Beaches around Halifax

When I googled on the internet, I found quite many beautiful beaches around Nova Scotia. So Nathan and I took the opportunity of living in NS this year to visit some beaches around Halifax. We have never swum in the ocean here, but we have done some picnicking and strolling on the white sand. My favorite is Crystal Crescent Beach because the water is very clear and the sand is pearly white. There's also a walking/hiking path along the coast that I enjoyed very much.

Well, in fact, we haven't really seen many beaches yet because we just moved to NS last summer and winter came quickly. Here's where we went in August and September 2015.

1. Crystal Crescent Beach

2. Cleveland Beach

3. Rainbow Haven Beach

4. Lawrencetown Beach

5. Clam Harbour Beach

6. MacCormacks Beach

Annapolis Royal and Port Royal

September 26, 2015 ---- Annapolis Royal and Port Royal are historically important because they were where the earliest Europeans who came to North America attempted to settle and built a community. In 1605, the French came to Port Royal first and made it the capital of the colony of Acadia. Later in 1613 the British destroyed the French settlement, so the French moved their settlement/capitol to Annapolis Royal, which again was seized by the British military in 1710.

Nathan and I drove to Annapolis Royal and then to Port Royal for a day-trip. The ride took about 2 hours from Halifax. Annapolis Royal is a very small town with few shops and some beautiful houses overlooking the Annapolis Basin. The tide was low when we got there, so we saw some boats floating close to the bottom of the basin. There wasn't much to see in town other than Fort Anne National Historic Site. We bought tickets and entered to see the exhibit about the history of the fort. It was quite impressive, and I learned a lot about the French and the British settlements around Annapolis Valley. Then we walked around on the green hill and enjoyed the warm weather and the beautiful view of the Annapolis Basin.

Port Royal National Historic Site is just a 10-minute drive from Fort Anne. It is a replica of the original French colonial settlement. The interior of each room was decorated according to what is believed to have been used during 1605 to 1613. Nathan and I visited each room with great interest. The kitchen, dining room, chapel, and sleeping quarters were well decorated to represent the days in the past. My favorite is the "trading room" where they kept many tools to trade with the Aboriginal people.

All in all, it was a great trip. I can't say that they are must-see places in Nova Scotia, but if you are in the area and interested in history, you will find it worth a visit.

Fort Anne National Historic Site

Annapolis Royal

Port Royal National Historic Site

Kejimkujik National Park

September 18, 2015 ---- Kejimkujik National Park is one of the two national parks in Nova Scotia. It consists of two separate parks, the inland part and the seaside part. Nathan and I went to the inland part for half a day to bike around. It took over two hours to get there from Halifax, so we didn't have much time to do many things in the park. Camping, hiking, kayaking, biking and star-gazing are all activities you can do there. You can also join in a ranger tour to see the petroglyphs, which is only accessible by the tour.

Nathan and I stopped at the visitor center first thing once we got there. We signed up for the ranger tour, which started at Merrymakedge's parking lot#1. We still had two hours before the tour began, so we took our bicycles out and biked on the biking routes the park had to offer. First we biked to rout#14 toward Jake Landing and continued on route#12. Most parts of the biking trails were flat and shaded well under the trees, but the part from Merrymakedge's parking lot to Jake Landing was hilly and rocky and we had to walk our bikes up/down instead. We wanted to keep going on route#13, but we ran out of time, so we had to take a short cut back to Merrymakedge.

We got back just in time as the ranger tour began. First we learned about the Mi'kmaq, the Aboriginal people who lived in the Atlantic coast of Canada. Then the ranger took us to where the petroglyphs are located. We all had to take off our shoes because the friction from the shoes can destroy the petroglyphs on the rocks. It wasn't easy to see the scratches the Mi'kmaq made on the rocks, so the ranger wet the spot a bit till the images showed. I have to admit that I wasn't impressed because I have seen lots of petroglyphs in other national parks before. However, these petroglyphs are different by the method of drawing. No colors or paints, just scratches on the rocks.

After the tour it was already late in the afternoon, and we wanted to get back home for dinner, so we didn't do more biking or try kayaking. I felt regret that we got there so late and didn't have time to kayak in the lake. Maybe next time....