Part 4 - Nova Scotia/Cape Breton (Sydney, Fort Louisbourg, Cabot Trail, the Ferry to PEI)

Wednesday

We crossed over the Canso Causeway linking Nova Scotia and Cape Breton at 3:18 in the afternoon. (I took a pic of the bridge and checked the timestamp.)

The Cape Breton flag from the welcome centre.

Sleeping Kate! The drive from the welcome centre to the hotel had a few bits that scared me. We were driving along Bras d'Or Lake and it scared me. It was really beautiful, but also scary! It felt like we were driving along the edge of a cliff.

We went to dinner at Simeon's Family Restaurant in Sydney after we checked into the hotel. The hotel is older, the hallways are very warm and the hallway carpet is icky, but the rooms themselves are okay. The cool thing, our room was a "suite" but really it was just adjoining rooms back in the day. There was a full fridge, microwave, sink, cupboards, table, pull out couch, two queen beds, but the best - two bathrooms! Back to dinner, the restaurant, it was a family restaurant - Ken really wanted to go and they had gluten free options so we went. It was exactly what Ken wanted and everyone ate something! The gf menu made me laugh. There was a turkey dinner on the gf menu but when I asked what that meant I found out there was no stuffing or gravy because those things weren't gluten free... lol. Anyway, we all ate and then went back to the hotel. Ken went swimming with Alice and Fiona and I blogged.

I bought this... YUM! It's a cool story. One of the many Syrian families that escaped to Canada during the Syrian civil war were a family of chocolate makers. They started making their chocolate in Canada "Peace By Chocolate", and they've been very successful. There's even a movie! Their factory is in Antigonish. 

Thursday

The plan for today, go to Louisburg and then Ken and I would drive the Cabot Trail. On the way to Louisbourg I wanted to go to Sydney harbour and take a pic with the giant fiddle, so we did!

There was a really cool touristy shop and Ken got this really cool hat!!

We drove the half an hour ish to Louisbourg and were confused. The directions on google maps weren't very clear, but we parked and went to the visitor's centre and it all made sense! You park and they drive you by bus to the actual fort. It was so foggy and so cool. I offered to buy the girls sweaters, but no one took me up on it. We found out that the trees were snapped by Hurricane Fiona when it hit the area in September of 2022.

When you enter the fort you have to have a stern talking to by the two soldiers standing sentry.

I found out that it was emancipation day. I don't think I ever knew that emancipation day was August 1st. I think I'm always so obsessed with American history I don't know my Canadian history well enough. 

There was so much to explore and see at the fort. It was incredible.

These would have been the governors personal animals. He could pick out his dinner!

The costumed guides were amazing. We asked this man a few questions. Crazy thing, he actually lived for a time in Ajax!

There were a number of rooms set up with furniture and lots of cool information signs.

The little church was really pretty.

Then when we got to this part I was blown away. I learned all about the construction of the Fort. The original was destroyed by the British after the second conquest, the year before the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. The fort was the access point for the Gulf of the St. Lawrence and a key point of conquest between the French and the English. If you look at the pictures below it gives a brief introduction to the rebuilding of the fort. These pictures where in the museum like areas set up in one of the buildings that explained all of the work that went into recreating Louisbourg.

We then spent a long time speaking with the young man on the left. He lives in the area and is going into grade 11 in the fall and he loves working at the fort. He explained in great detail how to take care of and use his musket. It was fascinating.

Then we met another person who let us all see how heavy a musket actually is, the answer is very heavy.

And currently there is a Lego recreation of the fort. It's amazing, just amazing.

This is a cool timeline of the fort.

Kate actually learned about this person this year in school. It was really neat for Kate to see a number of things that she had learned about in school in real life.

This is the Louisbourg cross.

I was asking a little bit more about emancipation day and took a pic of this information. I really need/want to learn more about the history of slavery in Canada.

We went into one of the buildings specifically set aside for learning about the Mi'kmaq (pronounced Migma). Before coming to the area, I had thought they had been completely destroyed as a people - nope, still around! (I actually bought an orange shirt at a gas station on the Gold River Reserve when we were driving to Lunenburg.) We've driven through/past several reserves on our trip so far.

I group of children in costume walked past us at one point, we found out that they were in a day camp.

We walked down to watch part of the public shaming. There's a reenactment of a public shaming everyday. It was slightly amusing.

We all thoroughly enjoyed Louisbourg. And Alice decided that she really wanted a Louisbourg sweatshirt, so we got her one! 

Next stop, we went to New York Fries and grabbed the girls food, then back to the hotel to drop them off. I can't remember who said that we couldn't miss the Cabot Trail, but someone did. I think usually people don't drive the direction we drove, and I think most people don't start out so late in the day, but we had the time we had, and we went ahead and did it anyway. I started driving and was feeling all sorts of nervous. I hate driving on hilly roads and I really hate driving alongside cliffs. I was worried as we were starting out that I would hate the entire experience.

The above was from the first turn out that we stopped at. It was just past the bridge and not technically on the Cabot Trail and I was already close to done being the driver. I felt all sorts of terrified and was questioning all of it! And we were only driving!

We stopped at the welcome centre to the National Park and bought a magnet and used the bathrooms. I think we had switched drivers before this but I can't remember. We'd already driven on some really crazy roads, and I wondered how much more there could be. If you look at the sign below, we were at the bottom right hand corner, we had barely started. We were driving north and then west and then back south so we really had barely seen any of the Trail.

And even though I was still terrified it was so stunningly beautiful. The pictures I took capture a memory but not the true look and feel of the place.

This was where we felt like we'd done it. We were losing the light but this landscape was the iconic landscape that we had been chasing. I felt so happy at this point, I think we both did. That being said, we still had many hours left to drive. 

I am so so happy that Ken and I drove the Cabot Trail. I'm a little sad that the kids missed it, but it was so so long. If we'd had time to do it differently it might have worked, but I'm still not convinced that the girls would have really gotten into it. I truly fell in love with Cape Breton, it is terrifyingly beautiful.

Friday

The next day we got up, ate breakfast and packed up and got ready to drive the three hours to the Ferry in Caribou, Nova Scotia. Ken was still frazzled from the drive the night before so I drove. Going back by Bras d'Or Lake after driving the Cabot Trail, I laughed at myself for being nervous when we were driving in. I was a little sad as we drove back across the Canso Causeway and left Cape Breton. I told Ken we need to come back in ten years and do it again.

We arrived at the Ferry Terminal and checked in in good time. We went to the bathroom, walked around a bit and watched the ferry dock. It was crazy to see the transport trucks driving off of the ferry. Ken and Kate were both nervous about the crossing, this was the ocean after all! They both took gravol in anticipation of not feeling well.

Our route, the shortest between Nova Scotia and PEI was a 75 minute crossing.

We were parked below the deck.

We found some seats that Kate and Ken stayed in almost the entire time. Alice, Fiona and I explored the ferry. 

There was a singer, he was good.

 It was a beautiful crossing. So very smooth. Any worries from our last ferry crossing - the MS Chi-Cheemaun in October of 2019 were not applicable. The whole experience was very pleasant.