After safely getting off the bridge, I headed down Hwy 16 to Hwy 2 to cross over into Nova Scotia. I thought the main part of Nova Scotia was an island, but it sure isn't. I headed down Hwy 242 and 209 to the Joggins Fossil Cliffs Museum, which was really quite interesting. Joggins is a little town on the north coast of Nova Scotia overlooking Chignecto Bay. Once upon a time, Joggins was a coal mining town and there were wharfs on the Bay for the ships that carried coal out of the area. The cliffs are about 50 feet tall and date back about 350 million years. Reportedly, they're full of fossils. This'll give you some idea of the terrain at low tide:
You can see the fossil-filled cliffs on the left. Well, the only fossil I found was this one:
What you're seeing is a fossilized tree trunk about 300 million years old. A better example was in the visitor's center:
And, finally, I did make a new friend while I was there:
I actually enjoyed the museum. It was quite interesting, and if I'd taken the guided tour (saved $5!), I think it would have been much better.
After leaving Joggins, it began to rain, but like a fool, I continued on around the peninsula. The highway runs right beside the water and the scenery, when I could see it through the rain, was very nice. I stopped for a bowl of soup at Parrsboro, a little fishing village on the south side of the peninsula, facing Minas Basin. The waterfront was pretty:
And the little town was also:
Despite the lousy weather, it was a nice day and I would have had more pictures if I'd stopped to take some. I'm in Dartmouth, across the harbour from Halifax for tonight and tomorrow night, and I'll be taking in some of the sights tomorrow.
Miles today: 261
Total: 3,145