Lunenburg and Mahone Bay, Friday

Today, the sun actually started the day!  Wasn't too warm, but the forecast promised warmer weather.  I hadn't really planned exactly what I wanted to do, but with that gorgeous sun, perfect for photographing this colorful town, breakfast couldn't be finished fast enough.  Then, off I went with my camera, and my travelling companion about 15 feet in front of me as usual.

What a gorgeous place this Lunenburg is!  Quiet for sure, a sleepy little place first thing in the morning on a mid-May Friday.  Crossing the street is no issue, there are no cars around.  All the shops are still closed.  So we climb the incredibly steep sidewalks from one street to the next until we are back at the bandshell and memorial we saw on our walk the previous evening.  The architecture of these older homes on top of the hill is magical, and the care taken to preserve the history of the whole town is evident everywhere.

Each house seems to be a slightly different colour, and some streets look like they were built of candy.  It seems to be a theme in seaside and coastal towns, as few homes are bricked, all need to be painted regularly.  And the creativity adds to the magic of the place.  Many homes have plaques indicating when they were built and for whom, and the oldest known home is over 300 years old.  Amazing!

We have heard that the Bluenose II, my favourite ship, built in Lunenburg (as was the original Bluenose) is currently drydocked here.  What an opportunity!  It's been refurbished on the interior after relaunching last fall, and we have a unique chance to see her, including the full hull.  She's just as beautiful in person as I'd always imagined.

At 10, the shops and art galleries start to open up - looks like the Maritimes is coming alive.  There are several art galleries, all featuring local or at least provincial artists.  And it is all wonderful, beautiful work.  One gallery is the work of a single artist that creates masterpieces using fabric and the art of quilting.  My mom is a quilter, and I sure hope she was able to catch this place when she was here a few years ago.  Another gallery featured four local artists, and one piece catches my eye.

Several months ago, a friend and former colleague showcased an acrylic that she had done of a small bay at sunset in B.C. where she now lives.  I was lucky enough to purchase that fine piece.  Now, here in Lunenburg, I find an acrylic of a small harbour with sailboats, the same size, and with a matching blue in it to the one Suzanne painted.  Now, I can proudly display both pieces on my wall - one from each coast.

After finishing up our purchases, we head into Mahone Bay, where my friend has heard of a fab pub and spectacular scenery.  He was definitely given a good tip on this one.  As we park and start walking toward the center of town, we hear a gleeful yelp, and see someone running toward us with open arms.  Who on earth do we know here?  Ah, it's the delightful young family that we met first on Cape Breton on the Skyline Trail, then again on the ferry from Pictou to PEI, now we are lucky enough to meet them again!

This time, we let their sweet little girl sit in her favourite sky blue punch buggy.  She looks right at home!  How great to have met this trio.  I really hope that we are able to meet up again some time.  After all, they live not far from us.  Fate must have brought us together so often for some reason.

After visiting several unique boutiques of all types, and checking out the scenery, we hit the Mug and Anchor pub.  Great fish and chips for Ian, but I'm kinda seafood-ed out, so I choose the Jack Burger, with bourbon bbq sauce, sauteed mushrooms and blue cheese melted on top.  Fresh and lean, it's no wonder that magazines have written rave reviews about it.

We learn that this is the one night of the month that this pub has live music, and although we're not sure what to expect of a band called "Dr. Weirdbeard's blues revue" we decide that it should be fun to come back for a pint and maybe some supper.  We head back to Lunenburg to freshen up and have a nap, then we catch Dr. Weird beard for a couple of hours.  They're a pretty good band, and the place is packed.  But we've walked a few miles today, and had lots of fresh, sea air, so us old fogies don't last too long.  Tomorrow will be another busy day going up to Peggy's cove.

Arrr, Billy Part II

We hadn't really decided where to go next for sure until the past day or so, but had heard that Lunenburg, NS was pretty nice.  So after finding a place called the Brigantine Inn in the CAA travel book, we checked it out online, and there was a very cool room called "The Bounty".  With skylights in the sloped ceiling, it looked like a room in an old ship, so we called to check it out, and sure enough it was free.

