The Cabot Trail

The Cabot Trail

John Cabot discovered Cape Breton Island on the north of Nova Scotia in 16 or 17 something and of course they named the road around the island after him. It is an amazingly beautiful road that rises and falls some 1200 feet from the ocean to the mountain tops. It does this a number of times. I was so glad I had elected not to pull the RV around this route. The crashing surf, high winds, and rapidly moving clouds make a great backdrop for our first full day in NS. What a great place. Looks like they are anticipating a hard winter by the size of the woodpiles we have been seeing. Either that or a lot of tourists buying campfire wood.

Another phenomenon we have noticed besides the wood piles is the lawns in all the Canadian Provinces we have visited. I mean every square foot of property that has a house attached is lawn. Huge lawns, few plants, and always someone on a riding lawnmower looking like they are asleep after being up there so long. I was talking to a guy from Halifax on the ferry and mentioned this to him, saying why with such a short summer why does everyone spend half of it mowing their huge yards? He agreed it was crazy and had noticed the same thing. Could the government being paying them to grow lawns instead of potatos?

We finally saw our first moose after 24 days in Canada. Well, it was actually the back half of a moose would not turn around to show us the better half. She was trying to chew her way to the other side of the national park and didn’t bother looking up. She was about 20 yards from a yellow diamond sign with a picture of a big bull moose. Maybe they tied her up there?

Jet loved the pounding surf. He was intrigued by the sea foam, which was accumulating in long lines on the edge of the surf and rocks. The wind was picking up big clouds of it and blowing them inland. Jet attacked the airborne “cotton candy” fiercely until he tasted out that it was about 99% sea salt and 1% jellyfish poop. Very difficult to spit out once you have attacked with such a vengeance. Many funny dog faces and lip pullings followed.

Had a nice lunch in an Acadian restaurant on the east side of the cape. Great chicken and potato soup, an Acadian favorite. We passed up the restaurant advertising oyster sandwiches. Can you imagine? The Cabot Trail didn’t disappoint. We decided it was our favorite part of Canada so far, as it reminds us of the mountains and ocean in the Pacific Northwest.