Fantasy RV Caravan - Day 15

Friday, 16 August - Day 15

As a follow up to yesterday, here is an example of the recycling instructions we received at the campground:

And when we stopped at Tim Hortons, these were the refuse/recycle bins:

Today was a travel day from Lunenburg to Halifax, a whopping 52 miles with the only scheduled event being a campground dinner at 5pm.  So we did what we normally do - played golf.  Surprise!

We were the first to leave the campground, heading out before 8am.  A couple of the golf course choices along the way did not have available tee times, so we selected Aspotogan Ridge Golf Course in Mill Cove, NS.  The course is pretty new, and only the front 9 holes have been put in.  Reviews indicated the greens were in great condition.  Their web site states “A quality Robert LeBlanc design that winds through the spectacular terrain and delights players with the challenges that lie around each turn.”  At least it was a pretty accurate description.  Several turns, lots of challenges, and clearly an effort to make it a picturesque course.

Photo from their website:  

While the greens were the bets we have played in Canada (and among the nicest we have played all year), the fairways seemed like they had not fully grown in.  Maybe it was their commitment to conservation?

• “New golf courses are now being designed to conserve water, preserve sensitive ecological areas and minimize environmental impacts. With that in mind, we conserved the wetlands around the site, fit the course to the land and preserved old growth pine stands wherever possible. We knew we had to build a first rate ecological golf course at Aspotogan and we incorporated ecological design principles right from the initial design phase, carefully siting the course to avoid the most sensitive parts of the property.”

                    ~ Robert LeBlanc

We arrived before 9am, and they said we could go off early (our tee time was for 9:45).  We saw a group of golfers gathering and learned that Friday is a Seniors Scramble beginning at 9am.  We got out in front.

As we got on the first tee box, it appeared the course was going to be target golf.  Darrell pulled his drive left which disappeared in the junk.  Kris placed her drive exactly where she wanted it, in the middle of the fairway, and birdied the short (344 yard) par 5 (for ladies).   An omen of how his day was going to go.  Kris played exceptionally well.  On the second time around, she eagled that first hole (the short par 5 for ladies).  Considering that Darrell contributed seven golf balls to the surrounding woods, he had an okay day, but Kris walloped Darrell by 10 strokes and finished 5 over par.  A mighty fine exhibition of golf well played.

We played the first nine holes in 1 hour 15 minutes.  The second time around took 2-1/2 hours.  🙁

The course reminded us a bit of Thousand Acres Golf Course we play in Swanton, MD - high hopes for building a golf course community, and only the first 9 holes in so far.  Some of the other details show their newness, like the temporary clubhouse, the main road to the golf course is gravel for the last mile, unpaved cart paths, etc.

After golf, Sprinty chose the scenic route so we avoided the construction on the main highway, and enjoyed a very pleasant drive along the water.  As luck would have it, we passed by a Tim Hortons so we could celebrate Kris’ awesome golf round.

We were nearly the last to arrive at the campground, the Woodlawn RV Park outside of Halifax, NS.  Our caravan is mostly parked on on row, with rigs parked tail to tail.  No issues for Sprinty, but a little tight for the big guys and their Toads.

Once settled at the campground, we enjoyed the best campground WiFi so far on this caravan trip.

At 5pm, we gathered at the recreation hall for a campground dinner put on by our caravan Wagonmaster and Tailgunner.  After dinner, we had the opportunity to become Honorary Maritimers by taste testing Dultz.  Dultz is a dried type of seaweed harvested from the Bay of Fundy.  A recipe we were given for using Dultz said that the smoky, salty, savoury flavour of iron-rich red seaweed Dultz has been compared to bacon.  It was salty, kind of like a salty version of thin plastic lettuce.  As we tried it, I kept reminding myself “Always buy the ticket, Always take the chance, Always make the memories”.  We both made the memory, got the certificates, now we can move on to making a new (and different) one.

After the Dultz tasting, we were entertained by a local barbershop quartet for almost an hour.