A perfect little town
My happy boys on the Pictou waterfront.
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As I wrote here last week, our little motorcycle-riding trio spent part of Canada Day in Pictou and I was struck yet again by what a lovely little town it is.
Pictou is like so many other towns we’ve visited in the Maritimes. At some point in fairly recent years, town leaders must have recognized what a potentially valuable tourism resource the waterfront was and a destination was created. Closer to home, the same thing has happened in Mahone Bay and Lunenburg. In fact, we’ve visited lots of small and not-quite-so-small towns in New England with a similar vibe.
There’s something special about wandering along pretty streets, popping into quaint stores or just peeking in shop windows, stopping for a coffee or a light meal in a little restaurant, feeling a cooling sea breeze blowing off the water as you just stroll and enjoy the day. In Pictou, that atmosphere is heightened even more by the marina and boardwalk, historic displays and, of course, the Hector replica with its masts reaching skyward.
We were also delighted to enjoy a busy indoor farmers market while we were there and couldn’t have been happier when a gentleman near the door invited us to bring Jake inside. We were peeking our heads in deciding if we should go in one at a time when he spoke up and it made such a wonderful difference to our afternoon. We were able to meander and see all there was to see, purchase some lovely bread and a bottle of wine to have with dinner that evening, and chat with vendors and customers alike, many of whom wanted to take a few minutes from their day to meet our RoadDog. In fact, we met one woman who previously nurtured and bred Cairn terriers and we had a lovely chat about our dogs.
Steve managed to find us some very good coffee in takeaway cups from one of the restaurants which we enjoyed at a picnic table in the shade of a tree. We watched children running back and forth very busily passing out Canada Day goodies as Jake lazed in the cool grass (after he was certain we had only coffee and nothing he could eat, of course).
It was a great afternoon. I’m not so naive as to think that Pictou is perfect, I’m sure it has its issues just like any other town (I definitely noticed some roads that could use some repairs), but on that day at that time under that sun with the breeze blowing in our faces, it was perfect for us.
That's a very tired Jake on my shoulder after a busy day of walking and sightseeing on Canada Day.
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