Canada, Get Ready, Here We Come!

Day 23 – June 19, 2014

Bar Harbor, ME – Moncton, NB

285 miles/5 hours

Oh, we woke up to a splendid day!  Why do we have to leave????  As when we departed Cape Cod, we were teased this morning with the bluest sky and the temperature at a pleasant 73 degrees.  Alas, our time was up and we had a very long drive in front of us. 

Our drive was mostly through back country roads that were extremely rough on my car.  The snow has done a number on the surfaces, ouch.  I don’t think we saw another car for an hour and a half, it was that desolate.  I believe I would’ve been a bit freaked out if the skies weren’t so bright and the foliage so stunning.  The water we passed was a deep sapphire blue that was a beautiful contrast to the emerald grass and the forest green hues of the pine tries.  Then, every ten miles or so, we’d be blessed with a burst of purple wildflowers.  Honestly, the countryside looked like a painting.

We were hoping to get money, gas and wine before we crossed the border into Canada, but began to think that wasn’t going to be an option, as we were literally in the middle of nowhere.  Just south of the border, we came upon the small town, Calais, ME – ah, civilization!  We were able to feed the kids good ole American McDonald’s, fill up the tank and hit an ATM.  Just before the border patrol station, we pulled into the Duty Free Shop for some wine.  Canada, here we come.

We drove through some more beautiful countryside.  Hundreds of miles (or kilometers) of lakes, grasslands and trees.  Does anybody live in New Brunswick?

Finally we reached a city – St. John, on the Bay of Fundy.  It looked like a clean city, but we didn’t have time to explore.  Although we did stop at another McDonald’s, so R. could check his email (free Wi-Fi), because we shut off our phones after we crossed the border.  It was funny, Verizon dinged both our phones with alarm messages – caution, data fees will accumulate.

We had another hour and a half to go, before arriving in Moncton.  The children were antsy and obnoxious.  Tensions were rising.  Then the skies opened up and it started raining.  When we got to the hotel, we discovered – wait for it – that it was in an industrial park.  Uh-oh.

Lesson of the day – don’t judge a hotel by its location.  Wooza, we hit the jackpot.  Out hotel is one year old and immaculate.  Very cool décor and we scored a king suite connected to a room for the children.  The front desk attendants were very nice and helpful, bless them for the upgrade.  Everyone was happy and momma-the-travel-agent was back in their good graces, except for one disgruntled family member.

When the kids got to the room and turned on the television, they discovered that they didn’t have “kid channels.”  Stop the presses!  Mutiny in the ranks.  Camden looked at me with one of the most pitiful looks I’ve ever seen, bottom lip shaking and on the verge of tears, “Mommy, I can’t believe you picked a hotel that doesn’t have kid channels.”  Seems I can’t stay on the pedestal for too long.

R. took the kids to the pool, while I logged in to check my email before joining them.  The pool has a massive water slide and the children were over-joyed.  I was in, again.  Audrey made the statement, “Who knew Canada would be so cool.”  Then Hunter gave the quote of the day, “Yeah, from no kid channels to an epic water slide!”

It was during our time in the pool that I started to suspect we were in a different time zone.  The pool clock was an hour ahead of my watch.  I asked the front desk what time zone we were in and was told “Eastern.”  Huh, wonder why my watch was off by an hour?  Back in the room, the clocks displayed a different time from my watch and R.’s computer.  The kid’s tablet registered that same hour as the clock.  We had dinner reservations and were very confused.  R. logged into his work computer and verified the time in Kentucky.  If the clocks were right, we were not in the Easter Time Zone.  On our way out, I asked another person at the front desk if perhaps New Brunswick didn’t recognize daylight savings.  She didn’t quite understand my question.  Then a guest in the lobby stopped me and said Moncton was in the Atlantic Time Zone.  Mystery solved, I think.  At the restaurant I asked the hostess what time zone we were in.  Bless her heart, she looked so confused.  Then she replied, as if she were asking me, “Pacific?”  I am not kidding.

Another great meal, although after receiving the check, we had trouble digesting it.  Here in New Brunswick, they add 13% tax!  So with tax and gratuity our bill had a 33% surcharge!  Cha-ching.  Pizza tomorrow night.