Then there was a music festival

Before I confirmed a job with JDI I realized my time was better spent helping others, rather than sitting on my bum at home.

So, with that being said...A few weeks ago I signed up to volunteer at a four-day music festival and that is what I did Saturday afternoon. I got to be the cashier person so I took peoples money and but bracelets on their wrists! Good thing I know how to count back money!!!

The music festival took place right on the wharf next to Saint John Harbour and it included all sorts of music from Jazz and Classical to Rock/Pop and Country.

Saint John 225 called this particular festival Reunion 2010 and it was actually quite a hit!

I got a few t-shirt and free food while I volunteered from 3-7pm. Following my "work shift" I then took in some of the music before I headed home. (Thank goodness it was country)!

Take a look at some of these pictures from the day!

This friendly magician made me tigger!

This was a local band, I didn't realize the maritimes rocked out to country...

who would of thought...

Soon I will have a little money!

Here's the scoop.

I got a job!!

Yay- I am now employed full-time with J.D Irving Ltd. until the end of September (when we head back to Calgary) as a Communications Assistant.

With that being said, it means I have A LOT less time to update my blog.

Hopefully you will get a re-cap of what we were up to on the weekend (because it's sweet) and by the end of the week I will put up a post about my new job (more in detail).

A Friendly Face From Home!! Oh, and a jet boat ride!

Friday was super duper exciting because...most of all, a good friend of mine from Alberta came to Saint John to visit. She was visiting her boyfriends family in Florenceville, NB and since her boyfriend was heading out on a fishing trip with his buddies, she thought it best to go see the Bay of Fundy and one of her friends. Lucky me!

With that being said, she asked me to be her personal tour guide, since I have been in Saint John for a few months, so I thought long and hard about what we should do. What came to mind was an adventure that my boyfriend and I had not done yet, so we decided it would be best that all three of us partake in the thrill ride!! (Literally)!

We all met up at Fallsview Park, where the Reversing Falls Jet Boat Ride departs from. It was there we found ourselves aboard a 20min ride that takes you over, under and quite literally through the thunderous waves/currents that occur at the Reversing Falls. How do those waves come to be you may ask? Well...the short version is....(thanks to Wikipedia.com)!!

"The Reversing Falls are a series of rapids on the Saint John River located in Saint John, NB where the river runs through a narrow gorge before emptying into the Bay of Fundy.

The diurnal tides of the bay force the flow of water to reverse against the prevailing current at the location when the tide is high. The rapids, or "falls", are created by a series of underwater ledges which roll the water in either direction, causing a significant navigation hazard, despite the depth of water. As a result, vessels wishing to enter or exit from the river must wait for slack tides (except for the Reversing Falls Jet Boats that is)."

Prior to departing we got wind-breakers and lifejackets and then they ran us through some safety precautions. Following that we embarked on a very, very interesting ride.

Take a look at the collection of photos below. They were taken by Ben, one of Alex's coworkers at NBSR!

Our crew..right before our adventure

Special....

Ready to go!

Yup! That's us!!

We're waving!!

So they said we might get wet...we ended up soaked!

Once we were done jet boating we decided to show our guest around Saint John. We took her to Market Square and Brunswick Square and the City Market. We all picked up some goodies; presents for people, memorabila, and stuff like..seaweed that we were told tasted delicious. (We tried it that evening...soo not tasty!)

Next, we figured we should check out some of the old houses and churches in the area. Here is a few places we saw.

So it's more like a castle than a house. OOh! And it's for sale! Should we buy it?

And then we saw this beautiful old church!

For supper we enjoyed a huge feeding of lobster. Despite it not being lobster season it was on sale (for one day only) at 5.99/pound!!! Lucky us!

We stuffed our faces and then realized we should maybe walk it off, so we strolled (in a rainstorm) to the K-word River.

By the time we made it back home we were absolutely wiped and ready for bed.

Zzzzzzzzzz.....

P.S! Thanks for coming to visit Lacey, it was so great to see a friendly face from home and to show you Saint John!!!

Big City Folk...

Even though I grew up in the smallest of smallest towns I tend to forget some of the regular things that come with it. Like...busines hours and "closed on holidays"!

A few weekends ago we popped to Sobey's to grab a few items but soon realized it was Sunday and the store doesn't open till noon!...crap. Oh-well..we will come back later.

Well..of course we didn't learn our lesson the first time so yesterday we again, drove to Sobey's to pick up items to make cornbread at about 11:05am...got to the parking lot, looked around, noticed no other cars there and not a second later realized our mistake.

Today...it's Monday so the store should be open right?!! Wrong!!! Happy Holiday Everyone!!!

It seems that Saint John is like my hometown of Innisfree and all businesses close on holidays.

Perhaps now, after the third time we have finally learnt our lesson to either:

1. Check business hours before heading to the stores...or...

2. Avoiding all stores on holidays...

We are so totally spoiled!

Sunday night our friends invited us over for another night of Chinese food and The Settlers of Catan so off we went!

We enjoyed an unbelievably tasty meal of: rice, battered shrimp, noodle and meatball soup, baked veggies, pepsi flavoured chicken wings and a beef/veggie platter. Every single item was identical to something I ate and one point or another in China and it brought some amazing memories.

