Ten Years of Adventure

JULY 4th
After our long days on the Cabot Trail, July 4th turned into a lazy one…a day to rest and contemplate our last 10 years together. Today was our anniversary! Ten years ago found us marrying in Las Vegas and spending our honeymoon rafting down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Guess we knew from the start that our life together would be quite the adventure! Now here we are in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia still enjoying the trails that our life together has taken us on.

Our day ended with browsing gift shops in Baddeck…a lovely waterfront village on Baddeck Bay then a lobster dinner to celebrate our 10th. Mussels, lobster, a bottle of L’Acadia Pinot Grigio, and a beautiful view of St. Anne’s Bay, what could be more romantic!
JULY 5th
Our last few days began to see the weather clear for more sightseeing. At least we thought it was clearing! We had enjoyed the Trail so much we decided to do it all over again. This time we wanted to go east to west and catch part of the trail we missed at the top of Mackenzie Mountain.

When we started the trail, it was sunny and cool. We made a stop at the Gaelic College to browse their well stocked gift shop full of plaids and Celtic regalia. Frank thought about a fitting for a kilt, but what would a Portuguese descendant do with a kilt!! After listening to a piper wailing the bagpipes, we continued on our journey…still a beautiful day!



The winding trail lead us to a café for a bowl of chowder and homemade chocolate chip cookies. A trip to the liquor store was a must for a purchase of Glenlivet, and then a drive up to view the Highlands Golf Club. After our stop here, the weather became foggy and rainy…we had been fooled by Mother Nature again!!
Needless to say our ride to the top of the Trail wasn’t the sunny clear day we had expected. The part of the trail with the awesome scenic views we had anticipated were not viewed!! The fog over the ocean kept us from seeing out over the horizons and how highly elevated we actually were. It was just another typical sun to rain day that we had been having since June.
JULY 6th
We took an afternoon to explore the area of Sydney and Louisbourg on the east side of the island. These areas are not on the Cabot Trail, but Sydney is the largest industrialized city on the island. Louisbourg is noted for the Fortress that is the largest historical reconstruction in North America. Each summer, costumed interpreters paint the picture of life as it happened in 1744.

DRIVING TO SYDNEY

FORTRESS LOUISBOURG

We also took in the views from Lighthouse Point. It was so cold there...the wind cutting like a knife coming in from the sea. The first lighthouse in Canada was built here.

CANADA'S LARGEST FIDDLE LOCATED AT SYDNEY'S MARINE TERMINAL

JULY 7th
Another highly anticipated event we had on our agenda was the Puffin Tour. We wanted to go to Bird Island in the Atlantic to view these little Parrots of the Sea. There are only a few breeding and nesting grounds in the world; here close to Cape Breton was one of them. So up early on our last day to catch the 10:00 tour boat…it was a bright sunny day, but a bit on the coolish side…low 50’s!

When we arrived at the dock to board the Highland Lass, it had dropped to 48 degrees and the wind had kicked up. Our captain drove to the point to have a look out over the ocean. When he returned, he announced there would be no going out today…rough seas…too rough for Puffin watching! Talking about bad luck…we shouldn’t have waited until our last day!! At least we got our picture made!


On July 8 we left Cape Breton. It was a beautiful place despite all the cold and rainy weather we had while there. Maybe someday we will return just to see what we didn’t see!