Canada: May 15, 2006. We crossed into Canada near Woodstock, NB this afternoon and drove north along the Saint John River to Perth-Andover.

The weather here isn't co-operating very well. So far it's rained everyday except Monday when we arrived, so there's not much we can do.

We drove to Grand Falls with Joy on a gray Saturday to have lunch and see the falls. In spite of the fact that only 2 of the gates were open, a huge volume of water poured over the rocks and into the river. It's amazing how calm the river is by the time it gets to Perth-Andover.

In spite of the weather we drove to Saint John on May 21st to spend a couple of days with Ron's Mum and drive her up to Perth for a visit. We didn't do a lot in Saint John because of the combination of the weather and the Victoria Day holiday, but we did get to Swiss Chalet, Zeller's and Tim Horton's; all truly Canadian experiences.

Saint John - The Loyalist City. We've traveled around the US east coast soaking up American history, but here in Saint John there is a part of that history that many Americans are not aware of.

The decision to separate from England and form a new nation was not, by any means, unanimous among the colonists in 1776; there were many who wanted to remain loyal to King George III.

At the end of the War of Independence, some of these were persecuted for their loyalty, others felt that they could not live in the new American nation and still keep their British allegiance, so they moved north to Canada; many settled in Saint John, New Brunswick.

Although a devastating fire destroyed this city in 1877, one Loyalist home survived as well as the graveyard of first church the new settlers established.

Another great visit with old friends - Cheryl now lives in Saint John, and treated us to her famous hospitality; in addition we got to have fun with the best trained dogs in the Province (maybe.)

The last time we visited Cheryl she had only 2 dogs; a new member has since joined the family.