It was a beautiful day on Cape Breton Island. We had a mix of sun and cloud and not a drop of rain – at least not at this point (I’m getting started early on today’s blog entry).
I awoke at about 330am to the sound of Tommy snoring! Now keep in mind I am in a hard shell trailer and Tommy is in a tent trailer, so his sounds were not diminished as much as mine would be. I avoided bring this topic up with Connie because she claims that I am the world’s loudest at snoring – particularly if I’ve had a glass or two of red, which was the case last night. Fortunately, Tommy didn’t keep me awake for long as I rolled over and drifted off into dreamy oblivion.
Connie was first to rise today. After a quick shower, she began doing her hair in front of the bathroom mirror. Being the patient man that I am, I decided to join her in the spacious trailer washroom to brush my teeth and shave, while she attempted to finish her hair. Having enjoyed almost 31 years of married bliss, it’s amazing what she tolerates!
After departing the trailer, I went outside to complete my daily ritual of a cup of Starbucks Via instant coffee. For some reason, I decided to place my newly purchsed tin coffee cup on the shelf that attaches to the side of the trailer beside the barbeque. So my tin cup is very cute but lightweight, and as I learned today slides quite easy on a slippery surface (such as the shelf attached to the trailer). The other thing I learned is that the shelf slightly declines away from the trailer. These two conditions, coupled with the laws of physics, contributed to the following series of unfortunate events.
As I placed the coffee cup on the table, I turned to relocate my chair to a more suitable spot. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my steaming hot cup of coffee sliding towards me with increasing velocity. Rather than jump out of the way to let it fall to the ground, I intervened by attempting to catch the cup. As a result, the hot coffee was projected all over the side of the trailer, the citronella candles, the barbeque and everything else placed beneath this area for the purposes of protecting it from the potential rain.
Now timing is everything. Before I had a chance to clean up my mess, Connie emerged from the trailer to obtain some hot water for her morning tea. Rather than wait for her to react, I said in a calm voice, “you really don’t want to know what just happened. You really don’t.” Being the saint she is, Connie said very little and gave me one of her disapproving looks that speaks volumes.
At about 930am, we drove into town to the local bakery for scones and coffee. Sitting outside the bakery in downtown Baddeck was very pleasant. I love to watch people going to and fro and today (Saturday), I was amazed the Canada Post office was open as people were dropping by to pick up their parcels. The Home Hardware was buzzing with activity as the proprietor was washing his front windows. I could see why someone would want to live here – at least on days like today.
At 10am we began our Cabot Trail journey. Now you will recall from yesterday’s blog, this journey could be anywhere between 1.5 and 5 hours. Well, it was 6 hours! Actually it was 5 hours if you subtract the hour we spent for lunch. Apart from lunch and a few short stops to take a photo, we were driving most of the time. However, it was time well spent as this is some of the most beautiful country I’ve ever seen.
We drove up the east side of Cape Breton. This meant that Connie and Zach always had the ocean view out their windows. What a fantastic view it was! Here are a few photos that give you a taste of the stunning beauty of this piece of God’s creation.
We drove through some of the most pristine forest.
I can only imagine what this looks like in the fall.
Once we reached the west side of the island, the weather turned a bit and we encountered some fog, which prevented us from seeing much at several look out spots. We decided to stop for lunch at the Rusty Anchor in Pleasant Bay and I snapped a couple of photos from the top of the cliff in front of the restaurant.
Zach decided to have lobster, Connie the seafood wrap and I chose fish and chips. When in Rome…
The road to Chèticamp was scenic in spots without the fog.
After we reached what appeared to be the summit of 440 metres (we saw snow), we were glad we saw, rather than ran into, this big fella.
After we reached Chèticamp, I found it fascinating how different the communities were from one side of the island to the other. Based on the number of for sale signs I concluded Chèticamp is likely struggling a bit economically.
The road from Chèticamp to Baddeck was less scenic and quite in need of some tender love and care. We rolled back into the campsite at 4pm and decided we’d had enough touring for today, which has led me to write today’s entry.
We had intended to eat dinner in town tonight but we were still full from our big lunch on the road that we had smokies in the campsite instead.
After dinner I got a text from Sam asking to FaceTime. He had just arrived home from working in the the UBC lab (the life of a PhD student). It was great to connect and catch up. After we disconnected the call, I thought about how amazing our world has become. We can immediately connect by video from the east coast to the west coast without giving it a second thought. My Dad had a car phone (basically a 2 way radio) in the late 1960s and we thought that was amazing.
Speaking of communication, Connie and I were having a discussion about her cover photo on Facebook. Zach was half listening and thinking we were arguing over bed covers. He poked his head around the corner to say “Mom, you can sleep outside tonight then!” I’m pretty certain if there is a disagreement over anything in the bedroom tonight, the one sleeping outside is not Connie.
Zach suggested it would be fitting for our last night on the eastern coast, to repeat our theme song on the outside speakers all night long. I’m thinking the neighbors won’t appreciate that.
Tomorrow we head to Prince Edward Island, another lengthy drive. In leaving Baddeck, we begin our journey westward and home – exactly 14 days after leaving home.
Mal and Connie's Cross Canada Adventure 2.0 