In July, I spent a couple of days in Fredericton. I stayed at an amazing campground and local waterpark, Hartt Island. I drove into downtown Fredericton and got caught up on some ‘work’ (blog, banking, volunteer work) in their beautiful main library., watching all the pedestrians out the windows. Due to construction and a couple of festivals, I wasn’t really able to spend a lot of time wandering the town, but that was okay, I knew I’d be back in September with Lori and we could properly explore then. In fact, I was so impressed with my campsite that I booked the exact same spot then and there.
I’ve really been looking forward to returning, and had told Lori all about it – how cute the centre of town was, how busy and vibrant it seemed, and how lively the campground was.
Well.
We had a lovely drive from Saint Andrews – as we continue to wend our way northwards, the colours just get better and better – there is absolutely nothing like eastern & central Canada in September – I feel so sorry for the rest of the world for missing out on our autumns.
We pulled into a great parking spot in downtown Fredericton on a sunny Saturday afternoon and headed out on what was to be the first of two days of sightseeing.
Um.
It’s not quite what I had anticipated. Downtown is two blocks long; many of the stores & restaurants were closed; we found only two cute shops; and the streets were really quite empty. Don’t get me wrong – anyone we spoke to was very pleasant and friendly, and the tree-lined streets are very pretty – but we were underwhelmed, to say the least. We had an absolutely delicious ramen lunch, then left town and headed out to our campsite. I don’t think we’ll be heading back into town tomorrow.
Isn’t it always the way? The places you’ve hyped in your mind are a disappointment (Fredericton) and the ones with no build up turn out to be delights (Saint John).