This year my mom and I decided to do a 9-day mother-daughter trip! It was a fantastic idea and something that will become an annual tradition. I’ve been wanting to go to Nova Scotia since moving to New England. My mom was game, and we were off!
I decided pretty early on in the planning process that I wanted to do a roadtrip as opposed to flying to Nova Scotia. I had also been eyeing Fundy National Park in New Brunswick and it was really easy to add that stop on our way to the tippy top of Nova Scotia to Cape Breton Highlands National Park.
Maine:
We decided to begin with Maine. My mom had been to York, Kennebunkport, and Portland but not any further North. Of course, I had to take her to Acadia for a few days. It is, after all, one of my favorite places to visit in New England.
During our drive through Maine we stopped in Rockland, Camden (you can read more about that here) Moose Point State Park (where contrary to its name they do not see many moose) and spent an evening and morning in Bar Harbor before heading to Canada.
Tip: Unless one of you has long arms, it might pay to invest in a selfie stick (I know, I cringed just typing it). But my mom and I quickly realized that when we were taking selfies the photos were just 2 gigantic heads blocking whatever we were standing in front of. I have seriously short arms! haha
Surprisingly, it only took about 4 and a half hours to drive from Acadia National Park to Fundy National Park in New Brunswick, Canada. I hadn’t done a border crossing to Canada since I was a teenager, but it was incredibly easy. Just make sure to have your passport or passport card.
New Brunswick:
We chose Alma, New Brunswick as our hub for our time in the area. It’s a really cute small town but besides a few restaurants, some shops, a bakery, and a brewery there isn’t much here. And that’s why it’s such a gem!
Alma is the perfect hub for your adventures in this area. We were only about 30 minutes from the gorgeous Hopewell Rocks. The drive is pretty and on backroads that were easy to navigate, they are a little windy in certain places but nothing horrible.
Tip: I can’t stress enough if you are visiting Fundy National Park in June you absolutely need to bring bug spray! I got some of the biggest bug bites I’ve ever had while hiking. Full disclosure: I am always eaten alive by bugs (mosquitoes), but this was bad even for me.
Alma sits right outside Fundy National Park and honestly, most hikes are within 20 mins of Alma. See, it is the perfect hub! Although if I ever get back to Fundy, I would love to camp at Pointe Wolf Campground.
Tip: Do NOT depend on Waze or Google Maps in Fundy National Park.
Fun Story: While we were trying to find Laverty Fall in Fundy, Waze couldn’t even find the trailhead. So, I thought I would outsmart Waze and just use Google Maps. Mistake. We found ourselves on a dirt road (I drive a 4 Runner so it’s all good) for over an hour. We only saw 2 other people driving on this road in that entire hour. I honestly think my Mom was starting to get freaked out. Too many horror movies, Wrong Turn comes to mind! So, we turned around and went back out to the main road.
By the time we finally did find the trailhead we were determined to hike the trail but quickly realized we would not make it back before dark. I didn’t take any water and thought the hike would take 1.5 hours round trip. Unfortunately, that was the estimated time for one way. I was embarassingly ill prepared and didn’t have my headlamp. We never did get to see Laverty Falls.
I had only planned for 1 day at Fundy National Park and I honestly wish I would have given us an extra day there. Or that we would have just stayed an extra day, but I was excited to get to see Cape Breton.
I’d love to return to Fundy National Park to camp and bring the boys with me. Canadian National Parks are much more dog friendly.
Nova Scotia:
It took about 5 and a half hours to make it from Fundy National Park to Cape Breton Island.
Tip: Make sure to stop at the Nova Scotia Welcome Center because the sign is really cute. Do NOT smash your thumb in a
I’m a whisky girl and while researching I had found that there was a single malt whisky distillery on Cape Breton Island. I had to go. I’m going to write an entire blog post on this place, but it was great! It’s called Glenora Inn and Distillery, and it was the first single malt whisky distillery in North America. It’s something you should check out if you are a whiskey fan and ever find yourself on Cape Breton Island. It was also one of my favorite places that we stayed during the entire trip.
Cape Breton Highlands National Park:
Now, while Cape Breton Island may be the tippy-top of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Highlands National Park is the tippy-top of the island! It took about 2 hours to get from Glenora to Cape Breton Highlands NP. We chose to drive the Cabot Trail to get there and I highly recommend it!
I was incredibly excited because I had booked a geodesic glamping dome to stay in for 2 nights in Cape Breton Highland NP (or on the outskirts of the actual National Park). These are incredibly popular on Cape Breton Island, but the good news is that new ones are popping up all the time. Some locations are better than others. While we were staying there, I noticed some on the ocean and would LOVE to stay in those if I ever get back to Cape Breton Highlands NP. I’ll post more details on my first glamping experience later, including where I booked (bonus – this place IS
Tip: If you visit Cape Breton Highlands National Park in June you will most likely sit in traffic at least 3 to 4 times a day. The scenery is gorgeous so it’s really not that bad but be prepared to have to wait a bit. Also – bug spray, bug spray, bug spray!
To be honest, my thumb put a real damper on this part of the trip, and we didn’t get to do near as much as I would have liked to do. But we did get to slow down a bit. My mom thinks
I hope to get back to Cape Breton Highlands National Park again because I do feel like I missed out. I wanted to do the Skyline Trail at sunrise or sunset. I heard a woman at one of the visitor’s centers commenting on how the Skyline Trail was more like a zoo than a trail just because of the sheer number of people who hike it. I believe it. It was suggested in every single thing I read about visiting Cape Breton Highlands NP.
We did get to see moose, an owl, and a fox while on Cape Breton Island.
And some truly spectacular sunrises and sunsets!
Back to the United States and Acadia:
You know when you are on a long
Thankfully by the time we made it to Acadia (including traffic and an accident when we were OH SO close), we were insanely happy to arrive at the Ivy Manor Inn and to have a glass of their complimentary champagne (I’m not a champagne girl AT ALL but it was glorious.)
We concluded our trip with a 5-hour drive, but it was such a great trip overall. It’s one of those that you look back on and smile. I’m looking forward to many more mother-daughter trips and highly recommend that you take one if possible. It’s just different to be with your mom on a trip when you are an adult. You end up learning so much about each other.
Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for way more East Coast Canada Roadtrip goodness.
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