On Sunday we headed to Cape Breton, driving along the southwest coast to see what we could see. Here's Andi on a bench at beautiful empty Judique Beach. A little further along we happened upon a fiddler at a restaurant/Celtic music interpretive center, where we stopped for a snack and to watch ceilidh dancing and listen to the music. We turned back afterwards and took a scenic route home, stopping at Cape George to stand on cliffs and look over the bay. The little building below is the barn of the house next door to us.
On the left is L, looking a bit like Elvis Presley, whom he does not look like! On the right is a flowerpot island in the Minas Basin on the Bay of Fundy, at Burncoat Head, where the world's highest and lowest tides occur. We happened to arrive just before the lowest point of low tide, when we were able to walk out on the red clay bottom of the basin. After thoroughly exploring Burncoat Head we ate at a local restaurant where the menu suggested that we poutine our fries for $3CD, which some us did. Poutine, we were told, is thoroughly Nova Scotian, a gravy-like dish involving mushrooms and peas and cheese.
On Tuesday we drove down to out second airbnb near Annapolis Royal, oldest colonial settlement in N America after St Augustine, FL. Here we are staying in a 150 year old farmhouse on a blueberry farm. On the left are two old outbuildings with our host below doing her recycling. On the right Andi and L hang out their laundry.
Wednesday we were lucky enough to be on the waterfront for a festival in Annapolis called Tall Ships. Several antique ships sailed into the harbor coming from nearby Digby to the accompaniment of WWII planes flying overhead, men in kilts shooting off what might have been muskets, and a local band playing the Canadian national anthem. The ships then slowly turned around and sailed back out of the harbor on the tide. We also did a walking tour of old buildings near the waterfront, including an antique shop that has these lovely glass bobbins for embroidery.
Thursday P and T and I explored Bear River, our tiny town, while the others went on a zipline. There was a coop art gallery as well as a room in the back of the community center that had a historical artifact collection . Lunch at Myrtle & Rosie's was excellent and the wifi was strong!
Late night game playing on the right--
Random scribbles as we headed out to Digby Neck on Friday.
We took two ferries to get to the end of Digby Neck, and on the left are some ferry people.
At the tip of Digby Neck is Briar Island, remote, uncrowded, rocky with thistles, tomato-like rose hips, amaranth, and so many other plants. We sat high over the bay and saw whales blowing and breeching! There were maybe six other people out there. Seals crowded onto one close-in island. Gulls and other birds screamed.
These days are so packed full of discoveries! On the way home from Digby Neck we passed a sign for Balancing Rock, so naturally we pulled in to the trailhead parking lot, which was empty. We hiked along a well-documented, mile-long wildflower trail and eventually came to 276 steps ( T and I counted them) that took us down the cliff to a landing platform near the balancing rock!
Here is our group selfie, but the balancing rock is barely visible on the left. Then we climbed back up the 276 steps, hiked the mile, and headed home. Tomorrow we leave, and we do not want to!
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