Wishing stone

Look! Denise got me my very own wishing stone.

I know, I know, it's really made of glass. I think I can look into it and dream of travel destinations for Denise and me.

Where did she find it? When we were in Sydney she found a brochure called the Cape Breton Artisan Trail Map, published by the Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design. There were some galleries that jumped out at her, and she picked up a couple of small pieces of glass for herself, one at the place that published the map, and one at Glass Artisans Studio & Gallery. That second place is where she picked up my wishing stone. And there was an artist set up in a tent outside - in all of that wind - blowing glass into wonderful shapes. That was fun to watch too.

--- Rover

A quick Rover review

I'm so glad that Denise knows that we will need to go back to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia someday. I won't need to do any convincing since she already knows we didn't get enough. I'd like to see some other places in Newfoundland, and I really need to go back to Gros Morne National Park again too.

We had a really good wander, even though rain and fog made us turn back early or skip some walks altogether. We walked in sunshine, in fog, in out and out rain. We bounced along the shore, and we climbed up high too.

I really wanted to visit Acadia on our way home (well sort of on a slightly out-of-the-way path home). I saw the weather forecast, so I knew that wouldn't be a good idea. I was sure I was going to need to convince Denise to stay on the highway and head straight home from Moncton, but she knew that going home was the right thing to do. No convincing needed. I wonder if I can talk her into a long weekend to Acadia a little bit into fall. Hmmm...

Denise is still reviewing her photos, and if I know her it will take a bit to get her galleries built. In the meantime, I grabbed a couple of photos to share with you.




From our first morning in Newfoundland, heading back to the mainland after encountering heavy heavy fog on the Port au Port peninsula. Why did we stop at this spot? Because of the alpacas!



Isn't he beautiful?



This is from our first walking day in Newfoundland. (Or should I say on Newfoundland?) We were bouncing along the Tablelands trail in heavy mist, then in light rain. Can you see the raindrops?



But oh! we had sunny days too. Here's a shot of me in front of Louisbourg Light in Nova Scotia. That was such a pretty day!

--- Rover

2670 miles

...or 4297 kilometers if you prefer metric. That's how many miles I rolled over in my wandering - from home to the furthest point of my travel, around in some circles, and home again.

Yes, I know, that wasn't human-powered mileage. My feet put on a fair amount of mileage too, wandering on trails, along many bodies of water, even in cities. I could have happily continued wandering, but it was time to head home.

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I really did hope to stop in Acadia National Park on my way home. After all, I've only been there once this year. A second visit sounded like a good idea. Of course that was before Danny started spinning up the East Coast.

Yesterday was my Moncton, NB to N Andover, MA day - heading home, driving on dry roads. Today? It rained all day, dropping about 2 1/2 inches of rain in the area near my home. Other towns received upwards of 5 inches. Now that's a lot of water!

My decision to head home without an additional stop in Maine was a good one (this time). It was a good and needed rest day. I took a quick look at my photos, more looking and weeding out still to come - but I spent most of the day relaxing, reading, listening to the rain.

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I learned many years ago that the only places I don't need to return to are those places that I didn't like.

Happily, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia both jumped back onto my list of places to wander again.

Province # 3

It was 5 o'clock when I crossed the Canso Causeway from Cape Breton Island back to the mainland portion of Nova Scotia. It was time to start the journey towards home.

I jumped onto route 104 heading west. It was a two lane road with sometimes passing lanes, with speed limits ranging from 80 to 100 kph. And then, it changed to a divided highway. The miles flowed by. I ended today's drive in Moncton, New Brunwick.

I keep thinking about stopping in one more wandering spot on the way home. The two places that have been swirling around in my mind are Hopewell Rocks and Acadia National Park. That doesn't surprise you, does it?

Problem is, if I stop somewhere to play tomorrow that puts me on the road on Saturday, driving through what's likely to be heavy rain. Only tomorrow will tell...

Lookoffs and conversations

We drove, we stopped at lookoffs, we talked, we walked.

The sky was covered with layers of clouds early, and there were some sprinkles too. Later... the sun appeared, darting behind white and gray against a pure blue background. We still had (at least) one mountain to climb, with lots of lookoffs to embrace the scenery. And everyplace we stopped Denise spent some time chatting with other people - about the beauty around us, about photography, about the possible coming hurricane, about our wanderings in Cape Breton Highlands. It was a talking and looking kind of day.

We walked a boardwalk through a bog, and then we moved on to the Skyline trail. We started down the trail, walking through a lane of trees. We walked, we walked a little further, it started sprinkling, and then we turned around. The end of the trail was purported to be a headland overlooking the Gulf coast. I bet it was beautiful... but you know about Denise, don't you? She really likes to be able to see things (other than lines of trees) during her walks and rides. I suspect that if it had been a warmer, sunnier day that we might have continued walking. I think that we're going to be coming back here another time, so we can finish Skyline then (whenever then is).



Back at the car, we continued down the Cabot Trail, stopping at more lookoffs. We stood for a while and watched the waves crashing against the shore, cliffs. The water was wild today, and the wind? It was another day of high winds. Denise had less of a problem today - she wasn't blown around quite as much as yesterday.



Oh! we stopped to visit Joe's scarecrows too. That was fun.



--- Rover

Breakfast with Anna

If you don't like breakfast and conversations you might not want to stay at Highland Breeze. But if you do? What an awesome breakfast!

We sat down at a table filled with options for a start at breakfast. Yes, I did say start! There were a couple of choices of cereal, wild blueberries, yogurt, and coffee. Anna was very busy; when I walked into the kitchen she was busy stirring something wonderful. We had home-baked English muffins, cinnamon rolls, and potato pancakes. Eggs were on the menu too, but all of us opted out. We were already stuffed!

Conversation was flowing along with the food. I left the B&B a bit later than I'd planned. No matter - it was a thoroughly enjoyable start to the day.

Not again!

Did you know that there is another hurricane starting to swirl in the Atlantic? I didn't want to tell Denise, but it turns out that she already knows. She was chatting with Anna in the living room and the television was tuned to the weather channel.

We're still going to be playing in Cape Breton tomorrow, but we don't have a definite end point for the day. I suppose we could make it home on Friday if we make it a really long driving day. I think it's more likely we'll be back on Saturday.

Driving in a nasty storm doesn't sound too smart, does it? I suppose if we're still traveling when the storm hits that we may end up finding a place to wait it out. It's a good thing that Denise bookmarked the Canadian Hurricane Current Conditions page so we can keep an eye on the storm track.

--- Rover