Halifax to Digby, NS - August 21

Today we spent the first half of the day in Halifax before driving across Nova Scotia to Digby.  There was too much to see and do in the city for the amount of time we had, so we decided to tour the Citadel, visit the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame, and walk along the waterfront.

The Citadel

The first stop was the Citadel - the famous star-shaped fort that overlooks the city.

We had to sneak in past the guard, of course

Entering the Citadel

The aptly-name Dry Ditch

Our tour guide entering stage left (or is that stage right?)

Grace in front of the South Ravelin

Inside the sally Port

Marching Drill

Spot Emma in the crowd

Preparing to fire the noontime cannon

Checking off her Park Xplorer activity book

Her final task - stand like a guard for one minute

Always nice to hear bagpipes

Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame

On the walk down to the water, we happened upon this attraction.  There was a special exhibit, too.  How could we pass it up?

Sid the Kid artifacts

How cute - his old baby bottle

Everyone loved this - the Crosby Family dryer!

 Waterfront

Oh, look - the girls found an ice cream place!  Well, I had to let them know that they had already had enough ice cream for the week..

Emma likes this War of 1812 marker
I prefer the LOVE sculpture

Losing it a bit on the way back to the "parking lot"

Digby

The drive from Halifax to Digby was nice.  We didn't have too much time to make stops, but the Evangeline area and Grand Pre looked great.  We would have loved to spend more time there. We arrived in Digby around 5:30.  This was a beautiful town and we had a good time walking around a bit.  The big events they host here are a Scallop Festival and the Wharf Rat Motorcycle Rally.  I'm kind of glad we missed both of these.

Digby

Learning about Digby history in Loyalist Park

Low tide, Digby

Monument to those lost at sea between 1869 and  1969

Another monument to some who were lost at sea

The yacht club (definitely not the Phoenixville Yacht Club)

The colorful welcome center

The lawyer in town - I heard he stinks (ba-dum-bum)

Catching the ferry at 8:00am on Wednesday!

Port Hawkesbury to Halifax - August 20

We spent the night at the Harborview B&B and motel in Port Hawkesbury, N.S.  We didn't get to explore this town at all, but we slept well and in comfort.  

As you can see it was wet.  It rained all night and was raining heavily in the morning with forecast throughout the day.  We decided to forgo our plans to camp at Taylor Head Provincial Park (our gear was now wet, too!) on the South Shore.  Instead we opted  for a faster route to Halifax.

We were glad we did as it gave us a chance to visit a little gem of a park - the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park in "Shoob".

Red Deer

Swift Fox - we'd never seen this small fox before

Reindeer

She loves her wolves

This guy decided to stretch out and plop down
right in front of us

Rhea - now with head-swiveling capabilities
This guy can probably outrun a coyote

Sandhill Crane - noisy fella 

This dove (fantailed, I think) was quite a character

Black Bear

Tame Black Bear

Wetlands center

We really enjoyed this park.  The animals are all kept there because none can be released to the wild (for various reasons).  One thing that we really liked was that they were all native to Canada. We also liked that we could really get close to them.

There was also a large picnic park there with a nice playground attached.  We made use of both of these... but no pictures :)

We finished our trip to Halifax and ended the day at a very spacious (for five!) and comfortable hotel.  We took a dip in the hot tub and pool.  We also tried the water slide which was extremely high and fast.  A touch scary, actually.

That's my splash - too fast for the camera...
I'm pretty sure the slide was four stories high.