Shediac Bridge

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For our visit with Paula in Shediac (Cocagne and Moncton) we rented a two bedroom apartment from AirBnB in the Seagull Condo Resort overlooking the water and the one lane Shediac Bridge. The panorama above is from one of our balconies. Shediac Bridge is a bridge, but also a community just 10 minutes north of Shediac the town.

We arrived from Percé Rock, Quebec on the afternoon of Thursday September 19; visited with Paula, haunted the town and saw some sights over the next week; Sam and Barry arrived from Moncton on the following Thursday with their wedding at the apartment on the afternoon of Friday September 27; the next day, Saturday the 28th, we left with Sam and Barry for Fredericton. See related blog pages around this one for those stories.

The view in the panorama above is mostly to the north. To the center left, i.e. to the west, is the Shediac Bridge over the Shediac River. Paula lives up the river in the woods about 10 minutes away.  To the right, i.e. to the east, across the bay is Grande-Digue, to the far right, but out of view, is the nearby Shediac Island and from there away across the Northumberland Strait is PEI which we were able to visit. We had several gloriously dramatic sunsets but never had an impressive sun rise. Most days started fairly cloudy with the weather clearing as the day went on. I understand this is off season for tourists and we were lucky to have the good weather we found.

The Seagull Condo Resort is a fairly new long building of 33 identical 3 story units each facing the water. The building must be a bit of an eye sore to the homes across the road to the south as the building blocks their view of the water. See "Construction begins on controversial Shediac Bridge condos" (CBC 2017). Our condo unit is very nicely appointed; both bedrooms, on the top floor, are quite large with a shared bathroom; we were pleased to have a king bed overlooking the water. The second floor is the living area with powder room, kitchen, dining and TV/lounging area. The ground floor includes a drive in garage and a small entry room. Each floor has a balcony or walkout area to the seaside as above.

Our original plan was that we wanted a place on the water with Sam and Barry staying with us. When they decided to get married while visiting they changed plans and instead stayed in Shediac at "The Tait House" (an historic boutique restaurant/hotel). This meant we would no longer need this large condo and the host was prepared should we have cancelled. However, we looked around on AirBnB and couldn't find something we liked. There are some cottages/cabins at or near the water but nothing that appealed to us so we stayed here.

On our arrival Paula came to visit, we played with her and the two doggies Gerry and Felix many times. We brought her a souvenir from the Musee National des Beaux- Arts du Quebec — a very funny picture book about "Men to Avoid in Art and Life". Paula is single and has met many of the men in that book. We found it tragically funny and liked it so much we ordered another when we got home. We also brought Paula some consumable greenery from our garden. She asked about this year's crop — it wasn't ready yet but seems pretty lush.

Our route here from Quebec City and around the Gaspe Peninsula is not the direct and fastest route. Paula asked if we had got lost, "No, we went that way on purpose". I was somewhat pleased when we entered New Brunswick though. Along the Gaspe it's slow going with a two lane coastal road through many little villages. In NB it's a quick drive on a good road through the country miles far away from the beach roads, seas side villages and cottage country. The Trans Canada Highway No. 11 from Miramachi to Shediac is a very good, very quick trip. Shediac Bridge is an off-ramp exit from No. 11 as a 4 lane expressway just before Shediac proper.

The purpose of this blog is to just give a sense of where we stayed. Read other blogs for our adventures.