After a fabulous nights sleep we prepared to move on to a new hotel.  We had spread our stuff all over the room so we had to do some searching around for to make sure we had everything.

Before leaving Halifax we wanted to visit the Fairview Lawn Cemetery and a place on the coast where a piece of anchor had landed from the Halifax explosion.  Joyce our GPS has had some issues with the Canadian postal codes. Sometimes she doesn’t recognize them and other times she shows the location wrong.  We have resorted to using a map as well as asking people on the street. This morning was no different. We plugged in the code for the cemetery and Joyce led us on a fabulous route through the side streets of Halifax.  This was due in part to one way streets.

Upon arrival at the cemetery we found the Titanic burial site that is in the shape of a ship’s bow. This area is mostly the resting place of unknown passengers. There is also the grave of J. Dawson. When the Titanic movie was playing in theaters,the city had to rent a tractor and trailer to haul the flowers and gifts from Jack Dawson fans away twice a day. You can still see the bare patch of ground in front of the grave today.

Our next stop was the 1140 pound piece of anchor from the Mont Blanc.  This anchor flew 2.3 miles across the peninsula and landed on the shore. It is now a tiny community park.  While we were filming a lovely older lady came and sat down to rest during her morning walk.  She told us about the weather there and also asked us where we were heading next.  When she found out we were going to Prince Edward Island she encouraged us to take the ferry across the channel instead of the bridge.  She said we could take the ferry over and the bridge back, therefore having the benefit of both experiences.  What a great idea! I think we will take her advice.

Sugar Moon Farms is the next place on our itinerary. This is a family run maple farm and pancake house.  Again Joyce didn’t recognize the address or the postal code. However, she did recognize a nearby town, so we went with that.  Sugar Moon Farms is a off-the-beaten- path day trip for certain, but well worth the drive. We met Quita and her daughter Samara who promptly and with great enthusiasm gave us their educational tour.  Did I mention that Samara is only 8? She is well spoken, intelligent and acts way older than her age.  Samara, you did a wonderful job with the tour, keep up the good work! Quita shared the story of how they learned to make maple syrup and use draft horses for logging the area. The Sugar Moon Farms building is made mostly from trees logged from the land.  For lunch we had a maple feast….. maple lemonade, biscuits with maple butter, maple baked beans, sausage and of course pancakes with maple syrup.  Soooo Yummy!!!

The final stop of the day was The Train Station Inn in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia.  This is the most unique place we have stayed so far.  James LeFresne has created an Inn out of train cars and .  It is literally around the dirt road from where he grew up and his 100 year old mother still lives there. There are 9 sleeping cars, a dinning car, a lounge, and the restored Tatamagouche train station. Station Master Jimmie calls this his “toy train se.” When the station was shut down he bought it…. when he was only 18 !  He is now a gentlemen of 68 who, along with his wife Shelley and assistant Ryan, has turned a run down train station into a fun and comfortable place to stay.  He wears the station master outfit and hands our tickets to the kids. It is more than obvious that he LOVES what he does.

After getting the history of all the cars, Jimmie showed us boxcar Jane, our accommodations for the night.  All the cars have A/C, WiFi, and bathrooms.  Each car is decorated in a unique manner and in a way that fits its era.  Tatamagouche itself is a small community of 700 people who have ingeniously brought tourists to their little corner of Nova Scotia.  It is a completely wind powered town with a farmers market ( also a James LeFresne enterprise), and lots of electric-powered cars and scooters.

This was truly one of our most memorable stays and we are only regretful that it wasn’t longer.

Enjoying the Journey in Boxcar Jane,

Courtney and Heather