Conference kaosws::canada

    Hi,
    
    There are lots of scenic drives and routes that you can take advantage
    of during your stay in Nova Scotia. Also, if your planning to come to
    Halifax, the provincial capital, there are lots of places to see and
    things to do right in the city of Halifax. For instance, the Halifax
    waterfront is a very popular tourist attraction. It has been restored
    to reflect its historical past and is called "Historic Properties". You
    should also visit the Halifax Public Gardens (on Spring Garden Road) and 
    Point Pleasant Park in the south end of the city. There is lots of good
    shopping, restaurants, etc.. along Spring Garden.
    
    Anyway, to get back to original question, in 3-4 days you probably
    won't have time to see all of the province so I'll make a few
    suggestions. 
    
    From Halifax, you can drive along the Lighthouse Trail (off highway 103 
    down the south shore of Nova Scotia) to Peggys Cove, Mahone Bay and
    Lunenburg. These are small picturesque communities that have lots of
    good B&B's, restaurants, beaches, and ocean scenery. You could stay in 
    Halifax and make a day trip along the south shore. (Since your planning
    to take the Portland to Yarmouth ferry, you can follow the 103 from
    Yarmouth to Halifax and stop in these places along the way).
    
    Another option for a day trip from Halifax is the Evangeline Trail (off
    Highway 101 to the Annapolis Valley). The Valley is a very nice drive
    through farmimg country and communities like Windsor, Wolfville, Kentville
    and Bridgetown. Again, lots of good B&B's and restaurants. This can be
    another day trip but will take longer than a south shore trip.
    
    You could also plan to travel to Cape Breton and drive along the Cabot
    Trail. The Cabot Trail travels along the cost of Cape Breton and is a
    very scenic drive along rugged ocean costline. (The Cabot Trail is in a
    Honda Accord advertisement that you might have seen on TV.) This would
    be too far for a day trip from Halifax. To see the Cabot Trail, you
    should make arrangements to stay in Cape Breton for a couple of nights.
    To give you an idea, Sydney Cape Breton is a five hour drive from
    Halifax.
    
    The weather in Halifax during the last week of June should be nice. We
    don't get too many 85 degree days but 75-78 can be expected.
    
    
    Have a nice trip !
    
    Pat MacNeil
    Halifax   

    Hi Pat,
    
    I'll be in Nova Scotia the second week of July, staying in Lunenburg
    one night, Halifax one night, and Smith's cove one night.  Can you give
    me an idea of a few restaurants in those areas?  I've been told that
    restaurants in Nova Scotia are all about the same, are there any that
    stand out to you, whether for location/view, above average food,
    romantic atmosphere (it's my honeymoon!), etc.  We're interested in
    breakfast lunch and dinner!
    
    Also, are there any special places for picnics?  Steve and I will be
    doing some driving, and it would be nice to get the hotel to fix us a
    basket before heading to our next destination, for a picnic on our way.
    
    I'm really looking forward to this trip!
    
    Sandy

    Hi, Pat;  
    
    thanks so much for your detailed infor about scenic trails.  I think we
    definitely will follow some of them.  And very possibly, we will extend
    our trip to 4 days or so.  Since we have young people with us, do you
    have any idea about attractions for the kids?    For example,  I
    remember there is a note mentioning dinosaur museum or some sort of
    animal/bird/fish watching etc.  Would you have any idea about it?
    
    
    
    thanks again,
    wendy

    
    One thing about the ferry from Portland. Its a night crossing. This
    is a real party type boat, with night club and full casino, slot
    machines etc. With your small kids you might want to consider
    driving a little further and taking the ferry from Bar Harbor. It
    too has slot machines, bar, movie, etc, but crosses during daylight
    hours (6 hr. crossing). If the weathers nice you might see whales
    and seals. The kids might enjoy the boat ride better.
    
    DS

    Thanks very much, DS.  This is a very good point.  We may end up cancel
    our reservation and change it accordingly.
    
    
    
    
    
    wendy

    Hi,
    
    Good point about the ferry crossing. It would be better to take the Bar
    Harbour boat. Its a good crossing - my wife took this crossing with
    soem friends a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.
    
    As for activities for the kids, I have some suggestions. The museum
    that was mentioned a couple of notes back is likely the Nova Scotia
    Museum on Summer Street in Halifax (near Spring Garden Road and the
    Public Gardens). It would make a nice activity for kids. There ia s
    dinosaur display and items that display local Halifax/Nova Scotia
    history. 
    
    RE: .2
    
    As for restaurants, some good ones to try along the South Shore are the
    Captain's House in Chester and Zwicker Inn in Mahone Bay. The Captain's
    House is very scenic with a beautiful view of Chester Basin. These are
    both in the Lunenburg/Chester/Mahone Bay area and are very good.
    
    Further down the South Shore in Yarmouth, I would recommend Harris's
    and the Austrian Inn. I've been to both and , and in my opinion, they
    are very good.
    
    Pat

    As far as driving to Bar Harbor, I think it's an extra 3 or 4 hours
    drive more than Portland, so be prepared for that!
    
