...And Then There Was Nova Scotia!

Latest news! We were on the road again (and the ocean!) this last weekend, 10/4-10/9. This time we drove our truck right up the pier and onto The Cat, which is a badass ferry that goes across the Bay of Fundy from Portland to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and back to Bar Harbor. The boat is a hydrofoil, which means its hull actually skates ABOVE the water supported on underwater 'foils' that run just under the surface. This craft is about 300 feet long, accomodates vehicles as big as buses and does the 300-mile run from Portland in just over five hours! It has movie theaters, a small casino and bars and restaurants right on board.

After arriving in Nova Scotia (which is also called by the Canadians 'The Maritimes') we drove around the peninsula to our hotel on the east coast, the White Point Beach Resort. This place is amazing, it has been in continuous business since 1927, at which time the only way to get there was by rail from Yarmouth. Turns out the Rockefellers, the Kennedys, the John Astor family, and many other famous people have stayed there, as the place was a favorite summer destination from the United States east coast for many years. Lots of history there, many interesting and nostalgic photos hanging all over the place, and lots of atmosphere...

As is the standard on this site, see below for photos and captions. Click on any picture for a full-screen view; I recommend it, because some of these are really interesting.

On The Cat, And The Rooster Tails Are THIRTY FEET HIGH...


One Of The First Things We Saw Upon Arrival; Yes, He Is Wearing A Kilt...


This Was Taken Less Than 30 Feet From Our Cottage Door...


The Historic Lodge At Our Hotel...


Th Exterior Of The Lodge...


Us On The Beach...


Taken By St. Mary's Bay, And This Photo Has NOT Been Enhanced Or Edited...


Taken From Inside A Cave At 'The Ovens' (a weird and fantastic geologic formation on the Atlantic where the rocks have been 'folded' and uplifted over 300 million years, and where legend has it that the Native Americans figured out how to take a boat completely through the peninsula to the Bay of Fundy)...


The Cliffs At The Ovens, About 250 Feet Above The Water...


Looking Straight Down At The Folded Formations, About 250 Feet Above The Water...


This One Is For Kevin. 300-Million-Year-old Sediments Uplifted And Folded To Razors' Edges...

ADDENDUM...FOR KEVIN (AND ANYBODY ELSE WHO'S INTERESTED) FROM SCOTTY: This guy at NCSU thinks that the zircon samples in these rocks imply that the currently-accepted model of the mini-continent encounter that created (?) the Appalachians is wrong, that the Nova Scotia-Newfoundland region was accreted in a separate event prior to the larger formation on the Central East Coast. See below link for his C.V. and what I believe is a summary of his hypothesis. Please comment on the blog!

www.meas.ncsu.edu/Curriculum_Vitae_07/HibbardPERS.RES.pdf

Upper Ordovician–Lower Devonian strata of the Meguma terrane in the Canadian Appalachians contain zircon populations, including an important Mesoproterozoic zircon population (1.0–1.4 Ga), similar to those in coeval strata of Avalonia, and strongly suggest contiguous rather than discrete histories for these terranes throughout the Paleozoic. That these terranes were juxtaposed throughout the early Paleozoic is indicated by the absence of a Cambrian–Ordovician accretionary event, the lack of intervening suture-zone ophio litic units, and the similarity of Avalonian and Meguma basement Nd isotope signatures in early Paleozoic igneous suites. As Avalonia had accreted to Laurentia-Baltica by the Early Silurian, these data suggest that the Meguma terrane, like Avalonia, resided along the same (northern) margin of the Rheic Ocean at that time. These conclusions have implications for reconstructions of the northern Gondwanan margin in the early Paleozoic and imply that the Silurian–Devonian Acadian orogeny in Maritime Canada occurred in an Andean-type setting and was not related to collision of the Meguma terrane with the Laurentian margin.


I got LOTS more, but gotta charge the battery now. Be back later.

OK, up and running.

