Saint John

Best seafood chowder at Saint Johns Ale House

 Saint John City Market - I'll be back

I don't know much about rocks - but 980 million years old is is pretty impressive 

Rockwood Park is one of the largest urban parks in North America... it's huge.  With a zoo, lakeside cafe, campground, stables, horse & buggy rides, golf course, interpretation center and pavillion.  Unfortunately, the campground was closed but we discovered that the park is a Stonehammer Geopark site with billion year old rock formations.  We hiked along the Trans Canada Trail and enjoyed a beautiful sunny day.  What made it fun was the children dressed in Halloween costumes and carving pumpkins. 

Because we were visiting Saint John off-season, we were able to park across from the reversing rapids for the night.  Reversing rapids is a natural phenomenon which occurs when the highest tides (48 feet in six hours) in the world flowing in and out of the Bay of Fundy through a narrow rocky gorge force the St. John River to reverse its flow.  We got to see all three stages, high tide, low tide and reversing rapids.  With every tide, 100 billion tons of water enters or exits the bay.  Extremely cool.

We checked out the Charleton Martello Tower which is a National Historic Site of Canada.  The tower was built in 1812 by the British and played a pivotal role in conflicts up until the Second World War. 
I wanted to go to the Saint John City Market but it's closed on Sundays, too bad, because it is unique and offers diverse shopping with clothes and foods from around the world.  Personally, I think Denis was happy that it was closed because it probably saved him money. 
We did stop for a cup of the best seafood chowder I've ever tasted at Saint John Ale House overlooking the Bay of Fundy.

Charleton Martello Tower

Saint John River

Driving along Scenic Route 1 we stopped at Saint Croix Island Historical Site.  The visitor's center was closed but we learned that Pierre Dugua Sieur de Mons and his company of 78 men attempted to establish a French settlement there in 1604.  The settlement was short lived with disease wiping out over half of the men and then moving to the shores of Annapolis Basin in Nova Scotia.  This is the first international historical site in the National Park System.

Tonight we're at a Walmart in Ellsworth, Maine just 30 minutes from Acadia National Park where we're going tomorrow.  We decided to stay here because it was getting dark, we were hungry and tired after driving down Scenic Route 1 for 130 miles of  one-lane, twists, turns, ups and downs.  And, guess what, it wasn't very scenic... won't be doing that again.

Just happened to be along the way

Full size statues in the park

St. Croix Island with Canada mainland in the background