Friday, August 24, 2018

  After heading out from Lunenburg at 7 AM we came to the town of Bridgewater.  We saw this unpretentious looking diner and decided to give it a chance.  It was a good choice!  We had the very best customer service in all our trip so far! And a delicious breakfast to boot!

Jerry's Diner had a '50's decor and very personable servers! We thought the bathroom sign was very                                                                                                      unique!

We drove past these large boxes and could not figure out what they were for.

Later we asked someone, and found out this is where the lobster fishermen keep their catch to "store" them live until the price goes up, when they will get more money for them.  These boxes float in the water, with only the tops visible. Lobsters can live in here for weeks.
s.

We had a little '70's "flower power" going on here!

We drove to West Pubnico where we visited an Historic early 1900's  Acadian Village, overlooking Pubnico harbor.  They showed the way of life that thrived along this shore for several hundred years.

Here they were having lunch, cooked on a wood cookstove as it would have been done 120 years ago.  Funny.... I cooked like that in the '70's at Poplar Hill. It didn't seem that historic to me!

Am I really that old??😮

This bedroom does not look that historic either, except for the chamber pot!😄

Yikes!  I also used a treadle sewing maching like this!

Margie and Barb taking a turn quilting.....again, not that historic, is it??

These charming girls added to the atmosphere of the village.  

They were experiencing life in olden days as day campers for the week.

Rudbeckia are my favorite summer flower!

I never saw any as large and beautiful as these!

Below is the boat house, where they were making boats by hand.

Lobster traps

Quiet summer day on the docks.

When we were leaving the village we picked up a  brochure for a Tuna Tournament and Festival, happening this week! So we put the town of Wedgeport in our GPS and headed towards there.

On the way we saw this sign:

Barb thought it wouldn't take too long to pick 1-5 blueberries!😁

So we turned down the road to the next sign....

and turned down this dirt lane.

At the clearing down the lane we found a beautiful blueberry patch!

The lady said we could pick for $3.25 a quart

The picking was easy and we had our 4 boxes full in no time!  The blueberries were large and delicious!  The lady said we can eat all we want! BUT!  The mosquitos were TERRIBLE!! Even though we applied insect repellant,  we still had at least 6 sitting on each leg all the time!

               

 Poor Marie! Her feet caught a weed and it tripped her, sending her pel-mel to the ground! She didn't spill her blueberries cause the few  she had picked so far, she had eaten. 😊She wasn't hurt, thank God!  And she laid on the ground laughing so hard she could hardly get up!  We were all laughing so hard we almost.....well, you know what, ladies!😁😁😁😁

 We bought only 2 boxes and left the other two for the lady to sell.

We were so glad to get away from the mosquitos!

But what a fun experience!!😀

Before long we arrived in Wedgeport.

This tuna tournament started in 1932 and happenend every year until the war. It again started up 15 years ago. 

There were 16 participants in the tournament. Each fisherman had to keep the first blue-fin tuna he caught.

Before the weigh-in at 6 PM there was a sea food supper in a big white tent, starting at 4 PM.




Inside the Wedgeport museum....





Barb got the clam rappie pie, a well-loved traditional Acadian dish. It is not a pie in the conventional sense, as it does not have a crust. It is made my removing the liquid and starch from the potatoes and then reconstituting that remaining  potato pulp with hot broth, poured into a pan and baked.  Either chicken or sea food is added.  With chicken, it has a flavor similar to chicken pot pie.

                        Margie and Marie got the seafood chowder......

I got the marinated grilled tuna steak.  It was delicious!!  

After we ate we walked to the bleachers to get good seats for the 6 PM weigh-in.

This pic shows the tuna being hoisted out of the boat at the wharf.

.It was then brought in to be weighed.  

We stayed for the weigh-in of only 4 tuna, because we had about and hour and a half to drive to sleep.

The largest one we saw, weighed 775 pounds.

Each tuna was photographed with the fishermen who caught it.

Just in case it was the largest, the pic was already taken. 

A Tuna Cup was given to the winner.

As soon as the pictures were completed, the tuna was taken down and hauled by skid-loader to be processed immediately.

First the head was sawed off.

and something was cleaned out of the cavity.

Then the tail was removed and saved in a bucket.

Then it was lifted into a truck and packed in ice.

The tuna are tested for protein, and fat content, and auctioned to the highest bidder. 

Most of the tuna are sold to the Japenese. 

Depending on the quality of the meat, they can sell for up to $20 a pound!! 

This tournament is a fundraiser and all the proceeds go to charity.

At 7 PM we left the festivities and headed out of Wedgeport towards our motel reservations at Digby. One thing I wanted to do yet today was see the Cape Forchu lighthouse near Yarmouth.

Along the way we passed a lobster fleet.

When the fishermen drop their traps, they mark them with different colored buoys.

Each fisherman has his own color, we were told.

Modern day lobster traps.

One of the beautiful things that facinates us is the royal blue colored hydrangeas. 

We were wondering if they are a certain variety, or if perhaps the soil here near the water causes them to be this dark blue. On our way to the lighthouse we passed another bush, 

and stopped to take a picture.

After driving at dusk back a windy, bumpy narrow side road, we came to Cape Forchu Lightstation.

A lighthouse has towered over Cape Forchu's rugged headland since 1839. 

 This current lighthouse was built in a unique and iconic "apple-core" shape in 1962.

We arrived in time to see the setting sun over the Atlantic Ocean.

It was a quick stop, because the sun was setting and we still had miles to go before we slept. The Coastal Inn in Digby was a welcoming sight when we arrived , tired from a long but such a fun and interesting day!
Good-night!