The Fishing Town Called Lunenburg, And They Still Speak German Here...


Again, 30 Feet From Our Front Door On The Second Evening...


The Lighthouse At Fort Point, Liverpool, On The Mersey River...
(NOTE: The main industry here in the 1600s and 1700s was interesting; most of the town's revenue was made by legalized piracy. The ships built here were primarily used to cruise the American East Coast, when America was still an enemy of Britain. They would fire upon and and capture American ships and commandeer them, and their cargoes, to be sold to the highest bidder, with a portion of the proceeds being paid to the British Admiralty as 'Privateering Tax'. Thus, the honored and profitable profession of 'Privateer'.)


The Tidal Power Station At Annapolis Royal...
(ANOTHER NOTE: This generating facility is on St. Mary's Bay, which is an offshoot of the much-larger Bay of Fundy. It generates 20 megawatts of electricity by the simple, and completely pollution-free, expedient of placing turbines on the bay and drawing power from the totally insane tides here. These run four times a day in or out, and at this point raise and lower the bay level by 13 meters, or about FORTY-TWO FEET! They are the highest ocean tides in the world.)


My Favorite Pirate...


The Ferry We Took Across The River To Mahone Bay. It Runs By Winching Itself On A Submerged Cable...

The Great 2007 New Hampshire Journey

OK, Allison says I need to be more conscious of how I do this, i.e. to post more compartmentally so as to enhance readability, so here goes...

We went, over this last weekend 10/28-10/30, to the White Mountains on a 'Foliage Tour'. This author, having grown up in the Mountain West, has treasured a somewhat obnoxious and elitist perception of the Appalachians, the range that includes the area we visited this weekend, as being the old, worn-down, toothless has-beens of North America. I here and now officially apologize to New England for having relegated these ranges to 'peon' status, for assuming that the area was 'kind and gentle' when compared to the Rockies, Sangre de Cristos, etc. The peaks in this area are NOT SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS. There, I said it. The topography in the Whites is every bit as challenging, awe-inspiring and potentially hazardous as anything I have seen; the region's inclines, watercourses, and its proclivity for devasting weather and avalanches make it every bit as formidable as anything we have experienced, with the possible exception of the South American Andes.

Following you may see some photos, just like all previous posts with captions, of our latest adventure. As always, click on the photo for a larger view.

The View Out The Windshield Entering The White Mountains...


Us In The Middle Of Glacial Debris, Swift River...


This Is Really How It Looks, No Kidding...


The Quintessential Sybarite...


The Train We Took To The Top Of Mount Washington (which, by the way, has 'the worst weather on the North American Continent', with a top recorded wind speed of TWO HUNDRED THIRTY ONE MILES PER HOUR, and has a specially-constructed weather station atop the summit with three-inch-thick chains holding it down to keep it from blowing away!). The train uses a ton of coal and 500 gallons of water to get to the top (only a short 3.5 miles) from the base station. Some areas of the track are inclined by as much as 37 degrees (which is REALLY STEEP). This is the FIRST cog railroad ever to go into service anywhere... invented by a New Englander that nearly died of exposure attempting to get to the top of this mountain...


On The Train, And It's Getting Cold...


We Enter The Clouds...


You Don't Need My Help With This One...


At The Top; Wind Speed 78 MPH, Tempurature 26F, Wind Chill -17F, Allison Couldn't Stand Up, And My White-Knuckle Grip On That Rail Is Not Merely To Appear Debonaire...

(Geophysical curiosity: this mountain actually extends INTO THE JETSTREAM, the primary mechanism driving climate in the Northern Hemisphere, as it descends off North America to the Atlantic. This explains the totally insane conditions which include an AVERAGE wind speed of 60 MPH. The highest recorded temperature EVER on this mountain is 74F, and it routinely drops to -40F in the winter. Record low: -84F. Not even the North Pole has worse weather.)


Getting low on battery, but we have lots more pictures, some REALLY cool, from NH. Be back later. Bye.