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Published: July 15th 2009
Oh my goodness ! We all woke up this morning still talking about crazy ole Jerry from Halifax. He was the topic over morning coffee and what better way to start our last day off than with a ton of laughter. Poor Jerry, we’ll be talking about him for years to come. The sunrise was amazing here at Shubie Park this morning and Lynn and I savored every moment of it on the way to the showers. I kindly smiled and waved good morning to Martha Stewart across the way even though she unknowingly made me feel like a piece of crap. What a beautiful morning, the smell of fresh bacon cooking (even if it was someone else’s) laughing and sunshine with the ones you love, we are truly so blessed. Unfortunately there was one poor young mother who wasn’t so blessed today. Lynn had already gotten out of her shower and I was still washing away when all of a sudden I hear this blood hurling scream coming from what I believed to be a two year old little girl. It seems as if her mother wanted her to go potty and brush her teeth and the little angel just
wasn’t having any part of it. Well, our peace and serenity went out the door as this little girl kicked and screamed and rebelled against her mother to the point to where I had to get out of the shower to make sure the woman wasn’t beating her to death ! Brush your teeth, no I don’t want to, brush your teeth young lady, nooooooooooo iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii dooooooonnnnnn’ttttttt waaaaaaaannnnntttttttt ttoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo the little girl screamed back at her mother. It wasn’t funny by any means but the look on Lynn’s face was absolutely priceless ! I had to hide behind the door just to keep my composure. This scream fest went on for a good ten minutes before the mother finally caved in and let the little girl have her way. She never did brush her teeth or go potty so you know that was a lovely ride wherever it is they were going. Well I can guarantee you that if their morning coffee didn’t wake up the entire campground this precious little girl most certainly did. We finished up in the showers, grabbed our bath buckets and headed on back to the motor home. Here we found Tim washing the windshield,
Jason on the computer and Blackberry at the same time while Heidi was putting the finishing touches on a few last minute post cards. It kinda got a little crazy after this because the Lynn, Jason & Heidi had to all get their bags packed up and ready for the airport. This was interesting to watch as they tried to figure out how in the world all this stuff fit in the suitcases before but now it just wasn’t working right. Well they all three managed to get everything they brought plus all their souvenirs back into their bags and we were soon ready to leave. They had been with us for nine of the most amazing days we’ve ever experienced. While they were here we traveled a total of 1832 miles from Portland, Maine all the way to Halifax, Nova Scotia. We had seen whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, walked on the ocean floor at Hopewell Rocks, hiked through Cabot Trail, and we even got to see the world’s largest lobster, globe and chocolate moose. It goes without saying just how sad we all were to see them go but we know that they have responsibilities they
had to get back to and we’ll always have next time. At some point during all the packing excitement, Jason and Lynn realized that out of all the amazing things we had done and seen, they never did get to see a moose or a bear so they come up with this crazy, I mean craaaaazzzzy idea. They had discovered that there was a wildlife park on the way to the airport and they were fairly confident that it was home to a moose and a bear. Although they were flying international, Jason and Lynn seemed to think that we would have time to stop by the wildlife park, find a moose and a bear, take some pictures and still make it to the airport on time. Ummmmm, Heidi wasn’t liking this idea too much and I really wasn’t either. We both like to have at least thirty minutes lead way time just in case of an emergency or accident or something so we were freaking out ! Well, I think Big Bertha must have grown some wings or something because the next thing I know we were at Shubenacadie Wildlife Park and they had us buying tickets to get
in. Tim, Jason and Lynn grabbed the map and spotted the bear and moose right away so we made a b-line for them. We made it to the bear cages in a matter of minutes and watched as they rolled around and hammed it up for the cameras. Heidi was like “okay, that’s good now let’s move on along to the next thing.” We came across some cute little raccoons on the way over to the moose and one of them really took a likin’ to Jason. It even let Jason hold its hand and pet him. I said “okay, that’s adorable now let’s find the darn moose already.” Time was just a ticking away and Heidi and I were getting a little nervous. Of course the moose were all the way in the back of the park but we finally made it to their habitat. Uhhhhhhh, where’s the moose ???? Although the sign said this is where the moose lived, they wasn’t a moose in sight ! Oh my goodness, please don’t tell me that we came all the way over here to this park and all the way to the back side of the park and they don’t
