Adventure Day 7
Jul. 12th, 2018 10:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessIt was 10 hours on the road again. We got to the Millbrook Heritage center, a Mi’kmaq heritage center for First Nations’s day. Sadly a death of Elder Knockwood postponed the ceremony so they could go to the funeral but I did get to see the exhibits and spent too much in the gift shop (still regretting that). It would have been something to have seen the planned pow wow but it would have been crowded. There was already at least three bus loads of school kids running around like idiots (One thing I noticed in the areas I was, they were sending 30+ kids with only one teacher and maybe a single aid which just wasn’t enough). There is a huge statue of Kluskap or Glooscap as he’s also known (especially in Maine and upper New England). He’s a divine hero and you can read more about him at the sites I just linked to.
I didn’t know it at the time but I see as Millbrook’s website, there are a crap ton of things to do especially for kids and they’re cheap. What a great way to share your culture. One of the things I didn’t care that much for was far too many of the exhibits were just generally Native American as opposed to Mi’kmaq. I loved, however that the signs were in English, French and Mi’kmaw. We had two young women who talked to us about being Mi’kmaq, what life is life on the reserve (a bit different than it is on our reservation) and the opportunities they now have. That was nice. I would have liked more Native craftmen stuff in the gift shop (I did get one necklace) and less Chinese knock offs (which sadly one of the things I shouldn’t have bought were made of).
We stopped at Peggy’s Cove on Margaret’s Bay. It got it’s name from a girl who washed up on shore with no memory. They called her Peggy. All of Nova Scotia is only about 380 miles long but it’s zigzagged shoreline is nearly 4500 miles in area. Peggy’s Cove is Devonian granite making it so hard nothing can live on it. What little greenery there is is scrub grass living on dirt that has blown onto the rock. You also can’t go to the shoreline because of rogue waves that kill a few people every year because they ignore the signs that say stay the hell out.
Peggy’s Cove’s lighthouse is the most photographed one in all of Canada. I loved this little town. It was so cute. That said, I wouldn’t want to live here. The granite is so hard it’s too difficult to dig into that there aren’t pipes to the homes. Water is trucked in and sewage is holding tanks. We had lunch here (I finally had fish and chips, the haddock was surprisingly mild. Mmmm).
The town really is a giant tourist trap but at least it offered up real artisan stuff for a change. I went to the post office. Customs didn’t stamp my passport (or anyone’s really) but the post mistress will stamp your book with a canceled Peggy’s Cove stamp. It was cute. I did pick up a few books on ghosts and then I found a shop in the oldest house in Peggy’s Cove called Hags on the Hill. Seven women artists who did just great work. So now I’m truly regretting the impulse buys at the Mi’kmaq center because I knew how far I was in a hole on my credit cards at this point. (In retrospect it wasn’t so bad, I SHOULD have bought the stuff). I did get an oyster shell painted with the cove in it. It was different.
Back on the bus we learned about Nova Scotia’s role in a couple of ship wrecks. I knew nothing about an explosion that leveled a chunk of Halifax in WWI but I’ll talk about that one in my last post for the trip. I knew that Nova Scotia did help attempt to rescue/recover people from the Titanic. I didn’t realize how many they did recover, nearly 700 but only had room for half that. Over 100 people from the Titanic were buried in Fairlawn cemetery so we stopped there to see it. This cemetery is a non denominational cemetery. The Catholic one was apparently a jerk about it. Even those with Italian names (which is probably a give away that they would have been Catholic in that day) weren’t allowed in unless found with proof they were Catholic (eye roll).
The monument is three rows of gravestones laid out like a ships bow. They had many fascinating ones, like the valet of one of the Astor crowd who unlike Astor who helped the women and children off, made sure his rich ass got on a lifeboat by dressing as a woman (which haunted him for the rest of his life, he ended up broken, penniless by the end). And one of an unknown two year old, one of the first recovered and broke the hearts of the firemen who had gone out on the rescue. They purchased him a headstone. For years they thought he might be a young Polish boy. Finally a few years back, several families wanting to know if he was their relative insisted on DNA. Turned out he was an English boy.
From there we ended up touring Halifax. We stopped at the Citadel just to overlook the city (I planned to go back next day). I was exhausted and I regret not paying close attention to Olive when she said the Art Gallery was free tonight. I went to the casino for dinner and had the buffet which was good and literally the cheapest meal I had all trip. I did stink up the gambling though. Half my tour bus was there (because again, cheap eats). My Marriot (right on the water) was linked to the casino via a skywalk (pedway as they call it). I liked my room which had a nice view of the Historic Properties (more about them tomorrow). I loved that the bellboys all wore kilts.
