Huybers Retirement Adventure: Exploring Nova Scotia

This past weekend we went to Nova Scotia. Ron has an old army buddy who lives there and he and his wife invited us to stay at their place.

It was perfect weather for driving to Nova Scotia. We had beautiful sunny blue skies but not too hot for driving. It felt good to have a little get away in the moho. It had been a year since we have travelled anywhere in the moho.

We arrived at Kevin and Penny’s house late in the afternoon. Once we got the moho parked and set up, we sat and relaxed for a bit on their beautiful deck. They have 2 levels on their deck. The upper portion of the deck is partially covered has grape vines growing up and above giving you plenty of shade to keep you cool. The lower deck is more open with a large pond in the middle of the deck. It is home to several large fish, lily pads and a couple of very friendly frogs who like to jump on the deck to get fed worms. They were really fun to watch.

The next day Kevin took Ron and myself for a drive to explore Nova Scotia. I had never been in that part of Nova Scotia before. I found the drive most interesting. Kevin was a great tour guide, explaining what everything was as we drove around the island. He took us to Margaretville where we stopped and went through a local art gallery. Actually it was more of a shack than a gallery, but the paintings and art work were really nice. We then went out onto the wharf. The tide was out but you could see how high the water rises when the tides come in. It was very cool.

We drove around for hours while Kevin pointed out little bits of history along the way. The last stop we went to was particularly interesting to Ron. It was the Canadian Forces Base in Cornwallis where Ron took his basic training when he joined the military. He hadn’t been back there in 35 years! It brought back a lot of memories for him. We also discovered that Kevin and Ron did their basic training at the same time at the same base but they never knew each other. They were in different platoons and I guess they didn’t mingle platoons back then. They lived only a few buildings apart from one another too. I thought that was strange that they never met back then, but later in life they worked together and are now friends. It was really cool listening to Kevin and Ron talk about … “I remember that building over there” or “I remember so and so”. It was fun listening to them reminisce about their basic training days. Now they use the base for cadets. There were some cadets training in the parade square when we were there. Thanks Kevin! It was a great tour!

The following day Kevin offered to take us for another tour around the island. I decided to stay home with Penny as she wasn’t feeling well enough to go the day before or today. So Ron and Kevin took off for a few hours while Penny and I had a chance to visit. Kevin took Ron up to a look out point where he was able to see the whole valley and the Bay of Fundy. Ron took lots of photos so he could share them with me upon his return.

On Sunday, Kevin took Ron “off roading” in his new ATV. I was a little nervous about Ron going because I had seen some Youtube videos of rides that had gone bad. I was hoping that Kevin wasn’t one of those dare devils that like to go vertically up a mountain! He assured me that he would bring Ron home safe and sound and in one piece. I must admit … they did look cute in their helmets. J

It was so nice to get away for a few days. The weather was warm (but not too hot), I got to see parts of Nova Scotia I’ve never seen before and the company was great. Thanks Kevin and Penny for your hospitality. It was fun!