I have been to Peggy’s Cove dozens of times in my life, and somehow it manages to never lose even a tiny bit of wonder for me. Each visit is unique: different guests, different lighting, different weather conditions, different paths chosen to navigate the giant granite boulders.
But I have to admit that this particular visit felt extra magical. The weather perfectly encapsulated the essence of fall in the Maritimes. Sun reflecting off the water (my mom and I used to call them water diamonds), the smell of ocean air, clear blue skies. And, this time, a relative lack of touristy crowds.
Oops. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s back up.
In my last recap I had dropped Kae off at the Tattingstone Inn for the night. Then it was home to bed for me. Before I knew it, I was working my way through my morning routine: I prepped some food for supper, got the kids off to school, and went through my regular ablutions.
Kae sweetly brought along some gifts for the family. She gifted Indy a set of Harry Potter bookmarks, and he let me choose one. I opted for the wisdom of Hermione.
Belle and I weren’t left out of the mix and got our own fancy bookmarks which will be used for many years to come.
(Fun fact: I think of Kae every single time I open my Bible because she once mailed me a bookmark with a lighthouse theme.)
I picked Kae up around 9:30 and we headed to Hennigar’s Farm Market. I had originally planned to serve corn on the cob with our supper (side note: the comment section on this post is so fun to read), but made a game-day decision to pivot. I bought some apple cider and we had fun browsing the different food and gift options.
We popped into one more farm market to buy some local jerky and then made our way to my favourite coffee shop. We chatted and watched the world go by while sipping our respective cups of tea. I could have stayed on that couch all day but we had things to do and people to collect from the airport!
I also wanted to fit in my Cool Bloggers Walking Club movement for the day, so we wandered to the waterfront, snapped a few pictures, and I made sure to get a reference photo to compare/contrast the tides.
This does not give adequate perspective on the scale of tidal rise/fall. For context, the highest tide ever recorded in the world was about an hour from our place and it was 53.6 feet (16.3 m)!!!
We popped back to my place for a quick lunch (leftovers), and headed to the airport with what I thought was plenty of buffer.
Well, the joke was on me because SHU arrived almost 30 minutes EARLY. She very graciously waited for us to arrive and then we were off on our next adventure.
It should go without saying that we talked non-stop. On this drive, at Peggy’s Cove…and throughout the entire weekend.
I’m not sure what more I can write about Peggy’s Cove that I haven’t already mentioned:
And while I already have approximately ten bajillion pictures from this area, of course I took several hundred more. It is so photogenic, especially with two incredible friends along for the adventure.
I LOVE this picture of Sarah and Kae looking at the lighthouse <3
Just look at that sky!
I can’t think of a prettier backdrop for a casual chat with friends.
Eventually we had to escape the siren song of the ocean and head to the car. We had a lengthy drive to get back to my place and John was arriving home from a work trip to Germany, so I was conscious of timing and getting everyone settled for the night!
I called Belle and she managed the final prep for supper (aka “dinner” to my visiting American friends). There are many perks to having older kiddos, one of which is their ability to do things on the home front.
We actually arrived home before John — kid introductions were made (SHU hadn’t met Belle and Indy yet) — and supper was ready the instant he walked in the door.
While I had skimped a bit (no lobster this round), we had a yummy seafood casserole over rice with peas on the side (because if you’ll recall I was too lazy to do corn on the cob), and some local apple cider to drink. Later in the evening, we had apple cake (I use wayyyy less sugar) with ice cream and hot buttered apples!
The girls — including Belle — settled in for several hours of chatting in my living room. We talked through some of the 36 Questions, discussed various unbloggable things going on in our lives, and just…hung out.
This became Kae’s unofficial corner and she always looked so cozy (there was usually a mug of hot tea close at hand).
All good things must come to and end. Eventually it was time for them to go back to their accommodations at The Tattingstone Inn. But we headed to bed feeling satisfied after a busy, beautiful, fun-filled day of adventuring in Nova Scotia…with the promise of more fun to come!
If you haven’t already had a chance to read it, check out Kae’s recap of Peggy’s Cove, and here’s SHU’s summary of events. And stay tuned more Nova Scotia adventures.
Your turn.
- What’s your favourite fall dessert?
- What’s a spot that never loses its magic no matter how many times you visit?
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Ahhh love this so much! These recaps and our obviously very similar but slightly different takes on things to report back makes me feel like I’m getting to experience it all multiple times! 🤩 I will seriously cherish the memories of this trip FOREVER. 💗
I still cannot get over the weather. And how smoothly everything went. Gah! Such a great adventure together!
What a wonderful time with friends and a feast for all the senses. My favorite fall dessert is anything pumpkin, but since we picked a 1/2 bushel of apples two weeks ago, I’ve been making all things apple. I made an apple pie on Sunday, which my husband loves. Two spots that never lose their magic for me are Sedona and Napa Valley.
I have been loving pumpkin everything lately. And just when I start to burn out on that flavour, I’ll switch to Peppermint Mocha for Christmas 😉
Love these trip recaps! I can’t believe SHU’s flight was 30 minutes early. My retired colleague and I have joked that there are early landing but early arrivals are less common and oftentimes the gate is occupied when you land early so you sit on the plane waiting to taxi to the gate and end up “arriving” at the gate at the scheduled time. So I have learned the hard way that it’s best to not say “I’m here” if someone is picking me up when I land and to wait until I’m at the gate. Ha.
