The Last Day?

It's the final day of our journey, or at least it was supposed to be.  We left Quebec last night and drove the three hours to Edmundston, New Brunswick where we stayed the night.  There was not much to see driving in the dark, but it was all according to plan after spending the day touring Quebec.

After waking up and having our usual continental breaky, which I think Liam is going to expect every morning in the future, we were off on the roads again, headed straight for the Confederation Bridge that links PEI to the mainland.  We had planned one longer stop in Fredericton to help ease the burden of the long drive.  The drive to Fredericton was very nice as the leaves are a little further along in their advancement towards Fall.  Even certain trees that looked like "evergreens" were turning a shade of yellow, which made me think that they are a form of Tamarack...and obviously not a true evergreen.

Our stop in Fredericton was about two hours long and we went to 'Science East', a science museum filled with neat little experiments for kids.  It was a little old for Liam, but I certainly enjoyed it...a little on the expensive side though at $16 for two adults.  Liam did seem to like flipping switches and pulling levers, and most of the other hands-on type experiments.  I guess the Museum used to be an old town prison where many prisoners were held, tortured, and otherwise executed.  The basement "dungeon" as they called it was historically restored, and was not meant for two year olds...even I had a bit of the "heebee jeebees" when I was down there seeing if it was okay for Liam to head down there.  We had meant to have lunch at Brewbakers, a well known restaurant in the heart of downtown, but never made it there due to downtown parking.  It's not easy finding double-length stalls, much less street parking for our "Rig".  I actually almost got us stuck once again trying to turn around in...what I thought was a street, but in fact was a cul-de-sac.  Shan just rolled her eyes and got out once again to help me with backing up.

On our way out of Fredericton, a wicked rain storm drifted over us and pelted us with large drops of rain, thankfully no hail.  The storm clouds looked ominous and if I could drive and hold a camera, I would have taken a picture.  Shan doesn't like to take pictures of menial things like clouds.  That storm followed us all the way to Moncton where it hit us again with a sideways downpour that I haven't seen in a long time.

So, here we are stopped for the night in Moncton.  The variables just didn't add up with us making it to PEI tonight.  We started off late from the hotel this morning after a late night of driving the previous night, our stop in Fredericton was longer than anticipated, Liam had skipped his nap and was almost entering "squirrley mode", and the sun was setting just as we entered Moncton.  Also, there were signs all along the highway warning of giant moose that may wander onto the highway at night.  If the moose on the sign were drawn to scale, we'd be looking out for 30 ft tall moose, and that's something I don't want to contend with. Tonight we diverted from our usual Days Inn stay to a Super 8 stay...our first on our trip.  The hotel is nice, and it had a pool...which for the last time on this trip...Liam loved and didn't want to leave.  At the very least, it's a bed for the night for which we are thankful for.  Our family can now be well rested for the 1 1/2 hours remaining on our long journey, and appear to be "happy" upon arrival.

With that, I'll once again say "au revior" from the most bilingual town in Canada (even more than Ottawa?), Moncton, NB.  Moncton is also known to have the most Tim Horton's per capita in Canada as well.  We must have passed at least ten of them just on the highway, and from our prior visit to Moncton, we know of a location that has two locations kiddy-corner from one another.  Amazing.

Good night, God bless, and Happy Sabbath.