Days 68-71 Traveling the Cabot Trail

Thursday August 30th - Sunday Sept 2nd

We woke up and left the motorhome at Cabot Trail RV campground in Baddeck (where we had arrived last night) and headed up the Cabot Trail to Highland Links Golf Club in Ingonish, NS; we planned to spend the night at what looked like on the internet a lovely cottage at Seascape Coastal Retreat 15 minutes from the golf course.

The Cable Ferry 

The GPS directed us to a shorter route around the Cabot Trail and to Norm's golf course that included this short little " cable ferry " trip.  It was really interesting.  It was a small ferry that was attached from one side of the peninsula to the other by a cable due to the incredibly strong currents.  As it approached the land, the current would whip it almost sideways, then the cable would straighten it out.  The cost was a mere $5.00 and it ran every few minutes back and forth.  Such a hoot! 

 

I am sure Norm will write about his game in a separate post.

View I found while waiting for Norm

After I dropped Norm off to play golf, (I didn’t play because I don’t enjoy golf enough anymore to justify the high green fees for this course) I went up to the very exclusive and well known Keltic Lodge to hang out in the “sitting room”,  visit with people and work on the computer. It had started to pour so I stayed close by in case he called me to come pick him up.

After a couple of hours I decided to check out some local craft shops, still looking for a souvenir.  They were all miles apart and had the same exact inventory, so after browsing a few shops I gave up and went to check in at our cottage.  

I found Seascape Coastal Retreat on Trip Advisor, and it was ranked #1 B&B in Ingonish about a month ago.  It sounded fantastic, but last week, when we finally knew our dates, it was booked.  I was so disappointed.  We booked the only other place in town with availability for the long weekend, and it did not sound very appealing.  Now this is only 1 night of 3 we were planning to “hotel it“, so I really wanted it to be a great place.  I called Seascape again and asked if there were any cancellations (I am so persistent) and there were!  In the deluxe ocean side cottages!  Expensive, but look how much I saved on golf fees!

Life's simple pleasures! Ahhhhhh......

It was beautiful.  It had a huge bathtub with Jacuzzi (hey, look no more- I was in heaven), a separate bedroom and a cute kitchenette with a little living area. It had nice luxuries such as TV with cable (we hadn’t watched any news in months) and a giant picture window and porch overlooking the ocean! We heard on the news that there were frost advisories issued not far from us. (it really is time to return to sunny Florida).  We had been running from the heat, now we must run from the cold.

 At 5:00 they brought over delicious smoked salmon appetizers (one was gluten free made especially for me) then I luxuriated in a nice, hot Jacuzzi bath!  Since I used to sell these tubs, I knew not to use the jets in a hotel room.  The reason is because most tubs’ jet hoses drain backwards, leaving dirty bath water in the jet-line.  It sits there, God knows how long, and then shoots it out into the water when you go to use it the next time! Yuck!  So after I pampered myself I got out, hit the jets, ran them and drained the tub so Norm could use it with the jets.  One problem. I used all the hot water.  So sorry, Norm.  He waited as long as he could for it to recover then took a hot shower before we had to leave for the resort’s dining room reservation at 7:00.

Breakfast with a rainbow decor and ocean view

We had a terrific dinner sitting beside a huge window again overlooking the water.  They had many gluten free products so I ordered a seafood linguine that was out of this world.  Now perhaps it was because I had not had any pasta since the first of the year, so it was particularly great.  Norm had a strip steak that was also very good.  When I inquired what gluten free products they were using, they happily came out with the packages so I could take a picture of them.  So nice, these people are! When we asked about how they made a side dish, the chef came out and explained it step by step. I quickly went back to the room and typed up the instructions so as not to forget.  I know what I will be serving for our next dinner party!

The next day we went back to the resort’s restaurant for breakfast, (after another bath) sat beside the window and saw multiple fabulous rainbows come and go. I again took advantage of their gluten free availability and ordered the French toast, which I have not had in years.  It was just okay.  Not worth the negative health consequences (processed food plus sugar which I avoid) but it won’t kill me, I guess.

The weather was so weird.  One minute it was glorious, the next it would be torrential rain.  We have seen changeable weather, but this was crazy.  Literally, one minute sun, next minute a downpour and the winds were blowing in the 50-60mph range! I agreed with hesitation to proceed around Cape Bretton’s Cabot Trail but thought next year, should we come back, it might be foggy.  At least in the rain we can see a little something. Note: many people advised us NOT to go if the weather was not really nice.

Very gloomy but nice

The first stop was to a farmer’s market that attracted folks from miles away.  The place was packed, and there were only about five tables with hardly any items!  It must have been more of a social thing, because there was no way it was about buying anything.

 We took an accidental detour that took us about an hour off course, but we were glad it happened.  We saw amazing ocean whitecaps and got some pretty good pictures, I hope.  At one point, it was so rainy we had to pull off the road; another time I could not open the car door due to the wind, and yet another the wind caught the door and pulled me out of the car!  Wow!  I had to be careful not to let it blow me off the cliff when I was taking pictures.

The incredible winds "whipped up" the seas

We drove and drove, noticing the leave are just starting to turn.  I bet it is incredible during the fall here!  The views were great, but on a nice day they would be spectacular.  We checked out a couple of potential campgrounds for next year and actually selected our favorite campsites.  (I am a “planner” so this is of great use to me).  We did find that the areas most northern and north western were the most beautiful and would like to return to these areas and do some serious hiking.  We finally arrived back at the campground about 5:30 overall wishing we had not started that long journey and had saved it for next year. 

Note the crazy roads on the left.  Glad we were not in the motorhome!

While we had left-overs the wind had abated and it was a great, albeit cold evening.  Norm made a campfire and we burnt some of the wood we had to ditch before leaving tomorrow. (we might bring “pests“ to another part of the province so here in Canada they are very particular about people transporting firewood.  I know US Customs won’t let us bring it in, anyway). 

Funny story - up until about a month ago, we were buying bundles of firewood at the different campgrounds.  It would ALWAYS either rain, we got in too late, or too windy to ever light it, so we would have to leave it for the next guy.  Well, way back in PEI (late July ) we decided to go to Walmart and buy some of those 4 hour logs.  Not what we really relished using, but cost effective, and would give us the “ambience” of a fire.  Ever since then, either the campgrounds would not allow fires, they would charge for the fire pits (which we refused to do just in principle) or it was raining or too windy.  We never used any until the other day!  How funny is that?  Same with our lounge chairs we spent so much time finding.  It has been too cool and way to windy to sit out in them.  You just never know.

Sunday September 2

Today we headed for Moncton, New Brunswick about 275 miles, a 4 ½ hour drive, to get a little closer to crossing the border tomorrow and visiting my brother Steve in Bangor tomorrow night. We hit Costco for those items not carried in the US, and hope Customs won’t confiscate them.

We set up camp just in time before it started to pour again.  We spent a quiet evening.