Hey “Sackville”… I’m in Sackville ! and visiting Sackville Waterfowl Park

(photo © kiwidutch)

Ok, it’s fine if you don’t get the first part of the title to this post. Please let me explain.  As a fanatical foodie, I am a long term member of the cooking website Recipezaar.com, and My screen-name there, as on this Blog is “Kiwidutch“.

Another long term member on “Zaar”  and her hubby, share the screen name “Sackville”.

It took a while before I found out that this cooking couple’s  screen-name is in fact a real place, in New Brunswick, Canada.

It’s a town close to the Nova Scotia border and  a university town and where the pair met.  This remarkable couple have been touring the world  for the last  3 years by bicycle !…

That’s packing  the bare essentials in pannier bags, a tent and transversing  30 countries and 46 000 miles  of peddle-power covering every terrain imaginable  and in all weathers.

They have experienced many adventures, shared  funny, startling, brilliant moments, and met amazing people, experienced wonderful cultures, unusual food and many enjoyable enlightening moments. They Blog too… and I’d highly recommend  a visit to their website:  The Travelling Two.

The friend we are staying with in Maine (and traveling with here in Canada)  is  also a cooking friend that I met on-line via Zaar.  Her screen name is “Elmotoo”. They visited us in The Netherlands  a while ago and now we are returning  the visit…  … and having  just too much of an excellent time together !

It just goes to show that you can meet some amazing people on line on via the internet. Naturally, you need to be cautious and take some time to get to know them first of course.

Sooo… Kiwidutch, Elmotoo and Sackville  are all cooking friends… and now Elmotoo and Kiwidutch are visiting Sackville where Sackville comes from!

(photo © kiwidutch)

Our first stop is a photo opportunity next to a convenient sign so that we can post out cycling friends a note to say that we really have stopped by … and then it’s off to the Visitors Center around the corner  because we have read about several places in Sackville  that we would like to see further.

One of these is the Sackville Waterfowl Park, the other is Tantramar Wetlands Center and Silver Lake, but there probably won’t be time to visit them both so the Visitor’s Center should hopefully be able to advise us on which is best for us today.

(photo © kiwidutch)

We are in luck.. the Waterfowl Park is situated right next to the Visitors Center and after a look around the arts, crafts and displays in the center we all tumble outdoors into the fresh air and sunshine for a lovely walk.

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

we come across a small covered bridge…

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

And the view out the window…

(photo © kiwidutch)

The board walks take us across water, to little islands, and though the wetlands…

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

I can see little creatures and plants…

(photo © kiwidutch)

..and a bigger one too.. is this a water vole? He’s sitting busy in the grasses… the rest of our party have raced on ahead and since I’m quietly following taking photo.. they missed this little chappie. I do have two camera’s, but the other one that has a far better zoom lens is with my friends daughter, because her own camera’s batteries have died after only a few photos this morning. I do my best to the lesser zoom that this camera has…

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

What a fabulous place…

Tourism Information Centre  .  34 Mallard Drive .  Sackville .  NB E4L 1G6  .  506-364-4967   .

1-800-249-2020  . visitor@sackville.com  .  http://www.sackville.com

New Brunswick, Canada: Moncton-Dieppe Super8

(photo © kiwidutch)

We have arrived at the outskirts of Moncton, New Brunswick,  in a place called Dieppe, and start looking around for accommodation. A quick perusal of several chains confirms that there is not too much difference in the prices in the  motels here…so we book  into a Super8 Motel.

Looks like many other people also had the same idea because there are only two rooms left. We even have trouble to find a parking space in the carpark the place is so full.

We take the rooms… on the floor below us our Friend and her daughters have a room with one double bed and a sofa bed that pulls out into a double. We have a room one floor above that contains two double beds, and by co-incidence, also a Jacuzzi bath.

The motel also has an indoor swimming pool downstairs: news guaranteed to delight the kids.

It’s getting rather late in the day and everyone is hungry, so we ask at reception if there is a nice place where we can eat that is close by. Indeed there is.. almost directly across the street from the motel.

We will unpack a few things, freshen up first and head there shortly.

Meantime the older kids are already begging an after-dinner swim in the pool. Ha! for our two at least it remains to be seen if they can stay awake that long.

We have booked in for three nights… we will use this a  place as a central point and leave the bags here so that we can explore  the region without having luggage piled up in the van, and avoid the more expensive accommodation costs of PEI, where we will go tomorrow. (Since this trip was rather spur of the moment last-minute,  all the reasonably priced accommodation seems to have been booked solid already)

(photo © kiwidutch)

There is a simple breakfast room downstairs and everything is clean and tidy, there is free internet available in the rooms, but you need to pick up a cable to pug your laptop into first. If you want wifi then it’s only available downstairs in reception or the breakfast room. Cables it is then….

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

Staff are friendly and the beds are comfortable. The view out of our window…

(photo © kiwidutch)

The swimming pool is a hit with the kids… of course in the interests of internet safety for children I will not post their photos of them coming down the water slide…  you’ll have to imagine the squeals of delight that preceded this…

(photo © kiwidutch)

A good place to stay.

(photo © kiwidutch)

Restaurant Review: The Family Cafe, Mc Adam, Canada.

(photo © kiwidutch)

We have arrived in Canada, stopped at the beautiful train station at Mc Adam, lamented that food was no longer served it’s it’s beautiful restaurant/ cafe inside and now, set off in search for food for the hungry masses with rumbling tummies in the van.

