New Brunswick, Our Friendly Neighbor to the North

D had a conference in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, so we decided to take a few extra days and take our first trip to Canada.

We flew into Moncton, a very cute city in the Northern part of New Brunswick. Moncton claims to have the second most visited attraction in all of Canada (we suspect that their tallying of visitors may be a bit less than scientific) -- Magnetic Hill. According to brochures and websites you drive down the hill, place your car in neutral, and then magically (or magnetically) coast up the hill in reverse. Needless to say we had to try it. Just as advertised we drove down the hill and coasted backward in the wrong direction! The local high school kids who were selling tickets explained that its an optical illusion (you think you drive down a hill but you really drive up). All we can say is that its a pretty good optical illusion and definitely worth the two "loons" to get in.

The next day we started driving down the coast of Fundy Bay. Fundy Bay has the largest tide shift of any bay in the world. As a result, in some parts of the Bay the water level drops 55 feet in twelve hours. We stopped at a national park in the Bay where little islands are exposed as standing on narrow columns of rock when the tide drops. When the tides low you can walk out on the bottom of the bay and walk around these "flower pots."

You have to be careful when the tide comes in, however. Because the water level shifts so quickly we were warned that you can easily become trapped if you're not attentive. Luckily, the Canadian government has provided all park visitors with sound advice: "Don't Panic!"




After leaving the park, D had his first (but definitely not his last during this trip) lobster. We left with bib-on as a sign of accomplishment.

After eating such a big meal we were a bit confused as to what we should do next. Luckily, G found the perfect place to stand to inform passer-bys of our confusion.

We kept driving down the coast, stopped by a historic lighthouse, and ultimately drove to the Southern tip of New Brunswick which borders Maine. There we found the holy grail of all cultural events -- a chocolate museum. For five dollars we got to see how chocolates are made by hand, and have unlimited access to free chocolate. Although it seemed like a wonderful idea at the time we soon learned why parents tell kids not to eat a whole box of chocolate (or in our case two or three).

Finally we made it to St. Andrews which is a small, quaint sea-side vacation retreat. Before we left we decided to sign-up for a sail-boat whale watching trip. Being on the ocean was beautiful (albeit a little cold) but we did see a Mink whale!