Saint Andrews, New Brunswick

One of the most significant adjustments we’ve made over the past year has been getting used to driving everywhere. In our old life, we lived in a large urban area right outside Washington, D.C. where everything we needed was within walking distance of our house. In fact, it was not uncommon for me to park the car after work on Friday evening (Kevin took the subway to and from his office) and not move it again until Monday morning. Transitioning to living in the RV has meant driving a lot more since most campgrounds are not particularly close to the things we want to see. None of it is that big a deal, but we did love living within walking distance of things and we absolutely miss that feature of our former life.

So when I learned that there was a campground located right over the Canadian border that was within walking distance of a historic town, I was immediately intrigued. Since we didn’t know what to expect during our border crossing (we heard some stories of people zipping right through with no problems and other stories of people waiting an hour or more before having their entire RV searched by border patrol agents), we wanted to find a campground close to the border so whatever happened, we would be done with our travel day soon after. As I looked into the town of Saint Andrews, located just 30 miles from the international border, it looked like a great choice. Turned out, it was.

Best of all, during our nine night stay, we didn’t drive the Xterra once. It sat parked next to Barney enjoying a well deserved rest after being run into the ground for the past year. We walked or biked to the little downtown area numerous times, sometimes to get provisions from the store, sometimes to enjoy meals, and sometimes just to gawk at the pretty houses, shops, and inns that line the main street. (Here’s a helpful map.)

Downtown Saint Andrews By The Sea
Downtown Saint Andrews By The Sea…

An inn in Saint Andrews, New Brunswick

Poutine and seafood chowder at The Red Herring Pub in Saint Andrews
Poutine and seafood chowder…. basically required eating when visiting New Brunswick

The neighborhoods of Saint Andrews are full of idyllic homes and historic churches…

and there are several sites worth stopping to take a look at….

Pendlebury Lighthouse
Pendlebury Lighthouse – constructed in 1833 and the oldest lighthouse on the mainland of New Brunswick.
The Saint Andrews Blockhouse
The Saint Andrews Blockhouse –  a battery built during the War of 1812 to guard against the American military and privateers.
The Algonquin Resort in Saint Andrews
The Algonquin Resort in Saint Andrews

The Atlantic surrounds the town on three sides, offering endless opportunities to enjoy ocean views.

Saint Andrews waterfront at sunsetSaint Andrews, New Brunswick

Bench overlooking the ocean at Saint Andrews

Speaking of views, Saint Andrews is located on the famous Bay of Fundy – home to the largest tidal changes in the world. Every day, the tide rises and falls some 24 feet (in other locations farther east, it changes 50 feet!), and the tides change every six hours, so we were treated to an ever changing landscape. I took some low tide/high tide photos from the same places to give an idea of just how different the landscape looked throughout a given day.

Low tide and high tide photos from Saint Andrews, New Brunswick

The town also has some beautiful bike trails and walking paths, giving visitors no shortage of places to meander. While out on our bikes one evening, we even got a friendly welcome from Canadian Bambi!!!
Walking and biking paths in Saint Andrews, New Brunswick

Speaking of friendly welcomes, while the campground we stayed at was the kind of place we generally don’t like (read: Where you’re ass-to-elbow with your neighbors), everyone we met was so incredibly friendly, it didn’t even matter. When we first arrived, not one but two neighbors came over to offer their assistance, (whaaaaat????). We also noticed that several seasonal residents had signs inviting folks to come by and hang out on their patios, and everyone we encountered on our walks was happy to say hello.

Kingsbrae Garden

Random fun fact: The word “amazing” is kindof like nails on a chalkboard to me. If you go back and read this entire blog (which you really should, it’s amazing), you will not find that word anywhere before today. Perhaps it’s bizarre, but I think most people have some word or phrase or cliche that drives them nuts, and for me, it’s “amazing.” I think it’s because I spend a lot of time reading travel blogs and Instagram posts where it is used All. The. Time. And when it’s used to describe, say, the Grand Canyon, or a thousand year old Sequoia tree, or Crater Lake, I have no problem. But when it’s used to describe a chicken sandwich, a little part of me dies. And it’s been used to describe a LOT of chicken sandwiches.

Kingsbrae Garden in Saint Andrews

So when I spent an afternoon visiting Kingsbrae Garden, and the word that kept coming to my mind was “Amazing,” I had a bit of a crisis of conscience.

Kingsbrae Garden

But eventually I decided not to despair….

Kingsbrae Garden in Saint Andrews, New Brunswick

Because, unlike the chicken sandwiches often extolled on Instagram, these gardens are actually mind boggling.

Kingsbrae Garden

The 27 acre property is divided into some 19 individual themed gardens and filled with unique pieces of art. The smaller gardens include flower gardens, a container garden, a touch garden for the visually impaired, a butterfly garden, a children’s garden, a meditation garden, a maze, and an orchard. There’s also a small animal enclosure with alpacas, goats, and, reportedly, other animals (they were being shy when I visited).

Kingsbrae Garden in Saint Andrews

What was so – wait for it – amazing to me was the variation of plant life, the planning that obviously goes into what appears to be organized chaos within the gardens, and the fact that all of this grows so beautifully in Canada…a country known more for its snow shoeing opportunities than its greenery. I would expect horticultural perfection of this magnitude in San Diego, not Eastern Canada.

Kingsbrae Garden in Saint Andrews

Kingsbrae Garden in Saint Andrews, New Brunswick

The property is absolutely astounding, nee…Amazing! and I strongly suggest you visit if you are anywhere within 100 miles of Saint Andrews.

