Today we headed first to Boiestown, a tiny rural community that houses the Central New Brunswick Woodsmen's Museum. It was a stop on our adventure because of family history with the museum. The woman that was working there was very nice and chatty. Talked to us about our family and people she knew, and then brought over a man that, after Carol spoke with his wife on his cell phone, we found out is related to us as well. The museum is several buildings, including sample woodsmen cottages, a bunch of old machinery etc. In one of the museum displays there were two wood carved items that my great-grandmother donated to the museum, that her father made. A wooden chain link and a gum box. The museum grounds also has a trout pond. We fed the trout. They seemed happy. No ducks in the pond, to my disappointment.
While at the museum we saw photos and information about the Priceville Footbridge and its collapse in 1939 that killed three people. Carol and I walked across part of the bridge, but with the windy cold weather and knowing the history, we didn't walk the whole thing. Megan stayed in the car. She's terrified of bridges.
Then we drove to Doaktown, another tiny village in rural New Brunswick on the Miramichi river. Our visit to that town was for the Atlantic Salmon Museum, a museum that Louise Bamford and her sister Katherine were heavily involved in. I'm not really sure why a type of fish deserves a museum, but the family connection made it cool. The aquarium wasn't open yet for the season; that would have been nice to see. We asked the girl working there if she knew were Louise and Katherine used to live. A photo of the house is on the cover of The Bamford Saga so we were prepared to drive around, but she knew exactly where to direct us to. I guess in a small town it's easy to be famous. After we snapped a few photos of the house we wanted to find the cemetery where the sisters are buried. Carol went into a convenient store to ask, and two of the other patrons piped up. One mentioned that Louise was his favorite teacher. The other shared that he's the grounds keeper for the cemetery so he escorted us over there. I didn't realize that Louise passed away recently (2008). Katherine died in 1989, just before the publishing of the book. I could have complained directly to the source if I had known beforehand that I was excluded from the book.
Leaving Doaktown we did a photo drive-by of the Homestead Inn, a B&B that is owned by a Bamford.
We had Sunday-Wednesday night booked in Halifax, and left tonight open to see where the day took us and where we might want to lay our heads tonight. Early afternoon we decided we wanted to check out Prince Edward Island. We drove up here and over the 8-mile long Confederation Bridge, which is the world's longest bridge over ice-covered water. Our first little town to visit and see if we could find a hotel was Victoria. The town consists of four blocks, and according to Wikipedia the population in 2006 was 77 people. We took a few photos, hopped back in the car and headed east towards Charlottetown. We ended up stopping in a town beforehand at a Super 8, but I have no idea what the name of the town is.
I have to keep reminding myself that we're in another country. The main difference I've noticed is that instead of Dunkin' Donuts they have Tim Hortons. First time going to one of those, it was good. I did get my Dunkin fill in Maine - always a necessity when I visit the east coast.
Fun wildlife of the day included one turkey, one fox, and one deer.
We're watching game 2 of the Stanley Cup final in the hotel at the moment. While in Maine I was rooting for the Bruins, but now in Canada I feel like I should be rooting for the Canucks.
Tomorrow we're going to explore the island, with the plan of getting lost, and then head to Nova Scotia.
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