Since our Chinese friends have spoiled us so much with a taste of their food my boyfriend and I have decided to invite them over next weekend to enjoy some "Canadian food".

Anybody have any ideas on what we might be making for them?!!?

Anyhow, a big thanks to our friends who continue to spoil us with their great cooking skills and amazing Chinese food. We really, really do enjoy it!!

Admiring the Bay of Fundy

Okay, so Saturday's day trips started off bright and early. Pretty much earlier than I've gotten up in a really, really long time....

With the roommate moving that day all we decided was that it would be best to be out of the house...so we had planned that we would spend the day on the Fundy Trail..what time we were leaving at was not decided until...early Saturday morning.

Alex popped his head out the window when he awoke Saturday morning and was surprised to see the sun shining and no fog covering our front yard. Really?!!? No fog in Saint John?!? So..with that amazing-ness we thought perhaps the rest of the coast would not have fog this fine morning and so by about 9am we were in the car. With a quick stop at McD's for breakie we were on our way.

Because the last time we stopped at Duck Pond it was ridiculously foggy we decided that this time, since we were driving past it, we could stop by and check out the areas attraction...the "split rock". Before we even got the the rock we found some other interesting, smaller rock formations...some just big enough for me to sneak into...

Just big enough for me!

The problem with climbing up and into such a rock is..you must get back down. No big deal right?!!? Well for any normal person probably not....but...I seem to have a balance problem..especially on slippery seaweed and especially on un-sturdy periwinkles. With that being said...once I had crept up the one side to capture the above picture, I thought it would be best to climb down the other. My first two steps were no big deal until I lost control of my speed and then slipped on the seaweed that grew up on the steep rock. Within a split second I had rock-rash on my elbow, a blood blister on my hand...and a very sore left wrist.

It was a perfect fog-free morning and we were able to admire Duck Pond's split rock, which we had missed the time before. Locals have told us that people can camp out on split rock so we wanted to check it out and see if this really was possible. People must access the rock during low tide, and cannot leave it until the following days low-tide. For my boyfriend and I this does sound like and exciting adventure. We checked out the area to see if it is possible and found a route up the rocks that should, if all goes well get us to the top. We are going to check with the locals to make sure this camping adventure is possible and if so we will go back to "split rock" near the end of August.

Duck Pond's Split Rock

Our next stop after Duck Pond on Saturday's "day of adventure" was the Fundy Trail Parkway. It offers travellers an 11km panoramic coastline view of the Bay of Fundy and is a must for anyone who is coming to New Brunswick. The trails and pull-outs offer everyone an exceptionally picturesque look at one of the natural wonders of the world.

Flower Pot Rock

The Beach

We went from look-out to look-out, strolled the beach and meandered through some...hmmm..off path trails. By doing so we were able to capture a behind the scenes look at one of the beautiful waterfalls along the Fundy Trail Parkway.

A beautiful waterfall!

and again..

hmm..and again..

3/4 of the way through the park we found the Interpretive Centre and it was there we stopped for a quick snack and a short video on the history/beauty of the Bay of Fundy and the Big Salmon River.

We walked down the the river so we could take a closer look at the dilapidated wharf that used to exist, and then crossed the Suspension Bridge which overlooked the Big Salmon River.

Suspension Bridge

Big Salmon River

After that there was only a few more stops and then we reached the end of the Fundy Trail Parkway. They are currently constructing a road so that Fundy Trail Parkway can run straight into the Bay of Fundy National Park and back out to Sussex, but right now the Fundy Trail can only be accessed through one way.

Fundy Trail Parkway is a beautiful look at the magnificent Bay of Fundy and was made even more spectacular with the balmy, non-foggy weather!!!

If anyone ever comes to New Brunswick make sure you add the Fundy Trail Parkway to your list of "things to do"!! You will be able to see incredible views like this one:

This is one incredible view...!!

When we were done at the Fundy Trail we drove back through where we saw the caves (at St. Martin's), but this time at High Tide! It is super, super neat to compare the photos from the last time we were there to this time!

Caves full of H20

Look back to my album Saint John, New Brunswick to see the earlier shots of Saint Martin's Caves and to see more pictures of Saint John, the Bay of Fundy, and other areas close by!!

A Long Time Coming

Prior to me coming out to New Brunswick one of the roommates at the house we are living at said he would be moving out at the beginning of June. That date came and went and his "move-out" date continued, week by week, to get pushed back. By the middle of July we were starting to think he may never leave. That is when our landlords came to our rescue and decided enough was enough. No more pushing back the move-out date.

Pushing back a move-out date would generally not be a problem, but this roommate had a certain...temper and often decided everyone was out to get him. So...by the end this certain roommate was no longer talking to anyone (except myself) and it caused our little household to be very, very on edge.

Anyhow, my point of all this is....he has finally moved out!! By about 8:30pm on July 31st all of his belongings were packed up and gone. Alexander and I now have the house to ourselves (until September 1st) and we can now go back to eating meals on the dining room table instead of our bedroom floor! YAYAYAYA!!!!