Travel

The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada

When you are driving along the Trans Canadian Highway in New Brunswick, two things strike you. The first is the natural beauty of the landscape with its rocky outcroppings and dense pine forests. The second thing is the noggin befuddling road signs.

The Natural Beauty Of  New Brunswick Canada

New Brunswick is all about experiencing nature in its most pristine state. The province is one of the three Canadian Maritimes, which also include Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The southern part of New Brunswick, which we visited, is bounded by the Bay of Fundy (with a rise of 52 ft, it has one of the highest tides in the world). Our pre-vacation research indicated that The Fundy National Park was one of the must-see attractions of the province. So, despite the fact that it was foggy and drizzling the day of our visit, we were determined to push on regardless. We selected the Matthews Head Trail because it is considered to be a moderately difficult hike and was purported to offer stunning views of the coast. The trail descended a steep path through the misty, verdant Acadian forest carpeted with beautiful emerald ferns and moss.

Root strewn trail through the Fundy National Park -The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada
Tree roots make the trail hard to negotiate, but the lush greenery of the trees, moss, and lichen make it worth the trouble.
Ferns carpet the forest floor in the Fundy National Park --The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada
Delicate ferns thrive on the forest floor throughout much of the trail despite the dense tree canopy.

The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada

Unfortunately, when we reached the coastline, the fog was so thick that the view of the Bay of Fundy was completely obscured. Nevertheless, the dramatic craggy cliffs were quite awe-inspiring. And though we were disappointed to be denied the promised vistas over the water, the fog created a unique and wonderful feeling of being entirely cocooned and secluded in our misty communion with the woods.

Coastline of the Bay of Fundy --The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada
The coastline of the Bay of Fundy is the payoff at the bottom of the trail.

Bay of Fundy-- The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada

Foggy view of the Bay of Fundy-- The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada
At the end of the trail, we encountered steep rocky cliffs that dropped down into the Bay of Fundy. Unfortunately, the promised view of the bay was completely shrouded in fog.

In the interest of complete disclosure, I have to confess that the trek back up the trail was extremely taxing and being the drama queen that I am, I did sit down at one point and suggested that my husband just leave me there.

The Fundy National Park-- The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada
This particular trail is a loop, so you don’t traverse the same path you descended on your ascent. Ridiculously, I had hoped that the return to the trailhead would be less steep with fewer roots and rocks– no luck.

Bay of Fundy-- The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada

However, when we finally made it back to the car I and I had an opportunity rest my poor knees, I experienced the pride of reaching the summit of my own tiny Everest. And, more importantly, I was happy that we had taken the opportunity to experience first hand, New Brunswick’s natural beauty.

The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada

New Brunswick’s Noggin Befuddling Road Signs

While I appreciated the province’s landscape, navigating it was problematic, not just because the terrain is challenging but also because their road signs confused me.  New Brunswick is bilingual and in attempt to communicate succinctly to both English and French speakers, they have adopted an elaborate pictorial vocabulary for their signposts. As Americans, we are used to seeing certain pictograms on signs indicating what amenities, such as gas, food, and lodging can be found at a particular exit off the highway. These symbols are pretty straightforward and easy to decipher–a fuel pump for gas stations, utensils for restaurants, and a bed for hotels. However, as we cruised down the relatively traffic-free roadways in New Brunswick, we were so puzzled by some of the signage that it felt like we were playing and losing some strange game of road trip Pictionary or whacko Hūsker Dū.

This curly-cue was one of the first symbols on an exit sign we encountered that perplexed us. What could it mean? You are entering a swirling vortex? Dr. Suessian plant life here? Who knows? Determined to figure it out, I immediately googled Canadian road signs and every other permutation of this query I could think of. We couldn’t find a single official site that explained the meaning of this enigmatic pictograph.

The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada
I did finally discover that this crazy symbol is meant to depict a fiddlehead fern and indicates a Scenic Drive ahead. How the heck are you supposed to get that from this strange hieroglyph?

As we continued to travel the highway, we encountered additional signs that were equally mystifying. We started to collect them and come up with our own explanations of what they represented. This sign clearly depicts a barn but instead of animals, it is filled will people–curious. Were they having barn dances? We hadn’t gotten our Dosey Doe on since Jr. High but we were game.

The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada
Apparently, this is meant to denote agrotourism. Honestly, I didn’t even know that agrotourism was a thing.

I posited that this sign was warning us about angry pregnant beavers. My husband thought perhaps it was pointing the way to an impressive dam you could tour, you know, like Hoover Dam.

The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada
In this instance, the triangulated beaver is supposed to indicate that a Canadian Park can be found at the exit.

This one really stumped us. Was this alerting us that instead of a restroom, a chamber pot would be provided at this particular exit? Or was it a reference to the musical “Oliver,” where Oliver Twist lifts his bowl up and asks, “please sir, may I have some more?” Perhaps they were offering gruel to wayward travelers.

The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada
This odd sign is supposed to represent Local Artisan Crafts.

When we saw this sign we joked that it indicated that if you exited the highway here, you would dream of egg cups or maybe, they were saying, we have rooms for rent over our hen house.

The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada
Although we didn’t immediately get this one, we did manage to figure out relatively quickly that this indicated a Bed And Breakfast.

We were really excited when we saw this sign, as the only meaning we could come up with was that they would be so thrilled by our visit, that the mayor would offer us the key to the city in some lavish ceremony.

The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada
I still have no idea what this means.

This one was so confounding that, even though we were totally into our hilarious road sign guessing game, we couldn’t come up with even a single idea for this mind-bending rune.

The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada
?

