This past weekend my wife and I were finally able to travel over the border after the long restrictions due to Covid. We have been meaning to go visit my grandpa’s grave for a while and kept thinking oh we have time and kept pushing the trip off thinking “there’s always next year”. Well there wasn’t a next year until 3 years later thanks to Covid.
The trip had a dual purpose. To visit the grave site and of course to take photos of the areas my grandpa visited all the time before I was born. He would always mention it and I being a stubborn kid would always think “whats the big deal its not that special”. Well as an adult I can safely say I was wrong.
We started the three day weekend by leaving at 2 am and driving the 10 hours it took to get to our first location. On the way the highway was filled with the spring blooms of purple lupines and returning green leaves that were finally awakened after a long winter. After crossing the border I started to realize my expectations about the first area were completely wrong. It wasn’t just like New England like I thought. There were rolling hills and deep forests that fell away to very steep cliffs at the oceans edge. It was amazing how just half a day away the difference of only 10 miles (or 16 km to these parts) made in terms of scenery change. Then came the part I was dreading. Driving over the ocean.
I have a fear of water and heights. Water because of an incident with a bully when I was a kid mixed with not knowing how to swim and heights because I suffer from vertigo and balance problems quite often since the age of 8. So the idea of driving over a bridge that takes 15 minutes to cross high over the ocean with no way of turning around or stopping made my anxiety spike. Turns out it wasn’t that bad and we made it over just fine to the island.
This island was not something I expected to enjoy as much as I did. Rolling hills of green fields, frequent sightings of bald eagles and foxes made for a nice drive to the beach we were headed to. Unfortunately the wind was vicious that afternoon so we only spent a short time there before heading to our next spot. Some interesting red sandstone cliffs. Again since it was really windy and mid day the light, it wasn’t worth shooting any photos. But the visit was nice to see the effects of what erosion and time will do to the whole island far into the distant future. We then drove into the town to try some authentic poutine and the local chocolate store nearby. I know this is blasphemy to the locals but we didn’t really enjoy the poutine. But the burgers we had that night for dinner we honestly the best we ever had. So after inhaling those we were pretty tired from driving and went to bed.
The following morning we got up early for sunrise at a lighthouse not far away. Of course my luck kicked in and there was a cement barrier blocking the dirt road to the lighthouse. Thankfully I expect everything to go wrong and over plan everything. I found another less beautiful lighthouse just down the road as a back up before we left. After getting out and realizing the clouds were almost none existent we still shot the scene. It was quite windy and cold still so we tried to hunker down in a short sand dune to block the wind from us and our cameras. Sunlight finally started to peak above the horizon and lit the front side of the lighthouse creating a warm glow that looked like this.
After that my wife and I tried looking for sand textures in the sand and I found really interesting patterns pictured at the top of this entry. The strong wind gusts had us retreating to our warm car to shovel down some pop tarts before heading to the grave site 3 hours away.
I can see now why my grandpa spoke highly about the drive to where he would later be buried. Even higher rolling hills and vast areas of no civilization save for the road was to be found. Eventually we made it to the small little town and the cemetery. Having never been here before we had to walk around the whole cemetery looking for his families headstone. When he was alive my grandpa was kind of a jokester and would do silly things to make us laugh so of course I guess his final joke for me was that high grave was actually right next to the road at the entrance to the cemetery and we had parked at the back end of it. He probably would have laughed and called me “turkey breath” that I didn’t think to start at the front. The site was really peaceful, a shiny black headstone sat beneath a very large old maple tree on a gentle hillside. The names of his parents and son carved on the front and his late wife on the back. I never got to meet any of them because they died before I was born. Kneeling there however I felt somewhat welcome and had a sense of familiarity. I’m not someone who believes in an afterlife or ghosts but it was weird to feel like I was gathered with family even though it was just my wife and I in an “empty” cemetery. I had brought a little antique Donald Duck statue that I had kept from his things when he died and laid it at the corner of the gravestone. Donald was always his favorite and I thought he would have liked to have it. It was time to leave so we got some gas, my wife’s favorite soda you can only buy there and some Aero chocolate that I now wish I never bought because its not sold in the US of course its delicious. So we then departed the small quite town and headed to our next photo location.
