On August 24^th, after the aftermath of Hurricane Bill we drove the Cabot Trail around Cape Breton Highlands National Park to Ingonish to the Broad Cove Campground. This was our second national park campground and this one was nearly deserted since it was the end of the season and Hurricane bill caused people to adjust their plans.

The stop allowed Zachary and Carson time to play on the playground, the nature trail and then we took a family walk on the beach. The shore was covered with algae, ocean plants and debris that had washed up after the hurricane. The boys found lobster traps, shoes and dead fish mixed with the enormous amount of seaweed. The ocean was still rough and the waves crashed on the rocks further down the beach. After our walk on the beach we got ready for bed and set the alarm for an early wake up so we could move toward Bras d’ Or Lake, NS.

You can view more pictures of this stop in our Cape Breton National Park – Cheticamp stop.

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On August 20^th we arrived in Cheticamp, Nova Scotia at the Cape Breton Highlands National Park for three nights. This is our first experience in a national park so we did not know what to expect.  National parks are not cheap stays. It was actually at the top of the chart for camping fees that we have paid and of course there is no internet.

On Thursday we arrived and ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­setup the motor home then went into town for gas and groceries. Gas in Nova Scotia is $1.09 per liter and to top off the Saturn it cost $41.00 (we needed less than a ½ a tank). We shopped at a CoOp grocery store which we thought would have been reasonably priced but we have decided groceries in Canada are more than in the US. Everything is in metric so going to the grocery store is a math lesson in itself.  As we mentioned in a previous post the cost of chicken and milk are pretty high. Another expensive item is cereal. A box of kid’s cereal cost $5.99-$8.99 per box and all the boxes are less than 32 oz. We have been lucky to find boxes on sale so we have paid $3.99-$4.99 for 460-675 grams of Raisin Bran and Honey Nut Cheerios. This trip to the store we bought milk, bread, soup and a pack of hamburger.  After having pancakes for dinner we headed back to go moose “hunting”, with our camera and video camera, on a stretch of road about 5-6 miles from the campground. We were lucky within the first 10 minutes and saw three moose grazing along the side of the road. We counted about 8 moose during our trip.

On Friday we planned on starting early on the Skyline trail which was 5.8 miles round trip but Polly woke up with a headache and we did not get started on the trail until around 11:00 am. This would be the longest trail that we had hiked and did not know what to expect with the kids. The hike started out very exciting when we walked up on a moose standing in the middle of the trail having lunch. We could only see the hind quarter of this moose but we knew not to approach her for fear of getting kicked. After a few pictures and a couple of coughs she decided to move off the trial into the edge of the woods but before we could pass a male calf walked across the trail. These moose were not afraid of us and we could have touched them with no effort if any of the six to eight adults had been brave enough. Carson wanted to try to touch one of them but we had to keep him behind us to keep him away. The hike was fairly flat until the end where you walked down a boardwalk to get a closer look at the ocean. We ate lunch here and started back up the stairs to the forest for the walk out.  On the walk out you had two options of going out either the same way you came in or take the slightly longer loop out, we chose the loop which ended up being the least traveled. The only wildlife that we encountered on the way out looked like a black and white chicken but at the time of this blog post the bird was not identified.  After the hike the boys were rewarded with cookies and ice cream. After an early dinner of sloppy Joes and salad we left around 5:30 pm to try to spot a whale from the inland and then look for moose. The moose search is now a very big experience and the first person to spot one gets 5 cents. Back around 8:30, showers and early to bed, this routine is very easy since we have not had any television stations in over a week. Everyone goes to sleep quickly when there is no TV to watch and only a few radio stations with 2-3 in French.

