maine. We are doing everything we can to improve our odds, wouldn’t you say?

No Means No

After work on Friday, we drive out to the park, with Kona in tow. Along the way, I see signs saying “Prohibited in Park: Pets, Vehicles larger than.., Firewood” I suggested turning around and taking Kona back. Bill thought it meant she would just have to stay in the truck. After the third sign, I said again, “I don’t think we’re going to get in…” Sure enough, No Pets means NO PETS. We turn around and drive the 40-minutes back to camp.

Before leaving the park though, the ranger suggested stopping at the Visitor Center and walking back to the lake to get a view of Mount Katahdin. The lake was crystal clear and the mountain was towering behind it! But a storm was a brewing. We spent a few minutes talking to a couple of hikers and they shared with us their experiences of hiking to the summit. Pretty incredible.

Second Attempt

Once we got back to the coach, I (yes me) made the pizza this week and we had an early dinner so we could get back out to the park (sans Kona) and scout for moose. It was around dusk and we were certain we would find one. Remember the big storm that was brewing? We found it!

The ranger sent us down to Roaring Brook for a short hike out to Sandy Stream Pond where there is almost always wildlife. It is an 8-mile ride on a small gravel road with a 10mph speed limit. Do the math, it took us about 45 minutes to get out there. It was raining, pretty hard, the forest was dark from a thick canopy and there was no way I was hiking in these conditions. We turned around, drove 45-minutes back to the gate and then took Tote Road up to Abol Ponds. With only about an hour of daylight left, we continued looking for our moose. We passed several bogs and ponds rich with the vegetation these creatures feed on and saw nothing. NOTHING! It was pretty though. Time to turn around and head home.

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument was created in 2016 and encompasses 87,500 acres. The land was purchased by a co-founder of Burts Bees and her foundation. They began purchasing land adjacent to Baxter State Park in 2001 and in 2016 the Elliotsville Plantation and Quimby Family Foundation donated all the land, valued at $60M, to the federal government with the condition that it be proclaimed a National Monument with the NPS. Wow! Several locals, however, do not support the park. We came across a few of these signs along the way.

Katahdin Loop Road

The park is very remote. VERY remote. No cell coverage and spotty GPS coverage. There are quite a few backcountry hiking trails with places to camp along the way. If you aren’t into birding, hiking, hunting or fishing, this probably isn’t the place to come. We are here to get a stamp for the passport book and see some moose. (If it sounds like we are becoming a little obsessed, we are.)

Katahdin Loop Road is a 17-mile gravel road through the forest. Period. There is only one overlook of Mt Katahdin and it only passes by one pond. And we had to drive about 10-miles on a gravel road to get to the loop road. So today, we did a lot of dirt-road driving. 😊 

We are looking in the woods, looking in the bogs, looking in the meadows to spot a moose. About 4-miles in on the loop road, we pass a Forest Ranger coming the other way. He stops us and asks how everything is going; do we need anything? A map perhaps? We replied, “No, we have a map but if you could tell us where all the moose are we’d be forever grateful!” LOL He laughed then said, “Really, you just have to keep looking and you might get lucky.” Now moose, unlike deer, elk or caribou, are solitary animals so you aren’t going to find a herd. You are looking for one individual animal. And so, the search continues.

Defeated?

The loop has closed and we are back at the entrance to the park, feeling defeated. It’s not going to happen. I have given up almost, almost, all hope. There is still the 10-mile gravel road ride back to the main highway and we half-heartedly look in every bog on the way out.

We turn a corner, come around a thicket of small trees, stop on the bridge and THERE SHE IS!!!! A beautiful, magnificent cow tromping through the water!! She spots us about the same time we spot her. I’m fumbling to get the camera up on my phone, Bill is fumbling to get the camera out of my hand, meanwhile, she is just looking at us like we are crazy humans! We get our pictures and then she starts walking off. She turns around to look at us one more time and we are ELATED!

YAY!!! WE SAW A MOOSE!! Our time in the north woods of Maine was a success!

Crossing the Border to Canada, eh?

Canadians really do use the term “eh” a lot! Kind of like us southerners who use “y’all”. But what does it mean or do? It expresses politeness and inclusivity. It is said to involve the listener. I kind of like that. And when you speak with a Canadian, they really do want to involve you in their conversations. Just a little bit of FYI for ya! 😉

Our border crossing was very…uneventful, which is great. We were prepared for them to search our coach for booze, meat, produce, guns and whatever else they thought we might be hauling. Nope, a few questions, a peak in the truck windows and we were through customs in less than 15 minutes! I hope it is that easy when we cross back into the US in two weeks.

Bathurst

Bathurst is located in the northeast part of the New Brunswick province and sits at the south end of Chaleur Bay. Bill’s grandmother is from here, his grandparents retired here and he and his family have very fond memories here.

Over the years, I’ve heard stories of childhood visits to Grandma and Grandpa’s place on the river up in New Brunswick. I have seen pictures of the property and river and a couple of years ago I even got to see some videos of all the little cousins playing in the river when we visited Bill’s cousin Bobby in Colorado. I could easily see why he wanted to come back and visit so badly.

Over The River and Through The Woods

Once we got settled into camp we headed out to Middle River Road to look for Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Bill located it pretty easily and we just did a quick drive by since it was late in the day on a Sunday afternoon. Bill was also in contact with a cousin who grew up in Bathurst and she hooked us up with her dad, Victor who still lives in town.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Monday, after work, we drove back to the house and introduced ourselves. The current owner knew the name “Butrico” very well. It turns out that her mother was a home nurse for Bill’s grandmother during her later years when she fell ill. She was super nice, invited us in and gave us a quick tour of the house and then walked us down to the river. It was so much fun watching Bill reminisce. He pointed out “The Big Rock” and “The King’s Chair”. Then he showed us where his Grandpa had built a bridge over the river and where the barn was once located. He had a little twinkle in his eye as he was exploring the place of so many wonderful childhood memories.