We hadn't really explored Charlottetown yet, so on Thursday morning, after breakfast, we went shopping in the rain in Charlottetown.  I love unique things, especially clothes, and in one boutique window I saw a beautiful white sweater that was obviously handmade.  When I inquired however, the one in the window was the only one they had left, and it was a size that I didn't believe was even close to big enough.  The attendant convinced me to try it on, and sure enough, it fit!  Then we were off to find the Confederation Bridge to cross back over to the mainland, but it will take us to New Brunswick.

The bridge is incredible when seen from a distance.  8 miles, 13 km, 12 minutes to cross.  I had never suspected that PEI was that close to the mainland, all the maps I'd seen seemed to show it was much further away than that.

From about 10 km away it looks pretty impressive, and even more so after we're crossing it.  With the cement barriers on either side you can't really see anything once on the bridge, until you're at the highest part, and then you can sort of see the land on the other side.  A bit disappointing, but good to know that there's so much safety built in.  No pedestrians or cyclists are allowed on the bridge, if you're a walker or biker, you have to take a shuttle.  One more advantage to coming to the area out of season - in the entire 13 km of the bridge, we only saw four or five vehicles, all going the other direction.

Once on the other side, we head toward the information center that the toll-taker told us about.  It wasn't open (not even NB is open for business yet),  but the folks getting everything ready for tourist season sees us coming with cameras in hand, and guides us toward an open tower that we can climb up and get pictures from.

The rest of the day yields more cloud, though not much rain, as we drive through a corner of New Brunswick, and then through Nova Scotia to Lunenburg.  The scenery is much more beautiful than I had anticipated, more mountainous, greener and far more interesting.  The further we go, the brighter it gets, and by the time we're in Lunenburg, the sun is out and it has gotten nice and warm.  The hotel is almost right on the waterfront, and has a restaurant below it, so we get a table and sit by the window.  There are few other patrons.

As we dine on Maritime style scallops (fried and salted) and Seafood medley, the fog rolls in, and we can barely see across the harbour.  Typical of the east coast, by the time we're done eating, it has cleared again, almost as suddenly.  Tomorrow is an exploring day, so hopefully the forecast of sunshine and a high of 14C is accurate.  

Arrr, Billy Part 1

 The plan for the day on Wednesday was to hit at least one more National Park.  The first thought was Greenwich, since there was a possibility of seeing an endangered bird and unique sand dunes, but we wound up at a completely different National Park - Brackley Beach.  Fantastic.  Took a while to find it, since the provincial map that we had was not very accurate, but eventually the famous sand dunes revealed themselves.

Although it's really a cold wind, it's sunny and worth while spending the time to get a few shots before heading toward East Point, the furthest east point on PEI.

When we get to East Point, we find that, unlike most places in the Maritimes, there is actually something open!  Everywhere we've gone so far, it's been "pre-season", and most stores and restaurants have been closed.  Sorry, but the Maritimes don't open until the long weekend in May.  But the lighthouse at East Point was open - and I'm so glad it was!  67 steps up to the top, and the view was fantastic.  From there, it was obvious that the current was coming at the point from both sides, and when the waves met, with the high winds, there was "some" splashing going on!

The other thing that was open at East Point was a small cafe at the base of the lighthouse called "Pirates Galley Cafe".  Arrr, Billy, have you ever been to sea?  It was all just a gimmick of course but the food was ok for lunch and a nice break to walk around after a few hours of driving.  On the way back, it's a must to see Basin Head, according to the RCMP officer that stopped us on a "Safety Week" check.  So we find that on the way back to Charlottetown.  It's a bit of a walk down to the beach, but on getting there, I find that it was worth it for this cool feature of red sand.  

Basin Head is a Provincial Park, not a National one, but again, like every other National or Provincial Park we've been to, it's "closed", but that really just means "use at your own risk", "not maintained", and most importantly - free entrance!  So coming here to the east coast a week before main season wasn't such a bad idea after all...

Boats are in, traps are stacked...

It would be easy to say that I didn't do much on Tuesday, just drove from Cape North on Cape Breton Island to Charlottetown PEI, in the rain, but that just wouldn't be the case.  First, that's a long drive, don't you know.  Second, it was an interesting day because of what had been happening in the Maritimes for the past few days.

