Lazy morning... the kiddos played outside collecting rocks and "specimens" for the continued lab work. I then took Amelia with me to the shower block for a much needed shower. We were super impressed with the nice clean and new showers... the interior of the washroom building was fresh wood, and the showers were bright and new and nicely tiled. The water pressure was awesome and nice and hot. 5-Stars. (in later days Meems and I would compare all camp showers to this golden standard).
While we were gone, Jonathan cooked pancakes outside on the camp chef (LOVING this new stove we bought for the trip, and love that it hooks up to our RV propane on the side of the rig... no little canisters for bulky 20lb tanks). Oliver washed and cut up the farm fresh Nova Scotia strawberries and we enjoyed an absolute feast topped off with the genuine Ontario Maple Syrup - a gift from Bette Kowalczyck.
After breakfast, I tried to do a bit of catch up blogging on the wifi and we also had a tour of the neighbour's bus/RV. She had some cool drone footage of one of their desert trips to share too. She was super sweet with the kids.
Kiddo's played on the swingset in the middle of the campground field while we tidied up ready for packing. Jonathan also thought to spend some time trying to fix the bent hood holder-upper (technical term, lol) that got damaged at the Great Canadian Oil Change in MB. With teamwork, we managed to get it somewhat straightened out and put back together.
12:45pm we left our beautiful site and drove up the campground to the office where Jonathan dumped the sani and had a bit of a poo-tastrophe. The kids and I were in the office chatting with Audrey and Jack and getting ice cream cones. We met Louis the excitable yorkie, too. They recommended stopping in at Pleasant Bay and deciding from there if we wanted to cut across to shorten the Cabot Trail experience since we didn't think we had it in us to do the full loop around the top and down the east coast. Jack warned us about the 17% grade hills on the drive. Yikes!
I wanted to stop at Flora's gift shop to see if they had any little "RV" hook rugs in the shop. They had a lady working away on a little hooked rug by the entrance and had lovely samplings, but no campers or RV images. We decided we'd drive up the Pleasant Bay through Chéticamp along the coast on the NS30 and into Cape Breton Highland National Park. Once on the actual drive, we pulled over at a viewpoint stop to clean our windshield so we could admire the stunning views without bug guts blocking our vision. At the first stop, we met Deborah from Phippsburg, Maine. She gave us some great intel about Maine and where to visit. She recommended Popham Beach State Park, and the Botanical Gardens. Notes were taken!
We got to the Cabot Trail Highlands National Park entrance and went into the Visitor Centre to pay for our park pass and get the kids their Xplorer Booklets. I forgot to grab a map, so went back in and got one and saw the gift shop/bookstore next to the office. I had a feeling I might find a bug book and I did! I've been wanting a simple and well illustrated Bugs of North America book for the kids... found a perfect one.
We drove the coastal drive, enjoying the vistas, and admiring the tiny hikers we could see up on the ridge of the Skyline Trail. We chose to drive all the way to Pleasant Bay (just outside the edge of the Nat'l Park) and stop for a stretch before driving back down the coast and hitting up some hikes/trails on the way down.
3pm we made it to Pleasant Bay - neat beach, huge whale tail photo op, fishing boats, etc. Meems said she would go swimming with me, so we ran back up to the rig and got our suits on. I had invited Ollie to join us, but he was distracted and only figured out the plan when we came back in our swimsuits. He subsequently ran up the short walk to the RV and got his wetsuit on and snorkel mask to join us in the water. Meems and I had been swimming in the neck deep salty water for awhile... cold but not too cold. We had been in awhile by the time Ollie was ready to join us. I had just commented to Amelia about the darker area of water a little deeper and wondered what might be living in the seaweed yonder. Ollie dunked his head under water with his mask on and came up gasping, "FISH!!!!! FISH!!!!!! TONS OF BIG FISH!!!!!" He was so excited. I asked for his mask and stuck my head under. Sure enough, I was face to face with a school of about 40-50 big mackerel!! Super cool. I yelled at Jonathan and he was off in a flash for the fishing rod and mackerel lure. By the time he got back, they were gone, but it didn't stop us from trying to catch some. We stayed until around 4:30pm.
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After our awesome beach visit we were back on the Cabot Trail road headed south again to check out a couple of the smaller trails. The Skyline Trail looked amazing but we didn't have the time to invest, so we pulled over at the BOG Trail(around 5pm). We were the only car in the parking lot at first and had the 15min trail to ourselves. This was our favourite trail... it was a boardwalk through a fen/bog filled with all kinds of cool plants, including pitcher plants. Oliver was excited because he had studied Pitcher Plants when he researched for his Venus FlyTrap he bought a few years ago. We saw moose tracks and the places where they lay down to rest and flatten all the marshy grasses. Didn't see any moose though. Kids saw frogs in the pond bits and under the boardwalk, lots of small dwarf trees and we searched for orchids. They filled out their Xplorer booklets and read the signs. It was a short but very, very cool little walk in a very unique landscape. Loved it. Walked back to the rig and made a cup of tea before heading down the highway to the next hike opportunity.
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At 5:40pm we were at the next trail called Buttereau Trail, and we parked again without anyone else in the parking lot. Apparently in the summer months, these trails are packed. We got our timing right on this one. There were signs about bears in the area, so we packed our bear spray and wore whistles and sang songs as we walked, hoping to not encounter any. We hiked up a fairly steep path to the top of the outcropping and ended up taking a "lookout trail" that took us to a very beautiful scenic view atop a death cliff. This was clearly not the Buttereau Trail, but one that was worn through by people checking out the view. (in the third photo below, you can see the cliffs were hiked up). We turned around and walked back down to the main trail and followed the historical signs showing the old remains of family homesteads tucked into the trees. We also saw a cool yellow-throat songbird, and on the way back along the loop we came across a family of grouse.
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After completing the 1.6km loop at Buttereau, we got back in the RV and drove to the Visitors Centre at the entrance to the park and the kids got their Cabot Trail Highlands National Park dogtag for completing their Xplorer Books.
It was almost 7pm by now and we had to find somewhere to camp for the night. We decided that back at Waves End RV Park in Chéticamp would be just perfect. Friendly, familiar, close and comfortable. When we rolled up, Jack and Audrey were on the porch and recognized our rig. We waved and smiled and asked if they'd have us again. For $35 we had our Site 10 by the water again. The kids told their stories about the mackerel we saw up close and Jack had lots of good info about them and how they are schooling near the surface now and wouldn't bite as they are at the end of their life cycle. Kids also showed off their new dogtags they earned. We bought a bag of firewood, and Jack brought it and the kids down to our site in his Side-by-side quad. They loved it! He said they could have another ride in the morning if they wanted.
Quick dinner of ravioli and a tuna/tomato pasta sauce, and the kids played their imagination games on the swing set again for ages. We were all pretty tired. Jonathan and Ollie and I walked up to the shower block while Amelia stayed in the rig with a walkie-talkie. It was dark and getting very windy. When we got back, Jonathan had chatted with his mum and we found out the sad news that Queen Elizabeth II had passed away at the grand age of 96. Amelia brought her favourite photo of the Queen in her little photo album - she loves the queen and has been a big fan since preschool when she sent the Queen a birthday drawing she made and received a personal letter back. Sad news to hear. We'll see how she processes it. xo
Read one chapter of AGG this evening. The kids are really enjoying it.
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