May 22, 2019 – June 5, 2019

We were pleased when Piper walked casually into her kennel for the short flight from Toronto to Halifax (a cookie really does go a long way with her), and after a night in a hotel near the airport outside of Halifax, we taxied into the city and to our home for the next week, a room in a shared Airbnb house in central Halifax.

Our host, Ken, greeted us at his home with tea and his home made “Genuine Nova Scotia Oatcakes”, which he packages and sells in Halifax and as far away as New York City. Every morning we would wake to the smell of oatcakes throughout the house, and a bowl of them were always available for a quick snack throughout the day.

We did a lot of walking in Halifax. We visited the Maritime Museum, which, in addition to all of it’s old boats and maps, had displays about the Halifax Harbour explosion, a huge explosion (the largest man-made explosion at the time) that levelled much of Halifax in 1917, killing about 2,000 people and injuring about 7,000 people. The disaster happened after two boats collided in the Halifax harbour, one of which was loaded with explosives. Many people were blinded in the explosion; they had been standing at their windows watching the two ships burn when the explosion happened, sending shattered glass into their eyes. It was this disaster that helped to create the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, a non-profit organization that is still very active today.

We were not sure when we booked the Airbnb how we felt about sharing the house with the owner and other travellers, but we ended up really enjoying the experience. We also met several of Ken’s friends through out the week. One friend dropped by when Ken was not home and stayed for tea. We talked about our travels over the past year and a half and then we got out our maps of Nova Scotia and she gave us a Cape Bretoner’s take on good places to visit when we got to her island. (Sitting here writing this near Louisbourg in Cape Breton I realize how much great advice we got!) The three of us, plus Piper, then went to one of the many local breweries in Halifax for a dog-friendly beer experience. We found out that many of the breweries in Halifax allow dogs (as they do not serve food it is permitted), so later in the week we took Piper along to another of the local breweries where she received a lot of attention from the staff.

Another friend of Ken’s came by one afternoon to pick him up….. a genuine character, super-funny, Canadian personality by the name of Cathy Jones, (award winning actress, comedian and writer, perhaps best known for her work on Codco and This Hour has 22 Minutes). The four of us sat and talked for an hour or so, and it was very entertaining, to say the least.

We had booked our Airbnb until the 30th of May, the day our truck was due to arrive, and then realized that it was unlikely that we would actually get the truck that day, as the containers would need to be shuffled around, the truck would have to clear customs, and there would be paperwork to be completed. We contacted the agent who told us that it would likely be June 4th or 5th before we could get on the road again. We looked at our options and decide to rent a car and book another Airbnb (an apartment in a house built in 1776) in the nearby town of Mahone Bay for a few days.

When we got to Mahone Bay we contacted a couple that we had met in 2014 when we participated ed in the Yukon River Quest, the world’s longest annual paddling race (which incidentally they had entered into again this year and finished second in their class! Whoot whoot!). We met them in Lunenberg one evening for dinner, then found out that our Airbnb was just a few kilometres from their home. We were then invited to join them and another couple for dinner at their lovely home, an evening of traditional east coast seafood chowder, home made bread and lots of laughter.

The truck ended up being yet another day before we could get it, so we booked yet another Airbnb in Dartmouth, across the harbour from Halifax and near to where we would eventually pick up the truck. Finally we got the call, and we were reunited with our dear Seymour.

Halifax was a great place to spend a week. There are plenty of nice restaurants, super friendly people, and it is a very walkable little city. Our east coast adventure was off to a good start, and we headed out of the city, eager to see more of Nova Scotia.