Well, we are back! I can’t believe how quickly the trip went. We had the most awesome time hiking, vegging, driving, reading, whale watching, taking photos, hunting for sasquatch, etc. Here is a highlight recap:
Sunday- Wake up at 5:30AM. We land in Halifax and meet up with Adam for the drive to Cape Breton. Along the way we stop at just about the only Walmart in Nova Scotia and pick up some things for the trip. We learned a few things. Like Nova Scotian’s really, really like ketchup potato chips. And don’t buy trivia games in Canada because all the trivia will be Canadian based. Like talking about Celsius degrees and who is on the Canadian 5 dollar bill.
Monday- We wake up and I go and pick some wild bluberries to put in my morning oatmeal. Anyway, it was raining pretty heavy throughout the day. We later learned that it was the remnants of a hurricane passing by. So we bunkered down in the cabin and played cards, board games, read, watched a movie or two, went grocery shopping, made burgers from scratch for dinner, and went to the beach to watch the sunset. It was at the beach that Kyle decided to document his hunt for sasquatch (a.k.a Sassy) for the rest of the trip. While at the beach, we watch hundreds of terns and seagulls dive for food, and squwak so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think. That night the power goes out for about a half hour and it was pitch black. Miraculously, with the light of Adam’s Blackberry, we find a couple candles.
Tuesday- We head out for some hiking a little later on. The Skyline trail is basically a hike that takes you out along the ridge of one of the mountaintops in the Highlands and dumps you out looking over the most insane ocean view. Along the trail, I learn that Purell is highly flammable, and we have a very close encounter with a moose that crossed our path. We grab lunch at a little place tucked into the mountains. The mussels were awesome! We get in the car and drive a little more, enjoying the scenery. We stop off for Drumsticks and fireworks at a hole-in-the-wall, hick, backwater convenience store. The owner asks us “Where’s the party at?” That night we light off some fireworks, and Adam almost melts his video camera.
Wednesday- Wake up and head out whale watching! We saw some pilot whales. As well as a bald eagle. Nature is awesome. It’s one thing to see whales behind glass, stuck in tanks, at the aquarium. It’s another thing to see them free from captivity, migrating like they are meant to, living in a pod, hunting for food. On the way back on the boat, the waves rock me to sleep. Sorry, but no pictures. I didn’t want to bring my camera on the tiny boat. We get back to the camp and I lay out on the grass to read my book, pick some more wild blueberries, and enjoy the fact that the sun has started to peek through the clouds.
Thursday- We are all so lazy today. We go get breakfast at the Hungry Skipper. The waiter/owner asks us where we’re from. We all marvel at Adam’s sunburned knees from the whale watching trip the day before. We head back to the cabin and Kyle and Adam toss around the football for awhile. More reading, card games, and wandering about. We grill some chicken and eat an early dinner. We head out and find some secluded beach to watch the sunset. Kyle and Adam bring the football. It goes over the cliffs and into the ocean below. Kyle decides to rescue the football, wearing his flip flops. He documents his climb back up the cliff while holding his video camera in one hand and the football in the other. Dumb and dangerous. But he lives, and I am thankful.
Friday- Our last full day! Wake up. Head out in the car not really knowing where we are going. So, we stopped to hike around Warren Lake. At the mouth of the trail, there was a sign saying “you are in black bear country” and proceeded to list all the things you should do to avoid a bear encounter and what you should do if you do run into a bear. Needless to say, I spent half the hike freaking out at every little branch snap or bird taking flight. Adam and Kyle found my behavior hysterical no less. At the end of the hike, we waded in the river to cool off and headed back home, driving full circle through the Cabot Trail.
I can’t recommend a Nova Scotia vacation enough!! If you are looking for a place packed with wilderness, seclusion, peace, and quiet, this is the place! Every which way you look, there is the picturesque, the awesome, the serene, and the inspiring.