even have any moose !! They had risked missing their plane and they still were not even going to be able to say they saw a moose. Wait a minute, just as we had given up hope, up pops a head, way deep in the back of the field ! It was a moose, YAY ! YIPEE ! AMEN ! HALLELUAH ! But there was still one problem, he was so far away we couldn’t see his body and we couldn’t get a picture of him. The area back where the moose stood was roped off with caution tape but you know that didn’t stop our two little rebels. Oh yes, Lynn and Jason both jumped the tape and made a run for it ! First Jason and then Lynn followed, they were not leaving Canada without getting a picture of a moose even if it meant going to Wildlife Park Jail ! I could just see it now, yes officer, they are grown, yes officer they are not stupid, yes officer they know right from wrong, please officer just let them go so they don’t miss their plane. Well, even if they had to pay $4.00 each and even
if they risked missing their flight, and even if the animals were trapped in cages in a zoo, Jason & Lynn could now tell everyone that they officially saw a moose and bear while vacationing in Canada ! I hope they were happy because Heidi and I were both about to stroke out ! We saw a few more animals on the way out, hopped in the motor home and Tim flew us over to the airport. It was time to say goodbye and a little hope we got them their on time prayer. Tim pulled up to the curb and the three of them jumped out of the motor home and took off running like their pants were on fire. We barely had time for hugs and kisses but we got a few in and then Tim and I made our way around the corner to a small gas station their at the airport. We honestly didn’t know if they would make it through customs and onto the plane on time so we decided we better stay there until they called and said they were actually on the plane. They did make it to the plane on time but
The Moose !
Photo courtesy of Rhonda Lynn Wallace, 30 something aspiring photographer from Altanta, Georgia !the crazy thing is that they ended up getting de-planed shortly after due to a delay in Newark. So yes, we did all that zipping and zooming through the zoo, like crazy folks, for no reason at all ! Little did we know we could have actually stayed and enjoyed it for a while. WOW, that was completely exhausting, but Tim decided he wanted to drive on so we made our way back to the highway headed for nowhere in particular. We drove for about three hours and ended up in a small town called Buctouche where we found an awesome Catholic Church so we decided to go in and check it out. To our surprise the priest was there so we sat and had a little chat with him. No Momma, he didn’t talk Tim into converting but he was very interesting and seemed to be very smart. Tim had two loonies he found in his pocket so we dropped them in the candle box and lit a candle for all our friends and family. We walked outside to take a few pictures and then we began to stroll down the street. This is when we started to realize
that everything around us was completely in French whereas before everything was in French and English. We spotted a quaint little café and decided to stay for dinner. Boy this was going to be fun, the hostess only spoke French, the menu was in French and of course the waitress was French. Well, Tim somehow managed to order lasagna and I ended up with a fried shrimp dinner. We pretty much just pointed to the pictures and smiled ! Tim said the lasagna was pretty good but it wasn’t Momma Gasses’ lasagna by any means. WOW, that was another experience to write home about but we survived and our bellies were full so we made our way down the street and back to the motor home. As we were walking down the street, the church bells began to ring loudly through the town. We just stood still for a minute as they rang out and savored the moment. Tim decided he would continue to drive on for a while so we said goodbye to Buctouche, New Brunswick and made our way down the road. We didn’t get very far before we spotted this huge strawberry on the side of the
road. Tim had passed it but we turned around and went back to check it out. I’m not sure if it’s the world’s largest strawberry but it is one humongous strawberry! He took my picture with it so we could show everyone and then we continued on our drive. We eventually ended up in Miramichi, New Brunswick in a Wal-Mart parking lot, oh yes, it’s back to the Wal-Mart’s now that the rest of the crew is gone. We can self-sustain for about three to four days so we try to do that whenever possible. Tim and I laid in bed talking and reminiscing back on all the great moments we’ve had since we left home 17 days ago. We patiently waited for the text or calls letting us know they were back home and safe in Atlanta. Once we knew they were home we said our prayers and quietly dozed off. We really didn’t have a plan for tomorrow, all we knew for sure was that we would get up and drive and see where the road takes us. Good Night.
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Lynn
non-member comment
The moose
I can't believe you didn't give me 'credit' for that Moose picture you put in this blog. After all, I jumped over caution tape, risked getting arrested and missing my plane to that darn moose photo!!!! :-)