Peggy's Cove

Even after being in Halifax for 4 days, our reality of being costal residents didn't really sink in until we went to Peggy's Cove.

Peggy's Cove is a beautiful 45 minute drive southwest of Halifax. Knowing that we would want to spend the day exploring the area, we packed lunches, lathered on the sunscreen (it was a beautiful SUNNY day!!), and piled into the van. We took the long way round, taking Peggy's Cove Road along side St. Margaret's Bay east shore. It was a pleasant drive, with lots of little houses lining the road. Most of the small homes had been converted into small businesses, the majority being gift shops and craft stores, appealing to the many tourists who come to the area. Interestingly, a lot of the houses were up for sale . . . like, a third of them! We are unsure as to why anyone would want to move away from such a beautiful place. A lot of the homes looked post-war, with lots of character and colour. As we drove along the winding road we would get pops of colour here and there - red, green, sky blue, purple, yellow . . . the people here don't shy away from colour and I absolutely love it!

As we got closer to our destination, the land changes into what looks like to be a graveyard of boulders left behind by a glacier of ancient days (side note: see the movie Chasing Ice. It's on Netflix, if your into environmental documentaries). The landscape is equally treacherous as it is breathtakingly beautiful. I read somewhere that Peggy's Cove actually has about 60 permanent residents, and they all live in cute, but TINY little homes that sit on the rock earth. (With all my talk about the houses around here, you'd think that I would have a picture to post here, but no.)

We pretty much immediately split up with my parents as soon as we parked. While we made our way to the famous lighthouse by way of boulder jumping, my parents opted for the less precarious route and took the paved pathway. Holding tightly to Gwen and Lily's hands, and with June in the wrap, Tanner and I explored the rock and boulders, enjoying the smell of the sea and the sound of the crashing waves (which I didn't manage to get a picture of really either. Man, I'm good.)

Up on one boulder, some Chinese girls got pretty excited about our blonde-haired blue-eyed girls in their boots and raincoats. They begged us to let them get a picture taken with them. Gwen and Lily, were kind of confused by the situation. Gwen had a look that said "I don't know you. You are weird." as the sweet Chinese girl smiled and gave the peace sign for the camera. Made us laugh.

We thought then that we should whip out our own camera and start to (finally) take some pictures.

Here I am with my girls (Gwen is looking at the Chinese girls, still uncertain of what just happened). Lily was being super photogenic this day and smiled whenever we asked her to. June was fussy for the first 20 minutes of our hike around the rock. She really didn't like all the wind and I had to bounce her like crazy to get her to sleep. She slept peacefully for the rest of our visit.

Tanner with Gwily (Yes, I just meshed Gwen and Lily's names together. Too much? Maybe. Or perhaps I might just start using on a regular basis.)

Lily. So photogenic, right!? Where was this little girl when we had our family photos taken?

And here we all are in front of the Peggy's Cove light house! (Sorry, I just realized we have no close-ups of June)

Tanner and I loved this day. Even though we had been living in Halifax for nearly a week already, it was the first time that we really realized how far we had come from prairie- town Alberta.

We are Maritimers!