Canada Day in Fredericton

We stayed at the Fredericton Inn, which is right beside the Regent Mall in Fredericton.

We booked a suite with a kitchen and a separate bedroom for the kids. Both the living area and the bedroom were quite large. The living area had two double beds and a sitting area as well as a desk. The bedroom had a king-sized bed and a desk. Both rooms had lots of extra space for a crib, luggage, whatever.

The kitchen had a full stove, fridge, microwave, coffee machine, and kettle. There were dishes, but none of them were microwave safe (they had a gold rim). There were lots of pots and pans, but only three spoons. There was a can opener, but no scissors. There was a table and three chairs.

The bathroom was very small, compared to the rest of the room it seemed even more so.

We requested a crib, which a porter brought up to us. However, there was no blanket. The crib was really neat though, it was small, but an actually crib, not a playpen like we get in most hotels.

There was a swimming pool in the basement and an exercise room. You need a key to get into the swimming pool and a separate card to get into the exercise room.

The room had air conditioning, and one feature we liked was that there was a separate thermostat for the bedroom.

The hotel was not new, the carpet was worn in places, but the staff was very friendly. We had no problem getting extra towels, for example. In fact we really liked the atmosphere at the hotel.

The view was the roof of the other side of the building. But the location of our room was great. It was right across from the stairs. There was an elevator at the end of the hall, but since we never needed to go up or down more than two flights, we used the stairs, except when transporting luggage.

Free hi-speed internet was available, but it required a cable which was located in the bedroom. There was only one hook-up, so we had to take turns. We had no problem getting on the internet.

The room was well worth the cost of $135 per night. Regular double rooms were about $105 for the same weekend.

Room service was available, but we did not try it. The prices seemed about average for the items.

There were two TVs, one in each of the rooms.

Construction on the road made it tricky to get in and out of the parking lot. We ended up turning the wrong way or missing the turn several times.

Kings Head Inn is a period restaurant at Kings Landing Historical Settlement. They had a wide variety of 19th century food. It was the middle of the afternoon, so we were just looking for a snack.

The kids selected the Ploughman’s Pocket ($13.95) to share. The Ploughman’s Pocket was like a chicken pot pie made in a puff pastry crust. It came with fried potatoes, the vegetable of the day (peas), tea or coffee, and a small glass of New Brunswick apple cider. It was all made on site and was really good. The waitress kindly split the order into two plates for us and substituted the cup of coffee or tea with a second glass of cider.

Mom and I got a basket of bread ($3.95). It was snack time and we figured the kids wouldn't eat as much of their meal as they did. The basket of bread included 2 biscuits, 4 slices of brown bread, and several round slices of other bread varieties. It was all very tasty and fresh. Nothing beats warm bread with butter!

The baby sat in a period style high chair. It was very interesting because it did not have a tray, or in fact any way to hold him in. Instead we were brought an apron to tie around him and hold him in place. It worked fine for the almost 2 year old who was interested in getting lots of food, but it wouldn’t be so good if the kid was more interested in getting down than eating.

The fruit crisp of the day was rhubarb. Other menu items included fish cakes, soups, salmon chowder. Prices ranged from about $4 for soup to $15 for full meals.

The tables were wooden and set with 2 forks (with 3 tines), soup spoon, teaspoon, knife, bread plates, and linen napkins. The room we were in only had 4 tables (3 sat 4 people, 1 sat 2).

There was an outdoor eating area. There is also a banquet room. On special occasions (Father’s Day, Thanksgiving and others) they have large feasts. They also host weddings.

They sell cookbooks that include all the recipes used at the Kings Head Inn in the gift shop.

Science East is a family hands on science centre. There is something there for everyone, from the 1 year old up.

It is in a building that used to be the home of the Fredericton Provincial Jail. They did a great job of showing this off by leaving the bars on the windows and using cell doors on the entrances to various rooms (most notably the main floor bathrooms).

In the basement there is a dungeon. Unfortunately, we did not get to see it, we ran out of time. On the main floor there were several interesting exhibits. There were live bugs in one room. Another room had lots of optical illusions. A darkened room was home to a Jacob’s Ladder.

The kids loved the tug-of-war. It was set up so that there were pullys to help one team and hinder the other team. Great fun for the little ones to beat the big ones.

Another cool thing was the inside of a piano. It is something common, but not something kids are usually allowed to touch (or even see). It was fun to play a song touching the strings instead of the keys.

On the second floor there were exhibits about recycling, conservation, etc. There was an interesting pump where you pump the water up to a container at the ceiling. When the box is full you release the water and it powers a light bulb. There was an example of a hand crank powering a light bulb.

