Travel day Number one

Well I rushed out to PEI in 2 days.  A long long drive.  I have decided to take it easy and extend the trip home by a couple of days.  A much more relaxing pace and I get to stop at stores along the way to participate in the Row by Row Experience.  And what an experience it will be!!!!   And of course - I can only travel when the quilt stores are open, so I get to relax in the evening and the early morning.  Ahhhhh - that is nice.

I had done quite a bit (OK - a little bit) of research before I left PEI so I had a route mapped out and a list of store addresses so it would be easy to get from point A to point B.  But I had not checked store hours or much else.  I was going to wing it like I usually do.  So the plan was to get to Port Elgin in New Brunswick, then head up to Moncton, get those two stores and then SILLY ME - head down to Digby in Nova Scotia to get that row.  Needed to get one in Nova Scotia since I am out here.   There are two participating stores in Nova Scotia, but only one had a license plate.  I knew the license plate wasn't in the store, but no matter - I could personally order it and at least say that I had been there.

I had trouble sleeping the night before I left, so I was on the internet checking some more stuff and realized that the Digby store closes at 4 PM.   The Port Elgin store opens at 10 AM.  There was NO time to do the Moncton stores.  NONE!!   Trust me - I Google Mapped the heck out of the routes and it wasn't going to work.   DRAT - oh well - anyway - here is how my day went...............


Was hoping to get a last quick trip to the beach, but no time and it was raining anyway.  Got the house tidied up, the last bit of stuff packed in the car and I was off.

Good-bye house - you were fabulous!!!!

M saying good bye to the girls

They are already home as they took an afternoon flight out.   Oh yes - they are home, but I am going to have way more fun on my way home!!!!

Let's just say that it was TIGHT to get everything in the car.  Yes - I sort of rearranged things to hopefully give the dogs more room, but not so.  They are squeezed into the back, but they are fine.  I had to laugh as Sparky takes up a LOT of room - she lies right in the middle of the space so Little Sammy is crowded. I noted later that they ended up sleeping side by side. So cute, but couldn't get a picture unfortunately.

But I do have to say that I packed well - see - every available space was filled.  Can you find my black rain boots!!!!   And NOTHING falls out when you open the door!!!!

Well packed car!!!

I had spotted this field the day before.  It is filled with BIG ROUND PLASTIC covered bales and looks like a giant spilled a bag of marshmallows.

Big round white hail bales

Paying the toll for the bridge - $45.50

 Never seen the bridge from this angle before.  Notice the dreary sky!

The Confederation Bridge

So the GPS failed me on the way to the first quilt store. It could NOT find the address, but Google Maps helped and we managed to make it to Spruce it Up Quilt Shop in Port Elgin with no wrong turns.  Wow - this place was in the country and I was wondering if I was ever going to find it.  Well a big quilt block sign in the yard and two more at the roadside - I knew I was in the right place.

Spruce it Up Quilt Shop in Port Elgiin

I picked up a kit at the store and saw the most amazing pattern.  Unfortunately they were not selling it - they had done it as a block of the month last year.   I have the name of the pattern and company in the car but no time to go and get it.   I will try to post that later. Check out their blog above and you will see more shots of it in the store. A great little shop, but I didn't linger.

Adorable beach themed quilt!!!!!

Then it was decision time. Do I REALLY take the long way home and go to Digby or do I be rational and go through New Brunswick????   What the hell?  I am here and  a mere couple of hours away so I turned left to go to Nova Scotia!!!!!    Bring on the summer fun!!!!!!!!!!!

Gorgeous scenery through Annapolis Valley

I have been through this area on my bike several times - goes MUCH faster by car.


Now here is the thing - I have never been to the quilt store in Digby.  Had no idea if it was worth the drive, but they have a license plate and a row and that was good enough for me.   OH MY GOD!!!!!!    It was so worth the drive to go there.

A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop in Digby

Sign outside the store

Me with my row

They had not received their license plates yet - so I put in my order. But this shop had so many wonderful patterns that I had never seen before, beautiful fabric, lots of lovely items for sale.  Oh yes - I could have spent a long time and a lot of money, but I tried to be good.   I got there at 3 PM so plenty of time to spare, but would NOT have been enough time to get to the Moncton stores. I am very happy with my decision. And the owner, oh shoot - I think it was Darlene, was such a wonderful person. I wanted to stay longer to visit, but I also wanted to make sure I made the ferry. And the longer I stayed - the more I picked up to buy!!!!

I can just imagine how upset I would have been if I hadn't found out that this store closed at 4 PM and I assumed it would close at 5 PM and had gone to Moncton????   Oh yes - we won't go there because we don't need to!!!!!


Then off to the ferry to cross the Bay of Fundy to get back to New Brunswick.   I wanted to be early to ensure that I had a spot on the ferry. The ferry was at 5:30 PM so the timing of that was right on. NO - I didn't make a reservation - I don't travel like that!

In line for the ferry!

The girls waiting at the ferry. "Thank god - we are out of the car!"

The ferry arrives

Into the depths of the ferry

The girls had to stay in the car.  I know they were NOT going to be happy about that.  The crossing is 2 hours and 15 minutes.   I was in the cafeteria and I heard them announce that the estimated time was 3 hours. And the ferry was rocking and the engines were loud.  Oh dear - the girls are not going to like this. So I asked if I could go down to give them some Gravol to try and keep them happier.  When I arrived at the car, both of them were up and not happy.   I used the rest of my tuna sandwich to give them each a Gravol.   I felt a bit better, but they were not happy dogs.

Leaving Digby

Gorgeous day

Notice the clouds were gone. The day started out ugly and just got better and better as the day went on.

More scenery from the ferry!!!!

When I went back down to the car to prepare to leave the ferry, Sparky was out like a light, but Little Sammy - little nervous nellie was still up and not happy.  She was better when I arrived, but they were happy to get off the ferry with its' loud engines and vibrations.

On the ferry, I made a reservation for a hotel room in Saint John, and that was a quick trip from the ferry dock.

Once in the room, I got on the internet to plan the drive for today.  What if I went back to Moncton???  Oh for god's sake - that is ridiculous and just to pick up two patterns????   Don't be an idiot.  OK - so I am headed west today and back on track with my original route home. I have checked the hours of the stores and I am a little more than one hour away from the first store so I have loads of time to be leisurely this morning and write the blog!!!!!   I know where I want to end up tonight, but well - we will see what the day brings.

I'm in a non-smoking room at the Comfort Inn.  While the room is non-smoking, the hallways reek of cigarette smoke.  And let's just say that if I wanted to get high - the smell of that was quite prevalent last night as well.  Amazing though - these hotels are full, not so much of tourists, but working men.


Oh well - on that note - I am ready to finish packing up and get on the road again.


Have a great day and I HOPE to get access to the internet again to blog, but if not - don't worry!!!!!  I'll be home by Saturday!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!