July 7 - The Shore

Well we can’t say it wasn’t sad to leave two great friends at the airport on Tuesday afternoon. It was lovely to have been able to spend time with Sharon and her family at their spot on the shore of the Northumberland Strait and to get to know both her family a bit better and to get a sense of who Sharon is through a place where she spent many summer hours in her childhood. Sharon’s grandfather’s parents owned the property on the shore and at one time there was a cannery/factory on the property. The family hosue remains and now each of the nine children of the two brothers (Sharon’s grandfather and his brother) have a place where they are able to set up a trailer (and these aren’t just any trailers – they are well equipped homes with permanent decking, electrical hook ups and running water!).

The Shore is about 45 min drive from Sharon’s parent’s place in Sackville and on our way the landscape was just beautiful – lovely old houses and shingled barn and outbuildings on many of the farms surrounded by beautiful, lush green fields. On our drive I noticed signs for the Winegarden winery at Baie Verte. I had been to this winery in 2003 and remembered buying some great elderberry wine. We were able to see the signs along the road and followed them to a well stocked winery and distillery. A German family has owned the winery for some years and makes everything from blueberry liquor to grappa to $10 bottles of fruit wines. We picked up some elderberry port for my dad, some strawberry rhubarb wine to share with Sharon’s parents for dinner and Gerry & Sharon got some blueberry port and pear dessert wine. I could have literally bought one of each and had it all shipped home for my arrival. We received a few thumbs up and congratulations from the owners, much to Sharon’s delight they were still driving around with the ‘Just Married’ signs on the car, and after we drove off we laughed and cracked some newly wed jokes and talked about how well matched Gerry and I were with Sharon and Bruce since we tend to be more inclined as the impulsive, in the moment spenders. Bruce wisely encouraged me to limit our purchase to two bottles.

Here I am all bundled up enjoying a Blueberry Ale from the Pumphouse Brewery in Moncton – I visited there in 2003 during a geography conference and was itching to taste some this trip!

Driving towards the shore was lovely – lots of old buildings and glimpses of the Northumberland Strait with fields of green grasses and wild daisies and lupines in the foreground. We pulled over at the store at Murray Corner to put the decorations and tin cans back on the car (they weren’t highway proof) and Sharon giggled all the way down the driveway.

The weather for our one night stay was less than cooperative at times as it was quite overcast, chilly, windy and at times, it sprinkled as well. We made the most of the sunny breaks though. Gerry had the ingenious idea to use the large beach sandstones to build a shield of sorts to allow us to build a fire on the beach that we could enjoy late into the evening. Team work was involved and we were able to help the guys get something set-up. After a lovely dinner of seafood chowder/casserole (apparently real chowder has potatoes?) with lobster, white fish and scallops, fresh rolls, salad and strawberry rhubarb wine we were ready to head to the beach for our beach fire. The wind really didn’t let up but we were all bundled up and with beer and/or wine in hand we weathered the storm and stayed out on the beach until 11:30. We crawled into our chilly tents and promptly fell asleep smelling like well smoked meat.

Our awesome beach fire and its shield.

Tuesday morning we woke to slightly calmer weather and I was a bit determined to swim in the Strait. After seeing Sharon’s cousin off the four of us headed to the interpretive centre at the Confederation Bridge. The Shore property is a short distance from the bridge to PEI and so it was nice to be able to head over to see just how big it is! We had fun taking some great photos and for most of our time there it was nice and sunny so we all got nicely warmed up! We headed back for some lunch and while the clouds kept hiding the sun I decided to forgo the swim and stay warm instead. We’re starting to itch for some nice weather and are hoping we’ll get to swim in the St Laurence and Lake Huron before the week is out!

Here we are with Gerry & Sharon at the Moncton airport – it was so nice to see them so relaxed and happy and back home on the east coast. We’ll miss them in Victoria more than they’ll know!