And am I glad!  It was a wonderful trip, but it was long.  We've made several decisions regarding travel this time.  It was a real learning experience for us.  But I have to tell you more of the frugal things we did and found.

I stayed with a sister in Moncton for a weekend.  She was great at finding frugal things to do.  She paid for everything, but it was a sumptious time on a budget.

One day we decided to make a trip to Amherst, N.S. to visit a rug store I wanted to see.  She decided we'd go the back roads.  She found out I was interested in textiles and crafts.  So she stopped by the Textile Museum in Dorchester, N.B.  It is in an old church and free.  They focus on weaving, but there were examples of old lace and hooked rugs as well.  Plus carpentry and blacksmithing tools from long ago.

The docent there sent us to the Keillor House for a closer look at antique handwork.  There was a charge to get in, and no photos were allowed to be taken, but it was gorgeous.  They didn't even have postcards or slides to purchase.  However, they were selling antique linens for a pittance.  I bought a couple of tablecloths with napkins.

Then my sister took us to the Bell Inn for lunch.  This is a phenomenal restaurant!  They have converted an old house into a restaurant.  Wonderful ambience.  The menu doesn't strike you as particularly different.  But when the meal arrives the portions are generous, with lots of side dishes, and the food is all homemade.  This is not salad-in-a-bag served in a bowl, but rather fresh cut greens and vegetables, served in a larger bowl than usual, with a variety of options for dressings.  The biscuits are all homemade on site.  The soup actually has substance to it.  The soup, biscuit and salad cost me all of $9cdn. - a typical lunch cost.  At Smitty's the same thing - only with cheese toast (which is totally unhealthy for me) - costs $8.  And I wouldn't be able to get Raspberry Vinaigrette as a dressing.

After that we raced to Amherst, where I found Deanne Fitzpatrick's rug hooking store selling rug hooking patterns on linen for half the price of other rug hooking stores.  I was going to buy her catalog when the sales clerk told me it was the same as what was on the Net.  I put it down. 

Then my sister says "We can't leave until I take Sarah (her daughter) to Margolian's."  Margolian's is an old department store in the Maritimes.  So off we go.  Well, this store has most everything 30-50% off, and no taxes charged.  I found a top I'd been looking at this spring.  Here it was $24.99 plus tax.  There it was $16.80, and no tax.  I bought it.

We hastened back home for supper.  We had a wonderful time! 

There are frugal ways to vacation and see the countryside.  It helps to know the locals, but thinking like a local or someone moving to the place also helps.  Using resources such as city and library websites can turn up plenty of fun free, or almost free, things to do.