Introduction

I am very anious to tell you about the changes and additions I've made to Annapolis-Valley-Vacations.com, but first I want to tell you about a few of the things I noticed going on in the valley this month.

Upcoming Events

• Plan a visit to the Digby Toymaker's Shop on Dec 7 for an ornament making session. This will be the last one held at his Montague Row store as he has purchased the old Fire Hall in Cornwallis and will be moving there shortly.

• On Dec. 14 from 1-4pm the Admiral Digby Museum is hosting a Loyalist Christmas Party. There will be costumes, caroling, gingerbread and apple cider plus more.

• The O'Dell Museum in Annapolis Royal is also holding it's popular Victorian Christmas Tours every weekend until Christmas. These are 7 - 9pm on Friday & Saturday evenings and 2 - 4pm on Sundays.

• Dec. 7th is the Christmas Crackers at the Arts Council in Annapolis Royal starting at 2pm. There will be Christmas Stories, Music and their Annual Members Art Show, everyone welcome.

• There is a family Scavenger Hunt around the Marsh Walking Trail on Sunday Dec. 14 at 1 pm in Annapolis Royal.

• A new event, but sure to be popular is the Real Christmas Story on December 21, 6:30pm at the Annapolis Valley Exhibition Grounds in Lawrencetown. This is the nativity scene be presented with live actors and live animals and will tell the story of the first Christmas.

• The Macdonald Museum is launching it's history book - "History From the Heart, a pictorial history of the town of Middleton" on Dec. 7 from 2-4pm. This book is being launched to help start off the centennial celebrations being held in Middleton all next year.

• A Christmas Celebration will be held at the old Johnson farm house on Saturday Dec 13th from 6:30 - 8:30 in support of the Randall House Museum. There will be music, caroling and delicious holiday treats.

These are just a small part of what is happening this holiday season in the valley. Please check my events page; your local papers or the AVR radio station to find out about all the other ways you can experience the holidays in the Annapolis Valley.

News From The Valley

• The Annapolis Valley Tourist Industry is going through major changes to help rejuvenate interest in the area. The museums and historic sites are great, but today people want more for their vacation experience. That is just it, they want to "experience" the place; they want to live it, to really feel it.

  We, in the Annapolis Valley are rising to meet these challenges.

  All through the Annapolis Valley there are meetings and seminars being held to change the way we present and deliver our gems to the world. To do this we are involving everyone including fishers, farmers, restaurateurs, chefs, inn keepers, bureaucrats, marketers and tourism operators. Workshops are being held to find ways to join all these together to make a trip to the Annapolis Valley a memorable one for our visitors. This is an exciting time and I encourage anyone living in the valley to take part in these workshops and see what you can easily do yourself to add to this.

• In this modern age many valley businesses have turned to modern technology to help promote their goods. This goes for the tourist industry as well. Paul Stackhouse and Val Petersen, co-owners of the Hillsdale House Inn in Annapolis Royal were recently presented with the Tourism Atlantic Technology Award for 2008. This was presented at the Tourism Summit hosted by the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia in Halifax.

• Plans are underway to try to bring the Maude Lewis house replica built by Murray Ross into the town of Digby for their Annual Scallop Days festivities this summer. There is also talk from the Municipality of Digby to purchase this replica and place is permanently on the Maude Lewis site in Marshalltown.

• The McMaster Project Committee has been set up and is in the works of trying to have the McMaster property, known as the former mill site in Rockville Notch, Kings County designated as a historical site and park. This site is located along the Fales River, south of Greenwood, between the communities of Tremont and Harmony and is rich with historical significance of the area.

• Annapolis Royal resident Jane Nicholson has won two Built Heritage Awards presented by the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia. Nicholson won these awards for her work restoring the old Annapolis Train Station and the Ruggles-Munro house bringing both these rich old buildings back to their original beauty.

• A six-kilometre stretch of the Cambridge/Coldbrook trail from the Sharpe Brook Bridge, East Cambridge to the Kentville town line has now officially opened. This trail is open to walkers, cyclists, wheelchairs, horseback riders, cross-country skiers and snowmobiles.

That is just a little of what has been happening in the Annapolis Valley this past month. sounds like I have some new places to visit during this next year.

Updates & Changes to Annapolis-Valley-Vacation.com

• I guess the first thing I will list is this new Ezine, which I already talked about above. I just want to mention that I am really excited about this Ezine and I want to thank everyone who has subscribed to it. Make sure to tell your friends, they may subscribe by filling in their email addresses in the form found on many pages on my site now.

