Final tides, ocean and seafood...and shower.

We had a good night sleep last night at the Shire and woke to a fresh batch of hungry mosquitoes in the trailer.  We made sure they were short lived before making breakfast and heading out.  The campsite was one of those rare finds that you kind of wonder whether or not it will turn out at first.  Well, this one was pretty cool and I am glad we took a chance on it.  Apparently it is land belonging to a family for seven generations and he last few have turned this chunk into a free camp area for travellers.  Mike chatted with the owner a bit and says he's a really nice, down to earth guy.

Anyhow, from The Shire we headed out towards Fundy National Park, stopping for sweetbread on the way of course.  We checked out the tides, rocks and creatures at Wolf Point Beach and then drove out the other side of the park in search of a swimming beach.   

 Very cool news:. Mackenzie and Matthew just finished all the Canadian Provinces for their Jr Xplorer tags!!  Yeah!  New Brunswick was their final tag for the collection 

Along the way we stopped in Saint John to check out a funky gift shop I saw.  It's run by a happy, exentric guy who immediately fave each of the kids a lollipop.  In a crowded shop full of glass knick knacks.  I say he wanted to get the kids all sugared up in the hopes that they would jump around and break junk that we would have to buy.  In reality he was just a happy, sweet guy and Matthew ended up buying himself a little stuffed lobster that he calls 'Mr. Crabs'.  Go figure.

We ended up at New River Campground in New River Beach Provincial Park this afternoon for a decent deal.  $30 for the night gets us hydro so we can charge devices without worry, actually plug in the coffee maker instead of boiling water (actually a huge perk), hand-held and hang-dry enough undies to get us home (we're getting desperate but we're to close to home now to pay for laundry) and have our last expected showers until we get home.  Not a bad deal for the price.

Our afternoon/evening event was the final opportunity to swim in the Atlantic Ocean on this trip so we all got wet.  I went in just over my knees...a record.  Mack stayed in for ten or fifteen minutes and the boys stayed in about 20-25 minutes with their snorkels and masks.  We left the gear all up as high as we could on the beach since the tide was coming in and we headed to the end of the sand to where the huge rocks were.  We spent nearly an hour going through the rocks and seaweed, checking out the sea life there.  The kids ended up making dams and rivers, trying to keep the tide from making it all the way around the back of the rocks but the tide was way too fast and strong.

Everyone was getting hungry and tired so we asked the campground people where to get a good  seafood dinner.  Lots of places close real early around here so our options were somewhat limited.  We ended up at BayBreeze Motel Restaurant, a little mom and pop place that, with six tables occupied, was "swamped".  Not bad food but not quite what we were expecting for the price.  Mike did get a really yummy lobster stew that was more like a soup but the rest came out as fries and deep fried shrimp or scallops.  Tasty and we'll cooked with really nice people so overall it was a good stop.

Now we are back at the trailer, showered (hooray!) and I think we got rid of the funky smell.  Lol.  Maybe it's just the smell of 'us' after four weeks on the road but we have done well keeping the trailer clean and tidy each day.  We kicked the dirty laundry bucket outside to air out and that has made a difference.  I probably shouldn't tell the world this but it's part of life on the road.... We did laundry a week and a half into the trip and not since.  We just got to busy and didn't get back to the trailer for bed until late.  Staying in parking lots is not conducive to getting those things taken care of and by that time each day we just wanted bed.  So now we sit here, three days out from home and it seems silly to spend time and money getting laundry done.  Instead we put enough undies in a bucket, got them washed and hung them outside.  No worries friends, you will smell us coming as we get closer to home!