Outside, in the yard, there were more science type things to do. There were whisper tubes, hand pumps to try. There was also a really neat pirate ship with a cutlass and a sundial to try out. There was a giant chess board. A balance beam. It was definitely our favourite spot. We were sad that we didn't realize how cool it was much sooner. We didn't head out until about 5 minutes before closing, which was not nearly long enough to enjoy the playground and stuff.

They are open Monday-Friday 10-5 and Saturday 12-5. They were closed on Canada Day. Admission is $5 for an Adult, $3 for a Student/Senior/Child, $14 for a Family. Science East members and member of science centers with reciprocal arrangements (hundreds of science centres in North America belong) are free. A family membership at Science East is $50, but prices at different science centres are different.

There is no elevator. There is a set of stairs to get in and stairs on the inside. It’s an old building with a weird layout. Many of the doors are small so it was a bit hard to get around with the stroller. The good thing was that there are lots of places for the 1-year-old to get out of the stroller and explore things, but the outside area was his favourite for sure.

For more information, their website is: www.scienceeast.nb.ca or phone: (506) 457-2340

We drove the car straight down Regent Street to reach downtown. When we got to an interesting green area, we decided to park and walk around. We arrived at about 3pm on June 30th, the day before Canada Day. We could have walked down the hill, but it would have been awful trying to get back up!

There were lots of signs and maps telling us where we were and where everything else was. We walked through parts of the historic Garrison district.

As we walked past the old buildings, we spotted an information tent. We decided that would be a good place to get information on what to do. It was. We asked her for suggestions of what to do with the kids and she immediately answered Science East (see separate review). The clerk in the booth was very friendly, and she gave us a nice map of Fredericton. She also gave us coupons for each of the kids to get a free ice cream at the Lighthouse Adventure Company.

We followed the instructions she gave us and walked toward the St. John River. When we got to the end of the street, we found an interesting walking path that led to a foot bridge to cross a busy street. We took the bridge across (it was stroller friendly, with ramps) and then went up the path to the Lighthouse. There were lots of biking and stroller trails along the river.

There were lots of carnival rides and booths being set up for Canada Day along the waterfront.

The kids’ ice cream at the lighthouse was free with the coupon that we got from the information tent. The single cones were $2.75, kids cones $2.25. The kids cones were what I’d call a generous scoop of ice cream. The single scoops were huge. The Lighthouse Adventure Centre has a display which costs a couple of bucks, but we skipped it. They also rent bicycles and laptop computers. Fredericton has free wireless Internet in many places downtown ‘Fred zone’, so it does make a bit of sense J.

After our ice cream, we started the walk back up to Science East, which only took a few minutes. That’s when we came across the ‘no left turn to Tim Horton’s" sign.

Walking around in downtown Fredericton worked great. The shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, and the University of New Brunswick are all at the top of a long hill though, so taking the car down was also a good plan.

Kings Landing Historical Settlement is located about 20 minutes from Fredericton.

We went on Canada Day. They were having a re-enactment of the debates leading up to the 1865 election in which one candidate was running based on the promise of joining the union that would become Canada and the other was promising to prevent it.

The 9-year-old was really hoping that the vote would be against New Brunswick joining Canada, but the votes were in favour. Of course, then we found out that the 1865 vote was in fact against joining Canada. 2 years later, New Brunswick decided they made a mistake and with Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec, formed Canada.


There were many houses and shops all preserved in the style of the mid 1830s. The print shop was interesting, but the printer wasn't there that day. The print shop still prints all the flyers up around the town.

The sawmill and grist mill were actually working mills. The sawmill was really neat because you could see the waterwheel working from the outside and the inside of the building. Buckwheat flour, bran, and husks were available for purchase, and you could see how they were made. Candles, toys, bread, and other items made at Kings Landing were sold at both the period 'general store' and the gift shop at the entrance.

The cost was $36 for the family ($15 for adults, $10 for kids, preschoolers free, discounts for students and seniors). There is a family restaurant, as well as the Kings Head Inn which serves period food, and the Prince of Wales Ice Cream.

The 5-year-old was most excited about the end of the day when she got to get a wagon ride. There is a horse drawn wagon that brings people from the main entrance to the main village on a 'load and go' basis. We missed the ride over (there are many things to see on the way too, so we didn't want to miss it all), but we caught the ride back.

We did not pay enough attention when we went in, to see when all the different displays would be happening, so we missed most of them. It would have been interesting to see the candle making etc. Oh well.

The paths are mostly gravel so it was hard to push the stroller. Some of the buildings have 2 floors and no elevators, so it was hard to get the baby to some areas. The roads that the horses walk down were also hard to navigate as there were hoof prints (and horse poop) along them.

Overall we had a really good time, so good that the first thing the kids said was that they wanted to come back the next day.