Halifax and area,

We arrived in Hubbards (near Halifax) Tuesday at around 4 pm and it was pouring for our set up.  Good thing we are west coast folks and have gortex jackets!  So we spent a quiet evening, doing some laundry and watched a little TV.  We have fairly good WIFI here which is nice. 

Wednesday morning we were greeted with fog!  Not raining any more, but damp.  It is warm enough, around 22 degrees, so we drive to Halifax, thinking it will lift soon.  It didn't. But we had a good day.  We saw the Maritime Museum and walked along the waterfront.

some boats in Halifax Harbour in the fog

 



A tall ship coming out of the Fog

Our little Margarets Bay, just down the road

Today we woke to beautiful sunshine.  We took the coastal route to Lunenburg.  Nova Scotia has so many waterfront roads, you can drive for miles and miles around the edge of the whole province.  Fabulous.  Little bays full of boats, most of them either fishing boats or sailboats.  Colorful houses and boat houses.  in between, forests and lakes, almost across the road from the sea. 

 

 

 

We stopped at a memorial for Swiss Air flight 111 that crashed near the Nova Scotia coast 14 years ago.  It is close to the beach, you can hear the waves crashing in the background.  It is granite, shaped like  a triangle, which was how the rescue was organized, the three points being Peggy's Cove, Bayswater Beach, and the crash site.

 

Bayswater Beach

 

 

The view from our table at lunch in Lunenburg

 

Entertainment on the Dock

 

Lunenburg is on a hillside, so a slope down to the water.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Established in 1753, it is the best surviving example of British Planned colonial settlement in North America.  It is also where our famous Bluenose was built, and calls home.  She was in dry-dock, but we found her.

 

 

 

 

After walking the streets and a little shopping, we drove to the north side of the Province, to check out the Annapolis Valley.  We drove to a spot on the map called 'The Lookoff.' close to Blomidon.  A beautiful lookout, I'm sure this small picture will not capture it, so you'll have to see the bigger one some time. 

 

 

 





 Then we drove back towards home.  We got back to Hubbard at 7, so decided to eat out.  We found the Trellis Restaurant, very good food.  While eating, people started showing up and sitting at a long table, with guitars, a mandolin, drums and it turned out to be Jam Night.  Great music.  We stayed for a while, but Chris has another cold, and isn't feeling that well, so we headed home so he can rest and get over it. 

 



Cape Breton

Lighthouse at Baddeck

Well, Saturday we woke up to gusty winds and rain, so stayed around the campsite all morning, reading and relaxing.  I was reading the blog of Arliss and Jerry, whom we met in Montreal and she sounded like they were in the same campsite, so I commented and to make a long story short, we got together for coffee in the morning, and then dinner that night.  It was great to have a longer visit with them and compare notes.  They are a day or two ahead of us, so have moved on to Halifax.  We'll have to keep tabs on them so we can try to get together again.  It was great.

 

Add caption

Then Chris and I went to the local hall for a Ceilidh (Kallee).  A young woman on the fiddle and a fellow on the guitar.  Again, lively Celtic music for a couple of hours. Her feet were stomping non stop to the music, I don't know how she kept it up for 2 hours.   Can't help but stomp your feet and clap your hands.  Very entertaining. 







Sunday morning, up early on the road by 8:30, to drive around the Cabot Trail, which is a road that drives around the Cape Breton island including the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.  Very scenic route.  It was cloudy the beginning of the day, so the pictures are not as clear as they could be, but the day got progressively better.  We were on the road until almost 8 pm.  Lots to see and do, we just scratched the surface.  The St. Lawrence side of Cape Breton is the wild side, rugged coastline and crashing waves.  The Atlantic side a little calmer, with more gentle slopes, very much like the Gulf Islands, except the rocks are red.  The forest on all the hillsides are very green now, but mostly deciduous trees, so we may have to come back and see this fabulous place in the autumn.  (Not this year, and probably not by RV) Lots of maple trees, oak, birch, elm, and evergreens as well, but apparently a lot of them are Larch, which lose their needles in the autumn. 

 

So, that was a full day. 

 

 Today we didn't get started until 9 or so.  We drove to Louisbourg, another Nat'l Historical site.  Louisbourg was a Fortress in 1713 to 1760's.  It was built by the French, taken by the English, then given back to the French, then taken over by the English, and then abandoned.  This is the biggest reconstruction of a Fortress in all of North America.  They have restored about 20 to 25 percent of the original town.  It was a town of about 4000 military and civilians.  They had people dressed in period costume and doing the jobs they would have then.  Quite an interesting day. 