After a long drive we made it to the quaint little park and went straight to a rocky beach after purchasing our park pass. The smell of pine or cedar filled the air on the steep descending trail down to the beach. Not many people were visiting this park so it was really nice having it mostly to ourselves. Being low tide we were able to walk really far out and just enjoy the views since the wind still refused to let up. Had it been high tide the whole area would be feet under water. No photos were had here or at the covered bridge leftover from loggers next to the beach. I did however spot some tiny flowers next to our car in the parking lot that were ignored by everyone who had walked by and shot this photo.
From there we drove down the winding road through forests and came to the parking lot to the hike we had planned to do. Equipped with my 30lb camera bag and some bear spray we started the hike that I assumed would be easy. The hike started nice and flat, a skinny dirt path surrounded by trees and little bushes guided us past lots of owl pellets on the ground. Clearly someone was eating well in this area though we didnt get to see “hoo” (I’m not sorry for the pun). Then the hike revealed what the trees were hiding, my wife’s arch enemy: steep trails. Having long legs those are no problem for me, her little legs on the other hand make it really hard. So we kept on going despite the constant up and down trail that seemed to never end through mossy green forest floors and tall twisting branches contorted by years of strong coastal winds. The final stretch of the hike to the overlook we come to see was the worst in terms of steepness and rocks. Many assurances by me saying “its just up ahead” about 6 times got us there to see boring light and the strongest winds of the trip. All that effort wasn’t for nothing though, we did enjoy the fragrant scent of the forest that no balsam and cedar candle can replicate and we found a small snake on the way back. It is hard to remember that you can travel and have fun without taking photos. Just spending time together is more important than anything. The second most important thing is food, which we were both dying for. We found a pizza place not far from the park and decided that sounded perfect. I’m usually stubborn to try new things but they advertised something called donair which is basically shaved meat. So I thought “that sounds interesting” and ordered that with green peppers. Thanks to me being socially anxious I misspoke and ordered the Donair pizza which had a whole bunch of stuff I wouldn’t normally order together on a pizza. Donair, pepperoni, bacon, onions, tomatoes, a sweet white sauce and of course the green peppers topped it. I said too late to fix it and ate it anyway. I know what I’m about to say could get me punched living so close to and having tried pizza in Boston, but this was the best pizza I’ve had in my 32 years of being alive. I dream about that pizza and sometimes think maybe we should go for a weekend trip and drive the 8 hours there and get some more. After stuffing ourselves more than a Thanksgiving turkey we made the hour drive back to our hotel for the night.
The next morning we got up for sunrise at the same park and drove up the extremely steep roads to get there under my wife’s engines loud protest. There was a lot of cloud cover so I was expecting yet another let down in terms of photos. But as time went on as we stood in the dark with our tripods and cameras set up we noticed the wind had completely died. We could finally enjoy a nice quiet morning waiting for the sun to come up. But with no wind next to water and lots of bushes mean lots of mosquitoes. So after an annoying wait the sun finally started to illuminate the clouds with a beautiful pink light and I was able to shoot this panoramic shot of the monstrous cliff that lay before us.
Finally something worked out the way we hoped. So with renewed enthusiasm we headed to a nearby trail to walk along a much easier trail, crossing boardwalks and gentle rivers to find this scene.
From there it was time for breakfast so we killed time by walking around the little town below the park and on the beach near the cliff we had just shot while we waited for the local bakery to open for some sticky buns. We eat really unhealthy on vacation I know but the miles of walking makes up for it right?…
We had one more stop on the long drive home to the mountain fields of lupines we visit every year followed by our favorite pancake place. We stayed overnight so we didn’t have to drive again at 2am the following morning and managed to have the lupine fields almost all to ourselves which never happens since the internet blew up their popularity. But here are the two images I got from that morning.
So with stomachs full of pancakes we made the short 2 hour drive home to our disapproving cats who were more than unhappy about the lack of Fancy Feast for 2 nights in a row.
All in all despite the strong winds and boring light for the first half of the little adventure we ended up learning not to assume anything about a place before you go there yourself, to cherish the time you have together while you still have it and that Donair pizza is the best food in the world.