Edmundston, NB to Saint John, NB = 478 km

I apologize for the delay of posting Tuesday's drive. Technical difficulties at the hotel last night. But I digress.... let's get to some fun stuff! I started off rather rough, as I barely slept.  I had a headache yesterday that accompanied me throughout my long 12 hour trek.  Took some Advil in the middle of the night and finally it went away.  I kept hearing car doors slamming, people talking, etc. seemingly right inside my hotel room.  I can be incredibly dumb sometimes. Closing the window in my room may have helped! Lesson learned #1 (first thing I do now is check the windows when I get in the room). Another incredibly smart move - forgetting the wish list of things you wanna see and do at home! Thanks Paul for finding my chicken scratch notes and emailing them to me! Lesson learned #2.

Charlie accompanied me to breakfast.

After reviewing my list, I was off to Grand Falls Gorge. Instead of taking Highway 2, I jumped on River Valley Drive on a whim....shown on road signs as a little plant sprout.  I have to say the sprout is one of the happiest things to see sometimes when you are off the beaten path and Lady GPS wants to keep routing you to the highway. Note all those little dots on the map above, yeah, I had to re-correct Google Maps multiple times to keep me on the spout as well.

Found this church along the way and had to get out to snap a pic.

There are, much to my surprise, "mountains" here. At times, the drive reminds me of Banff, Alberta, and at others just like Vancouver Island. Can't just pull over to take pics though....so I take opportunities like this church to grab some shots.





"Sprout road" got me to the Gorge and ran parallel to 2, just about the same speed and more scenic. According to my handy dandy CAA book, apparently these falls are considered the largest east of Niagara Falls. I dunnnnoooo about that....what do you guys think?

So....glad I didn't burn alot of time there. This hydroelectric plant provides power to the provincial grid. Let's hope there is more water than what I saw or electricity might be an issue!

















I briefly dashed into the Visitor Centre there and found a real Lobster - don't worry Charlie, he won't be replacing you.





I could have apparently taken the little sprout to Saint John but a sign pointed me in the opposite direction when I reached Perth-Andover,
something just didn't seem right to go that direction.  (see little sprout - bottom right - super noticable right? I thought I better just get back on 2.  The speed was decent at 110 km/h and I could make up some time. 

The Hartland Covered Bridge was my next stop, and I was excited to see my first real cool thing on this trip!

I definitely went through it slowly observing the wood frame construction....holding up traffic. :) It is the world's longest covered bridge at 1282 feet (391 metres). The bridge was completed in 1922. I had to cross back over to find a geocache, and again drove slow. So cool...did I say that already? Alas, my Nuvi GPS would not take me near the vicinity of the cache via the "walk" feature. A little frustrated I left...knowing I'd be in NB for a while to still have an opportunity to get one.



Off I went to Kings Landing. Had my first real meal since Friday, slow service and as much as I may have needed a break, it was just a smidge too long....is this the East Coast already trying to train me?  Great visitor centre here, so great in fact that I bought a huge horse picture to put up in my house when I get back. So purdy.....  One real positive when travelling via car is that I could pack as much as I want and buy as much as I want without worry about how I'll get it home.  Certainly I could not have bought this canvas and strapped it onto my motorcycle in midst of travelling.

Staff at the visitor centre encouraged me to take some time out of my driving schedule and spend some in Saint Andrews....I wanted to go there and not to Fredericton initially, so I'm glad that they agreed with my original decision. Never know if a place is a dive before you get there, as I already experienced earlier today.  I would later learn it would be a place I would happily return to.

Jumped on Highway 3 to get there, fabulous road. Decent speed limit and nice turns, a couple choppy bits but I was the only soul around for the most part...made me really miss my motorcycle.

The lure of feeding seals brought me to Fundy Discovery Aquarium.  However, they have a pair of seals that they feed.... to my dismay visitors could not, so it was not terribly exciting.

I surprisingly spent 1.5 hours at the aquarium, had to get my $14 worth!







Charlie had a great time.

Picking up the ladies:

And here are Charlie's buddies.

I found myself however getting up enough courage to pet a Little Skate. Felt like wet sandpaper in freezing water. They had a tank full of them, some were "dancing" near the surface of the water....felt like it was gonna jump out and bite me....btw the underside is suuuuper soft. Also home to massive Sturgeon, easily the length of my pair of car doors.....couldn't believe the size. Just dinosaurs, hangin' out in a tank. There are also 3 large lobsters, some world record holders at some point in time. 10kg enough?

The weather was so hot, I parked in the shade to figure out my next move.

I ventured downtown St. Andrews. Free parking everywhere. 4 historical sites - the whole town is a National Historic District founded in 1783. I decided to walk down the long pier by Market Wharf. The wind certainly cooled me down and I had the chance to see the Bay for the first time.
I also made the trek to Pendlebury Lighthouse, waaaay over there......

Built in 1833 and operated until 1938. While there was no access inside, it was still cool to be near one (albeit restored). I had the whole area to myself. Even my cell phone died when I got there. I walked down to the red beach, with only waves and birds making the only sounds around me and stuck both feet in the water. I have officially touched the Atlantic Ocean!

The Pacific Ocean was touched 3 years prior. Also so close, yet so far for the Arctic Ocean 4 years ago. Maybe next time! I did not leave until I successfully skipped a rock with at least 3 skips. Took a while, cause I couldn't find decently flat ones (the BEST for skipping). I walked back to the car via downtown, lots of little shops, didn't buy anything tho.

Started my drive to Saint John along Highway 1. Pretty much no view. I was apparently on the Lighthouse Scenic Drive....didn't see any though.

After grabbing my hotel room, thank you Holiday Inn Express, (view outside, with Willow getting a good nights sleep below).

I tucked her in and promised she'd get a proper wash when we got home.

I needed food and beer, so I walked the Harbour Passage, a red paved trail for pedestrian/bicycles only to an underground pathway system (pedway). Was a little concerned mid way through my walk, when I realized this could get sketchy...but hey, I'm from the city.....recall earlier "I can be dumb sometimes" comment.






Headed to a little place called Saint John Ale House (SJAH) where I think I had the most expensive dinner in my life: lobster roll - 1.5 lbs of lobster meat on a sourdough bun - with sweet potato fries, and 2 pints of Picaroons (Summer Ale and Simeon Jones) which I very much enjoyed.

Loved the napkins

Meandered back to the hotel successfully... I had to head to the big set of lights over yonder.  Walking back felt more sketchy, especially after being full of food and beer, however I made it back just fine.

Realized I'm dumb with deciding not to bring my phone wall charger. Lesson learned #3. Off I went to the car to juice up my phone a bit.....and promptly fell asleep in the driver's seat. Once I awoke, I showered and crawled into bed for a well deserved sleep. Short drive today, but exciting nonetheless.