From province to province, territory to territory… there are cultural, architectural and historical differences in Canada. Many are proudly presented, explained and documented in the local tourism booklets and plastered all over street signs. The more popular are touted as attractions with full page ads and colourful pictures. Some are even immortalized with monuments, street names and parks named in their honor. But what sometimes makes the biggest impression are the intangibles – the people.
It is sometimes the people you meet that make or break a trip. Sometimes it is people that make a good trip into a great vacation. I have noticed – without a doubt – traveling west to east that there is a vast difference in the “friendliness factor” from region to region. Some places just seem to breed nice people while others mutate into grunting, frowning monsters. In Fredericton, New Brunswick I was tripping over nice people allot.
Feeling BIG Time Canadian in San Quentin
The last few days I traveled from Edmundston to Fredericton – the capital of New Brunswick.
At the beginning of my trip I was on the road at 5 AM and took a detour route down some backroads looping around to the village of San Quentin before heading south. Why? Well… because for one I got an early start, it was a nice day, the sun was almost awake and San Quentin was supposedly a doorway community to wilderness activities.
But it was not the activities that stirred my interest.. nope.
What made my day was the massive, shimmering maple leaf located at the entrance of the village of San Quentin. When I arrived at 8 AM the first thing I saw was the maple leaf.
It sent goose bumps up my spine. It had “photo” moment written all over it. It could not have gotten any more Canadian than that at 8 in the morning at the start of a road trip.
Heartland Covered Bridge
Still beaming from ear to ear.. all pumped up on Canadian pride… I continued to the community of Florenceville. I stopped into the tourism office. Two young girls greeted me. I had to prompt them (seems I have to do this in many towns) to tell me about the parks, points of interests and trails in their community.
They said they had no trails. “Here we go again,” I shrugged. “But I just past one,” as I am pointing down the highway. “Oh, yah that one. It is not that bad. Follows a river, ” she giggles. “Ug,” I think to myself. I’m out of here. I walk the beautiful promenade on the waterfront of Florenceville. I took a picture of a well kept covered bridge. I hiked the trail, where there are no trails according to local resources.
Next I was Heartland – Home of the worlds longest covered bridge. From there I wandered down the River Valley Scenic Highway Route to Woodstock and then into Fredericton.
After a long day I settled into a campground on Mactaquac Lake in Fredericton, New Brunswick. As I am setting up base camp, my neighbour sees I am having issues with some of the levers and gears and comes on over to see if I could use some help. Funny how in some communities you cannot find help and in others it is always nearby.
It turns out the man and his wife camping next to me were from Fredericton. They were just camping to get away from the homestead for awhile. We seem to hit it off and he gave me some inside information about their community. We talked about Marysville, the Garrison, fishing, The Green Promenade, Nashwack River and Fiddleheads.
Turns out Fiddleheads (baby ferns) are eatable and are some sort of provincial deliquecy. My camping neighbour proceeded to fill me in on the cooking of the Fiddleheads and how people like to eat them with vinegar. It was interesting. I guess my camping neighbour sensed my interest in the local menu, so as I am finishing my research in Fredericton – guess who shows up but my camping neighbour with a jar of fiddleheads and New Brunswick syrup – yes straight from the tree. Like I said earlier, sometimes it is the good people who make great vacations. (Main BLOG Photo)
After researching all the parks, trails and sights in Fredericton I proceeded to get ready to leave. As I was packing up, my lock on my camper jammed. “Hmm.. a potential “suck big time” moment,” I thought. I took the lock a part and found that it needed some welding. I duct tape the door handle shut and was going to hunt out a welding shop on my way to St Johns.
On my way out of Fredericton I stopped into a Spring Shop and thought I would see if they would weld it. Give it a shot anyway. As it turns out it was “Good Guy” working day. The guy that greets me welds my lock for no charge and then we talked for 15 minutes about his trip to British Columbia and my trip across Canada. We laughed, we listened and then we left each other to continue on with their day.