I had planned this trip - if you read an earlier entry - in order to eat a lot of seafood.  Fresh seafood.  I planned it for the timing not just because this week worked in with a lot of other pieces of my life, including work, but also because it's in lobster season. And when I got here, learned that almost all lobster fishermen are on strike due to the extremely low prices that were being offered by the buyers/processors.  So, while I've been able to get fresh lobster somehow, the threat has always been there that it wouldn't last long.

While dining at the MidTrail Motel last evening, we had heard from our server that the fisherman were having a big meeting last night at 7 pm to vote whether or not they would go back to setting their traps.  This morning, I can breathe a sigh of relief. They voted "yes".  So now I can have more fresh lobster before I go home again!  How selfish!  Especially since there are so many other wonderful local dishes that I really want to try, like clams and mussels and scallops.

Anyway, while this morning the boats were still in, and the traps were still stacked, it was mostly because of the rainy, windy, foggy weather now.  

So I kept driving, and stopped occasionally to get some really bad photos of barely visible scenery, and the next thing I knew, we were in Pictou, NS.  My travelling companion had been trying to get a hold of a former colleague that now lives in Pictou, but had till now been unsuccessful.  The plan had been to take the ferry from Pictou over to PEI, but when we got there at 3:45, were told that the next ferry left at 6:15.  And there's really nothing to do in Pictou, NS.  Nothing is open because it's a week before the main tourist season starts.  

So we decide to explore and try to find a pub, and maybe see a tall ship that Ian had seen advertised.  As we're driving along a back street, find the tall ship, and are trying to find a place to park, Ian notices the Sheriff's van.  His friend is the Sheriff in Pictou county, and the theory is that wherever the van is, Mick might be.  So Ian hops into the county courthouse, and I wait in the car.  Optimistic, aren't I?  Anyway, after about 10 minutes, and still no Ian, I figure he's either been arrested or shot, or Mick is really there.

Next thing I know, I'm getting a tour of holding cells, courthouses, and hearing interesting stories of how they handle the inmates in Pictou over how they handle them in Milton, ON.

After a couple of hours, we head back over to the ferry, only to find that the same family that we had seen on the Top of Nova Scotia (on the Skyline drive) a couple of days ago, and again at dinner that same evening, was also just few cars behind us on the ferry.  How lovely!  They had been driving past the courthouse earlier, and seen the punch buggy, (it's quite distinctive here), and wondered if we were around somewhere.  Now we finally have a chance to chat a while, exchange contact info, and decide to connect at some point in Charlottetown.

Getting into Charlottetown we find that it's not as easy as we had expected to find a hotel.  We're not willing to settle for the standard, we'd like something historic and comfortable.  The Delta seems a good place to start.  But not at $349 per night (that's all they have left).  That's crazy!!  So we drive up one street, see a hotel that looks quite nice and is off the beaten track, might have room.  But just driving up to the front it looks way too expensive.  We then find a boutique hotel, and they are also booked up, only one room left for only one night, and it's over $200 per night.  They agree to call their sister hotel, but they are completely booked.  They then suggest the Rodd Charlottetown, call, and find they have a room for two nights for $149 per night.  Sure!

Turns out that it's the same hotel that we had thought would be too expensive.  It is lovely!  And they give us a CAA discount so we only pay $127.  Sweet!  It's very old, but well maintained, very clean, and has tons of character.  It reminds me of the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, and sure enough, it turns out that it was a CN hotel for many years.

The bathroom still has the original tile around the bath and on the floor, and the door handles are all the old glass knobs still.  Cool.  But it's late, and we're tired and it doesn't take long and I'm snoring away!

The top of Nova Scotia

Today, it felt like I climbed to the top of Nova Scotia.  Starting off in Baddeck this morning, it was cool and raining, so breakfast seemed like a good place to start.  The Yellow Cello makes a wonderful bacon and eggs breakfast - with lots of bacon (real bacon, that actually tasted like smoked bacon).  A quick top-up with gas, and it's off to the Cabot Trail.  The weather is supposed to improve by noon, but the tops of mountains are still shrouded in cloud at 10:30 a.m.

