Sonya's Blog - Day 105 - Touring around with Felix

Sonya's Blog - Day 105 - October 5th - Touring around with Felix

We got up early today because we needed to be at Felix and Berthe's for 9 AM. They are only about 15 minutes away, so I guess we didn't need to get up too early. According to Natasha it was super early!!! It is only about a 15 minute drive, so we wanted to leave by 8:45.

When we got to the house we had a look around. Felix has lots of art by local artists, so we had a look at those. Berthe had breakfast ready after our look around and we sat down to a yummy meal of frittata and french toast. Oh, it was so tasty, We had brought Kizmet with us, as she was invited, and she had fun exploring around and checking out the new smells.

After supper we loaded into the truck with Felix and began our tour of the area. The first place we went was to the place that his family had built a mill and where the family home still stood. It was near Eel Lake (Lac des Anguille), but I am not sure what the name of the river is. The family mill stood on the river, behind where this picture was taken:

When we first got out of the truck we met Felix's brother as he was heading out for a walk. We had a nice chat with him and then went and explored around the area where the mill stood. The dam was still there, but the mill was dismantled a few years back.

We then went up river just a little bit and looked at holding tanks that were there. They held trout and salmon which a gentleman at the University was studying. They are empty now, but they were used for a few years for their studies.

Our next stop was Smuggler's Cove, which was a very cool little area. There was a cave that was off the main part of the beach over some seaweed rocks and the only picture I have is with Natasha doing a handstand. You can see it in the back of the picture to the left of Natasha:

Isaac started scrambling over the seaweed rocks to get to the cave before I yelled at him to stop and I thought it was too dangerous. He gave me a bad time about always wrecking his fun, yep that's me! I then asked Felix and Blake if they thought it was a good idea and Felix told Isaac that he cannot get to the cave over those rocks as it is too dangerous and slippery. Isaac reconsidered at this point and gave up arguing about it. The informative panel we read said that there are names etched into the rock in the cave at different heights. It is believed the cave and cove were used during prohibition for rum running. The names are possibly those of some of the smugglers and the reason they are at different heights would depend on the height of the tide at the time of their visit. We loved the little cove, it was fun to explore around. We had to be careful on the big rocks though as some of them were very slippery.

We went back up the stairs and went down the pathway. We only did a short bit of the hike because we still had other places to visit. It was a beautiful pathway that followed along the coastline for about 15 KM or so.

We then drove to Mavilette. We were going to have lunch there, but the restaurant that Felix was thinking of had closed for the season. Mavilette has a beautiful beach and we couldn't resist going down to explore before we left the area. We were all a little hungry, but the beach was fantastic. We got some great pictures of it and we were able to take Kizmet onto it as well. There was another couple on the beach walking, but they were quite far away and we basically had the whole thing to ourselves. Fantastic!

There are great sand dunes surrounding the beach area, but you cannot explore around those. They are too fragile and the grass will be killed if people are tramping around on them. If the grass gets killed, then there is erosion and sooner or later, no more sand dunes. So we stayed on the boardwalk and just looked with our eyes.

It was time for lunch and we drove towards Meteghan. There was a restaurant that had ocean views (almost everything does in this area) and we stopped there, I think it was called The Seashore or something like that. Natasha and I both had the scallop dinner because the waitress promised us they were fresh. They were tasty!

After lunch we stopped at the Fish Factory in Little Brook where Hector works (Jocelyne's brother). We wanted to get scallops for supper, but they didn't have any so Blake bought haddock for supper instead after consulting with the chef (Michel). Hector was working and he gave Blake a tour of the factory (the kids and I had stayed in the car because we thought he was just buying fish).

Our next stop was the Acadian Museum at the Universite Ste Anne. The museum is free which is a bonus. It is all about the history of the Acadians in Nova Scotia and how they came to settle in Clare. Clare is the municiple district that encompasses all of these smaller villages (like Little Brook, Belliveau Cove, Meteghan, etc.). The museum covers the deportation of the Acadians by the British (brutal and horrific) and then their resettlement in Nova Scotia. It also covers their history in the area and the Acadian Culture. It is a very good museum and it was interesting to look around. There is a picture of the Comeau Family Mill (Felix's Family) in the museum, so we got to see the place where the mill had stood as well as a picture of what the mill looked like. We learned a lot and it was very good. Isaac will have to do a report on what he learned at the Museum for his Social Studies and French. I also learned the University does a 5 week French Immersion program, so we are going to look into that. It would be great for the kids to do something like that at the end of our year away, it would be great for their french.

We then said thanks so much to Felix for taking the time to tour us around and we headed our separate ways. It was almost 5 O'Clock and we had to get back for supper. While supper was being prepared Mariette, Lise and I took Kizmet for a walk down by Belliveau Cove and up the beach area there. It would be easy to take that walk everyday, it is fantastic! So beautiful along the Baie St. Marie!

Michel had prepared the fish we bought from the Fish Factory along with some veggies and fresh buns from the bakery (the bakery man comes to the door on Monday mornings and delivers fresh baked goods - sweet)! The fish we had was haddock, but I thought it was halibut. Everyone said haddock, but I heard halibut. Anyhow, it was the tastiest fish we have had this trip. Michel's recipe is top notch and we all loved it, including Isaac (who likes to tell anyone who will listen that he doesn't like fish). Amazing. We could get very used to having Michel cook for us all the time, maybe we should stay longer:)

After supper Natasha, Blake and I played Auction 45 (same game as 120's that we played in Newfoundland with Maureen and Peter) with Mariette. It was Mariette and Me against Blake and Natasha. Mariette and I started out really well and the game was 110 to 20 or something, but then we stopped getting good cards and couldn't win a bid to save our lives. Blake and Natasha ended up winning the game:( We then played a dice game that Mariette had. It goes by really quickly and we played a couple of rounds, both of which I won:)

We have to decide whether we are leaving tomorrow or not. We have to go back and visit Aunt Margaret before we leave. We are thinking of doing that in the morning and then heading out in the afternoon. It is a long drive to New Brunswick, so we haven't committed. We have not booked a campsite because when we called to book we were told that we will have no problems, so nothing is set in stone. We will make up our minds tomorrow, we are both too tired to think.

Sonya