We sure have enjoyed the benefit of the Canadian exchange rate for all of our cash and Visa cc charges…… $1 USD equals approx. $1.33 CAD.
We stayed in a central location in Cape Breton, NS, (Baddeck), but we found that the areas we liked best were an hour or more drive away. So we didn’t travel back to some areas as much as we would have had we been closer. If we go back to Cape Breton, we’ll fly, rent a car, and split our time between the eastern and western parts of Cape Breton Island in waterfront cottages.
It seems like the campgrounds in Canada and the upper northeast US just haven’t completed their evolution from a traditional campground to a mixed use facility designed to handle RV’s. All of the ones we have stayed had full service facilities, but they still felt like a campground. Not necessarily a bad thing, just an observation……
Nova Scotia has Halifax and a couple other decent size cities, but most of the country is a very rural and very rocky. We didn’t see many business employers outside retail. There are lots of campgrounds, small waterview cottages for rent, small motels, and lots of small family run restaurants, many that are seasonal only. It’s another throwback to an earlier time…..but full of rich history. Nova Scotia is clearly dependent on tourism and we can see why…..there’s are a lot of outdoor adventure activities here (hence, the slogan “Canada’s Ocean Playground”). We absolutely loved it here, especially Lunenburg.
Nova Scotia is pretty serious about recycling, but not as strict as PEI. I’m glad to see countries paying more attention to proper disposal of waste. Now that China won’t take our plastics and the recyclables, maybe we’ll get more serious about recycling in the US. It’s a hassle….but it’s worth it.
Propane was hard to find in Cape Breton (an hour away from Baddeck), and gas stations were few and far between on the Cabot Trail.
For those that enjoy golf, Cabot Links and the newer Cabot Cliffs, are the two premier golf courses on Cape Breton Island, NS…..but they were too rich for my blood (and especially Nancy’s) at $340 CAD, or about $271 USD, + tax. I enjoyed playing Highland Links, which is ranked 3rd in Nova Scotia…..and it was a reasonable $100 instead of $271+ tax!
As mentioned in last years blog, the internet service in most Canada campgrounds really sucks. We have Verizon Unlimited, but the local provider (TELUS) only gives US Verizon customers a 1/2 a gig of data per day. After that, its $5 per 1/2 gig. Streaming is out of the question. So unless you go to a library or someplace else with free high-speed wifi, or sign up for a Canadian service provider, there really isn’t anything you can do about it. We’ll be glad to get back to the US where we can get more consistent high speed internet access. We did have one exception – the Woodhaven RV Resort in Halifax, which had the best internet service we have ever experienced in a campground. Kudos to them for investing in that service!
Like PEI, we both noticed the lack of much visible police presence in Nova Scotia. I know they have car accidents here but we have yet to see a single one. The only car horn I heard all week was when I accidentally blocked an intersection while trying to figure out where we were in downtown Halifax! I think we have seen cruisers responding to something one time, and that was in Cape Breton. I will say that people tend to follow the speed limit…..and we didn’t see a single young aspiring NASCAR driver practicing on a public road! I’m sure they must be busy with other things. I don’t know if they have much crime, but everything sure seemed peaceful.
DISH Network tv service worked for us (no locals) in New Brunswick, and Baddeck, on Cape Breton Island, NS. It did not work for us in at our campgrounds in Lunenburg and Halifax (we had a clear view in all directions).
Nova Scotia is an incredibly beautiful and geologically interesting place. It seems to be one big piece of granite…..developing the land has to be incredibly expensive. In most of then areas we hiked, especially anything near the coast, we saw lots of trees with the roots growing on top of the rock.
Several Nova Scotians we met told us that if we liked Nova Scotia, we would love Newfoundland. It sounds like a beautiful landscape to explore….and everyone talked about how friendly the people are. The Newfoundland government is really trying to develop the tourist industry. Based on some things I read recently in travel mags, it must be working. Newfoundland is a very hot tourist destination these days. But then again, we just spoke to a couple that just returned from Newfoundland and they said the roads were extremely rough. So much so that 2 of the 3 RV’s in their mini-caravan had to be put into the shop for some major suspension repairs when they got back to Nova Scotia.I hope we go for a visit sometime in the next 3 years. But if we go, we’ll be flying, renting a car, and staying in those cool seaside cottages we saw so many places.
Why is it that almost every time I visit a really spectacular and naturally beautiful place, I want to buy a piece of land or a second home there??? I guess when you visit that kind of magical place, you just want to own a piece of it…..lol…….Waterfront land here is actually relatively cheap. Nova Scotia is an island in the ocean, and there are a lot of lakes, so I guess the supply of waterfront land still far exceeds the demand. It also might be because of how expensive it is to develop land. Once you found a nice, inexpensive 5 acres on the waterfront, it takes a small fortune to bring in electric, drill a well for water (through a lot off rock!), and put in a septic system. However, the waterfront land is so pristine, it seems worth it. It will probably end up being one of those places where people say “If only we had bought this 30 years ago!”. Of course, at our age, it’s getting a little late to invest and wait 30 years!
We can sure see why Canadians call Nova Scotia “Canada’s Ocean Playground”. This is definitely a place we’d like to come back to. It’s really an outdoor adventure paradise.
I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, but I honestly think the Canadians have it together better than we do when it comes to healthcare, recycling, and gun control. But in other ways, they seem to be a step behind the US, especially in places like Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, where it looks like there’s been less industrial and commercial development than in some of the other larger provinces and cities like Quebec, Ontario, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, etc.
We actually saw/met very few Americans here, which we found a little surprising given the highly favorable exchange rates, and the quality of the natural beauty and all of the seasonal outdoor recreational opportunities here. But then again, it was the lack of crowds that helped make our visit here so relaxing.