As we approach Margree Forks the sun comes out and it is instantly warmer.  The hills are multi-coloured, with splotches of dark green - the evergreens, the dark brown buds of the hardwoods, and the bright green buds of the birch and softwoods.  There is soon evidence of many logging operations, and signs for "quality hardwood lumber" on the occasional laneway.  The one that strikes me most is the ads for "good larch" - what the heck is larch? I'll have to look that one up.

As we go further west toward the other side of the island, the sun gets stronger, the hills get higher, and the scenery more beautiful every kilometer.  I'm pretty sure that by the time we get to Cheticamp, I'll be gaga (no, not Lady).  And I am.  And it just keeps getting better.  In Cheticamp though, it drizzles briefly and clouds over, so it's a good time to Timmy Me.  We stop for a tea and muffin, then off we go again.

The goal is to find a good place to picnic, and boy do we ever find it.  But first, we have to enter Cape Breton Highlands National Park.  Just before we get there, my travelling companion jokes that someone should be charging for the beautiful scenery.  Then we come across the gates that charge to get into the park.  Thankfully, we're a few days early - still off season for another five days - and we get in for free.

A bit further into the park, and we find our dining spot.  A little hideaway right on the coast, with a couple of cool birds drifting by, a picnic table that has not yet been spoiled by too much bird poop, and some fresh air to make our Pop Chips, fruit, and sausage sticks taste fab.

Another couple of lookouts later and we come across a traffic light - in the middle of nowhere.  Whaaaat?  Turns out that they are repairing the road.  Looks like a good chunk out of the one lane has been completely eroded or washed out, or slid down the cliff into the ocean.  Whoa.  Fortunately, the wait is only a few seconds, and off we go.  And the next lookout is THE lookout of the Cabot Trail.  Even though it's still gray and completely clouded over, it's amazing.  My companion thinks the sun will come out shortly, and it does.  So we take a few more pictures, and then proceed to find more and more beautiful places.

At one point, we realize that on the next point, a few hundred feet above us and across the inlet, we can see people walking along the top of a cliff.  We need to get up there!  Winding up the road, away from where we saw them, we start worrying that we won't figure out how to get over there.  Then we see the sign for Skyline Trail, and check it out.  Sure enough, it's a 4.7 mile hike in total, we've got several hours before we have to check into the B&B, and lots of sitting and driving to work off.

And it really does take us out to the end of the cliff, and what feels like the very top of Nova Scotia - it's 250 meters up from the ocean, and the birds are flying around way below us.  We've met a young family on the trail that are originally from England, but now live in Toronto (small world!).  They appear on the boardwalk shortly after we arrive, and it's a joy to see their young daughter skip down the steps to see the edge of the bluff.

Finally, we hike back to the car, passing the many moose tracks (both footprints and moose poo), and feel revitalized by the weather, the holiday, the exercise, and the scenery.

But now, we're hungry.  It's not far into Pleasant Bay, and the only place around for miles that is open for dinner on a Monday night in early May is MidTrail Motel.  So, we check it out.  The whole motel is painted pink and blue, like some weird nursery, but the menu is chock full of seafood, and it smells good.  My friend orders seafood chowder and the Atlantic grey sole, and I get the salad with house dressing and a lobster dinner.  Wow.  Everything is homemade - for real homemade - and it's the best lobster I've ever had.  The freshest for sure.

Better get to the B&B, especially if we hope to make it to Meat Cove, which is at the far north end of the island.  The B&B is easy to find, and the hostess is extremely friendly and helpful.  She says we have enough daylight to get to Meat Cove, and it's worth it.  Wow.  8 km of gravel and potholes, dangerous dropoffs, and fantastic scenery, but yes, it's worth it to say we got to the most northern point of Cape Breton Island.  There's an island off the coast, no idea what it is at the time, but we find out later that it's St. Paul Island - the Graveyard of the Gulf.  Interesting.

Now, relaxing with some more Nova Scotia wine, the Leafs just snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, and tomorrow is said to be rainy and cold, another good day to drive - this time to Charlottetown PEI.  Hopefully, they'll have lobster...

From Halifax to Baddeck

The day dawned warm and sunny - oops, that was a different trip.  The day never really dawned, it just got a little lighter and then darker again.  But in between, there was still some adventure to be had.  The forecast called for 50 mm of rain and a high of 13 C.  Good day to be driving.  The rain held off though, and my travelling companion and I decided that it would be a good day to take in something in Halifax.  Our plan was to be on Cape Breton Island by supper time, and it was about a 3.5 hours driving time, so we could spend the morning in Halifax.

