Saturday 30 August saw me heading towards Halifax to pick up my parents from the airport. They hadn’t come to visit me in Kansas – I think the traveling had put them off – but had decided to come and see me in Halifax (I suspect direct flights helped). I was both excited to see them and a little nervous at how we’d get in while they visited me at my place for a week. I’d obviously visited them for longer in the past but the longest they’d ever visited me for was a weekend. Regardless it would be good to see them.
On the way to the airport I finally finished hiking the trails at Mount Uniacke at my third attempt – having previously been defeated by snow and running out of time. Unsurprisingly I took photos. After that I headed into Halifax to do a little shopping at the outdoor store, MEC, as I was in the area anyway before heading towards the airport. My parents flight was delayed a little so I had a little bit of time which I spent at Oakfield Provincial Park. It has a really nice beach on a lake, which unfortunately was closed due to bacteria! It appears that despite it’s attractiveness I never took any photos. I next drove to the airport and eventually my parents emerged from customs and immigration. It was great to see them. We decided to head back to Wolfville where we walked into town and got some dinner and then headed to bed with a vague plan of showing them the local area the next day.
Next day I started out showing my parents where I worked, New Minas and Kentville. Not the most exciting places ever but my parents had expressed a desire to see what my life was like out here! That done we drove out to Cape Blomidon park where, after a couple of false starts over rather rougher ground than my parent would have liked, I managed to find the view point I wished to show them. I then showed them the waterfall in the park which was, sadly, a lot less impressive than last time I visited as there was a lot less water flowing over it. Next up we went to the “disappointing” beach, well as least as far as my parents are concerned. I think they were expecting something rather more sandy than the rocky beach that is actually there. Photos are here.
We then drove to Baxter’s Harbour and here my parents were rather more impressed with the waterfall and generally scenery. My mum was particularly taken by it. So taken by it indeed that we went back later in the week. After some time there, during which my parents chatted to an old man who had emigrated to Canada some time ago while I tried (and failed) to take good photos of the waterfall, we headed on to Hall’s Harbour. I think my parents rather liked it there as well although not as much as Baxter’s Harbour. We then headed home and had a barbeque on my $15 Walmart special – my first of the year. Getting enough heat in the coals was difficult but with some grilling we got there and the barbeque was effective enough to add some taste. I took photos at both Baxter’s Harbour and Hall’s Harbour. Not the longest day but we’d planned that as we were heading to Cape Breton the next day.
Next day we were up and about reasonably early so as to have time to take a nice leisurely drive up to Cape Breton. I went the back way from Windsor to Truro to show them some more of rural Nova Scotia although we didn’t stop anywhere on the way. I had a vague plan to explore Cape George on the way to Cape Breton as it was somewhere I’d not been and it sounded worth seeing, the drive being described as a mini-version of Cape Breton’s Cabot Trail. Our first stop on our mini-tour was Big Island where we stopped at the end of the road to have a picnic lunch. It was quite a misty day but still quite scenic. There were also some totem poles in someones front garden / yard, which was a little odd. Photos of the totem poles as well as some others from the island are here.
Next we stopped at Arisaig Park which was totally worth the stop and the small amount of walking we did for the really attractive small waterfall and the cool fungi on the trail – both of these would become recurring themes on our visit to Cape Breton. Photos of both are here. Continuing the drive we call briefly at Arisaig Harbour before continuing to Cape George Lighthouse. This was meant to be on a scenic headland but it didn’t seem that scenic – perhaps because of the mist. After that the road did start to more resemble the Cabot Trail as up to that point it hadn’t really been anything like it. Photos from the rest of the drive are here. After stopping for something to eat in Antogonish we continue the drive to our hotel, arriving a little after dark. The hotel had had somewhat mixed reviews on the internet but thankfully was absolutely fine.
Tuesday saw us exploring the Western and Northern bits of the Cabot Trail. After stopping for Breakfast at the Tim Hortons in Cheticamp – my parents had already become quite the fan – we hiked the Skyline trail. Given the very good state of this trail I though my parents would be quite happy doing it and thankfully I wasn’t wrong even if they didn’t go down all the steps at the end of it. Unfortunately for them we saw no moose, unlike on my previous visit, but I think they still enjoyed the hike. Photos are here. Not long after the hike we stopped for another picnic lunch at a deserted, and reasonably scenic pull out, before continuing round the trail.
After a slow drive, taking in the scenery, I asked my parents whether they wanted to do the MacIntosh Brook hike to the waterfall at the end. They consented and, despite the uneven ground, I think they’ll glad they did as they enjoyed both the waterfall and the fungi we saw from the trail. Seeing the people hiking the trail on the other side of the river I think they were rather glad I had been before and knew not to take them on that side! Still they did tell me they were done with hiking for the day! Photos are here. Next we stopped at a crofter’s hut which had been a gift from someone of Scottish descent but otherwise was nothing of note – I’d seen it on my previous trip and wondered what it was and now I knew. After driving across the northern bit of the Cabort Trail I showed my parents Meat Cove, showing them Bay St. Lawrence on the way. The links are to photos while photos taken while we were driving around are here. We then headed back to Cheticamp for dinner and then back to our hotel for the night.
Well that’s already quite a long post and as that’s half way through my parents visit this seems a reasonably place to end this post. More in Part 2!