I Don’t Want to Leave Nova Scotia | Solo Road Trip Winding Down — Transcript

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1. 0:02After leaving Cape Breton, I headed down
2. 0:04to Nova Scotia's South Shore.
3. 0:07I had heard Peggy's Cove was one of
4. 0:09those places you just have to see if
5. 0:11you're in the area.
6. 0:13Usually when somebody tells me I have to
7. 0:14see something, I'm skeptical.
8. 0:17Tourist attractions [music]
9. 0:18just aren't usually my thing, but this
10. 0:21one, I get it. [music]
11. 0:23There's something about a place that's
12. 0:25built right into the rocks. You can tell
13. 0:27the ocean has been shaping this
14. 0:29coastline for [music] thousands of
15. 0:30years, and the little fishing village
16. 0:32just figured out how to live with it
17. 0:35instead of trying to change it.
18. 0:37I spent a long time [music] just
19. 0:39wandering around, taking pictures,
20. 0:42watching artists sit out on the rocks
21. 0:44painting,
22. 0:45looking at boats coming and going.
23. 0:47Nobody seemed to be in a hurry.
24. 0:50One thing I've noticed about Nova Scotia
25. 0:52is that [music] it doesn't try very hard
26. 0:54to impress you.
27. 0:56There aren't giant attractions every few
28. 0:59miles [music] or flashing billboards
29. 1:01telling you where to stop next.
30. 1:03The beauty is quieter than that.
31. 1:06It's fishing villages [music] that have
32. 1:08been here for generations, hundreds of
33. 1:10years even.
34. 1:12It's little art galleries tucked into
35. 1:14[music] old buildings.
36. 1:16It's roads that hug the coastline for
37. 1:18mile after [music] mile. It's the kind
38. 1:21of place that rewards slowing down.
39. 1:25And maybe that's [music] why this part
40. 1:26of the trip hit me differently.
41. 1:29When I left home, I was chasing
42. 1:31destinations.
43. 1:33I had this huge route planned out with
44. 1:36all these places that [music] I dreamed
45. 1:38about seeing.
46. 1:39Every morning I'd wake up thinking about
47. 1:42where I needed to get to next.
48. 1:45Somewhere along the way, that changed.
49. 1:48I stopped worrying so much about the
50. 1:49destinations [music] and just started
51. 1:51enjoying the drive.
52. 1:53The South Shore wasn't my favorite
53. 1:55[music] part of Nova Scotia, Cape
54. 1:57Breton, still has my heart, but [snorts]
55. 2:00the South Shore gave me something
56. 2:02different.
57. 2:03It gave me room to think.
58. 2:07From Peggy's Cove, I traveled down to
59. 2:09Lunenburg, and then I turned toward the
60. 2:11Annapolis Valley.
61. 2:14The landscape changed again. [music]
62. 2:16Instead of dramatic cliffs and rugged
63. 2:18coastline, there were rolling hills,
64. 2:21>> [music]
65. 2:21>> orchards, little farms, and vineyards
66. 2:24stretching across the valley.
67. 2:26It almost reminded me of Vermont [music]
68. 2:28in places.
69. 2:30By then, I realized I wasn't really
70. 2:31sightseeing anymore. I was just living
71. 2:34for a while.
72. 2:36I think that's one of the reasons I love
73. 2:38road trips so much.
74. 2:40For a few weeks, life gets wonderfully
75. 2:43simple.
76. 2:44You wake up, you decide which direction
77. 2:47to drive, you pull over when something
78. 2:50catches your eye,
79. 2:53eat when you're hungry,
80. 2:55stop when you're tired.
81. 2:57Somewhere in all of that, your mind
82. 2:59finally gets quiet enough to hear itself
83. 3:01again.
84. 3:02And I think maybe that's what this trip
85. 3:04has really been about.
86. 3:07Hi there.
87. 3:10So, I've often changed my plans a little
88. 3:11bit again.
89. 3:13And that's what I do as I move through
90. 3:16my trip and depending on how I feel and
91. 3:19what I see as I go.
92. 3:21And um
93. 3:23I you know, I told you in the last video
94. 3:25I decided to see both the South Shore
95. 3:28and the Fundy Shore on my way down to
96. 3:30the ferry.
97. 3:32Yesterday, I took a trip to burnt coat
98. 3:34head
99. 3:36and then I drove down to Peggy's Cove.
