The day of the trip back was beautiful, and I spent quite a bit of time outside on the top deck. All went smoothly, and we were settled in Arm of Gold campground by late afternoon.

We spent the next day driving to the Marconi Historical Site (interesting, but not worth driving way out of your way for), where they recount his creating wireless communications.

Discovered that the Atlantic Super Stores are the same chain as Dominions in Newfoundland (our favorites), so now know where to shop.

We had been told not to miss Fort Louisbourg, a re-constructed French fort, once a thriving seaport of 2500, founded by the French in 1713 and abandoned in 1768. One third of the fort community has been re-built, and in the summer it springs to life as dozens of costumed animators become the town’s residents of the summer of 1744 as engineers, musicians, soldiers, merchants, street vendors, bakers, servants and fishermen. There are demonstrations, a working bakery where they only sell “soldier’s bread”, three restaurants, two for the upper class where they have a fixed menu, and one for the poor, and military routines. It is very well done and definitely worth a visit. Be sure, also, as you leave town to drive to the lighthouse, on yet another beautiful cove.

Sunday was a bright sunny day – perfect for a drive around the famous Cabot Trail – a 200 mile road that follows the Highlands Peninsula. We moved to Baddeck, a lovely little town, and shamelessly parked in the parking lot at the visitors center where we spent the night. I wouldn’t try it for days on end, but overnight seemed to be OK. The trail was just one beautiful vista after another. We didn’t take the motorhome, but others did. There is one pretty big hill and some sharp turns, but the road was fine. The only reason I would take it next time would be to camp in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park and spend more time hiking and visiting all the pretty little towns. It deserves more than one day. One very entertaining spot was Joe’s Scarecrows. Years ago, Joe started building scarecrows to protect his garden. Because of the soil and climate, the garden never made it, but the scarecrow population flourished. In 1985, vandals destroyed all but one. A local paper ran a story about the unfortunate incident from the perspective of the lone scarecrow and donations poured in from all over the world, urging Joe to re-build. There are now probably 100 scarecrows in all sorts of dress, including politicians and world leaders. The thing I noticed was that every visitor there was smiling and laughing – you just couldn’t help it. Joe’s kids have set up a trailer where they serve casual food and ice cream. Nice stop.

Alexander Graham Bell had a huge home in Baddeck, and did much of his work there after the telephone. It is worth a couple of hours in the National Historic Site museum. He was involved in much more than the telephone – his wife was deaf and he made great strides in teaching the deaf to speak and the development of hearing aids. He also helped developed the hydrofoil boats, which did not catch on until after his death. Interesting guy…..

There was a $30 million yacht in the harbor, and the rumor was that Tom Selleck may be the owner, since he was making a movie in Halifax. It had a helicopter pad – not a bad way to commute.

We headed west toward Pictou, a lovely little town of Scottish origin, where we had great fish and chips at Murphy’s. On a drive of the area, I also found the first decent produce market of the trip!! At last, we had great fresh sweet corn and tiny fresh little green beans. Still no great tomatoes, but we will take what we can get.

Our friends, Oz and Linda, from Detroit called, and had just reached Halifax, our next stop. There are no campgrounds within 20-30 miles of the city, so WalMart became our new home. We met them downtown and walked along the wharf with the prerequisite shops and food stands. After a beer at an Irish Pub, we had dinner at McKelvies Restaurant, known for its seafood, and it didn’t fail. It was fun to see some gourmet type food again in both the restaurants and the shops.
The next day, Oz and Linda went to the public gardens, which they said were nice, and Dick and I went to the Citadel – since we paid $144 in Gros Morne for Canadian National Park passes and Historic Site passes, we feel compelled to hit every one of them!! The fort was once the command post and landward bastion of Halifax's defenses. Halifax was founded in 1754 and there have been four different forts built on Citadel Hill. The current Citadel took 28 years to build and was finished in 1856. It was built as a defense against a possible attack on the city in the event of war with the United States. In 1906, the British garrison was withdrawn due to the growing tensions in Europe that led to Word War I. The Citadel served as a sentinel during two World Wars. The harbor and its defenses were so great that there was never an attack on the city or the Citadel. Unfortunately, all but a very few of the Highlanders were in Colorado this week, so there was not much in the way of pageantry. I understand that the international Tattoo earlier in the summer is spectacular.