• Last spring, before I left I tried for several days to add a weather icon to my home page, without success. Well I finally did it! Now you may easily see what the weather is for five different towns in the Annapolis Valley by the drop down menu included. You can check this out by going to my Home Page.

• Are you like me and find some of my pages are too long? I know, I like to write, but I have found that sometimes I put too much on a page and some of the information is lost at the bottom. So I have been taking steps to correct this and one of the first ones I have changed is my Attractions Page.

  I used to include information on scenic drives on the bottom of this page. Well I have decided to make Scenic Drives it's own 2nd tier page and plan to add more great drives to this page in the near future. I have also finally found out how to add an interactive map to this page where you may plan out the roads to take before you leave home. You may check out this new page and try out the new map at Annapolis Valley Scenic Drives.

• While working on this, I also decided to change the 3rd tier page on Other Annapolis Valley Parks into 3 separate pages, one for each county. To help you find a nice park to enjoy a family picnic, take a leisurely trail or just relax check out Kings County Parks; Annapolis County Parks or Digby County Parks.

• I have also changed my Contact Page. I used to have my About Me Page and Contact Page together. Well I have separated them into their own 2nd tier pages. Now you may find my Contact Form easier, well maybe not easier, but faster, the page is not as long now. I have had a lot of really great comments from people using this form, This is so important as it helps to tell me if I am on the right track with this web site and what people think of what I have done and what they would like to see added in the future. Please feel free to send me your comments by visiting my Contact Page.

  Please do not worry about giving out your email address on this form. As stated in my new Privacy Policy your email address is not given out at all and is only used so that I may reply to any questions or suggestions you may provide me with. You may find out all about my Privacy Policy now by clicking on the footer found at the bottom of every page on my web site.

• I still needed an About Me Page but I changed it to better tell my story about how I came to build this web site. I like it much better but see what you think by visiting My Personal Journey Page here.

  By the way, the big fish I am holding in the first picture was the Northern Pike I caught this summer out in Prince Albert National Park in SK. I am very proud of him especially as I caught him in a canoe by myself and without a net. Most people who know me know I love to fish and this is my best catch to date, so I had to include this picture.

  I have also added a couple of links on this page and a video for anyone who ever thought about making their own web site business. I highly recommend Site Build It for doing this. Please feel free to check them out, watch the short video, it will show you how simple it really is and what you can get out of it. I hate to say simple, the process is simple with everything Site Build It provides you but nothing worth having is easy, you will have to work at it. But done right the rewards you see all through the process makes the work seem so small compared. So do yourself a favor, take a few minutes to watch this fantastic video found at the bottom of My Personal Journey Page. It just could change your life.

• I also updated my Events Page adding a lot of the fantastic events happening throughout the valley during this festive time. Check out this page often as I will add events as I find out about them. I am also trying to design this page so it is more user friendly, so watch for changes in the near future. You may visit this page by clicking here. Use my contact form or reply to this Ezine to tell me about any suggestions you may have for this page.

• I think the most exciting this I have added this month to my web site is the "socialize It" buttons on every page of my site. Social Networking, like Facebook, MySpace and Google Bookmarks are fast becoming a big craze; almost everyone is doing it now. These social networking sites make it so easy to stay in touch with contacts and friends no matter where they are located. Well now these sites are making it easier to share what is important and interesting to you through them. If you find a web site or web page you find interesting all you have to do is click on the Share This Page Link found on many sites now and a link to that page will be added to your social network. This link will let all your friends know what you have found interesting and will give them a chance to visit that site or page also. Most of these social networking sites will provide a chance for you and others to comment on these sites and pages which can spark good discussions and shared interests. If you find something you would like to share on my site, please feel free to click on the Social Networking link you use. These buttons may be found at the bottom of every one of my web pages.

When I first thought about having an Ezine I worried about what I would include in it. I did not think I would have that much new to write about, imagine me with nothing to write about, ha-ha. But I see this has turned into quite a long Ezine, but that is because there is just so much happening both with my web site Annapolis-Valley-Vacation.com and throughout the Annapolis Valley.

I hope you have found something interesting or informative in this, my first Ezine. If you have any comments, Ideas, or other feedback I'd love to hear from you. Just reply to this zine and tell me what you think!

Until then have a great holiday season and I wish you all the best in the coming New Year!