We opted to check out Citadel Hill, which was easy walking distance from the Waverley Inn, even though it was all uphill.  Good exercise to try and offset Larry Lobster from last night's dinner.  The site was open and fully staffed.  I had dropped in several years ago (over 20) but that was in November and there was minimal staff, the museum section and gift shop/info center was not open at that time.  So I was happy to see everything open and available this time.  All the staff were in period costume (1869-1871) when the fort was already well established, and staffed by the 78th Highlanders.

It was huge, and we could walk all the way around the top, where the view of Halifax harbour was spectacular.  Then all the way around the bottom, where there used to be stables, and guard houses, and garrisons, and now there was multi-media museum and informational videos.  The gift shop in the main officers building held the standard t-shirts, and touristy type collectibles, but also had Heathergems from Scotland set in sterling or goldplate.  This is something I had never seen, the colours were beautiful, and it was so unique I just had to buy a bracelet.  I learn that Heathergems are really stems of Scottish heather (a plant) that were dried, then dyed, then compressed, then polished.

We stay long enough to watch the noon gun (gun being a 12 lb. cannon) being fired, and then we head back to the car to make our way to Cape Breton.  As we leave the city, the rain starts.  Phew!!  Just in time.

The afternoon is a lot of rain, a lot of driving, and not much to see until we get close to Cape Breton.  We pass a restaurant that looks like a "check that out on the way back", Mother Webb's Ribs and Steak, in Antigonish.  Then we're finally at the Causeway that will take us across to Cape Breton Island.  The rest of the drive - if it wasn't for the rain and fog - is beautiful.  We're hoping it isn't like this the entire week, and the weather forecast for tomorrow is sunny and 18, so we know we'll get at least one day of nice weather for hiking the trails in Cape Breton National Park - and tons of pictures, which maybe tomorrow I'll be able to upload....

Lobster - finally!

What a great day!  It started with a snuggle - with my cat, Simba.  He just knew something was going on, every time I get out the suitcase, the next day he gets a ride in the car.  So we spent about an hour bonding while I had my French Vanilla coffee.  I LOVE the first day of vacation when I can get into vacation mode that quickly!

Eventually, Simba got packed into the car with all the luggage and dropped off to play with his friend Niobe for a few days while I fly off to Halifax, NS. The flight is uneventful, quite calm skies and mostly cloudy but not too cool.  Picked up the rental car and found a compact car for Thrifty in Halifax is, ta da da da!  A punch buggy!  (No punchbacks!)  Yes, folks, it was the cutest little blue VW Beetle - the brand new model no less.  This is going to be fun, I love driving cute cars!

Turn on the radio in the car and hear the forecast for fog to roll into Halifax, and almost immediately the fog appeared.  Hmmm, hope that's not a portent of things to come!

Found the hotel, and it is gorgeous.  Built in 1866, and run mostly as a residential hotel for about 30 years, with celebrities such as Oscar Wilde having stayed here, I can't wait to find out if there are any residential ghosts.  There are antiques everywhere, including a 4-poster bed in the room, antique photographs and portraits on the walls, the doors are the original solid wood, with the most intricate detail.  I love the beauty and character of the place.

The gent at the front desk is very helpful and provides a couple of names of Irish pubs with live music, but first - explore!  Its cool, foggy and drizzly, but after sitting all day, the walk feels good.  Find some outdoor art - drunken street lights?

The Old Triangle is a quaint old Irish pub, with great cider and poutine and some fantastic local live talent.  Just two guys on guitar and bass then they pull out a fiddle and bring up another gent with a harmonica and they all start wailing on some real east coast music - just what I needed.  I LOVE local flavour!

Then it's across the street to McElvie's for some.... LOBSTER!  Finally.  Phew, I thought for awhile it would never happen.  But it's fabulous.  Thanks you, Larry Lobster, for committing harikari just for me.

The walk back to the hotel is much drier, as the fog has started to lift and it's no longer drizzly, but it's quite cool now.  Nevertheless, the camera comes in handy, and I get some great shots.  If I could just get them uploaded...

(3 days later...)