My favorite fall dessert is apple crisp! Yum! I like it when it’s still warm after baking. I haven’t made an apple crisp in years, though. I used to make one for our pumpkin carving night but we’ve shifted to letting the kids have some Halloween candy. But I should make one this year for the adults!
I couldn’t believe it either. Hence us being “late”…oops.
A really good apple crisp is delicious. Belle hates anything with cooked fruit, so I rarely make it, but it’s so yummy! And yes to it being warm. That’s a MUST for me.
YES to reliving these fun moments 🙂 !!! LOVE all the pix of us at Peggy’s Cove. I feel so lucky to have gotten to finally see it!!!
It’s so fun to view a favourite place through the eyes of others. I’m so glad it lived up to your expectations.
Another fabulous day with gorgeous photos! I’m so glad you’re all having a great time, and that you share it with us! I also enjoyed Kae and SHU’s recaps. It’s fun to hear their perspectives.
I’m looking forward to more!
I am LOVING the chance to read about the same adventures from slightly different perspectives! I’m used to being the only one doing recaps of my trips/adventures, so this is a special treat as a blogger who happens to LOVE travel recaps.
So so fun to share beautiful local spots with friends and see it again with new eyes! I must get back to Peggy’s Cove soon! We haven’t been in several years!
It is a family favourite for us and the perfect place to take visiting friends.
It didn’t hurt that the weather put on a spectacular show for us!
I’ve only been there once, but I don’t think it’s possible to get tired of Peggy’s Cove. Just in the few hours that we were there I kept seeing new details in the rocks, and we only covered a small part of it. A longer exploration will be in order for visit #2.
And what would a visit to PC be without a dinner with friends, yummy food, dessert, and great conversation! It’s all magical stuff.
You’re so right – it has something new to offer with each visit!
What a beautiful place, and it looks like you had a great time. Such perfect weather. I was trying to decide which picture looks the most like an album cover…lots of options.
This particular landscape really lends itself to dramatic photography!
Love this, Elisabeth! I could almost smell the salt air and hear the laughter over apple cake – Peggy’s Cove really does look like pure magic. That photo of Shu and Kae on the rock with the lighthouse in the background is absolute perfection.
And I have to say, I love that Belle jumped in to help with dinner, clearly, she’s been well trained!
By now, you must have done the 36 Questions quite a few times – do your answers change depending on your mood, or are they pretty consistent?
She is growing up to be a very capable, responsible teen…most of the time! She is very good in the kitchen and I need to start leaning into that more.
I feel like my answers mostly stay the same, but sometimes I just cannot remember what I “usually” say and it drives me nuts!
Arghhh, I almost cannot bear reading these posts, just feeling sick with envy. I NEED to live near the ocean and where there are distinct seasons. I skimmed through Kae and Sarah’s posts too, and just had to stop. One day, perhaps. . . Elisabeth, you are an amazingly gracious hostess! Your children and husband are so accepting and accommodating. It’s all just so doggone perfect! Thank you for sharing, and I will try to be mature and grateful for my life, which is really pretty good. Sigh.
I’m sorry, Jana. It really was a picture-perfect weekend. You’ll just have to make it to Nova Scotia for yourself one day. It’s a gorgeous place to visit.
I had pretty rotten sleep over the last week, so that part was definitely NOT perfect.
What a wonderful experience, Elisabeth. Peggy’s Cove looks like such a charming place. I love lighthouses 🙂
I’ve visited dozens of lighthouses and Peggy’s Cove always comes out on top.
This is such a lovely time for you and your visiting bloggers.
The weather looks smashing, those blue skies. I can’t get over the blue skies!
I need to visit Peggy’s cove. Wow on the tidal rise/fall difference; pretty incredible.
You really must, Suz! You would love it here. So gorgeous.
The weather cooperated beyond my wildest expectations.
that death sign warning is quite intense. Yikes. Great photos as usual. I just reached out to my 5th grade teacher to touch base on how to proceed to plan a 40th reunion for my class and she texted me back that she’s on a Nova Scotia cruise and I was so jealous. I felt like telling her to wave to you.
My fav place that never loses the magic would be the campus at University of Notre Dame. I was so pleased to get to go for a run there a few weeks ago. I’ll be back tomorrow to tailgate. It looks like rain. Ugh. But I’ll be prepared.
People do die here every year by walking too close to the edge of the water. There are warning signs, but people ignore them. Now they have security guards with whistles to alert people if they’re getting too close.
Aww! That’s so fun. A cruise to Nova Scotia. I wonder what all she’s getting to see.
We watched Rudy last night and I couldn’t stop thinking about you!! What an iconic campus and I remember you saying you were in the stands as an extra. The kids loved the movie. Such a classic.
Ah, what a grand time! I love that you took Shu and Kae to Peggy’s Cove (it’s a must!) and that Belle cooked dinner and you all got to hang out 🙂 It does not sound at all like you all met up for the first time, and isn’t that the great thing about the blogger community!?
It is insane how it really does feel like we have known each other forever. I love it and to a non-blogger I think it would be very hard to explain!