Nova Scotia

We had to cross the Confederation Bridge to leave Prince Edward Island. This is the longest bridge over frozen water (the water was not frozen today). The toll was $56.50. A big portion of our cost on the trip from Pennsylvania through the Northeast and Canada has been tolls. This is something we did not budget for this trip. A lot of the roads including toll roads have been in severe need of resurfacing. This has helped me, Jeanne, to decide not to travel to Alaska by land next year. Katie agrees with me. She says MEOW or was that amen.

We drove through the corner of New Brunswick to get to Nova Scotia. We stopped in Pictou for one night and found out we could have taken the ferry from PEI to Nova Scotia and save quite a few miles. We drove to the bay front of Pictou and saw Hector which is Canada's equivalent to the Mayflower. About 200 people came over from Europe with the trip taking about 3 months. That was a crowded long three months.

We moved on Friday to Baddeck Cabot Trail Campground and will leave in the morning if weather permits. Saturday we drove the Cabot Trail which takes you through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The first hour of the drive was terribly bumpy and we encountered a relay race in progress. We drove past the runners and the road was lined with people and cars as they cheered us on down the road or were they cheering the runners? As we entered the National Park the road became much better. There was no charge at the Park as we were just traveling through and not using their facilities. The roads included many steep inclines and descents. Our truck did just fine. Allan used the engine brake a lot. We followed the coastline on different parts of our trip. The jagged cliffs and deep blue water made it very picturesque. The hills were coming alive with various shades of green as spring had arrived. We saw a small waterfall. We were hoping to see a moose but no moose appeared. We did see a large gray or silver fox with a big bushy tail. Nova Scotia has many rivers and lakes and coastal inlets. After our return to the campground we decided to take a walk down to the river. It was quite muddy in spots but we enjoyed our trek through the woods. We saw two bald eagles flying over the campground. We got to meet and talk with several campers from different parts of the world. Ontario, England, Maine, Tennessee, and North Carolina to name a few. We also learned that the owners were originally from the Black Forest of Germany. Even though it is very beautiful there, they moved because it was too crowded.

Today we drove over an hour to go to church which was on the way to Fortress Louisbourg. It turned windy and chilly by the time we finished lunch. We bundled up and toured the fort which was quite interesting. It was actually a walled, small city sitting out on the end of the peninsula guarding the entrance to the bay. It was active in peace time as well as war time. It was built and maintained by the French, but the British overtook this area in the mid 1700's. It was a long road up to the fortress and while on the road we saw a large coyote run into the woods.

On our way back we stopped at a falls. It required hiking a ways on uneven ground so I stayed in the truck while Allan got pictures. He returned back just before it started raining. This was an interesting country road. We drove by several farms with different kinds of animals which we have not identified yet. One had cows, oxen?? long horns and long hair. There was a herd of white horses. breed?? There was a kennel with different breeds of dogs. breed??

I fixed some chocolate chip cookies tonight and of course left Allan some raw cookie dough. We are trying to regroup so that tomorrows preparation for leaving will be a somewhat simple job.