100. 3:39And I have to tell you, I was not
101. 3:41disappointed. I was not sorry that I
102. 3:43drove all the way across
103. 3:46to the other side to see Peggy's Cove.
104. 3:48It was really charming. I expected a
105. 3:51kind of a tourist spot, and it was
106. 3:52touristy. I mean, there were
107. 3:54there were it wasn't touristy. It held a
108. 3:57lot of its
109. 3:59original charm, but there were a lot of
110. 4:01tourists there, but not overwhelmingly
111. 4:04so, and I found a place to park, and
112. 4:08I spent pretty much most of the day
113. 4:10there.
114. 4:11The
115. 4:12photos that I took to send back home
116. 4:15were just spectacular, and I didn't have
117. 4:17to do anything to them. The sky was
118. 4:19perfect It was partly cloudy, so the sky
119. 4:22was beautiful blue with white cotton
120. 4:24ball
121. 4:26clouds, and
122. 4:27all of the colors along the shore with
123. 4:30the
124. 4:31inside the harbor with the different
125. 4:32color boats and lobster traps, and it
126. 4:35was just a really stunning landscape.
127. 4:38Very unique. Um and then from there,
128. 4:42I
129. 4:43drove down to Lunenburg, and just hung
130. 4:46out there for a while. Really
131. 4:47picturesque. It was a Saturday night, so
132. 4:50there it was a very lively scene. I
133. 4:52could hear music playing. There were
134. 4:53people
135. 4:55um
136. 4:56coming in for dinner, and I just hung
137. 4:59out on the on the water for a while.
138. 5:02Today, I'm going to drive
139. 5:05back across
140. 5:07Nova Scotia, and I'm headed for
141. 5:08Wolfville.
142. 5:10Um I've
143. 5:12And then from there, I'm going to drive
144. 5:14down the Annapolis Valley, and my um
145. 5:18destination for tonight is Annapolis
146. 5:20Royal. Now, what I've changed I told you
147. 5:24I've changed my plans a little bit. What
148. 5:25I've changed is
149. 5:28the ferry.
150. 5:30And I don't just mean the time this
151. 5:31time. I canceled my Yarmouth
152. 5:34to Bar Harbor ferry,
153. 5:36and I instead booked the ferry to take
154. 5:41from Digby back to Saint John,
155. 5:43so I can spend a little more time on the
156. 5:45Fundy coast of New Brunswick before I
157. 5:48head home.
158. 5:49So, uh
159. 5:51that was the change that I made and
160. 5:55I think I better hit the road. I just
161. 5:56got some coffee and it's time to go.
162. 6:37So, I just stopped at that farm market.
163. 6:40I got an egg salad sandwich,
164. 6:44some fresh apple cider,
165. 6:46and a whole bag full of stuff to take
166. 6:48home.
167. 6:49I really need to learn to make good egg
168. 6:51salad because [clears throat] whenever I
169. 6:52make it at home, I end up not eating it.
170. 6:55But, this is really good and it's on
171. 6:57homemade
172. 6:58their fresh baked bread.
173. 7:00So, just like the last trip I took, I've
174. 7:02been doing a lot of
175. 7:04reflection.
176. 7:06That's kind of what this is for.
177. 7:08These trips are not just a chance for me
178. 7:11to see things that I didn't get to see
179. 7:12before and a chance for me to travel
180. 7:15alone and
181. 7:17just spend time with myself,
182. 7:19but also they're a a chance for me to
183. 7:21kind of get some distance from
184. 7:22everything,
185. 7:24from my normal life, and then and just
186. 7:26kind of reflect on everything and
187. 7:28understand whether it's going the way I
188. 7:30want it to go or is there anything I
189. 7:32want to change.
190. 7:34Unlike years past, there's not a lot I
191. 7:37want to change right now.
192. 7:39I do have to still work, unfortunately.
193. 7:43But,
194. 7:45what I'm doing for work is
195. 7:48good It's good with my soul right now.
196. 7:50So,
197. 7:51in a few weeks I'll be going back to
198. 7:52work as a as a nursing instructor. Um
199. 7:55I'm off for the summer.
200. 7:57And some of you may remember a while
201. 8:00back, maybe in the earlier in the
202. 8:02spring, I mentioned having a country
203. 8:04house that I was going to be working on.
