Day 11 -- to Digby, NS

I woke up early this morning and thought that the light in the kids' room had been left on. Really, it was the brilliant sun streaming in through blinds that wouldn't quite close. It was like the room was on fire.

It didn't take long for the light to wake up the kids, so we all got up and and got moving, re-packed all of our clean laundry and headed out the door.

We got in line for the Saint John-to-Digby ferry, the Princess of Acadia, and drove our car on board shortly after 11 local time. (We're on Atlantic time, now -- an hour ahead of Eastern.) We parked in the huge belly of the boat, along with 150 other cars, trailers and even semi trucks, and then ventured upstairs to explore. We found two lounges, a movie area, a cafe, a coffee bar, a gift shop, a kids' area and at least two decks with seating. This is why Clare has been talking about The Boat since we left Indiana. As in, "Mommy, what day are we going on The Boat that has movies and snacks?"

For the next three hours, as the boat chugged along at a brisk 18 knots (about 20 mph), we played board games, read books, ate lunch, and the kids spent some time making crafts and watching movies in the supervised children's play space.


Fastest three hours of my life, I think. All of a sudden we were docking in Digby and we had to drag our children back down to the car.


We drove into Digby and found a large supermarket where we could stock up on supplies. We have been stopped many times by people who are interested in the Teardrop, but here, in this one parking lot in Digby, Nova Scotia, we must have stood and answered questions about it to curious passers-by for a good 45 minutes. Most of them were just driving by on the road when they saw it in the parking lot and just had to pull in and see it. Canadians: They sure are a friendly, chatty crowd.

We had only a short drive to our campground, in Parker's Cove, outside of Annapolis Royal. What a stunning spot; our campsite overlooks the Bay of Fundy. There's a pretty stiff breeze coming off the water -- it's doing a nice job of drying off our soggy tent -- but we are still fairly protected by a some small shrubs and brush (including raspberries bushes loaded with ripe berries, much to the delight of the kids).


After dinner tonight, we set up our camp chairs next to the Teardrop and watched the sun sink into the bay. Exquisite.