It was quite a long drive to reach Kejimkujik (pronounced “kej-m-kook”) National Park. The locals call it “Keji”. It’s a heavily forested park with lots of gravel trails, a large, shallow, warm lake and a river. Angie had read some very favorable reviews of the park, so we made the trek out there. It was nice but we found nothing truly unique about it. We spent a couple of restful days there and Charlie was happy swimming in Kejimkujik Lake. We got to deploy our new mosquito-proof screen tent which we purchased with an Amazon gift card. It worked great! Much better than bug spray!

The nearby fishing town of Lunenberg, on the other hand, was quite beautiful. We loved the multicolored houses and lively waterfront in the town that is situated on a large, tranquil bay. The town is home to the sailing schooner “Bluenose II”, a 1963 replica of the original fishing schooner that won the International Fisherman’s Race 18 years in a row before it was wrecked off the coast of Haiti in 1946. 

Bluenose came to symbolize Nova Scotia’s prominence in the fishing and shipbuilding industries. She represented Canada around the world. The image of the Bluenose has been on the Canadian dime since 1937. During our visit, we didn’t see Bluenose II because she was on her way back from Boston where she had participated in a tall ship regatta to honor the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Acadians, an ethnic group descended from early French settlers, were living here with native Mi’kmaq people before the British settled German and Swiss Protestants here in 1753 when they kicked out the Acadians. American privateers sacked the town during the Revolutionary War.

We had a delicious lunch in Lunenburg and then found a fun bar where we watched England lose the World Cup semifinal match to Argentina. We walked around the bay to a dockside bar where we watched the sunset illuminate the town.