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3womenwhowander
Aug 8, 2021
8 min read

Women Who Wander NB

Adventure Three

You wouldn't think the Women Who Wander NB could find a back road in the Province that one of us has not travelled.

After all, if you add up our years of employment with Business New Brunswick and Tourism New Brunswick, it comes to almost 100 years! Most of those years were spent visiting clients on back roads! Much to our amazement, it seems we missed a few!

With that in mind, this Adventure is meant as a welcome to all of you who, like us, have not yet travelled ALL the back roads of New Brunswick. Especially, it is a welcome to the many families of newcomers to our Province, one of which we are delighted to introduce in this episode.

Adventure day started late for us but, we left feeling confident that we could accomplish our itinerary in a relatively short time, as we actually had an itinerary!

With all good intentions, we headed in the direction of Temperance Vale, NB to visit a new shop we'd recently learned about and discover what we could on the way. Our planned route would take us through Millville, NB and back home via good ol' Route 105 - with a stop for lunch, of course!

Our trip began in Douglas, NB as we headed up Route 105 to the Keswick Ridge Road (Route 616).

If you haven't experienced The Keswick Ridge Road (Route 616), from beginning to end, you are missing some spectacular views! Pick any starting point and have your camera ready. "The Ridge" is situated on the east bank of the Saint John River between the Keswick River and the Mactaquac Head Pond.

The Mactaquac Head Pond is, of course, the 100 kilometer water basin that was created when the Mactaquac Dam was built in the 1960's.

The Keswick River Road vistas are spectacular and well worth the drive. We chose to take Route 105 to McKeens Corner, NB where we picked up Route 616. For more breath taking views you can continue on Highway 616 until it joins the 104 or, you can take a little jog to the right at Zealand Road and hit the 104 a bit earlier.

Whenever we get the opportunity we always take the jog in the road and that's just exactly what we did. We took the jog turning right to Zealand Road. We made a quick stop at Robins Donut Shop to top ourselves up with coffee and to top up The Incredible Wander Wheels (the car) with gas. We continued on our way up the Zealand Road toward Route 104 with a laser focus on our destination - that of Temperance Vale, NB.

We made it to Route 104 with no distractions or stops but, as usual, our laser focus was challenged and we were immediately distracted upon entering the Village of Millville. We just HAD to stop to oohhhhh and aaahhhh at the backdrop spread out before us.

The view across the valley looking up the Howland Ridge Road in Millville is one of the most photographed in NB and is as spectacular as you would expect.

Truly, you will not be disappointed in the scenery in this part of our Province. It's well worth the drive - even if you only go a short way you will be treated to stunning vistas and picturesque panoramas!

Thoroughly enjoying the charming scenes before us on this bucolic, sunny afternoon in the countryside, we three were simply cruising, seeing, enjoying and sighing when....... all of a sudden, at Hawkins Corner, one of us stepped on the brake (pretty hard) and (pretty loudly) brought to the attention of the others...... "HOLY COW! THERE IS A STEER IN THAT SWIMMING POOL"!

And, so there was.

Now this isn't something one sees every day. Of course we had to pull over and investigate!

The only thing that prevented us from getting the world's first picture of a steer in a swimming pool was the rather large, aggressive dog on the porch guarding something worth having a large aggressive guard dog for. Something which we did not investigate any further.

I'm not saying that the guard dog was mean but he was having nothing to do with any of us coming into his yard - not even our Lynne who can charm her way into anywhere!

There was no reasoning with him so, across the road was as close as he would let us come to the steer in the swimming pool.

If you are ever in Hawkins Corner, watch for this house and this pool and, for Heaven's sake, watch out for the steer in the swimming pool!

Back on track and heading down the road again we refocused on how much we like a good ramble through a graveyard and lets face it, they are often located in really pretty spots! The particular one we visited next was no exception!

The Hawkins Corner Cemetery is the resting place of the parents of our photographer, Lynne!

We think Lynne's parents chose wisely as this cemetery is wonderfully well manicured and clearly, lovingly maintained.

Something that we noted on our ramble through the tombstones was that there was a preponderance of relatively new headstones erected showing birth dates of both spouses and wedding dates but, no death dates - only small blank squares where a date should be carved! This lead us to believe that both parties are still living. It isn't unusual to see this on a tombstone but why so many like this in one cemetery?

Is this a new trend? We wondered. (Or is there just a really good headstone salesman in the area).

We contemplated the reasoning and decided that having a tombstone erected early would offer a good chance for proof reading and admiring of the stone before the big day (so to speak). We mean no disrespect; we are truly intrigued! If you can shed any light on this trend please let us know!

Having to leave the cemetery with more questions than answers, we soldiered on refocusing once again, on our destination - Temperance Vale, NB. We soon reached the point at which Route 104 joins Route 595.

Now, Route 595 is, possibly, the most circuitous route one could ever take to get to Temperance Vale, New Brunswick. However, had we not taken this route, we would have missed the Central Waterville Bridge! This charming bridge crosses over, what we think, is a branch of the Nackawic Stream.

