From the Observation Deck

Continuing on with the tale of the Nova Scotia trip (we are almost done, I promise), after spending the night in Ingonish and having a spectacular meal at some pub I forget the name of, we continued our hiking out past the Keltic lodge on a long path that was both treacherous and beautiful. We saw a seal swimming out in the water past a rocky outcrop where some cool birds were nesting. I’m not a big bird (ha-ha) person but was told it was special.

Okay, down the mountain our next stop was Baddeck. A lovely place on the Bras d’Or Lakes. Home of many eagles (didn’t see any) and Alexander Graham Bell—well a summer home and a museum dedicated to him. On a funny note, my cell phone wasn’t working there. Hmmm. Museum was cool and mom and I did lots of tourist shopping.

The next day we drove down to Louisburg and toured the Fortress there. It was an experience akin to Williamsburg with people dressed in period clothes and talking French. It was a French fort in the 18^th century. We met some interesting characters, learned more history, and ate in a period restaurant. That night we attended the beggar’s banquet at our hotel. Yup, yet again I managed to get my dad dressed up in some costume. They put us in 18^th century clothes and served us some seriously yummy food (lobster) while the staff sang and danced. One of the servers then gave us a history lesson and we learned all about how people used to put lead- and mercury-laden products on their faces as makeup. Nice. It was lots of fun and worth putting on the garb.

Enjoy the photos of our hiking, the scenery, the fortress, and the banquet.

Continuing on with the Nova Scotia trip was our excursion up through the Glooscap Trail. First stop was the wildlife provincial park. Upon entering the park we spotted a beautiful peacock. He had plenty of friends scattered around the park and they communicated by bellowing loudly to each other. Then we passed the cougars—hyper things these creatures are. They pace back and forth continuously like they have ADD or something. Other impressive animals included the moose—the only ones we saw on the entire trip even though the locals boast of seeing them everywhere—and bears, bobcats, owls, and a horse (not really defined as wild) that had an itch. I found it comical to watch it scratch its behind on the fence we were standing in front of. Maybe he was looking for an assist.

Our trip continued with a drive past the 50-foot Mastodon located at the midway point from the equator to the pole. I thought it was the 49^th parallel until my dad pointed out it was the 45^th parallel. After thinking about the math for a moment I told him to shut it. (Just kidding.) Just up the road was the Glooscap Heritage Center. This was where we learned all about the history and culture of the native Indian tribe—the Mi’kmaqs. Their mythical legendary hero (for want of a better description) was a massive creature who took the form of a man and could pretty much create mountains and rivers and conduct other miraculous feats. There was statue of him you can see for a distance down the highway.

Next stop was the Joggins fossil cliffs—way up the trail near New Brunswick. This was very cool. Due to the nature of the tides and how the land had formed from swamps, glaciers, etc., there were tons and tons of fossils from plants and animals dating back 350 million years. We took a tour and went down to the beach where you can see fossilized trunks from trees right in the side of the cliffs. The cliffs get worn away each day so the scientists there continue to discover new findings all the time. As we walked on the beach, we picked up rock after rock just sitting there that had markings on them. The biology geek in me was fascinated.

After leaving the fossil cliffs we made our way down the Sunrise Trail and stopped off at Jost vineyards. We took a quick tour of the facility and of course shopped for some wonderful local wine. Not much more to say on that.

From there we stopped over night at the slanted house in Pictou and then took off the next day toward the highlands. One last stop before crossing the causeway was at Antigonish for the Highland Games. Unfortunately like so much on this trip, we missed the actually games but got to walk the town during the festival. There were cute girls dancing in costumes, local singers entertaining the crowds, and a few extremely large gentlemen dressed in kilts who demonstrated a few of the contests for us. They had a very heavy metal ball that I could hardly pick up which they told me they toss over their heads as far as it can go. I could only imagine the warriors of the 15^th century and how they must have looked like these guys but only dirtier and with bad teeth.

Well that’s it for now. Our adventure continues with a tour of the Cabot Trail in the highlands of Nova Scotia.