The Little Caravan That Could: Day 30 Muscles Around the Campfire

Day 30 - September 19 - Muscles Around the Campfire - Oops, I Meant Mussels ;)

I never saw such a colourful village or town as Lunenburg. It was so yummy to see! Houses lined the streets in bright shades of red, turquoise, pink, orange. Even though they were such varying shades, not one appeared out of place beside the one is sat beside. I saw a town such as this in a minor form once before. It was up near Barkerville in British Columbia. A little town where some homeowners had taken little old houses and painted them almost garish colours, but something about how they did it worked.

Love the Name of This Street!

I could really stay in this small town for a few days, but I must move on. Today, we head towards Murphy’s Cove. Not being found on the GPS it will be somewhat of a challenge to find this location. When I was scouting around for places to stay on the internet I fell across this picturesque little family campsite, and I was intrigued. It sounded so much like The Mad Hatter restaurant which was run by my aunt and uncle when I was a teenager. Brian, the owner, was touted as being available to teach cribbage lessons. This would be something I would see my Uncle Tony doing.

A House Plan That the Framer Likes - So I Took A Picture In Case I Have to Design This!

The day before I had seen a sweater that I loved. I had gone into the store after noticing it hanging in the window and upon reading the tag thought the price so good it was worth a try. $60. I pulled it off the shelf and then saw another price - not $60 is all I will say! The sweater was in 100% British virgin wool and was handcrafted in Prince Edward Island. It was the kind of article that my dad had given me when I was a girl. He had owned a few sweaters from his seafaring days, and upon them being accidentally shrunk I had become the fortunate owner of them. I loved them, and one green one in particular, I remember snuggling up in, as it was so warm! The kids loved it and all voted I should buy it. I said no, but still looked through them all to see if they had my size. I asked the woman if it would be less expensive if I was to go through the supplier, and she said her prices were the same (I was to later find out this was nearly true). When she saw how much I liked it she said she would lower her price. Curious, I asked her how much? She dropped it by $20. Hmm. I asked her to hold it til noon the following day, and if I had not shown up by then, please put it back on the shelf.

I then went home and did the bills. :) I wanted to see how off track I was, and I was happy to see that my budget was extremely good, and I had been managing our money very well. Granted I had a transmission to pay for, but all other things taken into account, I felt I could gift myself the supreme present from Prince Edward Island. Isaiah was pleased with my decision. He knows I don’t treat myself very often.

So off we went and I dropped Isaiah at the store with the money, and drove around the block until he appeared with my lovely new sweater, and then it was off towards Halifax and Murphy’s Cove.

But before we headed there it was off to Peggy’s Cove we would go. I had heard wonderful reviews on the area and wanted to see what the raves were about. We pulled into a Visitor’s Centre and parked the caravan and then did a walk-about through the tiny village and saw the lighthouse and a few shops.

Had a Chuckle at This Unique RV

We packed a picnic lunch and headed down to the rocks that border the edge of the road of the Visitor’s Centre. There is lots of room to park an RV in the roundabout, and just at the bottom of the road, by the park bench, there is a path down to the rocks. We packed up our lunch and headed off for a couple hours of clambouring on rocks and the most incredible views!

Where's Waldo?

I asked Isaiah to give me a few good silhouette pictures, and he did a fine job…

Until he nearly fell into the water, then it got really creative!

Stranded!

Peggy's Cove Village

Lobster Traps

This shop was owned by a man whose family had been living in this village for decades. His son had the shop up the road, but (to me), sadly, they had no grandchildren out of the three children, which means that in some years both shops will no longer be held by family. That to me is very unfortunate!

Peggy's Cove Lighthouse

This picture is funny because I was trying to get a picture of the children with their feet in the Nova Scotia ocean, and so we decided they could put them in the water that ran past the lighthouse. Well, Israel took off his socks and left them on the rock, but they kept on tumbling into the water, over and over, and I kept on taking pictures trying to get one picture of them all looking at the camera, and not collecting the socks, or looking at each other while laughing.

