Saturday, July 7, 2012

Cape Breton Island and the Cabot Trail

100_3315We moved on from the Halifax area to the very far north of Nova Scotia – the island of Cape Breton.  We camped in the town of Baddeck.  Alexander Graham Bell had a summer home there in the years after he invented the telephone.  Although we have only ever visited Scotland in pictures, from our pictures it would seem Nova Scotia really is New Scotland.

 

100_3325The major attraction of Cape Breton is the Cabot Trail, a 185 mile loop around the northern end of the island and through Cape Breton Highlands National Park.  It ranked right up there with the most beautiful of drives we ever have taken.  And look at that precipitous road that makes up a good portion of the trail.  It is unclear if John Cabot ever actually landed on Nova Scotia or only on Newfoundland but he sure has an amazing trail named after him.

100_3337On one of our nature walks in the National Park, the Ranger pointed out two different carnivorous plants to us (think venus fly trap).  The one shown here is called the pitcher plant.  Insects can enter down into the openings and cilia keep them trapped inside where the plant then emits enzymes which digest the insect.

Our seafood tour continued as we found a shop selling fresh caught halibut filets.  When we were in Alaska, we went out on a Halibut fishing boat and had our catch sent back to us in Michigan.  We have craved halibut ever since but it is very expensive in the States.  We were thrilled to get some fine filets for $10.99 a pound.  But they are waiting for a day as we also purchased and ate some scallops from Digby, Nova Scotia, a town famous for its sweet and tender scallops.  And they sure were.

1 comment:

  1. I can't wait to get there myself. I just found out that both my parents' families were from that area. I just started looking at my family's genealogy. Fun stuff!

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