And before my next photo collage, I thought you would appreciate a little poem I wrote…

Roses are red

Violets are blue

I know no one actually wants to look at 400 pictures of individual flowers

But too late

Wait… should I try to turn that into a Haiku??

Flowers at Kingsbrae Garden

Currently….

We’ve made our way back to Canada after our brief return to the United States. We don’t have any concrete answers on Dixie’s situation (naturally), but the vet had some theories and we are making treatment decisions based on those theories. Hopefully, we’ll see some improvement soon. I’ll write more about all of that in my next post. In the meantime, the doctor gave us the go ahead to continue with our travel plans, so that’s what we’re doing.

And with that, I will now get ready for my brothers to start texting me about how everything in their life is “amazing” since they now know it annoys me.

Ah well…. Until next time….

Where we stayed: Kiwanis Oceanfront Camping

 

23 COMMENTS

  1. What a beautiful area!! It looks so European. I love the flower pictures. Go ahead, bring it with 400 pics – I probably took 400 pics of bougainvillea alone in Greece! Was that a piano in the middle of the garden? The deer was lovely and the low/high tide pics really cool. Looks like a great area!

    • Yes, that was a painted piano! There were numerous sculptures and individual pieces of artwork sprinkled throughout the gardens. I assume they change the pieces out every so often, but I’m not 100% sure. I actually saw one artist working on her piece while I was there. The low tide/high tide stuff around here is really incredible. We’re farther east now and the changes are mind boggling. Everything looks totally different over the course of a couple hours. And yeah, I love the individual flower photos but I imagine most people probably really don’t care… but they’re so pretty and easy to photograph, I went a little nuts with them!

    • Awww, you can use any word you want…. though, if I notice you’re suddenly referring to EVERYTHING as amazing, I’ll assume you’re mad at me and want me to be miserable. 🙂 Saint Andrews really was lovely, and we were thinking of you guys in sweltering Florida when we had to put the heater on a couple nights because it was getting that chilly. Pretty great summer weather….

  2. Awesome post. Your photos are lovely …. awesome. I’ve heard about the Fundy tidal changes – kind of perplexing and awesome at the same time. Thanks for the awesome share ????

    • See??? It’s not that hard to come up with a different word, is it? Though, if you keep it up at this rate, you’re gonna remove “awesome” from my “list of acceptable words other people can use,” sooooo, just take it easy with the over-use, alright? 😉

  3. I love your blog. It’s amazing! Ha Ha! I really do enjoy reading your posts. You really humanize there with the stories you tell. I seek out gardens anywhere I go, and now I have to add this one to my (ever expanding) list.

    • Thank you! I’m glad you like it and I’m glad you now have something to torment me with anytime you feel the urge. 🙂 Honestly, I’ve never been one to seek out gardens until I wanted to practice photography and quickly learned that they are perfect destinations for that. But if I lived in or near Saint Andrews, I would get a membership to this place. I could spend hours there just wandering, or reading a book. It’s so incredibly relaxing and peaceful.

  4. Pretty “amazing” that you know your brothers so well and what “amazing” things they will do. ???? Great pictures! Love the tidal before and after as well as all the flower pictures.

    • After 40 years, I have indeed figured a few things out….. Think about that…. 40 years. FORTY years of you going out of your way to annoy me. I should get a medal or something for this.

    • Fantastic! I think you guys will enjoy it! We’re just starting our Canadian explorations, but so far, it’s been really great. And the favorable exchange rate makes everything that much cheaper, which is a nice bonus!

  5. Aww, come on!!! I’ve had a couple of friends declare “great” and “wonderful” taboo. And now “amazing” is on the hit list, as well. I had to go back and check my last few posts to see if I was one of the perpetrators. I’m not! Amazing, huh? 🙂
    Saint Andrews looks terrific. We’re definitely going there. Thanks for the beautiful and helpful post! You can’t post too many flower photos for me. And what a treat, poetry, too!

    • See? This is working perfectly! Now, everyone who’s read this article will think twice before using the word ‘amazing’. Perfect! And I’m ok with ‘great’ and ‘wonderful,’ though I’m getting a little tired of my own use of the word ‘beautiful’. I gotta come up with some other words. Off to my thesaurus!!!

  6. Your photos are amazeballs! (Is that better??? ha ha). Breathtaking. Seriously. Please tell me you found some oysters?? That visit seemed perfect! Can’t wait for the next post and we’re still keeping in our thoughts!

      • Thank you, Shelby! And yes, the term “amazeballs” has been declared “permissible. ” By me. 🙂 These things are handled on a case by case basis, after all. As for oysters, they are the one type of seafood I do not like. Blasphemy, I know. Kevin likes them. I think they are completely gross….. We have been eating lots of other good seafood though. There’s no shortage of options around here!

  7. I have to admit my heart skipped a beat when I read the title of this post. My mind immediately translated it as you were staying put and I thought NO! I love reading your blog and have added so many travel ideas to our list through reading. Places I may not have found on my own. And St Andrews is one of them. It is so beautiful! Thank you for sharing another wonderful adventure I can add to my list.

    • Thank YOU for your kind words! Nope, we’re not stopping anytime in the near future, unless something unexpected happens. We’re having way too much fun with this! I’m glad you’ve gotten some good ideas from this blog. So much of what we do these days is based on what I’ve read on other folks blogs. It’s just a great medium for finding new spots and things to do in those spots. I’m happy if we can pay it forward a bit.

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