We left the campground and took a drive down to Parrsboro, then headed to Hopewell Rocks via Moncton.
The route took us through backroads with the morning sunlight illuminating stands of trees in a blaze of Autumn colours. The next few weeks would change entire hillsides in a patchwork of yellow, gold, and red.
Memories from my childhood came flooding back – sitting at a friends house in Maidstone Village, South Africa,
reading Dennis the Menace comics, in awe at the fall colours drawn in the comic strips. Little did I know then that I would see them in real life five decades later.
We enjoyed the drive and stopped in Moncton to see if any walk in clinics could take Susan in for a checkup on the surgery incision. All were fully booked so we planned to stop in Sussex and see if they had space.
We arrived at Hopewell Rocks. Susan managed to walk the lookout and beach trails…in comfortable shoes.
The views looking out over the mudflats, and the monolithic rock formations were amazing.
We descended the stairs to walk the beach amongst the formations, and were amazed at the tidal change. The high tide mark way above our heads, and turning around, we could look down to the low tides gently lapping at the shore.
After all the walking, Susan’s back was in pain. Fortunately the ticket boot gave us some tokens to take the shuttle back up the hill.
We continued our drive, passing through the small fishing village of Alma.
Alma is famous for its wide variety of seafood chowder restaurants. Alma receives a considerable amount of tourist traffic in the summertime which supports its restaurants. Despite its population of 232, Alma hosts an annual chowder festival, which pitted seventeen different local seafood restaurants against each other.
We left Alma and drove through Fundy National Park, seeing more early Fall colours.
We continued our drive into Sussex, where Susan managed to see a family Doctor. The clinics were all fully booked, and the Doctors office managed to fit Susan into their schedule. All checked out okay, and there were no signs of infection or bleeding from the sutures.
We continued on our way to Saint John with an all clear from the Doctor, and boondocked at Walmart.