We had a great lunch at Sweet Basil and drove to the renowned Peggy’s Cove. It is really just a tiny cove with typical fishing buildings and boats – very scenic. The lighthouse sits on a huge bed of smooth rocks. It is overrun with tourists – we counted 6 tour buses in this tiny village. We took our pictures, Dick found a great ice cream stand, and we drank coffee on a very cute deck, so it certainly qualified as a successful stop.

Our next stop was a bit more sobering – one of the two monuments to the 229 victims of Swissair 111, which went down just off the coast in 1998.

Lunenburg was next on our list, and we spent 3 nights at the Visitors Center Board of Trade campground. What a beautiful historic town! Nearly every house in the main part of town was original. If you have an interest in architecture, you will enjoy Lunenburg. We rode our bikes to Mahone Bay, a beautiful little village on the water, with a great little restaurant – the Cheesecake Gallery – for lunch, and a lovely produce/gourmet market with amazing deserts. We also found the fish market, which was a lady in a sandwich wagon, who also sold whatever fish she got fresh that day. I bought 1 ½ pounds of haddock, and three of us ate on that for two days – biggest 1 ½ pounds I have every seen!! I could definitely stay in this area a lot longer, but the clock is ticking towards fall in New England.

We moved on south to the Thomas Raddell Provincial Park for one night – took a nice hike along the beach and another to see seals. Oz and Linda like to alternate between tent camping and beautiful lodges, so the next morning they packed up and drove a couple of hours to the Trout River Lodge to celebrate their anniversary. It is very remote and very ecologically-minded, but also very luxurious. They loved it. Dick and I had a wonderful lunch at Charlotte’s Lane in Shelbourne – one of the top 5 places to eat in the Maritimes – to celebrate our anniversary (I highly recommend it), and then drove across the peninsula to our next stop, Bridgetown. The winters south of Shelbourne are very mild, and we are told that they have about the same winter climate as Georgia! Those maritime currents are truly amazing.

We have done Nova Scotia way too fast, since we spent all our time in Newfoundland, and all were getting a bit frazzled by hurrying so much (this vacationing is hard work!!). I could easily spend a summer in Nova Scotia alone.

We visited the Port Royal National Historic Site – a reconstructed French fort inhabited from 1605-1607. It was a colony of French men built by a gentleman who had received a fur monopoly. Although the conditions could be severe, they created a comfortable environment and established very good relationships with the local Mi’kmaq Indian tribe. All went well until the Englishmen from Jamestown, VA, who were having trouble feeding their people and were out looking for resources, came upon this colony. All the French and Mi’kmaqs were out tending fields and hunting, so the English stole literally everything that could be carried out and burned the rest. Winter was coming and all the ships had already returned to France, so the French moved in with the Mi’kmaqs until spring, when most went back to France.

Annapolis-Royal is the home of beautiful historic gardens, which we visited the before moving up the coast to Wolfville, a bustling university town. We missed a lot by staying on the big road with Winnie – Oz and Linda did more poking around on the scenic route. We did take a drive to Lookout – amazing view. There is also a wonderful rustic hike called Cape Split, which we did not have time to do. The next morning, Dick and I visited Grand Pre National Historic Site (we are feeling better about our card purchase). It is a moving place, in that it dramatically documents the deportation of the Acadians in the 18th century by the English. It was done swiftly and brutally. Many were put on ships to the states, and are the ancestors of the Louisiana Cajuns of today. The grounds are beautiful and the re-constructed church houses paintings and a wonderful stained glass window. Many of the Acadians did return to this area later on and their influence is still widely felt. This historic village also inspired Longfellow’s narrative poem, Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie.

