Nova Scotia - Day 1

Day one of our trip was not super exciting other than the anticipation of being on vacation. There was also the mystery of being out of the country for the first time and seeing a new place. Most of the day was boring until the end.

Sunday September 25^th, I awoke earlier than normal. Anticipation of the vacation to Nova Scotia, Canada filled my head throughout the night. Marcie and I had a 7:30am flight and a 30+ minute drive to the airport. We got up, showered, dressed, ate, gathered the unpacked stuff, and headed to the airport.

We checked two bags, got our boarding passes, and headed through TSA before a brief wait to board the plane. We loaded the plane, and wheels up at 7:33am. A short flight to Philadelphia with a touchdown at 9:58am.

In Philadelphia we went through mini-Customs, had to show passports upon boarding and wear a mask on the plane. When we landed in Canada, we waited in line to go through customs. Had to scan passports, get our pictures taken, and then answer questions from an agent why we were there, and where we were going. A brief 30 seconds of anxiety and we were waved on. We were left with a strip of paper we were to give another officer after gathering our luggage and a “Welcome to Canada.”

We crossed a time zone and for the next week we would be one hour ahead of my normal time zone. Our drive met us at the entrance. We booked a rental car, but if I had not checked, we would have been sitting at the airport while our rental car was 30 minutes away at another location.

Once we were in our Toyota Rav4, we made our way south towards our first destination. Peggy’s Cove. I drove the scenic, also known as the Lighthouse route or Highway 3 toward Peggy’s Cove. This was roughly an hour’s drive, but very much worth it. Of course, it was along the route to our accommodation as well.

The meandering two-lane road reminded me of North Carolina. When we could not see water, we were amongst thick trees on both sides. As we arrived at Peggy’s Cove, the wind was so strong that we had trouble opening our car doors. The parking lot was packed (not a good thing for me) and we could see people walking around everywhere. You could hear the waves crashing against the shoreline and small and taste the salt in the air. Marcie had her Indiana shirt on and was asked by a group of middle-aged women if she could take a picture of them with their phone. One lady said, “Are you from Indiana? I went to school in Indiana.”

We were starving, so after walking around and grabbing shots with our camera, we ate at The Sou’Wester, where Marcie and I split our first official Fish-n-chips and a slice of gingerbread cake. I learned about Canadian money. I also learned there are no pennies, tax is included in the price and that their $1 & $2 are coins, but $5, $10, $20, $50, $100 are paper bills. They also have all the coins we do here in America, except pennies. When I paid our bill at the restaurant, I was owed $7.01 back. I got a $5 paper bill and a $2 coin, also known as a Toonie. This is not to be confused with a $1 coin called a Loonie. Oh yeah, and that one cent. Remember, it does not exist.

After dinner, we walked a bit more, then loaded up and headed to where we were going to stay for the next two nights. We were both feeling the effects of the flights and the time change. I yearned for a bed, and soon we were in one. I will discuss the rest of the day and day two in the next post.

Until next time.

Tim (Kilmer)