Summer 2010 Adventure #1

Man, oh man this summer is just flying by!  To start summer, we had a group of visitors.  They left, and the next day we had more visitors.  They left, then the SAME day we had more visitors arrive.  Only 4 days before we left for our 1st summer adventure, this group of visitors left.

Not that we haven't loved EVERY minute of having guests - but it's been tiresome!

Now that our FANTASTIC vacation is over, we have a few days to relax!

First, let me share some photos with you from our vacation. 

On our drive to our first destination, I took photos of several of the road markers!  The final one was 'Welcome To Cape Breton'!

As soon as we arrived in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia we stopped for a picnic lunch (with a view)!

We arrived in Louisbourg, NS.  Relaxed for  bit at the cottage we rented, then ate supper.

After supper we went for a walk down on the waterfront.

I just love taking photos of fishing boats. 

They are FULL of character & colour.

The next morning, we went to visit the Fortress of Louisbourg.

The Fort, was the boys favourite part of the trip.

For lunch, we ate at a restaurant that was just like it would have been in the 1700's.

They gave us a huge napkin (that we had to wear as a bib, just as the soldiers would have worn),

only one spoon for the entire meal and everything was served on a metal/pewter type of dish!

Right before we left the Fort, we got to see an actual cannon being fired.

It was LOUD, but very cool!

We left Louisbourg and drove to Baddeck, NS, where we had a cabin rented.

So, we got the cabin so we could have the 'feel' of camping (which we all LOVE),

without the hassle of pitching the tent!!!

This campground, Baddeck Cabot Trail Campground was one of the cleanest,

nicest, campgrounds we've been at.

We had lots of fun in their pool too!

The next morning, we got up to venture out for a full day of driving the Cabot Trail.

What an amazing drive... I couldn't pick out 'just a few' of my favourite photos,

because the views were breathtaking.

A few of the lookouts we stopped at, I actually got teary eyed at the

spectacular beauty of what I was seeing. 

Unfortunately, photos just don't do the views justice.

Along the way, on the side of the highway there was this weird and freaking

spot with over 100 scarecrows on some one's lawn.

We just had to stop and look.

Do you see any resemblance? LOL

We also met a really cool guy with an even cooler car.

This car was a 'transformer car.  It was all decked out with a 32" TV in the back

for playing video games, he had an electric guitar with an amp, etc.

As we chatted, we found out that he was a professional clown (for 19 years now).

He told us that a few years back, he won BIG on the lottery.

He used that money as a way to help kids with cancer and continues

to be a professional clown to make the lives of kids, happy.  

He also does alot of work with Home & School organizations.

So, if you're ever on the Cabot Trail and bump into

KLUTZY the CLOWN, tell him we say 'hello'.

That night, we went to our first Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) Gathering.

A Ceilidh is a Gaelic word that means a gathering of people (or what some call a 'kitchen party').

It was very simple, a room full of people from all over the world

(some visiting from Scotland, many from many states in the US and less from Canada).

When we arrived, there was a young woman with a fiddle and a young man on the piano.

The evening, was 2 hrs of fiddle playing accompanied by the piano.

We learned alot of cool facts about this type of music and of the Cape Breton

style of fiddling!

THIS was my favourite part of the trip (next to the views of the Cabot Trail)!

The next day we visited the Cape Breton Miner's Museum in Glace Bay, NS.

We actually got to go on a one hour tour of an actual coal mine.

Our tour guide, was a retired miner, he worked in the mines for 32 years.

We learned lots of interest facts of what it was like to be a miner.

MAN, sure glad we're not a miner's family.

Noah got to experience what a young boy's job was in the mines.

The tour guide kept asking Noah if he wanted to work for him.

He'd get paid $0.65 per WEEK.

At the beginning, Noah thought it would be cool to make money, rather than going to school.

But after the tour, he thought that school would be better!!!

We also visited the Alexander Graham Bell Historical Site, but not many worthy photos.  It was cool!  I didn't realize how much he was involved in.  Very interesting life!  We didn't spend as much time there as I thought we would have, I guess we were all getting anxious to come home!

It was a fantastic vacation.  The weather was absolutely PERFECT, NO complaints.

We are SO blessed to be able to vacation the way we do.  I am so thankful for my life!