JAMES: When I crawled out of bed this morning at about 6:30 am, everyone was already awake as usual. The howling winds had died down. The rain had stopped. We had fried eggs and pastries for breakfast. Then we washed dishes, packed and were on our way.
Today we return to the Hilton Garden Inn hotel for our flight tomorrow morning. The drive was no big deal. We stopped halfway in New Glasgow. We found a park along a river with a long hiking trail beside it. It was a decent walk but kind of a scuzzy industrial area. It was a rails-to-trails path so it was flat and well maintained. We walked a mile and half out and back again. It was overcast and cool but we warmed up nicely once we got the blood pumping.
SUSAN: The path was right on the East River of Pictou called the Samson Trail which was built on Canada’s oldest iron railroad bed and named in honor of the historic Samson Locomotive. It had lovely color at this time of year with the trees. There was an area that had beautiful red bushes and John and Christine noticed a memorial to people that are tragically killed. We were wondering what the back story was on it.
We wanted to eat lunch here so we chose the River Run Cafe. I had a great potato bacon soup and biscuit. It was wonderfully spicy. The people working there looked as though they were developmentally challenged. They were all very careful in serving.
As we were going back to our care are noticed this really colorful box next to a drab gray building. I asked everyone what do you suppose that is...it ended up being a Post Box. It really stands out!
Our drive to Halifax was uneventful. Got there around 2:30 pm. They let us check in early. John and Christine took the rental car back. They were expecting the worst since we had the drivers side mirror damaged. They got back around 3:45 pm and said that their Apple maps program led them astray and they ended up going into the airport parking ramp. But they got out right away at no fee and found the rental car return. Once there they explained what happened. I guess the rental car company deals directly with the insurance company which in this case is Costco. Christine as the person listed as the car renter will have to file a claim after she receives it from Alamo. It is unlikely they will be charged anything. The person at the desk, a young girl, was so nice and said they would take $60 off the rental since we had lots of gas left in the car and we had a difficult trip. Canadians are such lovely people! When Christine asked where the shuttle back to the hotel could be found, the woman signaled to one of their people so he could drive them back to the hotel. That person was a fascinating 67 year old man (Jahn) who fled Poland to Austria during the fall of the Iron Curtain. He was a refugee and was given the option to emigrate to Canada, Australia, New Zealand or the US. He chose Canada and he went on to be the Canadian Kayak Olympic team coach. He traveled all over the world with the team. WOW!
We had dinner at the hotel ‘Cannery’ again. I had the margherita pizza which was OK, no great shakes. But the baked lobster and crab dip was great! I had a couple of pilsner beers which went down quickly! Very light, refreshing beers.
After dinner, Christine went to bed but the rest of us decided to play Quiddler. I took another beer to go and sipped on that while we played Quiddler. It was a nice quiet evening and I was ready for bed at 8:30 pm!