Highs and Lows

So we are here in Alma, New Brunswick, home of the highest tides in the world, right on the Bay of Fundy. We are staying at a delightful Bed and Breakfast and the window of our room overlooks the bay. It was almost low tide when we arrived so we unpacked the car and went to find some dinner. We detoured to take some pictures of the harbor. Alma is a fishing village, and the boats at the dock are on dry land at low tide. We took pictures of that and will take pictures of the same boats at high tide tomorrow. We found this cute diner that had the most amazing seafood chowder ever. We each had a cup of chowder, and split a seafood platter. The shrimp and scallops were broiled , the haddock and clams were fried. The clams were absolutely amazing. Instead of being fried in your standard clam batter, they were coated with the same kind of batter you would use to make clam cakes and they were fried to perfection. I gobbled up the scallops and after a few of those delicious clams I was done. So good. I am loving having seafood every night! I am sure I would grow tired of it eventually, but not before I am done here. I plan to have Lobster again tonight! After dinner we took a walk on the ocean floor. I mean that....the tide goes out so far here that you actually walk about a mile out onto the ocean floor. We walked as far out as we could go, through the muck and the mire....to the actual edge of the ocean at low tide. The cliffs were gorgeous, everything I have seen on this trip has been wonderful. We walked and walked and just enjoyed the views. On the way back to shore Rich suggested we each find a small stone to give as a gift to each other. We walked a mile, each in our own world...picking up and discarding stones to find the perfect one for each other. Being me....I couldnt choose only one. Being me...I had a pocket of stones - all themed and another pocket with a single stone that followed directions. When we reached the shore we shared our stones. Rich gave me a shiny black stone...it was flat on the bottom with a sturdy foundation he said..because for him I am a foundation for him, and it had lots of facets to it, mottles, and hills and valleys on it, noplace you looked on this stone was the same. He said that is because I have so many facets to my personality (he didnt call me sybil, but it might have been what he meant). It was thoughtful and made me tear up a little. I shared my first pocket. I had collected him stone M&M's. He has been munching on peanut butter M&M's whenever we could find them this whole trip. I found a stone of each color, small, candy shaped. I found orange, yellow, purple, blue, green, and brown. They were cute, but not very meaningful. The stone in the other pocket was the one with meaning. I had a stone so smooth and round, like an egg. The color rather nondescript. Its outside rather lacklustre and predictable. Soft and comfortable and smooth. I then dipped it into the water at the shore and showed it to Rich....all of a sudden the stone had depth and character, colors appeared and lines and all sorts of things you saw only when you looked beneath the surface. I told him that was like him, that if you get to know him he has such depth and knowledge and feeling that nobody ever sees who only knows him 'on the surface'. It was a wonderful exercise and a great way to both occupy us on the long walk back from the shore, and to tell one another how we felt. Clever Rich.

We set out to find a few caches at this point, but no luck. We hiked up a hill into the woods...up a steep hill slipping and sliding in the loam. My mind was screaming...danger will robinson, danger.....but we went up anyway....and found nada. We rewarded ourselves with ice cream. (I know, I have been BAD) Then we found a laundromat and did a load of laundry. I packed mostly shorts, it is summer after all. All of my pants were dirty but it is decidedly pants weather! I washed my pants and some underduds for Rich, and we returned to the B&B. I took a bath, I was filthy from the walk through the muck and mire on the beach then the loam of the wooded hill. Then Rich and I went downstairs and played a lengthy game of scrabble. I won, just sayun. By this time it was midnight, and high tide was for 1 am, so we went out and walked to the pier to see how high the water had risen. It was amazing, truly. The boats that had been beached on dry land, were now floating and the fishermen were out on the pier loading up to head out. They have to fish carefully with the tides!

We went to bed then. I slept wonderfully but woke up this morning feeling kind of puny. I didnt eat much breakfast and just wanted to climb back into bed which is where I am right now.

We are going to go out soon to Cape Enrage, we have heard it is beautiful. We just need to be sure we are back before high tide!