Shelburne, Nova Scotia Part 1 - More than a rainy day, the DRENCHING of Gabe

593

16 October 2012

R. Linda:

Welcome To Shelburne - What we didn't expect was the monsoon

As we pulled into Shelburne, the rain had stopped, but it was humid and a bit chilly. We were exhausted. This would have been the perfect stop, but the inn we had tried to book had no vacancy because of a wedding. The inn was smack in the historical district, a picturesque wharf area.

Cooper's Inn - oh, how we wished we had a room there - even more after our visit

We went into a few shops, but nothing did we buy as seemed to be the case in most of our stops (IF there were shops). Mostly sea glass jewellery, clay plaques, etc., nothing that interested the professional shopper I was travelling with. I think we have been to too many places where souvenir shops do little for us, and it is only if her eye catches something unique is, me wallet wrenched from my tight grip.

As we walked from one end of the historical area to the other, Tonya wanted one more picture of the prop house built for the movie The Scarlet Letter.

She had to have a shot of the prop house, now used as an open-air market, but not on this day it wasn't

Our motor was parked way down at the end in the opposite direction. Okay, said I to her, telling me she would take the shot. And just as we got to the prop, the heavens opened. We were drenched within seconds. Our clothing was soaked to the skin, and there was nowhere to take shelter. I tell ya, there she was fishing out a hat she had (one of those old salt hats) and covering that up with the hood of her jacket, and there was me, thin jacket, no hood, no hat, hair dripping rain, me nose dripping rain, me clothing sopping rain, me shoes ruined, no brolly, no nothing.

I told her as she got out her camera (which had its own rain gear) that yours truly was going to hoof it to the motor. I'd come to pick her up if she was so inclined to stand out there in the cold rain and shoot pictures she probably wouldn't be able to see for the sheeting wet (and that is why these pictures in this story look blurry). And off I went. I started at a fast pace and ended up running. You know what happens when you run and can't see a foot in front of you, right? PUDDLES happen, and as my great feet hit each one, WHOOSH, up came the cold, dirty water.

Here be me route to the car:

Halfway to the parking lot, it was way beyond the gold-coloured building

Just passed the gold-coloured building

I had to run beyond the gold building on the right and around towards the sign. Then, up the road on the right

Around this

I felt like I should be driving not a motor but one of these

Yes, I was a sight to see. I probably looked like Ichabod Crane as I neared the motor only to find I forgot I locked it. So then there was me dancing around, me fingers groping the pockets of me jacket, then my jeans for the freaking keys. Meanwhile, sitting in a motor next to me was a couple looking at me with solemn faces as if scared of me. I tried to smile, but when I did, the rain would pound me exposed pearlies, which hurt. It almost drowned me as well. No time for pleasantries, I went back to groping meself for keys, which I finally found in me BACK pocket. I think the couple thought I was having sex with meself, and that was WHY they were looking at me so strangely. I had completely forgotten I had stuck the freaking keys in my back pocket. Oi!

I get the motor unlocked, and I get in. As I close the door, I hear what sounds like a flowing river. At first, I thought it was the pounding of the sheeting rain coming down from the motor's roof and down the windscreen, but no, no, that wasn't it. It was all the water that my clothing had absorbed flowing down the front of the car seat. I tell ya that motor had been through it all! The only good thing was the rain was washing away the evidence of ramming mud from the dirt road we had gotten stuck in.

"What will they think at the car  rental?" I said aloud, only to glance left to see four round eyes staring at me. I had enough. I started the motor, got the windscreen wipers going at ultra-fast speed and squinted out to find I could not see to drive. Tonya was going to be a wicked wet mess, and I was going to have to pay for it for not driving up to fetch her! I knew it, but I was saved as I heard the handle of the passenger side door click, then the pounding on the window to UNLOCK it. Which I did as quickly as I knew how, and in she came.

YUP, she did with this gem, "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU JUST SITTING HERE?! DO YOU WANT ME TO CATCH MY DEATH OR WORSE DROWN? WHY DID YOU HAVE THE DOOR LOCKED?"

I banged my head on the steering column; when I put the motor in gear, it automatically locked the door, AND most importantly, I couldn't see her coming. I was sure my audience in the parked motor next to me was still staring in horror.

I threw the motor into drive and crept out of the lot, leaving them to their thoughts that there was a sex fend driving off in a very muddy motor. Probably them wondering if they should notify the proper authorities of what they had seen since I was sure the combo of me and the muddy car looked very suspicious, and now I had a passenger I was driving off with! OI!!!

A look back at the harbour as we left

It felt like the Charger was limping onto the street and up to the main drag. It was bloody awful and bloody slow going. We were continuing on the Lighthouse Trail, which would take us from Shelburne Harbour to Jordan's Bay and finding the signs for the Trail was very difficult because of the blinding rain. I had to do it, and I knew I would catch hell for it, but I turned on the Tom-Tom, and yup, there it showed me the quickest route, a DIRT ROAD!

"Oh, no, you don't, mister! I don't care if we have to live in this car. WE ARE NOT going THAT route! NO!!!"

And, of course, we didn't. No fool me. I wanted to live a little longer. So I turned back the way we came in because I thought I had seen a sign for Sandy Point, which went to Jordan's Bay and yes, there it was.

Street signs!

I made the right, and like a snail, we crawled along the road while the rain continued to pummel us. As we got going, it let up not at all. We decided, after taking pictures of Sandy Point Light, to get back on the highway and boogie on to Liverpool and our inn for the night. We'd come back to Shelburne the following day so Tonya could get her pictures of the movie set, and we could travel onward to Peggy's Cove and Halifax.

Sandy Point Light in the sheeting rain

After this picture, I was told that "IF I had known we had time to come back here tomorrow, I'd not have bothered taking the rainy day pictures I did!"

I had nothing to say. No, it's a lot safer that way, and so once on the highway, we crept along to our destination for the night -- Lane's Privateer.

Gabe
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