Introduction

With the nice weather I am really hoping to get a chance to pick a batch of mayflowers before I go. Mayflowers are our flower of Nova Scotia, they are not found out in Saskatchewan. They do grow wild here in the fields and woods along the Atlantic coast.

You have to look for them as they grow close to the ground and their big leaves cover the sweet little flowers, but when you find them their sweet fragrance is just the best. They are truly my favorite smelling flower of all. Years ago I used to pick them the first week of April, but lately it has been the end of April to mid May. Hopefully this year they will be early again.

As the weather was so nice this last month we have been taking advantage of it and going for daily walks. I am very glad to report that the Basin Trail in Annapolis Royal is all open and the muskrats, turtles, squirrels and birds are back. We were very concerned for awhile because the ducks were there, and several pairs of Canada Geese were back but we had not seen any robins or other smaller birds. We were really bothered by the silence of our walks. But last weekend they were all back, chirping and singing their sweet songs. Hearing the song birds singing and then seeing the pretty pussy willows out are both good signs the long cold winter is over and the rebirth of spring is starting!

Upcoming Events

• Maple Syrup Days are here! There are several locations where they hold special events celebrating the sweet syrup from the local maple trees here. One of the places I recommend is Munro's Mountain Maple where they give tours of the process of refining the maple sugar, feature meals with maple sugar and have sleigh rides going on. They are holding events this year on the last two weekends of March and the first two weekends of April.

• Easter is coming right up and along with the several church services held throughout the valley, many towns are holding special events and Easter eggs hunts for the whole family during the weekend.

• Spring is here and along with it start the many community suppers and lunches. These are great times to get out for great meals, catch up with friends and neighbors and support the many community halls and organizations.

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

• There is still a lot of talk going on about the CAT ferry that ran from Yarmouth to Bar Harbour and Bangor, Maine, but it still is not looking good for this 2010 season. I am not sure what that is going to mean for the local tourist industry, but it won't help it at all. Many tourist services are promoting the many other ways to travel to the Annapolis Valley such as the Digby/St. John ferry, good highways and by air. The Yarmouth airport has added flights from Boston to Yarmouth on three days a week now to help. We realize this will be an inconvenience for this season, but there are ways around it and hopefully we will have this service back running by the 20011 season.

• We were given a glance at the new plans for the old Upper Clements Animal Park. As mentioned in an earlier article the Animal Park closed it's doors for good last fall. I, for one am sorry to see this closed, but the Hanse Society has new plans for the site and they do sound interesting. They are planning an Upper Clements Adventure Park which would go hand-in-hand with the Upper Clements Park across the road. New things will include zip lines, elevated canopy tours and suspension bridges. The park will also feature survival camping, a network of hiking trails with educational interpretation centres, mountain biking trails complete with BMX courses, horseback riding trails, yurt camping, a paintball arena and arrival plazas showcasing regional attractions and cultures.

• Lawrencetown has made it to one of the top twelve finalist of the CBC Kraft Hockeyville contest! Recently opportunity was provided for everyone to vote for their favorite community hockey arena across Canada. After winning a wildcard position Lawrencetown won the right to be included in the top twelve. The winning entry will receive the title as Kraft Hockeyville 2010 which will include hosting an NHL Pre-season Game in the local arena, a CBC's Hockey Night in Canada broadcast and $100,000 in arena upgrades from Kraft. The winner will be announced during Game Two on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada on March 27th, 2010.

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

What is C2 you ask? Well it is something new that will enable YOU to write your own stories and views and submit them to me to be added as YOUR OWN PAGE on my web site! These stories and views are themed based and have to fit the criteria of the page they are submitted to, (ex. you would not add a story about walking trails to a recipe page).

Lots of people have their own views on things or stories to tell. Maybe you know about a great walking trail I do not know about, or a special event going on with Geocaching, or a great Maritime recipe! So far my whole website has been built on my experiences only, but many of you have your own experiences in the valley area. Well now you have your chance to share it with the world!

Once you write your story, on the very easy to fill out form on my web pages, and submit it then I go over it just to make sure it is suitable for the site and the position you have entered it and then your story (and picture if you want) will be added to my site as it's own web page. This web page is yours to share on Facebook, Twitter, Live or any other way you want. There are places for other people to write comments about your work and you can comment back.

You may tell people about a great restaurant in the valley, or warn them about a bad one! Share your story about your special day spent with family or friends at one our great attractions or scenic places. Don't be shy, people love to hear about other peoples adventures and stories and that includes yours!

A couple samples where people have used the C2 on my website can be found at New Walk in Annapolis Royal Page where Judy from Clementsport shared a story about the new walking trail in Annapolis Royal. And on this page Corner Brook Mystery Icing, Judy from Dartmouth submitted a recipe to my new desert recipe page. See how easy it is!

• Speaking of recipe pages, these are new to my site also. You may check them all out at my new Maritime Recipes Page.

• I also added a page on restaurants in the Annapolis Valley. I wrote about a few of my favorites which can be viewed by clicking here. Make sure you add your favorites to the list or warn us about any bad ones you have encountered. If you have recently enjoyed a special occasion at one of the local restaurants and would like to share the story, we would love to hear about it also.

• I also completely redid my scenic drives pages, adding C2 invitations to them along with Google maps. Check them out at my Main Scenic Drives Page. I name a few, but there are so many more so make sure you write about your favorite scenic drive in the valley area.

• I have also been working on ways for business and organizations to advertise on my web site. I am now ready to start this section up. To view about advertising on Annapolis Valley Vacation.com you may check it out on my Advertising Page.

That is the new things on my site so far, but I am still working on much more. I am trying to add more to my new "Fun Things" section which I hope will go over well. I am always looking for new things in the Annapolis Valley and Bay of Fundy Shore to share with you. If you have any suggestions of things you would like to see on this site please feel free to contact me by answering to this Ezine, using my contact forms, or now by submitting your stories yourself.

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!