We spent eight days on the island of Grand Manan in New Brunswick, so we did a lot of things. One of my favorites was hiking around Ross Island. At low tide, we walked across the wet mud flats to Ross Island. The road was filled with huge puddles that were up to our knees. At first we tryed to stay dry by walking on the sides or on side paths that were slightly less wet, but soon I gave up and just waded straight through the puddles. Ma and Pa (with Little Kid on his back) eventually decided to just wade too. When the trail wasn’t a huge muddy puddle, it was a route along the beach or a confusing trail through the woods that was impossible to follow. On the beach part, I picked up a huge inflatable buoy that I carried for the rest of the hike.
Another day, we drove out to one of the lighthouses on the island named Swallow Tail. After walking down to it and having a picnic lunch, we returned to the car and drove to a rocky beach. From there hiked to Hole in the Wall, which was a hole in a rock wall down by the ocean. You probably could have paddled through it at high tide, which would have been awesome. When we got back to the car, we drove to Deep Cove Beach. I made a raft from a board and did a little swimming and rafting on a little creek there.
We liked Deep Cove Beach so much that a few nights later we went back and had a picnic there. This time, I used some boards and logs to make a bridge across the creek. It was a bit wobbly, but it got the family across dry, so I think it was a pretty good bridge.
We also took a ferry to White Head island, and we had an amazing time exploring it. We had lunch on a rock that was pretty close to turning into an island, and played at a sandy beach.
One day, we explored Dark Harbor, which was pretty dark because of all the fog. We walked way out on a spit of land between the harbor and the main ocean, occasionally stopping to look at old broken houses or bits of debris. Once we saw a house with only a floor, a sink, and a stove left. We turned back when there were so many bits of driftwood that we would have been wading in it.
The ferry back to the main land was very pretty. Little Kid got a blanket as well as knitting lessons. I got knitting lessons too, and now I am getting ready to knit!