204. 8:06And I've really neglected that this
205. 8:08summer. But, I still do have it, and
206. 8:10it's time for me to get get to work on
207. 8:13it. I've had some questions about where
208. 8:15that came from, and did I just buy a new
209. 8:17another house? And no, I didn't. Uh I'll
210. 8:20just give you a quick rundown. I've had
211. 8:22that house for 23 years.
212. 8:25I bought it It was my first house that I
213. 8:27ever bought when my kids were little
214. 8:30and when I was newly single again. And
215. 8:33um I lived there for a few years before
216. 8:34I moved to the town that I live in now,
217. 8:37and I rented it out. I rented it to the
218. 8:40same tenant for, I think, 17 years. I
219. 8:43had one or two tenants before him, and
220. 8:45then I had a a family
221. 8:48the tenant and his family.
222. 8:50Um and then he said he wanted to buy it.
223. 8:52So, I set it up for them to buy it on
224. 8:55owner financing.
225. 8:57So, I had discounted that house. That
226. 8:59house was out of the picture. I was
227. 9:00getting the monthly payments, and I
228. 9:03didn't lay eyes on it for a long time.
229. 9:06And I um
230. 9:08I thought it would have it would
231. 9:09eventually be sold completely sold. He'd
232. 9:11pay me off, and and it would be gone.
233. 9:14But, what ha- He had some things happen
234. 9:16in his life,
235. 9:18and he gave it back to me.
236. 9:21He handed it back over to me.
237. 9:23So, it's back in my life,
238. 9:26and it's not really livable.
239. 9:29It's not really habitable
240. 9:31because he had started
241. 9:33uh fixing it up. He had pretty much
242. 9:35gutted the kitchen, and the bathroom is
243. 9:37in horrible shape and um he kind of left
244. 9:39it back he gave it back to me in that
245. 9:41condition.
246. 9:43So, I've already put a new roof on it
247. 9:46and um I've already had the
248. 9:49HVAC ductwork completely replaced and
249. 9:52some work done on underneath the house.
250. 9:54There was some termite damage because he
251. 9:55didn't
252. 9:57do termite treatments and
253. 10:00so now it's an empty shell that's just
254. 10:02ready for me to fix it up and and do
255. 10:05whatever I'm going to do with it. So,
256. 10:07that's on my mind almost every day. At
257. 10:10anyway, I went off on a tangent to tell
258. 10:11you about that, but that house is
259. 10:13sitting there waiting for me to do
260. 10:14something with it and when I get back I
261. 10:16have to start working on it.
262. 10:18So, I'm really looking forward to
263. 10:19Annapolis Royal and these beautiful
264. 10:21historical gardens that um
265. 10:25that I've read about. So, I'm going to
266. 10:27get moving down the road.
267. 10:33>> [music]
268. 10:41[music]
269. 10:49[music]
270. 10:53>> If one of my viewers hadn't mentioned
271. 10:55[snorts] the Annapolis Royal Historic
272. 10:57Gardens, I might not have come here.
273. 11:01And I can say I think this is one of the
274. 11:03favorite places I've been.
275. 11:06The history, this used to be the
276. 11:09capital of Nova Scotia.
277. 11:12Lots of history here. This isn't a
278. 11:14history channel, so I'm not going to
279. 11:16read it all to you, but uh
280. 11:20it's beautiful.
281. 11:22There's so many historic
282. 11:25There's so much historic significance
283. 11:27and so many historic buildings
284. 11:30and it's beautiful. And I could totally
285. 11:32see myself spending a few weeks here.
286. 11:36I think we're outside the fort here. You
287. 11:38see these stairs that go up and over?
288. 11:43I'm going to go up there.
289. 11:54Well,
290. 11:55>> [laughter]
291. 11:56>> whomp whomp.
292. 12:17It's cold down here.
293. 12:21Well,
294. 12:22that was nice.
295. 12:24And
296. 12:26the historic gardens close in an hour.
297. 12:29So, instead of going there today,
298. 12:32I'm going to head down to Digby and have
299. 12:34some scallops for dinner,
300. 12:36as has been suggested.
301. 12:38It's only 30 minutes, and I'm going to
302. 12:40come back here tomorrow morning to do
303. 12:42the gardens.
