Just a beautiful day in St Andrews NB

It was a beautiful day today and we took advantage. 

Lots of whitetail deer roam the campground

 

Down to the shore for a bit first of course. Not terribly interesting as the tide was in. It's more interesting when it's out, when there are large mudflats and lots of bird activity. So we biked to town for a bit of a tour.

At the main dock, a group was heading out for a water tour:

Several tour operations are based in town. Many private boats are moored to buoys too, out where the boats still float at low tide, and the owners get to them via small runabouts from the main dock.

A wild rose along the shore was still in bloom, attracting the bees:

Flaps down, coming in for a landing

Then we headed for nearby St Stephen for some shopping. First, fuel for the van. Then we spotted a Canadian Tire. I needed to replace a wiring connector used with the bike hitch. Then grocery shopping. Not very exciting, but we found everything we needed. 

After lunch we toured St Stephen a bit. The main crossing to the US used to be right in town, so we were through here a number of times in earlier years. There's still a crossing here, but no duty-free store. That has moved to the relocated main crossing, a few kilometres north of town. The small downtown area was much less busy than earlier years, as all the border traffic went right through the main street. Now there's a nice small-town feel, busy but not crazy, a nice place to visit.

There's a small town park right off the main street, so we stopped there for a walk.

A statue of an early surveyor, I'd assume Mr Ganong

The tide was going out, showing large mudflats

Over on the right is the bridge to the US, still used

This is all deeply covered at higher tide

We intended to bike to nearby Minister's Island at some point (and did, later). On the way home today though, we stopped in to see the land bridge that is usable at low tides:

The gravel bar the cars are on is totally covered at higher tide

Even a busload at the tour entrance today

On the upper horizon is a large barn worth touring. We did, some years ago.

Once back in town, the route to the campground goes right through part of the Algonquin Hotel:

Some people even look before they cross, but some don't

Later on, about 5pm, we did finally bike to Minister's Island. Their tide table said the land bridge was usable until 4:15 today, so would be getting covered now.

The start of the gravel bar is still visible, but not usable now

Earlier there was a busload over there signing in for a tour

Along the way, one fellow is always ready for winter:

Double snowmobile trailer

 

The bike tour took us just an hour for the round trip to the Minister's Island landing and back, with a couple of side tours. The very nice town trail, the Van Horne, is mostly paved and lots of water views.

The trail is at the bottom and right side