Our Maritimes Road Trip - Riviere Du Loup to Fredericton

I love phernergan. The Youngest slept well, and all traces of her stomach bug had disappeared by this morning. She was ravenous on waking and like all good parents, we filled her up with goldfish crackers and Tim Hortons timbits (little donut balls). 

We left our hotel at 8am, and headed south from Riviere du Loup for an hour to Edmundston. Words just cannot describe the drive. The colours on the trees are exploding everywhere and every turn in the road provides yet another spectacular vista. It does not look real and my constant exclamations at the colour brought forth the comment from The Eldest - 'Mum - you sound just like Grandma!'

(Grandma - it was in reference to my constant stream of 'Oh my god, look at that, is that for real, it can't be real, look at that, can you see that' which I think The Eldest remembers from the cottage visit! Don't worry -  I took this as a compliment!!!)

Photos cannot ever ever do it justice but here are a few so that hopefully you get some understanding of just how beautiful our drive was today. 

We have definitely chosen a great time for this road trip - colour was what we wanted, and colour is what we are getting. 

We noticed many of the beware of the moose crossing signs and the fences up to keep the moose from the roads. I never realised just how big a Canadian moose is - but this sign made it quite clear. Big right? Happy to be driving during the daytime that's for sure!

After crossing into New Brunswick, we stopped at the New Brunswick Botanical Gardens - originally to have brunch, but although the website said their cafe was open for Sunday brunch through to October, actually that meant that they closed at the end of August and open for one week in October. Still, we managed to have a great walk through the gardens, stretching our legs and enjoying a very unseasonably warm Fall day. 

From Edmundston, we travelled another 40 mins to Grand Sault / Grand Falls. There were no guided tours on offer, and with the day getting quite hot, we did a mini walk around the first part of the guided tour track. The water level was very low, so not much waterfall activity, but the gorge looked pretty and we could imagine how impressive it must be in Spring with all the snow melt. 

And it's nice to see my children embracing the touristy thing and collecting their guides to read. Forget that the guides were for Miramichi, where we are not heading to(!) or that they were upside down - at least they are getting into the spirit of the road trip. 

From Grand Falls, we drove to Hartland to see the world's longest covered bridge - it was closed to traffic, but we had a quick look see and took a couple of photos. 

Then we headed on down to Fredericton, our overnight stay for tonight. We were exhausted by the time we arrived, so it was a lovely family swim, dinner in the sports bar, and lights out for all. It was a great road tripping day! Bring on more of the same tomorrow!

Jen x