Epilogue for Alma

I am overjoyed to be wearing dry clothes for the first time today.

We did go to Alma Beach, where the tide was pretty much right up to the deck where I took my first picture of the water further away than I could see. Mind boggling. Looking forward to sharing pictures. While Jamie and Katie went swimming, Amanda and I went to some of the places we visited in the morning to get shots of the high tide.We also visited our campsite to figure out just how bad the situation is... it's bad. We imagine the cleanup tomorrow morning will be pretty comical. We plan to wear bathing suits.

Seafood dinner at one of the little places in Alma. JAK seemed pretty pleased with their various forms of fish and lobster. I was pleased enough with my sexy iceberg salad (seriously, that's what it was called on the menu) and Katie's french fries. After dinner, Amanda and I made ourselves at home in the Village Laundromat, enjoying beers while our laundry washed (and more importantly, dried). I discovered late in the day that my suitcase did not fare as well as I'd thought; everything seemed dry when I rescued it from our flooded tent, but it turns out the jeans at the bottom had absorbed a lot of the water and slowly soaked everything else over the course of the afternoon. Thankfully I noticed this before dinner, and thankfully there was a laundromat in this tiny town.

And so, I sit here in my warm, dry pajama pants with warm, dry socks on, winding down for bed. We're all just kind of hanging out. It ended up being a really great day despite the weather plotting to ruin things for us. It's kind of a good thing that we all adore each other. I'm very fortunate to have such great friends and travel partners.

Fundy

Dear Mom,
If I concede defeat and admit you were right, will you enjoy that feeling and get over it before I get home?

You were right. I was wrong. The tent leaks.

Love,
Colleen

After a pleasant morning and afternoon in Saint John, we drove to Fundy National Park, travelling via a road with a really creepy horse skelton statue. We sent up the tent and explored the park a little on our way into the nearby town of Alma for chocolate (we had marshmallows and graham crackers!). We decided on a chill evening-- campfire, a couple of beers, and a good night of sleep with the sound of the wind running through the spruce trees surrounding our little campsite.

Woke up early to search for moose. It was really, really overcast and the camp office had posted a weather report of 90% probability of precipitation. We decided to hope for the best and head out hiking anyway. We did three short trails: one called Caribou Plain, through some wetlands and peat bogs (no moose, though we hear it's a popular place for them to hang out), one along Dickson Falls (totally lovely, despite a LOT of stairs), and Shiphaven, which was along the Point Wolfe River with coastal views... that were largely obstructed by the heavy rains. By then we were all soaked, so we just kept going.

We decided to check on our campsite since we were nearby, and lo and behold, bad news, my sleeping bag was UNDER WATER, as I had slept at the bottom of the slight incline we parked the tent on in the first place. Everyone's things were soaked. We decided to go visit the low tide at Alma Beach and find a cafe in town to regroup and book a hotel.

I feel really silly for wimping out of camping in poor weather, but we don't really have any other option.

The beach was really cool. The tide was really, really far out so we walked down on the beach, which is covered in rocks of all colors, shapes and sizes. Can't wait to see it again at high tide, which is in about fifteen minutes.

We spent some time warming up in a little cafe, where we sorted out the hotel situation. We couldn't get into our room for at least half an hour, so to kill time we went searching for the "neaby" lighthouse at Cape Enrage. Terrible car ride, but lovely scenery. We've just been hanging out the rest of the afternoon, reading and napping. Right now we're gearing up to visit Alma Beach again for high tide (about ten minutes from now, about a ten second drive from here) and then visiting a heated salt water pool in the park that's apparently on the edge of a cliff or something pretty sounding like that. It's still rather misty out, but we're glad to do something.

Tent reconnaissance is scheduled for tomorrow morning since it can't really get any wetter.
Tree of the yesterday: red spruce
Beer of the yesterday: Rickard's Dark, a porter-style beer with a slight maple syrup aftertaste

Tree of today: Hemlocks, which I'm going to miss when the wooly adelgid totally wipes them off the face of the east coast in the coming years

Tomorrow: Halifax, Nova Scotia!