Cabot Trail, Sails & Song

Back this morning. 😃

Tuesday, June 27

Up, breakfasted (lightly – counting on a bakery later) and out by 8:30. Sunset Oasis is on the lower east shore of Bay St. Lawrence, so we’re heading south to rejoin the Trail at Cape North and then southwest toward Pleasant Bay. Nearly all of this is inland driving, but we did stop for a short walk (w/ interpretive signage) through an old growth forest in the highlands area.  The sugar maples here are 350 years old. This part of Cape Breton is where many of the Scots immigrants settled, raising sheep and working small farms. The area we walked through had been given to the Park on the condition that they build a lone shieling (single crofter’s hut) as a reminder of CB’s heritage. Lovely walk.

Beached boats at the bottom of the motel driveway.

Greg...
holding up the shieling?

Child on Hardwood Forest Path (novatrails.com)

Pleasant Bay is a small, but popular, vacation spot on the coast. No bakery though.  We continued south – sometimes on the coast, more often through the mountains. All beautiful. Finally found a (wonderful!) bakery in Cheticamp: still-warm blueberry scones, a cheese croissant, and a roast beef sandwich (it’s brunchtime). Random pics below.

(See the road snaking southward?)

These folks were awesome!

Just a few of the many, many cairns on this beach (and I added one of my own).

(Bell was NG's 2nd president.)

We were back in Baddeck earlier than we expected, so we ventured into town and visited the Alexander Graham Bell Historic Site. This man was truly a genius, and the museum is amazing. He was interested in many areas of science, had 18 patents in his own name, and collaborated on 12 others, including early hydrofoils. He was also a devoted family man and a generous employer. The family home, Beinn Bhreagh (Gaelic for beautiful mountain), sits on an 800-acre site across the bay and is still owned by Bell descendants.

After overloading our brains w/ Bell info, we managed to join an Amoeba sailing tour and spent the next 90 minutes watching eagles dive, catching a view of Beinn Bhreagh, enjoying sun, wind and waves, and learning a bit of the Amoeba’s history. (It's 67' with 5 sails and was built by the current captain's dad. (Check out the rest at  http://amoebasailingtours.com/index.php/home/About_Us) 

The captain tossed a dead herring. You can see the
splash mark where the eagle dove for it. (I got the
"rear view," but at least I captured the shot.)

Mabel & Alex Bell
chatting on Water Street

Back on land, Greg and I wandered Main Street and Water Street and eventually decided to grab some dinner at Tom’s Pizza (great pizza, great staff… even great choc cake). The great pizza was a bonus – we chose Tom’s simply because of the “Live music 7-9” provided by Rob MacLean, a Cape Breton country/Celtic singer/songwriter. It’s a small venue, with a good mix of local and tourist clientele, and MacLean worked the crowd as well as he sang. The perfect ending to what had already been a darn good day.

BlogThoughts...  Wandering through town today we noticed a couple businesses with creative names:  Bean There Café and Brewed Awakenings (obviously a coffee shop). Greg & I both love puns (as did my stepdad – I have a long history of having to think fast). Those reminded me of other road signs we’d seen recently: Sew Inclined and Yellow Cello Café (not a pun, but catchy). I also have confess that when I saw a highway marker for Port Bevis awhile back, I immediately wondered if Port Butthead would follow. (Sad, what our brains hold on to.)

Cabot Trail, North

Monday, June 26

With a change of clothes and some snacks for the road, we set out from Baddeck (Buhdek) for St. Ann’s Bay and the eastern entrance to the Cabot Trail. We drove north along the coast (w/o pullout spots) until we reached Cape Smokey (just south of Ingonish). Finally, a chance to wander around a bit. From here we could look back at nearly all the coast we’d passed since St. Ann’s. AWESOME. 

(Before reaching the coast, we drove along one of the many arms of Bras d’Or Lake (pronounced brahdore), a huge inland sea in the central south of the Cape. That’s the water you see in the pic below (shot thru the car window). Purple lupins have been part of the landscape for days. Greg loves them.)

Lake and lupins... how lovely.

First view from Cape Smokey

Probably whale watching or tourist cruise boats.
 (Lobster boats are more colorful.)

On a clear day you can see forever.
(or at least almost to St. Ann)

Continuing north (with lots of pullouts), we entered Cape Breton Highlands Nat’l Park (which we will continue to drive in and out of) at Ingonish, then pulled off for a few more photo ops before stopping for lunch at the highly recommended Chowder House in Neil’s Harbor. Greg had a snow crab sandwich & fries (he’s a French fry connoisseur, and these got top billing), while I enjoyed corn & crab chowder, onion rings (my weakness) and Greg’s cole slaw. 