304. 12:45Anybody want to loan me half a million
305. 12:47dollars
306. 12:48>> [laughter]
307. 12:49>> to get a house here?
308. 13:05Oh, here we go.
309. 13:14Let's go check out the innovative
310. 13:15garden.
311. 13:23Look at the blueberries.
312. 13:35>> Oh, yes. This is all mine. This is This
313. 13:38is all what I'm about.
314. 13:42Oh my gosh, look at this.
315. 13:45>> [sighs and gasps]
316. 13:47>> What is that? Sorrel?
317. 13:49Horseradish.
318. 13:54It's a little fig tree.
319. 13:57Oh, there's a little chipmunk. Did you
320. 13:59see him?
321. 14:01We don't have chip chipmunks at home,
322. 14:03either.
323. 14:05Look at these gorgeous purple peas.
324. 14:09See, I could spend a long time just in
325. 14:11this part. And then I'm going to go to
326. 14:12the rose garden.
327. 14:16So beautiful.
328. 14:20There's an artichoke.
329. 14:21I tried growing artichoke one time.
330. 14:25It lasted a year and a half.
331. 14:27And I never did harvest it. I let it
332. 14:29bloom. It was really pretty, but then it
333. 14:31died.
334. 14:32Didn't last the winter.
335. 14:34Dill, all these nasturtiums, broccoli.
336. 14:39This is so pretty.
337. 14:46I see the biggest freaking squash, like
338. 14:50a baseball bat over there.
339. 14:57Oh, hi, buddy. Look, it's a little
340. 15:00chipmunk.
341. 15:01I've never been Look how close I am to
342. 15:03this little guy.
343. 15:04Hi.
344. 15:06He is so cute.
345. 15:08Oh, look.
346. 15:11A pear tree.
347. 15:16On a trellis. This I don't know how you
348. 15:18say that word, espalier.
349. 15:21They've got it pruned on this trellis.
350. 15:25So cool.
351. 15:31I'll take some pictures, too, for my own
352. 15:33reference.
353. 15:35And this is I want a greenhouse. I
354. 15:37really want a greenhouse. Maybe when I
355. 15:38get my country house finished,
356. 15:40I'll have a greenhouse.
357. 15:45So this is oxeye chamomile. I had to
358. 15:49look it up.
359. 15:50It's really cool.
360. 15:53Big giant center.
361. 15:55And then there's rebecca over here.
362. 16:06Rue.
363. 16:08I'm glad there's signs cuz some of this
364. 16:09stuff I'm not familiar with. Here's a
365. 16:11little cherry tree.
366. 16:13I just
367. 16:13I enjoyed I just enjoyed
368. 16:16some more of those cherries this
369. 16:17morning.
370. 16:19And then blueberries. Oh my gosh.
371. 16:22Look.
372. 16:24This is like my dream garden.
373. 16:26>> [laughter]
374. 16:27>> My dream backyard garden.
375. 16:32I wonder what they're powering with the
376. 16:34solar panel.
377. 16:36Look, bananas in pots. I have those.
378. 16:40Okay, on to the rose garden.
379. 16:46>> [snorts]
380. 16:49>> This is happening.
381. 16:52And the volunteers out here
382. 16:55working in the gardens.
383. 17:03Heading into the elephant grass
384. 17:05boardwalk.
385. 17:07I was just thinking that um
386. 17:10early in my gardening days, it was all
387. 17:12about just having a vegetable garden. I
388. 17:15grew up
389. 17:16with, you know, parents of the Great
390. 17:18Depression and a grandmother
391. 17:21who had a victory garden back in the,
392. 17:23you know, in the
393. 17:2430s and 40s.
394. 17:26And it was all about
395. 17:28providing food, and I just did it
396. 17:31because I it was kind of carried on.
397. 17:35And I really wasn't ever interested in
398. 17:36anything ornamental.
399. 17:38Roses,
400. 17:40anything I couldn't eat, I wasn't going
401. 17:42to spend time and money taking care of
402. 17:44it.
403. 17:46But as I've aged, I mean, is it like
404. 17:49bird watching as you get older? You like
405. 17:51flowers and birds.
406. 17:52>> [laughter]
407. 17:56>> It's all so beautiful.
408. 18:09Before the days of weed eaters and weed
409. 18:11whackers.
