Ellen had long expressed an interest in visiting Prince Edwards Island, the site of the Anne of Green Gables stories, and nearly Nova Scotia. I had always heard it was a very beautiful place to visit, the high’s were going to be in the 70’s, not the 90’s, and going would be consistent with my saying yes to as much as possible so Ellen would let me continue to go to Disneyworld once every two years.
Many of our friends were surprised to find out that there are direct flights from Washington to Halifax, or at least there is one, a United flight. So off we went Saturday, July 31st, early in the morning.
Last year we went to China to see a total Solar Ellipse. The relevance of this is because of that one flight I was able to qualify as a Premier flyer on United for the first time in years. United’s new policy is that whenever there are first class seats available then they fill them with their frequent flyers who are already on board. So Ellen and I were upgraded to first class. On the other hand, on a regional jet, which this was, the main advantage of first class was that you got served coffee or juice before you took off.
Our first day in Nova Scotia was mostly a driving day. Nova Scotia is pretty long, pointed from Southwest to Northeast. PEI is toward the north end and is itself due north of Nova Scotia. Unless you are going to spend more time than we had, you have to pick whether you will go to the south of Nova Scotia, Bay of Fundy and that kind of thing, and then PEI, or the north of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and then PEI. We picked the Cape Breton alternative.
We went from Halifax which is sort of in the middle of Nova Scotia and headed north and then to the east, ending up at Louisbourg on the Atlantic Ocean. Louisbourg is the home of the former Fort Louisbourg which we were told was a pretty interesting place to see, more on that later on.
On the way we stopped in Antigonish, a small town about two hours from Halifax. There we ate at the Tall and Small Cafe. The Tall and Small is the kind of place you would expect to find near a University. Really young, informally dressed wait staff; being pretty disorganized. Lots of strange sandwiches, not often you can get a peanut butter and banana sandwich in a restaurant; things with sprouts.
And happily for Ellen the book store she wanted to visit in Antigonish was next door. Ellen makes independent book stores wherever we visit happy.
The drive was otherwise pretty uneventful. Beautiful scenery, especially when we drove by the large internal lake in Nova Scotia, Bras D’or. We saw two hitchhikers, something I haven’t seen in many years in the States – in Canada, one refers to the US as ‘the States’.
In Louisbourg, we are staying at the Louisbourg Harbour Inn, one of the bed & breakfasts we will visit while on the trip. A beautiful old sea captain’s house. We overlook the harbour (well duh) in what was the old master bedroom – I try and get nice rooms, remember that Disneyworld goal.
Dinner was fish at the Lobster Kettle restaurant, a short walk away and also on the harbour. Sadly the less said about that the better. Overcooked Halibut, a steamed, sliced baked potato which annoyed Ellen, and slow service – like the old borsht belt joke, the food was terrible and the portions were small. We did finish up by walking around the very small downtown and buying an ice cream cup which helped a little. Ice Cream was advertised everywhere we drove, so the advertising worked.
The one big decision that Ellen agreed to dealt with Cape Breton. When you visit the north part of Nova Scotia you end up driving the Cabot Trail which is described almost everywhere as one of the ten most beautiful drives in the world. Now, for those of you who are height unhappy, I should point out that ‘beautiful drive’ almost always is a synonym for driving in mountains and looking out over beautiful vistas.
You can drive the Cabot Trail clockwise in which case you are on the inside lane on the generally two-lane road hugging the moutains, admittedly small mountains. Or you can drive the Cabot Trail counterclockwise in which case you are on the outside lane which often does not have things like a shoulder next to the beautiful mountain side. Not having realized all this, I had set us up to drive counterclockwise.
When I read all of the literature that talked about making sure you had strong brakes and how most people prefer the clockwise drive, I suggested to Ellen that we reverse the plan even though that would add perhaps an hour to the overall trip. She kindly agreed.
Two other quick things.
First, while we do not travel that much internationally, the last few years we have done a bit. Each time we come through customs on the other side is inevitably a country one needs to get used to with customs that are different – one of the reasons one does this kind of travel.
Today it felt strange for almost the opposite reason. We went through customs and almost nothing was dramatically different other than the currency and the metric thing. The relationship with Canada is so natural we really do take this extraordinary tie too much for granted.
Second, the owner of the Louisbourg B&B it turned out plays senior hockey where Sidney Crosby played hockey as a kid but is a big Washington Capitals fan. He was very disappointed, as of course was I, when the Caps were eliminated in the first round. We both are looking forward to this year’s season.