What a gorgeous spot! Oh to have a blanket to spread, a loaded picnic basket, a good book and bare feet to dangle in the stream!

Nowhere better to wile away a sunny afternoon!

You can only do it, if you explore Route 595!

Temperance Vale, New Brunswick, like so many other places we look for , took a long time to find, but find it we did.

Once we arrived, it was not hard to track down Vintage 96 Country Mercantile at it's location at 96 Cross Road in Temperence Vale.

Owner and operator of Vintage 96 Country Mercantile , Danielle Kopp, her husband, Evan, and their Chihuahuas, Moose and Matilda, are relative newcomers to New Brunswick and we are glad they are here!

There is so much talk lately about people moving to and settling in on the East Coast and if Danielle is any example we should consider ourselves very fortunate that folks are choosing New Brunswick as their home!

Four years ago, without ever having been to the East Coast, the Kopps' threw caution to the wind and moved to New Brunswick from Hinton, Alberta.

They bought a big, old house in Woodstock, New Brunswick that had previously operated as a Bed & Breakfast.

The Kopp's immediately began renovating and upgrading the building to ready it for welcoming guests once again.

The opening of Hanover House, as it is called, was put slightly on hold due to Covid! Happily, opening is back on the books again and is scheduled to open in 2022. (Sounds like a future Women Who Wander NB adventure!)

Clearly, the Kopps aren't easily discouraged! As soon as renovations were in hand at Hanover House, they went on to purchase a defunct fish farm located at 96 Cross Road, Temperance Vale, NB.

Their new property came with enough outbuildings to provide dedicated space to satisfy Danielle's keen interest in refinishing and repurposing cast off items and antique furniture. It was just outside her show-room that we first met Danielle.

Danielle and Moose greeted us in the parking lot and gave us a tour of the shop and the surrounding property. The shop is adorbs!

Inventory was low in the showroom as the Grand Opening had taken place the week before but that didn't stop a couple of items from making their way into the trunk of The Incredible Wander Wheels (the car)!

Along with her refinished items, Danielle sells a line of Country Chic chalk paint that she uses in her projects and recommends most highly.

Earrings, scrunchies, painted flower pots, and a few other items adorned her shelves and we were left wondering what potential finds we had missed in that Grand Opening event.

Now that Covid restrictions are a thing of the past, workshops and other events will be future offerings by Vintage 96 Country Mercantile and we'll be sure to sign on! You can keep up-to-date on what Danielle has planned by visiting her Facebook page which you can find at facebook.com/Vintage96CountryMercantile .

Thanks Danielle and Evan for choosing New Brunswick to be your new home and place of business! We count ourselves lucky to have you here!

Don't forget to check out Danielle Kopp and her sweet pup Moose in "Friends We Meet" on our website at 3womenwhowander.wixsite.com/mysite-1! They are awfully interesting and very, very friendly!

We probably don't have to mention that we were, at that point in our wander about 3 hours late for lunch! (Honestly, we don't know how it happens but it had taken us 4 hours to travel approximately 45 minutes outside of Fredericton!

For us, that's what it's all about! Just wandering, enjoying each other's company, laughing and discovering amazing places and things in New Brunswick... and when we can squeeze it in, lunch!

The final leg of our adventure took us back to Route 105 and into Mactaquac Provincial Park and Moco Kitchen At Mactaquac , a restaurant which is actually located within the park. The entrance gate to the Mactaquac Provincial Park can be found at 1256 Route 105, Mactaquac, NB.

Our hunger pangs were quickly satiated with a delicious lunch enjoyed sitting on the deck, in the warm sunshine, overlooking the Mactaquac Golf Course and the beautiful Saint John River, all of which made lingering particularly attractive!

As usual, we have no pictures (sadly) of our food! It was 75% scarfed by the time we remembered pictures. However, should you try their special house salad or their pulled pork wrap, you will understand why it all disappeared before a picture could be taken!

You can find Moco Kitchen Mactaquac on Facebook at facebook.com/MocoKitchen/? or on their website at www.mocokitchen.ca/

After tearing ourselves away from the deck at Moco Kitchen At Mactaquac, we pointed The Incredible Wander Wheels (the car) toward home via Route 105.

We didn't even have to get off of Route 105 to make a quick stop at Skinny's Scoop and Café located at 336 Route 105 in Keswick Ridge where, yes, we had the requisite ice cream cone before the final leg home.

In Adventure Two, The Sunday Drive, we reminded everyone about the old New Brunswick tradition of a family drive on a Sunday afternoon. Well, a jaunt from Fredericton up the 105 to Skinny's for an ice cream cone would be the perfect Sunday Drive if you find yourself with nothing to do on an August afternoon this summer! Check out Skinny's website at skinnysscoop.com .

Thanks for coming along with us! Now, get out there and wander New Brunswick! Maybe we will meet you on our next adventure!

Just adventure!

Women Who Wander NB

Lynne, Barb & Gail

Welcome To New Brunswick

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