This picture makes me think of Geppeto, the maker of Pinnochio. He sits there and paints old floats from fishermen and then covers them with netting to sell as souvenirs. After spending at least twenty minutes in his shop talking to him there was no way I could not buy something, even though I really didn't need any more knick-knacks for my 'boat'. So I finally chose two floats, and as I was at the till, Mr. Crooks sorted out a handful of shells to give in a little bag to Israel. I think he liked the fact that Israel, as usual, asked questions. That boy will grow up to be very intelligent one day, if he continues to learn as he does! This time he wanted to know why one of the weights was slightly heavier than the other, and Mr. Crooks took the time to treat him with great respect and gave him a very detailed response. When we left he kindly gave us two floats for five dollars, rather than the expected six. I do think it might have been because we took his work seriously, and showed interest and asked many questions about his life in the village.

Israel Asking About the Weights

After a couple hours playing at the shore, we headed to the town and drifted through a couple shops. And it was then off to Halifax. The kids were given the choice if we were to stay in Peggy’s Cove at a campsite, just down the road, or head for Murphy’s Cove, a couple hours away. They chose the Cove. So off we went with the intention of seeing if there was any time to go to the Maritime Museum in Halifax.

I had no clue how busy that town would be!! There was no parking to be found once I entered the city, and honestly, I was a fool at my timing because it was pretty much rush-hour, so I kept on driving right out the other side of town. I was saddened at that as I had really wanted to take them to see the Titanic and Halifax Explosion exhibits. My children have been exposed to *so much* culture, history and geography on this trip, and I am so incredibly happy they have had this opportunity!! And being blessed in that we homeschool means that it is not just a fun trip, but rather, a living field trip which they will continue to learn from once they are home and putting more thought into the journals they are writing, and eventually publishing complete with hundreds of photographs.

Downtown Halifax

Four Laned Traffic - Not So Cool at Rush Hour!

Once we got out the other side of Halifax we called the campground and got some coordinates for finding them, and about an hour later we arrived at Murphy's Cove. I could have not been happier with my choice. The entire time we stayed with them I felt that I had come home to Savary Island.

As we arrived at 8:30 pm, the communal campfire was already in full swing, and so we parked the RV with great difficulty in the dark, and then headed down to the circle of people huddled around the warm flames.

I will say first though, that it is not that easy to park a trailer in the dark. I might be getting good at it, but there is always that moment when you know that every man in the trailer park is watching you when you have to turn around and you aren't talented enough to make the turn in two moves. There I was sitting on the crest of the hill with a map in hand telling me that on my right would be two spots: 20 and 21, and all I had to do was turn to my right and I would end up in them. Easier said than done. That map and that land did not match! So I turned off my engine and my lights and sent a boy and a flashlight walking, so as to not raise an SOS to my situation. The funny thing is that I was not aware of how tiny that campsite was, and that just over the crest of the hill was the campfire, and I am sure they all were aware of my antics at the top!

We were welcomed heartily around the fire, and it turned out that all but two were from local areas and came on a regular basis to the campground because it was so beautiful. Murphy's has been in the Murphy family since 1776, and it has been a family campground since 1960. There are many elements that make it feel like you are coming home, rather than visiting a paid campground. For instance, the nightly mussel boil where Brian, the owner, puts on a pot of mussels to boil over the campfire, and all who wish a plateful can indulge. We did, and I have never tasted them before. They were interesting - not gross, and not delightful, but certainly palatable!

The funniest thing was when Brian decided to teach Israel how to eat mussels. He cracked open a mussel and said, "First, you have to open it up and take this little hairy thing out of it," as he demonstrated by pulled the rubbery mussel out by it's feathery edge. "It's called the beard, but I call it the hairy thing, and then you flick it in the fire and eat the mussel." And he proceeded to do this.

But first, Brian had to go through three mussels before he found one with a hairy thing, so as he cracked each open, he would say, "Oh, this one doesn't have a hairy thing," and he would pop it into his own mouth. He had Israel in giggles at his fun. Eventually, he found one with a hairy thing, and he pulled it off, flicked it in the fire, and then ate the mussel, having taught us all how to eat mussels properly.

"Oh, look! This one doesn't have a hairy thing!"

Enjoying the Mussels

Courage Watching Isaiah to Learn How to Eat It

Isaiah Spitting Out the Hairy Thing he Ate By Mistake Because it Was Crunchy

Song and Ayana Enjoying the Mussels

"You Like Sambuca?"

Toasting His Toes While Wearing a Toasty Hat

These people were ever so kind, and what we learned the next morning was that they were even kinder than we realized, when we were given an incredible gift by two of them.

After lots of relaxing, laughter, new friends, and fellowship, we headed back to the caravan for me to make a very late dinner. Israel quickly fell asleep.