Tuesday 23 September 2025--Moncton is not a half-hour's drive from Shediac, so there is time to kill today. We take a walk around town before leaving, visiting the town's most famous landmark, the Giant Lobster, a fiberglass sculpture by the late Winston Bronnum. For some reason, it is wearing a purple party hat. A tableau of fiberglass figures adorns the side of a nearby restaurant. More of Bronnum's work? The restaurant's website says the work is titled "The Good Ol' Days", but does not explain its provenance. A few of the figures look like they were meant to be playing musical instruments.

I take the slow road to Moncton. We still arrive too early to check in, so we take a walk along the muddy Petitcodiac River. Near the point where Halls Creek enters the river, there is a monument to the eight families who were the first European settlers here--the founders of the city of Moncton. After the French & Indian Wars and the expulsion of the Acadians from the region, the British government encouraged settlement by offering land grants to residents of the colonies to the south. Those who came were called the New England Planters, although these particular families were mostly Germans recruited in Pennsylvania. The gray stones in the ring around the monument are engraved with the names of the men who headed these families. Among these is Matthias Sommer, my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. Or I should say, one of my 128 great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfathers.

After checking in, we see more of Riverfront Park. I'm pleased to see that there has been a good deal of landscaping done since I was here last, when the park seemed pretty barren. We go for a pint at Happy Craft Brewing, and have dinner at Moncton's venerable Pump House Brew Pub.