On Saturday morning we left early (around 8:00 am) for whale watching and then a couple more hiking trails. No whales could be identified without binoculars so after three stops and no confirmed whale spottings, we took two short hike. One to a small waterfall and the second to a Scottish farming cottage.  Bella was able to go with us on Saturday and she enjoyed playing in the river with Zachary and Carson and then running in the grass. Due to all the moose hunting we needed to “top off” the car with gas since Hurricane Bill was heading towards Nova Scotia on Sunday; therefore, so we went into the town of Cheticamp. Our first stop was La Boulangerie Aucoin Bakery which had been in business since 1959 baking breads, pies, croissants, donuts and cookies.  We had lunch at a small restaurant coming into town, Polly had seafood chowder, Brian had fried haddock with fries and Zachary had chicken tenders with fries while Carson “grazed” off everyone’s fries. The goodies from the bakery were much better than our lunch. We are craving vegetables, Mexican or Italian from the US, so it is hard to find any food that is worth the cost.  Once back at the motor home Polly took the kids to the park. Later Brian decided to go biking while the boys got to play Wii. The weather forecast suggested 6 or more inches of rain and hurricane force winds so we decided to stay in Cheticamp (on the western side of Cape Breton Island) until Monday and weather the storm parked instead of our initial plans which were to leave on Sunday, August 23^rd.  We took a family bike ride around the campground and found out that there was a presentation called Frogs, Snakes and Turtles being presented by one of the interpreters of the national park. The presentation was very informative since we found out there were no poisonous snakes in the park and how to determine what type of frog or snake was in the park.

On Sunday morning we decided to take a short hike before being confined to the motor home during Hurricane Bill passing by Nova Scotia.  The trail was called Trous de Saumons river trail and it had three river pools or shallow areas were the kids could wade into the river.  The first pool was our destination on the trail and it proved to be fun for Zachary, Carson and Bella to play in the water, although they had to walk back wet. It was time for lunch when we arrived back so after showers we ate lunch and started preparing for the approaching Hurricane. We were expecting high winds and rain so we decided to pull in all the slides and for six hours we kept everything closed.  This proved challenging since we lost space and both boys had to work on homeschool activities from Friday. Around 7:00 pm after the rain stopped we decided to venture out to see the high waves. The wind outside of our campground was much more severe than inside so we decided we would go back and prepare for our departure on Monday morning. According to the park service the area on the other side of Cape Breton Island had much more rain and wind damage than the area where we were staying, so our plans for Monday may change depending on road closures and power outages at our next destination, Broad Cove on the northeast side of Cape Breton Island. We are very thankful to the Lord and all the prayers of family and friends that kept us safe during Hurricane Bill and all of our journeys the last 3 ½ months (4 months on September 8^th).

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On Monday, August 17th, we arrived at Bras d’ Or Lakes Campground in Baddeck on Cape Breton Island  after driving from Hopewell Cape, NB. This journey took us close to five hours with very few stops, these days are very long and exhausting, especially when we are homeschooling as we drive. This campground offered us internet at the motor home so we could catch up on work.

There was only one small issue – the electrical box would trip every time we got close to 30 amps and it would get hot inside the motorhome very quickly. This posed a problem since the AC would keep turning off and it was close to 80 degrees, some of the hottest weather we have seen in Canada. Once it was determined that the circuit breaker was faulty and it was changed the rest of our stay was cool.

We were able to swim in the Bras d’ Or Lake where the water was clear and the bottom was covered with large algae covered rocks. Bella enjoyed being able to swim with us along with playing in the sand along the shore. We also had our weekly laundry experience where we met a very interesting man who got us thinking about the fact that we do not have a surge protector for the motor home to protect our appliances from slowly overheating due to the usage of amps slowing creeping above or below the metered amount. He suggested a couple of items that we needed to protect our motor home when camping in parks that may have old power boxes.

While we were in Baddeck we took a tour of the Alexander Graham Bell museum and discovered that he could be credited for other inventions other than the telephone. He is credited for the hydrofoil craft which in turn the development of the HD-4 which set a world speed record in 1919. Alexander Graham Bell was an inventor of many items long before they were thought about in modern times. The boys were fortunate to help one of the interpreters perform science experiences which they launched small rockets made with film canisters.

After leaving the museum we stopped at a local pizza shop called Tom’s Pizza for a large cheese pizza to go since this place had been recommended by a gentleman that was work camping at our campground. The pizza shop was small with a husband, wife and one other lady whose job was to take the pizzas from the oven and box them. Most of the customers were purchasing the $4.00 pizza slice special. The pizza we purchased had eight slices of pieces and cost $18.75 for a large cheese pizza.

Our stay in Baddeck, NS was nice and relaxing with time to catch up on laundry, cleaning and homeschool. Our next stop will be Cape Breton National Park for some hiking and sightseeing.

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