The day started very gray, but as has happened more days than we can count, the skies cleared up after lunch, turning the ocean back to brilliant blue. Our tour was of the French Ancestors Route. The French had settled this cove in 1881, and were living quite well off the sea and the land, which was more fertile here. But the French government wasn’t doing as well, and decided that there was more money in coffee beans from Africa than cod from Newfoundland, and sold the fishing rights to England. The French evolved into a community, not Acadian and not European, but Newfoundland French. The communities do more yard art here than in others we have seen, and the one café we found had more of a European flavor in its décor, although the menu was strictly Newfie. There are high cliffs and more crashing waves than anywhere else we have seen so far. Parts of the peninsula are quite barren – the winds are strong. Once again, we found a lovely little park and trail at Sheaves Cove. The only mishap, other than Dick falling over a rock, was that I shut my camera in the car door, breaking the screen. The camera still takes pictures, but since it has no viewer, I can’t see what I am taking……so be patient as you view the pictures for the rest of the trip.

Our next stop was Codroy Valley, the most agricultural area in the province – we even saw a field of corn – field corn, unfortunately. We stayed at a lovely private park – Doyles Grand Codroy RV Park. As usual, we spent the afternoon driving up the peninsula to get a feel for the area. We found a cute little café just before the Cape Anguille Lighthouse. We had what has become our ritual of coffee and a treat every afternoon. Dick gets the treat, I get a bite. They had a nice sheltered deck with a beautiful view – would like to have dinner there next trip. We had been told about a nice picnic area on the water outside the town of Searston on Highway 407, but it was a bit windy to enjoy that.

Time was getting short, so we moved on to J.T. Cheeseman Provincial Park, just outside of Port Aux Basque. We found a sandy beach and a interesting little road that followed the coast. After a good half hour of slow and bumpy going, we got to the end, just to find a barrier blocking the entrance to the highway. Luckily, Dick moved enough for me to get around it, and only then did we see a sign saying “No street vehicles allowed”…Oh well…

We had been warned in Newfoundland that we could not take root vegetables or Newfoundland dirt into Nova Scotia, due to some potato pest. I called the port to ask about my three herb pots that I have been carrying for 6 years. They said to bring them down to the dock a day early and perhaps they would be approved. When we got there, they put them on the ground and walked around and around, just looking at them. They could clearly see that these were not new plants, but said I would need to prove it. I asked where they thought I would buy fresh herbs in Newfoundland. They just laughed, but neither would they approve them. I asked if I could wash the roots really well and take them over in plastic. The guy thought I was nuts, as did my husband, but said that if I could show them clean roots the next day, they would probably let me through.

We drove another 40 miles along the south coast to see the Rose Blanche Lighthouse – a historic old lighthouse that was built in 1871, abandoned in the 1940s, and reconstructed fully in 1999, furnished with 19th century reproduced furniture and local antiques. It is unique for its granite construction, the only one restored in Atlantic Canada. Well worth the drive.

We were talking to a woman who worked in the café next door. Her family was hit hard by the cod moratorium, and both of her sons now live and work in Alberta. She and her husband almost had to leave, but at the last minute he was offered a position – they were already packed. I thought she summed it up well, when she quoted her husband as saying, “There is nothing here, but so much to leave behind.”

By the time we got back, we were tired and hungry (this full time vacation life we lead is not as easy as you people think!)…..and the bleedin’ herbs still had to be dealt with. We were dry camping, so had no water near our site. My dear husband, in a pure act of love and with minimal grousing, helped me carry the two window boxes and round pot to the river, where we squatted by the river trying to wash the herbs and the pots clean. My only complaint about the southeastern area was the profusion of little gnats that were driving us crazy. Finally, I took my soggy little mess of herbs in a dishpan to the front of the campground, where I covered them in clean water, carried them back to the picnic table, and left them there to soak overnight. The next morning, I wrapped them in wet paper towels and put them in a plastic bag. When we got to the ferry, the agent was waiting for me. I am not sure she was convinced they were dirt free, but just didn’t have the heart to take them away from me. When I re-potted them in Nova Scotia, only 3 of the seven were there – I guess the little guys got washed out with the water – and those three are not doing so well……another traveling related casualty…

We reluctantly left our home of almost two months, already with a list of what we missed and must see next time. It was a remarkable journey and one I would recommend highly, although next time, I think we will come in at Port Aux Basque, get to the northern peninsula in June to see the wild orchids bloom and the icebergs, and then work our way east, with the icebergs and the whales, leaving out of St. John’s 2-3 months later. This is a place that needs to be experienced, not just seen, and you can’t do that if you move every day or two.