Kluskap
All the decorations are made of dyed quills
Peggy's Lighthouse
decent shot of me
Hags on the Hill (left corner)
Peggy's Cove
Titanic Memorial
The little boy
View of Halifax from the Citadel
View from my window of the Historic Properties
I had to include this. It's from a truck stop in Port Hastings. I've never seen a restroom signs done as the pee pee dance before.
I didn’t know it at the time but I see as Millbrook’s website, there are a crap ton of things to do especially for kids and they’re cheap. What a great way to share your culture. One of the things I didn’t care that much for was far too many of the exhibits were just generally Native American as opposed to Mi’kmaq. I loved, however that the signs were in English, French and Mi’kmaw. We had two young women who talked to us about being Mi’kmaq, what life is life on the reserve (a bit different than it is on our reservation) and the opportunities they now have. That was nice. I would have liked more Native craftmen stuff in the gift shop (I did get one necklace) and less Chinese knock offs (which sadly one of the things I shouldn’t have bought were made of).
We stopped at Peggy’s Cove on Margaret’s Bay. It got it’s name from a girl who washed up on shore with no memory. They called her Peggy. All of Nova Scotia is only about 380 miles long but it’s zigzagged shoreline is nearly 4500 miles in area. Peggy’s Cove is Devonian granite making it so hard nothing can live on it. What little greenery there is is scrub grass living on dirt that has blown onto the rock. You also can’t go to the shoreline because of rogue waves that kill a few people every year because they ignore the signs that say stay the hell out.
Peggy’s Cove’s lighthouse is the most photographed one in all of Canada. I loved this little town. It was so cute. That said, I wouldn’t want to live here. The granite is so hard it’s too difficult to dig into that there aren’t pipes to the homes. Water is trucked in and sewage is holding tanks. We had lunch here (I finally had fish and chips, the haddock was surprisingly mild. Mmmm).
The town really is a giant tourist trap but at least it offered up real artisan stuff for a change. I went to the post office. Customs didn’t stamp my passport (or anyone’s really) but the post mistress will stamp your book with a canceled Peggy’s Cove stamp. It was cute. I did pick up a few books on ghosts and then I found a shop in the oldest house in Peggy’s Cove called Hags on the Hill. Seven women artists who did just great work. So now I’m truly regretting the impulse buys at the Mi’kmaq center because I knew how far I was in a hole on my credit cards at this point. (In retrospect it wasn’t so bad, I SHOULD have bought the stuff). I did get an oyster shell painted with the cove in it. It was different.
Back on the bus we learned about Nova Scotia’s role in a couple of ship wrecks. I knew nothing about an explosion that leveled a chunk of Halifax in WWI but I’ll talk about that one in my last post for the trip. I knew that Nova Scotia did help attempt to rescue/recover people from the Titanic. I didn’t realize how many they did recover, nearly 700 but only had room for half that. Over 100 people from the Titanic were buried in Fairlawn cemetery so we stopped there to see it. This cemetery is a non denominational cemetery. The Catholic one was apparently a jerk about it. Even those with Italian names (which is probably a give away that they would have been Catholic in that day) weren’t allowed in unless found with proof they were Catholic (eye roll).
The monument is three rows of gravestones laid out like a ships bow. They had many fascinating ones, like the valet of one of the Astor crowd who unlike Astor who helped the women and children off, made sure his rich ass got on a lifeboat by dressing as a woman (which haunted him for the rest of his life, he ended up broken, penniless by the end). And one of an unknown two year old, one of the first recovered and broke the hearts of the firemen who had gone out on the rescue. They purchased him a headstone. For years they thought he might be a young Polish boy. Finally a few years back, several families wanting to know if he was their relative insisted on DNA. Turned out he was an English boy.
From there we ended up touring Halifax. We stopped at the Citadel just to overlook the city (I planned to go back next day). I was exhausted and I regret not paying close attention to Olive when she said the Art Gallery was free tonight. I went to the casino for dinner and had the buffet which was good and literally the cheapest meal I had all trip. I did stink up the gambling though. Half my tour bus was there (because again, cheap eats). My Marriot (right on the water) was linked to the casino via a skywalk (pedway as they call it). I liked my room which had a nice view of the Historic Properties (more about them tomorrow). I loved that the bellboys all wore kilts.
Kluskap All the decorations are made of dyed quills Peggy's Lighthouse decent shot of me Hags on the Hill (left corner) Peggy's Cove Titanic Memorial The little boy View of Halifax from the Citadel View from my window of the Historic Properties I had to include this. It's from a truck stop in Port Hastings. I've never seen a restroom signs done as the pee pee dance before.
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Date: 2018-07-13 08:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-13 02:31 pm (UTC)Isn't that lighthouse amazing? You know, that was something the guide didn't talk about, how in the world did they build that thing.