 

 

So we got back to Baddeck in time to catch the last sailing and the Amoeba, a 67 ft. schooner that does sailings around the harbour of Baddeck.  Very nice boat, and we have watched it go in and out for a couple of days now, so had to go.  It was a lovely evening.  Captain John also has some fish on board, because he feeds the Bald Eagles, so they fly in quite close to get their dinner.  John is very entertaining as well.  We never did get a picture of her sailing by, but have pictures of her from onboard.

You can see the shadow of her sails.

 

 

Captain John

 

Just got the fish.

 

And the sun goes down on another day.

 

 

August 9, A Rainy Day on Cape Breton

So, we woke up to rain pitter pattering on the roof.  What do we do today?

Baddeck, NS harbour

We drove to Baddeck, just a couple of kms. down the highway.  We walked around this lovely picturesque village.  There is a sailing regatta going on, so little boats on the lake.  It did rain on us, but us west coasters are used to that, so no biggie.









Then we went to the Alexander Graham Bell Museum.  He and his wife owned a summer home here in Baddeck, and he did a lot of his work here.  This is the sight of the first Canadian powered flight, in the Silver Dart

a replica of the Silver Dart

It was fascinating.  He was quite a man, had his hands in many things, especially in the work of helping the deaf to speak and communicate.  He actually worked with Helen Keller.  Also, he developed a wireless telephone, using sunshine.  And the phonograph, telegraph, of course the telephone, and hydrofoil, and the first powered flight.  Just to mention a few.

Then it was getting to dinner time.  Oh dear, what should we do?  This is a Lobster Fishing area, so they have Lobster Suppers.  OK. 



This is when it arrived.

during

The last bite

Chris had the salmon, plank cooked.

We visited the fellow cooking the salmon outside.

His dinner when presented.

 

Chris also had all you can eat Fish chowder, and mussels, and a dessert of Blueberry Crisp.  I also had a very nice glass of Nova Scotia Pinot Gregio.  So we are full, so that is all you will hear from us tonight.  Not a bad day for a rainy day!  Quite marvelous actually.  Talk to you latter.

Nova Scotia, Aug. 8

This is me, finally walking on Bev and Mikes fabulous beach.

Can you see us to the right of Bev and Mikes place.

  PEI is red soil and sand, green fields and forrests, blue water and mostly blue skies. Always a picture. We went to another production here in Summerside called the Highland Storm, at the College of Piping. Fabulous production done by students of the college. It includes Bagpipes, Drums, Dancing, Singing, and a little comedy here and there. Celtic music at it's best.

Then we left PEI, regretably, on that fabulous bridge again.

We spent our first night at Walmart! We happened to meet a fellow there in a motorhome, from Kelowna, who was a "veteran" Walmart camper, so learned a lot from him. They are full timers (Live in their motorhome). His wife is a nurse and had flown home to do some contract work and he was on his own, so we fed him some PEI Scallops and some of Bev's beans and peas from the garden, picked that morning.

Then we drove the next morning to Baddeck, NS., over this bridge over the Canso Causeway to Cape Breton island.

  We woke up this morning to rain. So the Cabot trail will have to wait until the weather clears again. We will head into town and check it out today.

PEI - aug. long weekend

Hi all, we traveled through New Brunswick on a very grey and threatening rain kind of day. We stayed a night in Shediac, NB. We went to town at night, and they had outdoor entertainment and artists had set up their wares for sale in the alleys of the downtown area. It was lovely, but it had just rained and was threatening more rain, so not that many people downtown. We will be back to New Brunswick, hopefully with better weather. So on we go.

PEI, my new favorite place to visit. We drove over the confederation Bridge to get here. It is a 13 km. 2 lane bridge. Very impressive. We are very glad there was very little wind that day. If you like lively music, with dancing and fiddle and toe tapping etc, and beaches, with sand that is actually RED, and Lobster very available, at $8 per lb. cooked (not per 100 grams), rural, with friendly folks everywhere, what can I say. Put PEI on your list. It is charming. I could easily spend a summer here. We are very well looked after, thank you very much to Bev and Mike. We went to a Ceilidh last night, with celtic and other music, including dancing (river dance type, and the dancer happened to be a second cousin of Bev's and one of the best on the island.) and a fabulous fiddle player, and guitar player. Energetic plus plus. Went to Charlottetown today and saw where the idea of confederation was born. Entertainment in the streets. We attended a live performance of the Young Company in front of confederation building. The story was about the dreams of the fathers of confederation. A fabulous presentation done by young men and women of early university age. Singing and dancing, all free except for donation - in downtown Charlottetown. We are hoping for good weather tomorrow, and we hope to hit the beautiful beach in front of us every morning!