Day 11: St. Andrews on Foot
DAY ELEVEN: AT A GLANCE
Starting point: The Algonquin Resort, St. Andrews, New Brunswick
Ending point: The Algonquin Resort, St. Andrews, New Brunswick
Starting mileage: 17,879
Ending mileage: 17,879
Daily total (miles): 0!! (But almost 17K+ steps!)
Trip total (miles): 2243
Today, we ditched the van and made our explorations on foot—what a great change of pace! Unfortunately, the morning began with a bit of a sore back for me, given that the mattress was a bit too soft. Who would have guessed I’d end up sleeping better in a van! I knew once I got moving, I’d loosen up, so we got moving! I downed a protein shake, packed a water bottle and my cameras, and we were on our way.
First stop: Kingsbrae Garden, which is within walking distance to The Algonquin. We didn’t get here on our first visit, and when with our friends in Nova Scotia, Christine mentioned the gardens as being on her list to visit, and I was grateful for the reminder! I’m not much of a gardener (as in: not at all!), but I love visiting botanical gardens, especially for photography. Kingsbrae Garden was no exception. Covering 27 acres and featuring more than 2500 specials of perennials as well as numerous sculpture installations and animals, Kingsbrae is like a garden, small zoo, and sculpture park all in one! Add in a maze and labyrinth, a windmill and a forest trail, and there’s truly something for everyone here.
From there, we walked down to the Pendelbury Lighthouse, New Brunswick’s oldest (1833) remaining mainland lighthouse in New Brunswick. We initially walked several blocks past the road leading to the lighthouse, as G figured “we’d just see it.” Um, that’s why I do the trip planning. So, several hundred extra steps later, we arrived at the light, tucked at the end of a residential street.
We walked along Water Street, opting to merely window shop, but we did make time for ice cream cones at McGuires Chocolate Company. We both ordered a kiddie scoop of the blueberry—so good! The ice cream powered us up the hill and back to the hotel, where we decided to crash by the pool. G was lucky enough to be in the shade under an umbrella, and I tried to be in the shade as much as possible—it was another very, very hot day, and the pool felt incredibly refreshing.
For dinner, we remained at the hotel and ate at the Right Whale Pub. We started with the calamari, and G ordered the lobster mac & cheese off the kids’ menu (which was actually my original choice), and I opted for the warm steak and truffle salad, which was, honestly, just okay. But after 10 days of eating our way through the Maritimes, I could handle one meal that wasn’t off the charts.
Hard to believe we were down to our last hours of this year’s road trip; after getting bags organized and ready for our morning departure, I worked on the blog and settled into the final sleep of the trip…tomorrow, we’ll be homeward bound.