Maritime vacation to be a summer treat

There is nothing like the month of June. Skies are blue, the air is warm and serious gardening has begun. Wedding dates approach, graduates are planning parties; recitals, concerts and performance dates are on the calendar. Best of all, vacation plans are coming to fruition.

Seniors I know fall into one of three travel modes. Some have done all the exploring they ever intended and are content to be home this summer.

This explanation is always followed with, “and we have a dog, a schnauzer.”

Others have exotic plans to river-cruise and visit Budapest, and ocean-cruise later in the year to destinations like Australia and New Zealand.

Mike and I are in the middle. We have been looking forward to a visit to the Maritimes for months.

This is the result of the fact my youngest daughter took her young daughters across Canada by train a few years ago and they are all still talking about how much they learned.

Mike and I were invited along on this latest “See Canada First” adventure because I am always bemoaning the fact I have only travelled as far as Quebec City and Montreal.

Our dining room table has been covered with maps, globes, and books like 1,000 Places to See Before You Die.

I am finally getting the Maritime provinces straight. New Brunswick has the Appalachian Mountains and river valleys. Nova Scotia has long coastlines and an artsy capital. Prince Edward Island is in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence and has beaches, red sandstone cliffs and a renewed culinary scene (fresh lobster for dinner).

Because I am such a water baby, just being on or near the Atlantic Ocean will be a holiday for me.

So much of travel is the joy of anticipation — the planning, the research, the saving. Then comes the travel itself and finally the joy of memories, photographs and recognition.

I smiled the other evening at The Book Club when Diane Keaton was flying over Sedona. I have been there. It is beautiful, dramatic, magical travel adventure for me.

So just after the July long weekend, we line up with all the other tourists and board a flight from Vancouver to Nova Scotia and arrive in Halifax.

We will pick up a minivan, and the six of us, (Erin, her husband and their two daughters, Mike and I) will tour the Halifax Citadel, Government House and the Art Gallery to view the work of Maude Lewis, whom Mike especially admires.

Thanks to Erin, who has done all the work on our itinerary, we have dinner reservations at the Wooden Monkey and are staying at the Waverley Inn.

Next day, we drive to Peggy’s Cove, then Lunenburg and sail with a Bluenose tour.

On Sunday, we check into the Hopewell Rocks Motel. We are now in New Brunswick. The Bay of Fundy and exploring the Hopewell Rocks will be a highlight of our experience, I know.

On Monday, we plan to kayak and view sailboats on their sides at the port of Alma at low tide.

We drive on to P.E.I. and Charlottetown. We will learn about the history of Confederation and see historical re-enactments. We will visit Prince Edward Island National Park and the home of Anne of Green Gables.

We are still on the go at the end of the week; this experience entails a lot of driving. We will see ferry terminals and all stay in one cottage complete with hot tub and firepit.

We will see fisheries museums and Baddeck. Baddeck became a tourist destination with the 1874 publication of the travelog guidebook “Baddeck, And That Sort of Thing,” which caught the attention of its most famous citizen, Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, who built his summer home there because the place reminded him of the Scottish Highlands of his youth. We will visit the Alexander Graham Bell Museum.

Our last highlight will be “a little of the Cabot Trail.” I have been saving articles on the Cabot Trail since 2016. This famous trail is arguably Canada’s most beautiful drive — a 298-kilometre smoothly paved scenic roadway that forms a loop around the northern part of Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island.

Some tourists feel the best part of the Cape Breton experience is the village stops along the way. I am old now and tired all the time, so hiking is out for me, but I will be content to sit in the car and admire the landscape while watching for wildlife and whales.

I hope we catch a ceilidh of Gaelic music and dancing. I hope to see artists hooking rugs and artists painting the colourful foliage.

In less than two weeks, Mike and I return to Vancouver. Erin and her family are met by friends to fly to St. John’s, N.L.

As for me, forget the Aranui 5, a cruise to Marseille or an odyssey on the Adriatic and Ionian seas. I’ll take Halifax.

Next, it will be a visit from my Spokane daughter. Mike and I will repeat a lot of the fun we had when my Colorado cousin was here recently.

I can no longer hike up a trail or ski down a mountain, but I have this sitdown thing perfected. I can sit while shopping and sit at the spa. I can sit at lunch and sit to sip my Bloody Marys. Old age is almost starting to look good.

Jeanette Dunagan has lived in Kelowna for more than 40 years. Email her at jd2399@telus.net.