I would love to hear your interpretation of this and any of the other signs we encountered.

If you enjoyed this post, you might be interested in another post about our trip to New Brunswick:

 

 

Sharing this post with these terrific link parties:

Inspiration Monday, Inspire Me Monday, The Scoop, Project Inspired, Show And Tell, Share It, Wow Us Wednesday, Party In Your PJs, Dream, Create, Inspire, Link, Welcome Home Wednesdays, Share Your Style, Wildly Original, Artsy Fartsy, Friday Feature, Feathered Nest Friday, Inspiration Gallery, Funtastic Friday, The Pin Junkie, What To Do Weekends, Pretty Pintastic, Sweet Inspiration, Best Of The Weekend, City Tripping

35 thoughts on “The Natural Beauty And Nutty Signage Of New Brunswick Canada

  1. Oh Lisa,
    What a fabulous trip. I showed my husband and in his words “that is Awesome”. I think I have an added trip to my bucket list. I have always wanted to see Canada. Your pictures are beautiful. Thank you for being my traveling writer.
    DH

    1. Thanks so much. I am glad you are enjoying the photos. If you like the pics of New Brunswick you will flip over Prince Edward Island (although my pics don’t really do it justice). It’s so gorgeous that we are seriously thinking of buying property there.

  2. Spectacular scenery that I enjoyed immensely from a comfortable chair – thanks for doing all the hard work for us! I’m clueless about that last sign!

    1. Thanks for joining me as an armchair traveler. I am determined to figure out that sign and if I do, I’ll let you know.

  3. You had me laughing out loud with your sign husker du. I liked the angry, pregnant beavers best. I think the last sign is: If you turn right here, you can wash your clothes on a washboard, but don’t turn your back on the craggy rocks.

    1. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. You should have seen us driving down the highway in New Brunswick, we were totally cracking each other up. I think they must have been on some serious drugs when they came up with some of those signs. I think your washboard idea is an excellent guess!

  4. I’m chuckling right now 🙂 I live in Miramichi, New Brunswick, and yes, our road signs can be crazy to decipher! The key means there is a designated heritage site/museum nearby – the key to our past. The fiddlehead stands for a scenic river valley drive ( where fiddleheads grow in abundance in the spring) and the weird round one? I can not find it anywhere, nor have I seen one. My best guess is that it means there is an aboriginal heritage site nearby.
    I’m so glad you enjoyed Fundy Park 🙂 There really is so much to experience in our beautiful Picture Province!

    1. Thank you, Jenny, for helping to unravel the mystery of some of New Brunswick’s road signs. We loved NB. It is so beautiful and peaceful and while perplexing, we enjoyed your road signs as well. Thanks so much for commenting. I really appreciate it.

    1. Thanks so much for commenting. New Brunswick is truly gorgeous. It was not our first rodeo with fog either. We have been to Niagra Falls three different times over the years and on two of those occasions, the fog was so thick that you could stand on the edge, hear the water and feel the spray, but not see a darn thing!

      1. Same thing in the Smokies – that is why they’re called the Smokey Mountains. I remember driving to the top of the tallest mountain once and a group of tourists were standing and griping about the fog. One guy said, I drove a thousand miles to see fog?

    1. Thanks for taking the time to comment. The last sign continues to be a mystery. It looks a bit like an alien hatching. Let’s hope that’s not what it is!

  5. Well, if the beauty of the trail you shared, wasn’t enough, the giggles that ensued as I tried to decipher your signs was. Great writing!
    🙂 gwingal

  6. Wow, we live on the west coast of Canada which is also amazingly beautiful. However, having put 5000km on a rental car to tour the Maritimes we can honestly say it was one of our top most beautiful holidays ever. We toured in late Fall and the colours were spectacular. We also thought of buying there but it is just too far for our family to visit regularly. You are truly blessed.

    1. Yes. I was definitely feeling my age on that upward trail. But, New Brunswick really is beautiful and we enjoyed every minute of our vacation there, even the crazy road signs. They really gave us something to laugh about. Thanks so much for commenting.

  7. We went on a cruise where New Brunswick was one of the stops. It was beautiful, but you never really get to see everything when you cruise. I think that we need to make a trip back. Thank you for sharing on the Pin Junkie link party.

    1. Thanks for commenting. I agree with you. Even though we were there for several days, we didn’t get to see everything we wanted to. We will definitely make another visit to beautiful New Brunswick.

  8. Those roadsigns are fabulous! The last one means ‘beware of fire consuming you from the left while you are wearing a fabulous bird costume’ and the key is clearly’ exit here for an explanaiton of all the signs’.

    1. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. I love your interpretation of New Brunswick’s wacky road signs. You’d definitely win the game of Car Husker Du!

    1. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on my New Brunswick post. It is a beautiful place and the road signs certainly kept us entertained!

  9. Thank you! We were trying to figure out what a twisted, bent potato had to do with the Bay of Fundy. It wasn’t until we saw the close-up that the beaver emerged. And my search lead me here for the explanation. You’d think there would be an official on-line listing. Alas.

    1. Thanks so much for commenting. It does look like a twisted bent potato! You do have to wonder if they intentionally made the signs so indecipherable to just mess with the tourists.

  10. I found an answer for the weird blue road sign at the bottom. According to the province’s Tourism department, it represents the Stonehammer Geopark Tourism Route. Well of course, obvious now isn’t it?? 😉 lol My best guesses were either a ladybug colony or a computer mouse factory tour.

    1. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, Monica. It is amazing to me that the province expects people to be able to figure out what these signs mean, while they are whizzing down the highway.

    1. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and to help me decipher New Brunswick’s puzzling road signs. Who knew!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.