Evening of Day 12: Caraquet, New Brunswick with a visit to an Acadian Village and a communal stir fry at the campground.

This morning we got up early and went out in search of breakfast and wifi, not necessarily in that order. Behold Tim Horton, the McDonalds of Canada, was discovered not too many miles, ah kilometers, away. We were able to get free wifi that worked really well and were able to elbow our way to the counter to order some food. It was packed. It was a zoo. It obviously was an institution in Caraquet with all the old, retired guys jabbing and drinking coffee. Hey, it is just like McDonalds in the States. We found a corner that was relatively quiet and fired up our computer, Iphones, and Ipads; and we were in heaven. It allowed me to post the blog from yesterday. The posting for this entry may not occur for another day or two.

The day’s activity was touring an Acadian village showing what life was like for Acadians from the mid to late 1800’s into the early 1900’s. The time setting was after the Acadians came back to the area. We understood that the Acadians living in this village depended on agriculture, but because they were disliked by the locals they had a difficult time selling their crops. A businessman from Jersey saw the potential in cod fishing and convinced the people to fish for cod. The more they worked for him, the more in debt to him they became and had to continue working for him until the cod industry hit hard times.

In the village there were farmsteads with homes, barns and outbuildings, and buildings used during the height of the cod business. The buildings were restored to the time period 1850 to 1870.

There were lots of people in period costumes that would tell visitors about a particular building and the activities that occurred there. The crowd seemed to be predominantly French speaking and the actors also spoke in French. However we did learn that school ran 12 months of the year, but summer months when kids were needed in the fields attendance was optional. How did that work?

One of the most interesting activities was a broom maker. He was peeling paper birch poles. When the bark was removed, he would cut thin, narrow strips of wood which would peel away from the stem. The curled strips were left attached to the stem making the business end of the broom. We have seen lots of examples of old time broom making, but a frayed birch pole was a first.

In the evening we had our communal stir fry. Every couple was instructed to bring 3 vegetables cut up into small pieces and some type of meat to cook separately.

All the veggies were dumped into a trash container lined with a plastic bag.

The chef than put on plastic gloves and mixed up the veggie mix. This whole operation was done under appropriate sterile conditions, appropriate for camping.

The stir fry happened. We then cooked our meat on gas grills and when the meat was done we added heaps of stir fried veggies to our plates of meat. Forget the meat! The veggies were to die for. It was so good, I momentarily forgot about poutine. Anyway, the meal was a big hit, and we will probably do it again before the trip is over..

The campground was celebrating mid-summer with “Christmas in July.”

Many of the camping slots were obviously occupied by summer residents, and they went all out in decorating their sites. It was fun walking around the campground just like we would do on Christmas Eve, only we would be driving with the windows up and the car heater on hot. This was much more pleasant.

So, poutine and “eh” are not the only strange things we have encountered so far.