July 20/12

The previous two days we've done more driving, so not a lot to tell you about. We did see the Joggins World Heritage site, which is where fossils have been found that are 300 million years old! A guide took us down by the water where the rocks are, and then we saw some amazing specimens inside.

A bit down the road was the lighthouse at Cape d'Or which has some very pretty coastal scenery around it. You will notice later that we have visited several lighthouses - ones that are highlighted in the tour book, because Michael has a special fondness for them. He even purchased a calendar with nothing but famous lighthouses in Nova Scotia!

Yesterday was a fairly long driving day, but we stopped by a lighthouse in Walton and then watched the sun set over the Bay of Fundy at the Point Prim Lighthouse. This Bay is known for having the biggest tides in the World. At our dinner stop we both ordered the famous Digby scallops, which were very yummy!

Today we drove along the Digby Neck and took the mini ferries (5 minutes each) first to Long Island, then to Brier Island where we saw the Lighthouse, and then caught the ferry back to Long Island right away. There we hiked the trail out to the Balancing Rock. Here the shoreline consists of basalt columns, and one appears to be balancing on a smaller one below. For those of you who have been to Ireland, it's very much like the Giant's Causeway, but on a much smaller scale. After catching the ferry back to the mainland we hiked up Mount Shubel, where we had an amazing view of Sandy Cove.

Michael is also fond of historic villages, so we drove to Port Royal. This is a reconstruction of a small French compound begun in 1605. It was home to one of the earliest European settlements on this continent. The French lived here alongside the Mi'kmaqs until the English attacked and destroyed it in 1613.

We finished up the day with a walk and a drive through the town of Annapolis Royal, which has the largest number of Heritage buildings for a place its size in Nova Scotia. We were very impressed with the grandness of some of the houses here, many of which have been turned into B&B's.

Just one more day of travel and sites (the Acadian area) and then we will be in Lunenburg for our music camp!