Day 56: Highland Fling

We woke up this morning to people ordering the coffee at the local Tim Hortons. We had parked near the drive through and Joel said he had woken up at around 6 when it opened! Luckily I am a deeper sleeper and didn't get up till around 8. Sluggishly I pulled myself out of bed and headed to the timmies for a nutritious breakfast of hot chocolate and donuts.

Then Joel and I headed down the road to enter into the Cape Breton National Park. We tried to buy an entry pass, but everything was boarded up so we just drove through! And what. drive it was. It was gorgeously majestic. And every turn opened to another view of the snow capped trees or ice infused ocean. After one lucky turn we even saw a moose running across the road. It was, for me, one of the best drives we have done. We drove through a couple little fishing towns, but as the trend held most things were closed.

After driving all the way through the park we headed east to Sydney and Louisborg. We drove through Sydney, we would be back there later and headed to the tip of Nova Scotia to visit a French fortress which switched hands between the French and the British multiple times. It was a fortress that had taken years to build and only days to fall. I was very excited to visit this piece of Canadian history!

But just like everything else, most of it was closed. Although we could walk through the area and although it was eerily empty the entire atmosphere of a historical town was missing. However it was very cool to walk around the deserted town and old ruins and imagine what it would have been like to live there. How cold it would have been, we were cold and it was April! I can only imagine what it must have felt like in January! And without the heating and clothing technology we have today. No wonder it took so long for the Europeans to finally settle in this area.

After Louisborg we headed back to Sydney where we were planning to stay the night. Unfortunately we couldn't find a good place so after some subway we headed back south to Antigunish where we are hoping to meet a friend tomorrow . We drove down Cape Breton just as the sun was setting and it was beautiful. The contrast between the orange of the sun, the pink of the sky, the blue of the icy water, and the green of the trees was something right out of a painting. Really fun to drive along. And then back to Tim Hortons for some hot chocolate to warm us up! And soon it is off to bed and tomorrow we get showers to the first time since Washington!