    Thanks for the restaurant info, Pat, any recommendations on nice,
    fairly secluded places for picnics???
    
    Sandy

    Does anyone have an approximate idea of the cost of the boat to 
    halifax and where in Portland does it leave from?  It sounds so
    good that I would like to go during the weekend of july 4th.  I
    would appreciate any information...  THANKS

    There's a boat that goes from Portland to Yarmouth, I don't know about
    one that goes to Halifax though.  To just take the ferry, the cost isn't 
    too bad, but to take your car, it's gets expensive.  I think the Blue Nose
    (or something like that) which leaves out of Bar Harbor is less
    expensive.  You're best bet would be to call the ferry company that
    you're interested in.
    
    Steve and I have bought into a package deal for our trip.  It includes
    1 night on the ferry (it leaves Portland at 9:00 pm and arrives
    Yarmouth at 8:00 am), 1 night in Whites Point (close to Lunenberg), 1
    night in Halifax, and one night in Smiths Cove, then the next morning
    we sail again at 9:00 am arriving Portland at 8:00 pm.  With the car,
    the two of us, and a cabin on the way over and 3 hotel rooms, it's
    about $660.  The Fundy cruiselines (or something like that) offers less
    expensive, shorter packages, or more expensive longer packages.  They
    even offer a day trip, or overnight trip with no car.
    
    You might call travel, look in vtx travel for the number for personal
    travel, and see if they have a brochure or two they can send you.  A
    warning though, when I called for reservations for July 8, they said
    they were pretty full (I called for a less expensive cabin). they had
    the next day available in what I wanted though.
    
    Sandy
    

Both the ferry from Portland (which leaves from the ferry pier downtown)
and the ferry from Bar Harbor (which leaves from the ferry pier just west
of downtown) go to Yarmouth.  There is no ferry service to Halifax.

Portland to Bar Harbor is 161 miles of mostly two-lane road (U.S. 1).

From Yarmouth you will have a 201 mile drive to Halifax.

For information on the Portland to Yarmouth ferry, call 800 341-7540.

For information on the Bar Harbor to Yarmouth ferry, call 800 341-7981.

/john

I just returned from Nova Scotia, so I thought I'd pass on some of my
observations and impressions.

We drove to Nova Scotia from Nashua, NH.  It took us 13 hours to get to 
Amherst, but that included stopping at least three times to eat and stretch our
    legs.  So, it's probably 11 1/2 hours of driving.  New Brunswick was
    pretty country to pass through. 

We spent most of our time in Cape Breton---very beautiful country. 
In the upper half of Cape Breton, the mountains seem to rise almost vertically
from the sea.  The Cabot Trail takes you around the Cape Breton National 
Forest and offers splendid views of the sea and the mountains.  We also mosied
along the Sunrise Trail and went to Truro to see the tidal bore.

Because we had to change our plans at the last minute, we made reservations for
rooms as we went.  We used the Tourist Information Centers' Checkin service to
make most of our recommendations.  It sure beats spending at least $3.00 for
long-distance calls within Nova Scotia.  We didn't spend more than $50-55 a
night on rooms.

I'd recommend the Hart of Hearts B&B in Northeast Margaree.  Lovely old
farmhouse run by a charming couple.  Unfortunately, we didn't end up staying in
the farmhouse itself because we made reservations at the last minute.  We
stayed in one of their cottages across the road.  The cottage was OK, nothing
special.  Breakfast at the house was nice, and the atmosphere was friendly.

The Alexander Graham Bell museum was interesting and worth the visit.
There are lots of little museums in small towns.  Many of the museums are very
small -- one or two rooms, but most don't charge admission, they just request a
donation.

I knew that Nova Scotia was mostly rural, but I was surprised at how small 
most of the towns were (and I grew up in Vermont)!  

Near Truro, you can take white-water rafting trips on the tidal bore.
There were two outfits that were running trips---one was a half-day
trip and one was two hours.  We opted for the two hour trip and were pleased
with our choice.  The outfit is located in Shubanacadie but I can't remember
its name.  They took us out on rubber rafts that had outboard motors on them.
We waited on the raft until the tidal bore came in and then rafted up over it.
As the river filled with water, rapids developed and we rafted up and down
until the rapids leveled out.  It wasn't very serious white-water rafting, but
it was fun.

We saw 5 or 6 bald eagles in Shubanacadie.  The guide books claim that you
can find bald eagles in Cape Breton, but we never saw any there.
  
Gas is very expensive.  In most places, it was more than $.60/Litre Canadian.
The cheapest gas that we saw was in Whycocomach in Cape Breton.  There it was
$.53/litre Canadian (I believe this was on an Indian reservation.)

    If you're interested in taking a ferry, rather than driving, be aware
    that they're expensive.  However, we heard (but can't confirm) that at
    Irving gas stations you can get a coupon for a half-price passenger
    fare.  You have to ask for the coupon; they don't seem to advertise it.
    There are Irving gas stations in Maine.
      
    Oh yeah, in Nova Scotia, Irving gas stations were offering 19% exchange
    on American money, which is better that the 16.5% we got from the banks, so
    we used American $s to buy gas.
      

Helen