410. 18:15So, that's a dike over there, the river
411. 18:18behind it.
412. 18:21Garlic,
413. 18:23cabbage.
414. 18:32Built without nails, Acadian house.
415. 18:36>> Too little water, too much water. It's a
416. 18:42>> When we were in Germany and went down
417. 18:45to the mountains in Italy,
418. 18:47>> Yeah.
419. 18:49Yeah.
420. 18:50>> The Airbnb that we stayed at
421. 18:54had
422. 18:55>> These brick ovens.
423. 18:56>> It not a brick oven, but it was a
424. 18:58heating system similar to this.
425. 19:00>> Yeah.
426. 19:00>> On the other side, there's this big
427. 19:02bulbous thing.
428. 19:03>> Yeah.
429. 19:04>> So, you build a fire here,
430. 19:06and it would heat the rooms going back.
431. 19:09>> Yeah.
432. 19:10>> Okay. It was amazing. Wow.
433. 19:14Oh, really?
434. 19:15>> The house was built without nails.
435. 19:18See the joinery.
436. 19:29An Acadian house.
437. 19:31La Maison Acadien.
438. 19:35Pardon my French.
439. 19:37Beautiful little courtyard.
440. 19:40There's a pond garden.
441. 19:43So cool.
442. 19:45Lettuces.
443. 19:49Check this out.
444. 19:55Gosh.
445. 19:57Ornamental grasses.
446. 20:02Do you see that?
447. 20:08That's a sundial.
448. 20:11Some of us who are nature lovers, like
449. 20:13me,
450. 20:14and probably a lot of you,
451. 20:17we go through
452. 20:18the world thinking
453. 20:21everything natural is beautiful and all
454. 20:23humans do is
455. 20:25tear it down.
456. 20:28But in this case,
457. 20:31humans have built something truly
458. 20:33beautiful here.
459. 20:35And it's really inspiring. I could spend
460. 20:39all day here. I could I could work here.
461. 20:41Can I just have a job here?
462. 20:46And of course this is nature, the plants
463. 20:48are nature, they're growing, but humans
464. 20:51designed and built and cultivated
465. 20:55and care for this place.
466. 20:58And it is spectacular.
467. 21:02This is cute.
468. 21:06Whimsical.
469. 21:25Rock fountain.
470. 21:35Governor's Garden.
471. 21:43It took me a second to realize what that
472. 21:44was. That's rhubarb. We don't have that
473. 21:47in North Carolina either.
474. 21:49Not in the eastern part anyway. Somebody
475. 21:51might grow it in the mountains. I don't
476. 21:53think it'll be very easy to grow though.
477. 21:56So the governor's governor's garden is
478. 21:57very geometric.
479. 22:01And then the Victorian garden
480. 22:04has more curves and round round edges.
481. 22:08Look, they have a lot of these red canna
482. 22:10lilies, which I have at home in my
483. 22:13backyard and I curse them because they
484. 22:15keep multiplying. The big red leaf
485. 22:18things.
486. 22:19They do have zinnias though. I do love
487. 22:21some zinnias.
488. 22:23I have those in my house.
489. 22:28Very colorful.
490. 22:36They have Egyptian walking onions and I
491. 22:38have those.
492. 22:40They grow these bulbils on top and then
493. 22:43they fall over and each one of those
494. 22:44grows a new onion.
495. 22:56After leaving Annapolis Royal, I had
496. 22:58some time to kill before my afternoon
497. 23:00ferry in Digby.
498. 23:02So, I went across to the peninsula
499. 23:05across Annapolis Basin from Annapolis
500. 23:08Royal, and I traveled pretty much down
501. 23:11to the end at Digby Gut.
502. 23:13I saw [music] farmland, beautiful old
503. 23:16houses
504. 23:18with gardens, and
505. 23:21the highway hugged the coastline the
506. 23:24entire way down there, and there was
507. 23:26there was even a lighthouse and some
508. 23:28historic sites that I stopped at. It was
509. 23:30really a beautiful drive and a good way
510. 23:32to spend a few hours.
511. 23:33>> [music]
512. 23:36>> Well, I've
513. 23:38been in Nova Scotia for
514. 23:42a while,
515. 23:44and I've started to get pretty
516. 23:46comfortable here,
517. 23:49but it's time to leave.
518. 24:14>> [music]
519. 24:19[music]