Making Lemonade in Saint John

We were planning to drive from Saint Andrews over to a Chocolate Festival in Saint Stephen. As we started to leave Saint Andrews, I noticed a small "clunk" when we hit a bump while turning. There had been a discussion on the Yahoo LD list about rubber bushings on Bilstein shocks deteriorating and causing such a sound. So we pulled off and I found the top bushing on the front passenger side shock to be in bad shape with the top of the shock loose. We were able to find a local auto repair shop to look at it. He had an old bushing in his "parts bin" that he was able to use to fix the passenger side. He checked the driver side bushing and indicated that it was already cracked and should be fixed. He recommended a suspension shop in Saint John, New Brunswick that would have the tools and experience to address the problem. There went the Chocolate Festival! We headed off to Saint John and checked into an RV park. I was able to schedule an appointment for the next morning, so we had the rest of the day to kill.

In the spirit of the old saying "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade," we decided to take in some of what Saint John had to offer. We had been reading about the famous "Reversing Falls" in Saint John. Where the Saint John River reaches the Bay of Fundy, it goes through a narrows with a rock ledge. Because of the 40 foot tidal change at Saint John, at low tide the river rushes through the narrows and over the ridge forming significant rapids. At high tide, the bay rises to a level about 14 feet higher than the river level above the narrows during low tide, causing the river to reverse twice a day and flow inland until the tide drops again.




Here is what the Reversing Falls area looks like during high tide with the river flowing backwards.





For dinner we went to eat at Billy's Seafood at the Old City Market. The Old City Market, which dates back to 1785, is in a large old building housing vendors selling a variety of goods. The main market itself was just closing as we arrived, so we decided we would come back the next day.



Billy's Seafood was open later, and is noted for their seafood. So we proceeded to sample one of the things we had come for, LOBSTER! (It tasted as good as it looks!)





The next morning we dropped the LD off at the suspension shop and headed off in the Jeep. Since it was near low tide, we first headed over to see the Reversing Falls near low tide.





Here is what the Reversing Falls area looks like during low tide with the river flowing through the rapids.




Next we went back to the Old City Market to wander around and check out the vendors' wares. We had just about finished looking when we got a call on our cell phone that the rig was ready to go. So we went back, paid, hooked up the Jeep, and headed back on the road feeling that we had actually had a very nice visit to Saint John.