Park Headquarters. I thought these
flowers were especially bright & cheery.

Well buffeted tree.

Rugged.

Intrepid Photographer

No frills, just good food.

No skimping on the crab. 😃

Storm comin' in.

Avian parking lot.

Teamwork

A construction detour kept us out of Dingwall, but we got a peek (just a peek, no picture) at the harbor from the other side of the cove. Continuing north, we located our motel and then pushed on to Meat Cove, the “most northern community” (barely) on Cape Breton. It's marked at the very top of the map. Why is it called Meat Cove? Because sailors would come ashore here to hunt game, which was apparently abundant. Today there's a campground, a little cafe, and a primitive boardwalk thru the woods and down to the beach. (Irrelevant side note: Coming up the coast we also passed thru Wreck Cove - probably an equally obvious reason for that name.)

View from campground to beach...

...and from the beach up.

Boardwalk...

flanked by bushes, &

lost in the bushes?

Greg and I spent quite a while on the beach. There’s no fine sand, just rocks – many types in many sizes. After wandering through them for some time, I finally chose some to use in a decorative arrangement in our next house, which will have a “shore” room. The stream starts even higher up the hill (maybe miles away on the other side) and finally winds down to the ocean here. (We also crossed it somewhere along the boardwalk.)

This pic doesn't do the rock justice. It's
really much darker & sparkly, and clearly
sedimentary - the layers look peelable.

On our way back to the motel, we checked out the local market (possible dinner options) and then checked in at Burton’s Sunset Oasis. Very basic (also very pricey – don’t get me started), but clean and the view is to die for. I got some steps in while Greg went back to the grocery for a steak and pre-packaged (but actually quite good) Caesar salad. The motel owner provided a grill, and dinner was prepared. Afterwards we drove down to the little harbor, where we were able to chat with two of the local fishermen. One fellow about our age grew up with 14 siblings and has something like 45 nieces and nephews (he really wasn't sure how many). Suddenly our crew seemed pretty small. Beautiful evening. We returned to the motel to take in (and take pics of) the sunset and play a couple hands of gin rummy before tumbling into bed.

Boats above, boats below.

Clouds above, clouds below.

Sunset viewing grandstand

Viewing companion

Sunset over Bay St. Lawrence

BlogAnnouncement… Grandbabies 19 & 20 arrived today.     

          

Cape Breton

Sunday, June 25

Check out the picture – what a fun surprise to find at the breakfast table! I’m pretty sure no one else has had a more original birthday “cake.”  The single candle was encouraging - I guess you get to start over after 70.  The video is of some of my kids reprising “Boom-Dee-Ah-Dah,” a song they sang for a talent show at Thoreau El many, many years ago. (They did add a new verse appropriate to the occasion.)  After breakfast I drove into Truro for Sacrament Meeting. Small branch (roughly 50 folks there), small building, but otherwise just like any other meeting.

Hot Tamales, cards from Chris & Greg, Lindt Truffles, video,
postcards, apples, birthday banana, & strawberries. 😃

Greg had lunch on the table when I returned. Then we were on the road again – north to Cape Breton Island for 4 nights, including 2 days on the Cabot Trail. Great weather! In fact, the sky was really amazing. That huge bank of snowy white clouds sitting right on the horizon and not even a wisp of white anywhere above. 

(Note different colored asphalt for north and south)

 Quarry that provided rock & gravel used to build the causeway...
that tiny yellow bit just above the water line is an oversized gravel hauler.

Canso Causeway

To the right is the Canso Causeway, built in 1955 to connect Cape Breton by road to the Nova Scotia peninsula. The causeway includes a swing bridge on the Cape Breton side. While the causeway has some definite advantages over the previous ferry, its construction is still controversial. Opponents cite negative impacts of both a sociological and environmental nature. This chorus from the popular ballad "Causeway Crossing" is just one small example:

               The Canso Causeway's a wonder they say.
               It's mainland rock, and it's mainland clay.
               Many do come, but they don't plan to stay--
               It was built for going away.

Shortly after we entered Cape Breton we yielded to the siren call of Farmer’s Daughter Country Market marketing.  The marketing turned out to be false advertising (there was no produce whatsoever in this market), but the Farmers brand ice cream they offered was outstanding. I enjoyed every licking moment of my Death by Chocolate. (Greg bought a pepperoni stick.)

We're at a large KOA campground in Baddek, just a bit south of the beginning of the eastern entrance to the Cabot Trail. After supper, Greg and I wandered the "nature trail" down to Nyanza Bay. Really not much of a trail, but the evening light was good and the bay pleasant.

Greg (lost?) in the woods.

Nyanza Bay

Sunset on the Bay. (Thank you, Greg)
The little white spot is an enigma dot.