Made it to Canada - EH!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

We made it to CANADA!  Mom and Dad were really pleased with how effortless it was to get across the border.  They just checked out Mom and Dad's passports, and my Vaccination Certificate, and we were done!  They didn't even want to look in the trailer or anything.  We were hearing horror stories at the Pot Luck last night about wine, liquor and potatoes (root vegetables not allowed).  Dad doesn't think it will be that easy to get back tho.  The lady at the information center in Saint Stephen where we crossed the border was really GREAT!  She gave us a TON of stuff on New Brunswick including the tide chart.  Very important around here because they have tides up to 53 feet!!!  You don't want to be on the beach at the wrong time!  She said it takes 6 hours for the tide to come in or go out.  We are staying in Saint John, New Brunswick at the Rockwood Park.

Things are really different here - they write their date funny - like today to us is 6/12/11, but they write it 12/6/11 - Dad said that's how the military writes it too.  They don't have miles here they have kilometers, (1.61 Kilometers to a mile); they don't have Fahrenheit they have Celsius (double the Celsius temperature and add 30 and you have the Fahrenheit conversion) and they sell gas by the litres (3.79 litres to the gallon).  We haven't bought gas yet - I think Dad is chicken.  We saw a sign for $1.23 per liter - that's $4.66 per gallon!  The speed limit was 100 K (60 mph) when we got on the highway.  Oh, and another thing - the time zone is Atlantic Time Zone, so that means when it's 4:00 pm here it's 12 noon on the west coast!  Mom said some things are coming back to her, as we drive.

After dinner we went for a little ride down to the "Reversing Falls".  That's where the water runs backwards because of the tide.  She took some pictures, and will post them when she gets more pictures of the water going the other way so you can see the difference.  In the mean time, here are some pictures Mom took on the drive up and when we got to Saint John:

 

Blueberry patch on the side of the highway




Rolling GREEN hills (in Maine)
on the way to Saint John, and yes,
it's overcast and raining.





The tide is OUT!




Old Church in Saint John




Even McDonald's has a special arch in Canada
(notice the maple leave in the middle)



















As you can see, we have Internet for the next few days, so we are all set.  We were going to stay here for two nights, but may make it three - too much to see!


Welcome banners at the information center in
Saint Stephen - this is where we crossed the border.
Everything will be in English and French!