Introduction

It has been a very busy winter for me so far. I cannot believe it is February already!

I came through the operation ok, although I did have a longer recovery time than expected. Then it was into Christmas, which is always a busy time. The house needed to be cleaned, presents to buy, wrap and deliver, baking etc. The time just goes by.

I had company from out of province for awhile in January. I love having out-of-province company, it means I get to show them around and brag a bit about our valley.

I have been busy on my web site also, which I will tell you about a little later. First lets see what has been happening in our valley!

Upcoming Events

• I hope you got out for the Annual Eagle Watch, but if you didn't it is not too late to take a morning and go bird watching! The festivities might be almost over but the eagles are still around for the month of February and they are easily visible. So take your camera and head to Sheffield Mills, I know you will have a great time!

• Winter Carnivals are going strong this month. These are always a great way to get out and enjoy winter. A few of the ones I know about include: Bear River Winter Carnival from Feb. 11-14; New Minas Winter Carnival Celebrations from Feb. 17 - 21; & Bridgetown Lions Winterfest from Feb. 20 - 22. I have seen some of the events that will be happening and they all look like a lot of fun.

• Nova Scotia Ice Wine Festival is happening from Feb. 4 to the 14. There are lots of events going on at various locations in the valley for this popular festival. Make sure you check out what is happening in your area.

• February is Heritage month and Annapolis Royal will be celebrating their Heritage Days on the 12 - 14th. Several events are planned from slide shows, dinners, Annapolis Olympics, skating and much more.

• Annapolis Royal is celebrating it's 300th birthday this year and several events are planned right through the whole year to celebrate. The first one, Queen Anne's Birthday, will be held at the Annapolis Royal Golf & Country Club on February 6th.

• "Lights in the Forrest" play is getting set to debut at the Universite Sainte-Anne's Marc Lescarbot Theatre on February 12 at 7 p.m. and again on February 13 at 2:30 p.m. & 7 p.m. This well anticipated play tells the story of the Stehelins and New France, the community that became known as "The Electric City".

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

News From The Valley

• The Cat is NOT Coming Back! Due to the lost of Government funding, Bay Ferries announced in December that it would be dropping the fast "CAT" ferry between Yarmouth & Bar Harbor & Portland. This will be a major blow to our area in the lost of jobs, revenue and tourism. Talks are underway and studies are being done to see if there is any way to salvage this vital service, however it is not looking good for the 2010 season.

• Plans are underway to extend the wharf in Annapolis Royal by 75 feet and add a floating dock. This is being done to make the wharf more convenient and feasible for larger ships. Now any boats who wish to tie up to the wharf have to wait for a full tide to do so, but the extension will allow more access in any tide. It is hoped to attract more traffic in the cruise and sailing market, boating tours and recreational opportunities. The Provincial Government has committed $124,000 for engineering services on this project, plus $30,000 toward the five year strategic planning.

• Geocaching in Nova Scotia is celebrating it's tenth anniversary this year! There are several events being planned for this anniversary so keep your eyes open for these.

That is just a little of what has been happening in the Annapolis Valley this past month. I will keep you updated on these and other issues as I hear of them.

Updates & Changes to Annapolis-Valley-Vacation.com

Now, thanks to Site Build It with it's C2 you will be able to share your adventures and stories from the Annapolis Valley to this site! That's right, now you can write in your stories complete with a picture and have your own web page on this web site!

I know anyone who has either lived or visited here have some fantastic stories to share, now you can! Do you know of a great walking or biking trail that I do not have listed? You can even tell your story about the trails I already have listed, everyone wants to hear different views and experiences.

I still have a lot of work to do to get this completely set up on the web site, but I have a good start on it already. I have completely changed my walking-hiking pages to help make them easier to read and to add the C2 invitations to them. You can check out the new pages at these links:

Walking-Hiking Trails in the Annapolis Valley

Kings County Trails

Annapolis County Trails

Digby County Trails

The last three of these pages have the C2 invitation on them where you may write and submit your own stories. It is so easy to do, just follow the easy directions provided.

While working on this I also added almost thirty new pages about the individual trails. These new pages contain more information about the trail plus directions to get there complete with a Google map. On these Google maps I have also included more information or pictures from the trails and surrounding area. I still have more trail pages to make up, but I think I have a good start on them, it all takes time.

I am not going to list all the new links here, (you can access them from the pages above), but I will provide you with a few to give you an idea of what the new pages look like.

The Balancing Rock Trail

The Annapolis Royal Walking Tour

The French Basin Trail

The Black Rock Trails

This is only samples, remember you may check out all the new trail pages from the three main county trail pages listed above.

For now these are the only pages I have ready for your stories, but I am working on more and will have them ready shortly. I have "Scenic Drives" almost finished and ready to put up in the next week. Besides adding this feature to my existing pages I also have big plans for several new ideas and pages which I will be working on shortly.

Oh, I have been so excited about this new feature I almost forgot to mention that I changed my home page. Well not all of it, but the legend on the side. It was so mixed up it was hard to find the pages you were looking for. I categorized them and separated them for easier access. You can check this out at My Home Page.

Well that is my excitement for this month, I can't wait to hear some of your stories! The nice part is when these stories are added to this site you will be able to show off your work to your family and friends by adding your link to Facebook, My Space and Twitter. Other people will be able to leave a comment about your story also. You can set it up to be notified when comments come in if you want.

You are welcome to send your stories in but please remember to keep them about the subject on the invitation and that they are appropriate for this web site. I do reserve the right to edit and/or omit anything that is inappropriate.

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

Until next month, have fun, live good and love hard!