As we walked through the house, he was telling us how all the kids would stand on the landing of the staircase and wait for the cuckoo bird to come out of the clock. He showed us where his Grandpa had a phone hooked to a light so he could see when the phone was ringing, due to him being hard of hearing. We got to see the bedroom where all the kids slept when they came to visit. I think it’s awesome that I got to share this with him and see for myself where all these great stories I’ve heard about took place. We didn’t keep our hostess too long, but she invited us to come back out and enjoy the river and roam the property whenever we wanted. And we took her up on the offer. 😉

Going for a Swim

Tuesday, after work, Bill put on his swim trunks and we set off for the old homestead again. He wanted to swim in that river once again for “old times sake”. Today we got to meet the our hostess’s husband and he shared with us how they came to be the owners of the property and all the things he did to fix the place up. It really is a cute house inside and out and they have done a fine job of restoring it.

Bill was ready to hop in the river. It was a little cold and not quite as deep as it was when they were kids, but he had a BLAST! He even went over and stood on “The Big Rock” just like he did when he was a kid. LOL I’m glad he was able to have this experience.

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa

Bill’s grandparents are buried here in Bathurst and we had a heck of a time finding them. After speaking to his mom and dad and his aunt and uncle, we roamed around what we thought was the correct cemetery. It was not. Thanks to Victor, once again, we were able to find them and we stopped by for a visit and to pay respects. I had the pleasure of meeting Bill’s Grandpa when we first started dating. Sadly, he passed not too long after we were married.

Learning About the Frigault’s

Now, we already know a lot about the Butrico line of Bill’s family and we know quite a bit about the Lott and O’Steen lines too. But Bill never really knew a lot about his Grandma Butrico’s line, The Frigault’s. Like I said earlier, Bill’s cousin introduced us to her dad via Facebook and we were able to get together with him several times throughout the week.

Victor was full of stories and pictures and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with him. He showed us around town and pointed out houses of where relatives once lived and some still lived. We even got to see the house where Grandma (Frigault) Butrico grew up. Pretty incredible!

Tetagouche Falls

With the work week finally over, we were told we had to go out and see Tetagouche Falls. Victor was up for an outing and I’m so glad he came. He showed us a hiking trail that not many people know about and we were able to get down to the river and actually see the falls. The overlook above did not really provide a very good vantage point.

Mining for manganese began here in the 1840’s and in 1842, 125 tons of ore was shipped out to England. In the early 1900’s the falls became the source of electricity for the city of Bathurst. A hydro-electric dam was built and the energy harnessed from the falls was used to power Bathurst until 1921. There are still remnants of the turbine at the base of the falls by the river. Pretty cool and we would have never known this without our great tour guide!

Acadian Peninsula

On our last day in the area, we decided to take a drive around part of the Acadian Peninsula up to Miscou Island Lighthouse. The further north we drove the more “French” everything became. I even said to Bill, “I feel like I’m in a different country.” His response, with a chuckle, was, “You ARE in a different country” Yeah, yeah yeah, whatever! Just for fun, I was putting the French words into Google for translation and pronunciation. We practiced our french and we learned a few things along the way. LOL

Making our way up the western side of the peninsula, we passed through several fishing towns and saw some colorful boats. The winds coming off the bay were ferocious but we finally made it up to the Miscou Lighthouse.

Miscou Lighthouse

This little lighthouse was built in 1856 and sits at the southern entrance to the Chaleur Bay and helped supervise navigation of the St Lawrence River and Gulf. It is still almost in its original state and among the oldest lighthouses in the St Lawrence Region.

Sampling Some Local Seafood

You cannot come to the maritime region and not sample many of the ocean’s delicacies. We did that on three occasions this week!

Sampling One… we visited the local seafood market and picked up a lobster and some lobster shrimp for dinner. I’ve never really cracked a lobster before and didn’t want to butcher the job, so I googled it and my first choice was a Gordon Ramsey video. I watched it and then got to work. All in all, I don’t think I did such a bad job. The lobster was a little on the small side and only provided enough meat to make one lobster roll. Glad we bought the shrimp too. We feasted on lobster rolls, shrimp, fresh corn on the cob and a baked potato. Yum Yum!

Sampling Two… Bill ordered a fried seafood platter from a local drive-in restaurant. It contained a nice piece of haddock, delicious scallops and tender clams. It was tasty but not very photogenic. 😉

Sampling Three… a local restaurant on the water near Miscou Lighthouse. We enjoyed some shrimp and scallop skewers and fresh lobster rolls. (I can’t get enough of these things!) Along with some locally brewed beer. It did not suck! 😊

Stars and Strips

This week I was able to get all the small triangles and squares sewn together. The blocks for Stars and Stripes are complete. Next up is getting them all sewn together to complete the quilt top. This one is coming together very quickly. Yay!

Wrap Up

We really enjoyed our time in Bathurst, meeting some new family members, seeing some old sights and visiting some new ones. If it wasn’t so far away from where we hang in the US, we’d come back often.

What’s Next

Next week we are on vacation, well Bill is anyway, I’m on permanent vacation (at least for now 😉) Anyway, next week we are on vacation and will be visiting Nova Scotia.