26 Aug 2017 - Annapolis valley and Wolfville

We both slept very well and were up around 7. Another beautiful day in Grand Pre. We looked at the beach again and the tide was so far out. We were amazed that so much water could come in and out so fast.  Headed off to the Annapolis Royal Botanical Gardens, our destination for the day.
 The Annapolis Valley is world famous for being very picturesque. Having said that, the Highway 101 down to Annapolis Royal cuts through the middle of the valley and does not actually allow for very many of those wonderful views. We did see lots of trees, lakes, hills, a few farms and some small towns. Wolfville looked quite interesting and we figured we would stop in there on the way back if we had time.

It took us about an hour and a half to drive to the Historic Botanic gardens and they were very nice.  They were releasing monarch butterflies that day and so we stayed around for that momentous occasion and were glad that we did. while we waited we wandered. 

The gardens are quite large and varied with many flowers still in bloom. I liked the rose garden especially, and the bay walk and the old house that showed how people lived way back when. What must their lives have been like?  
As we wandered we chatted about other gardens we had been to in Europe. Not exactly comparing but rather identifying similarities in all gardens, pathways, statues. fountains. views.

 We made our way back to the butterfly release area of the garden and there was a small group of people already there. Two people bought out two large net containers. the lady reached into one of them,  and gently took hold of one of the monarchs. bring it out she asked if anyone had a birthday that day. 

A young lady said it was her birthday and the lady with the butterfly came over and put the monarch on hand which then flew to  the young girls nose. The monarch sat there for awhile before fluttering off. It was very fun. They did this for each butterfly. Bringing one out and either placing it in your hands or on your person. I did one and it flew away straight away no lingering loitering there. but it was fun and very different. 
 

Annapolis Royal is a smallish town but with a lot going on. We found the information centre and we were waiting for the information centre to open up there was a great number of people arriving in the parking lot getting ready to go on a wine tour bus. It looked like a fun group and sounded like it would be a great trip but we were all ready to explore the area and not ready to drink and drive. When it opened up we picked up some info on Nova Scotia, Annapolis Royal and  we asked about going to the historical houses of the area and did find one that was close enough to walk to.  One thing that both Margie and I noticed about just about all of Nova Scotia is that all the houses are so well taken care of. The older ones are all painted and with cleaned up yards. We did not see hardly any junky houses or messy yards, and the people were all so nice and friendly too. 
Wikipedia says" Today's Annapolis Royal is the second French settlement known by the same name and should not be confused with the 1605 French settlement of  Port -Royal National Historic Site also known as the Habitation. This new French settlement was renamed in honour of Queen Anne following the Siege of Port Royal in 1710 by Britain.  The town was the capital of Acadia and later Nova Scotia for almost 150 years, until the founding of the City of Halifax  in 1749. It was attacked by the British six times before permanently changing hands after the Siege of Port Royal in 1710. 
Over the next fifty years, the French and their allies made six unsuccessful military attempts to regain the capital. Including a raid during the American Revolution,  Annapolis Royal faced a total of thirteen attacks, more than any other place in North America. As the site of several pivotal events during the early years of the colonization of Canada, the historic core of Annapolis Royal was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1994.

We headed back after a bit of drive around town and stopped off in Wolfville which is also a very active town. The market was open and so we started there. Then we wandered up one side of the Main Street popping into shops and then back again on the other side of the street. Stopped into a wool shop and bought some lovely wool and the lovely owner told us about a website that would give you free patterns for items made from one skein of wool. Ravelry was its name and here is the link ; https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/crochet-one-skein-wonders-101-projects-from-crocheters-around-the-world/patterns.  We stopped in at Elmer and Joe's Food Emporium for lunch and it was very good, though we each had a breakfast for lunch.

We headed back to Grand Pre going a different route. we found a wonderful lookout of Grand Pre, with a church and a statue of Evangeline and an historical marker  with some historical information about Grand Pre.  there is an area in Grand Pre where the migratory shorebirds gather in huge numbers so we  wanted to see that. It was not exactly a bird sanctuary, more like a part of the beach that had lots of signs " do not bother the birds" there was a young lady there taking a poll about why we were there and giving us some information about the birds and the area. 

We mentioned to her about the turtle rescue in Mazatlan and how they got the schools involved as part of the education of the locals.  She was very interested in that.  We enjoyed walking along the dykes and the beach with the birds and we made sure not to bother them. 
We then headed back to our little Sea breeze Motel to walk the beach one last time.We did stop and get an ice cream at the little pizza ice-cream place next to the motel too as it was quite warm out. We walked the beach and watched snails in the sand, the water rushing out and the wonderful sunset again.