Ideally we are looking for a small family run place  that looks in any way remotely kid friendly, rather than any mass franchise and we were very soon rewarded by the discovery of The Family Cafe, which already has already scored a squealing chorus of approval from our kids who have spied a very large  playground right next door.

Inside there is a long  bench that my friend informs me is called a “lunch counter” complete with rotating bar stools that the kids immediately claim as their seats and tables dotted around the rest of the small premises.

(photo © kiwidutch)

We browse the menu and whilst Hubby and I are busy trying  our best to find out what means what,  since  “Muchie platter and Homefries”  are not terms that we are used to … and concentrating on finding something  for the kids to eat, so it’s a bit out of the blue when  suddenly my friend gives an exclamation of delight:  “Hey ! they have Poutine!!!”

.. err.. they have what???  ” Poutine??? what IS that ???” Looks like our food eduction of this trip is about to provide us with new lesson.

Poutine we learn, is  a dish of French fries topped with either grated or melted cheese and gravy… and it looks like this:

(photo © kiwidutch)

Personally I’m not convinced, I try a chip or two in the interests of Food Science and Discovery, but to be honest soggy fries are really not my thing, so I’ ll pass on this one. Apparently though this is very much a Canadian favourite and lots of places have their own variations of Poutine  all over Canada. So if it’s a typical Canadian Diner experience that you are after and you are not bothered by soggy chips, then go for it, treat yourself to this delight.

The rest of us opt for conventional items that we do recognise…    …and very nice it was too.

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

Tasty?  yes… Filling ? definitely,  it’s good diner food at it’s best and they fill you up without  putting cavernous holes in your wallet. Is it  balanced per fiber, calories, vitamins? of course not, but that’s what  we watch closely  when we are at home, and if you can’t be a little cuisinely sinful whilst on holiday, then when can you ?

They thoughtfully put a few interesting snippets and puzzle  into the place-mat along with the local  advertising, and it all goes well to keep the kids busy until our food arrives.

(photo © kiwidutch)

We finish our lunches without too much delay and with the kids out the door making a bee-line for the playground we get a little fresh air on a very hot day before we round everyone up again and get back onto the road.

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

My Rating would be 6/10 for good food,  plenty of it, friendly service, patience when explaining items on the menu that the Kiwidutch’s  didn’t understand. There is no pretense here and there doesn’t need to be. Simple honest food.

The Family Cafe, //   187 Saunders Road,  McAdam,  NB E6J 1M1,  Canada.  //    Tel: (506)784-3406

Crossing into Canada and a delightfully unexpected surprise…

(photo © kiwidutch)

We drive over the Canadian border into the State of New Brunswick and just ten kilometers down the road we come  to a small town. On the very outskirts we spot some unusual street signs and  pull over so that I can get a closer look with the camera… we muse… someone must really like trains here ?!

All is explained around the very next corner … before us is  an amazing sight… in a small town with an amazingly wide main street, and on the right hand side, standing alone and magnificent, a huge imposing stone train station!

Surrounded by forest the small town of Mc Adam is 43 miles south west of Fredericton. Why on earth is such a massive station doing in what looks like, the middle of nowhere? The answer is simple, Mc Adam was a very important junction in the Canadian Pacific Railway System, especially in the second half of the 19^th century when rail was the foremost method of travel in Canada.

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

In this region there were two very important rail networks, the first: the north-south route made by the St. Andrews & Quebec Railway and the second, the east-west route made by the European & North American Railway, that crossed the border into neighbouring Maine.

The place where these two lines crossed was first called “City Camp” due to the many logging camps in the area, but was later renamed for local lumberman, John Mc Adam.

(photo © kiwidutch)

In 1889 the Canadian Pacific Railway absorbed the other earlier railways and completed a line between Saint John and Montreal through Maine. For the next 40 years Mc Adam was a bustling station with as many as 16 passenger trains passing through each day. In 1900 it was decided that the  town needed a new station to handle the increased traffic.

(photo © kiwidutch)

Edward Maxwell was the station’s  architect and his vision was this imposing building in the Chateau style. Additions to the building in 1910-11 made it’s completed length 285 feet and 45 feet wide. The stone was quarried from nearby quarries and then, as today, it’s an imposing sight alongside this small New Brunswick village.

(photo © kiwidutch)

Because of the importance and location of this cross roads, this station has many ‘extras” not usually found in other stations. There are 17 rooms upstairs to accommodate travelers who needed to wait longer for their connecting train, a lunch counter, dining room, express office, baggage room separate ladies and gents waiting rooms and a customs and immigration booth since the Maine border was just a few kilometers west. There was even a police office. Rooms upstairs also provided accommodation for the 28 young women who worked in the hotel and dining room.

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

Mc Adam became the service center for all the connecting trains: maintenance facilities, machine shops and rail car repairs were all carried out here, and with 650 rail employees Mc Adam became Canadian Pacific’s busiest junction east of Montreal.

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

After road transportation became dominant and rail declined, the hotel facility closed in 1959, and the lunch counter followed in 1976 after 75 years of service. The last passenger train departed in December 17, 1994.

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

The Mc Adam station is now designated as a national historic site.

(photo © kiwidutch)

Of course I didn’t know all of this information about the Mc Adam station myself… my text is inspired and  re-written from David Folster’s Canadian Geographic article, which is featured within the station as part of the museum display.

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

(photo © kiwidutch)

This discovery just goes to show that taking smaller routes off the beaten track when traveling  can yield wonderful and unexpected things to see that you would never have known about if we had been on an impersonal motorway. It might cost more time, but discovering the gems  away from the crowds is truly delightful. What a wonderful  introduction to Canada !