Birthday Week - Day 3

Day three of my birthday week started out early.  Our final destination was Dingwall and we had lots of stops we wanted to make along the way.

The Cabot Trail is 186 miles.

Our first stop was the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site in Baddeck.  Baddeck is the beginning and end point of the world-famous Cabot Trail.

Bell arrived in Baddeck in 1885. He developed a research laboratory and with his partner Frederick Baldwin worked not only on the telephone but many other things as well. Thier inventions included the first airplane successfully flown in Canada, several version of hydrofoils (racing boats), and a telephone system that used light waves rather than wires.  

The Silver Dart (1901)  

The first successful airplane in Canada.

Bell and Baldwin started testing their hydrofoil ideas in 1908, with an eye toward military applications.

This is a full-scale replica from the HD-4 built in 1919.

By the time the HD-4 set her speed record, the war was over.  With no commercial prospects, the HD-4 was stripped and left on the beach at Beinn Bhreagh, where it remained for many years.

This display is all that is left of the main hull.

There are many interesting displays through the museum.

After the museum we drove quite a while to the Margaree Fish Hatchery on Cape Breton Island. 

Since we have volunteered at fish hatcheries, we’re always interested in visiting other hatcheries.

The Margaree Fish Hatchery opened in 1905.

We spent some time walking around the hatchery.

We never saw anyone while we were here.

It’s a beautiful area with a few benches for sitting.

This is the oldest fish hatchery in Nova Scotia.  They raise over 250,000 Brook Trout and Atlantic Salmon per year.

Not far from the hatchery is the Margaree Salmon Museum.  The museum has been in this one-time one-room school house for over 40 years.

We spent quite a while looking at the many displays.

There were many displays showing beautifully tied Salmon flies.

There is a lot to see here.

Fly tying kit.

Split bamboo rods.

We were still a few hours away from our final destination for the night - Dingwall in Northern Cape Breton Island.

Dingwall is pretty much the end of the world as far as Nova Scotia is concerned. Next stop is Newfoundland! The red teardrop marks Dingwall on this map. Click on the map to enlarge it.

The views off the Cabot Trail road were beautiful.

You can see at the top of the picture some more of this long and winding road.

Every time we came around a corner, I wanted to take another picture!

Our cabin for the next two nights was at The Markham in Dingwall.  We had a private two-bedroom cabin in the woods.

Our cabin was very large and comfortable and also had a kitchen.

We took the time before our dinner reservations to walk down to the beach.

Next time:  Birthday Week - Day 4

Birthday Week - Day 2

Our second day of my birthday week had us driving over to Prince Edward Island.  We crossed the Confederation Bridge (See July 18, 2018 Blog - Prince Edward Island).  Mark wanted to play the two disc golf courses on the island.

Huck-It was a new course that he didn’t play last year.

Huck-it (Throw it)

There were some interesting basket placements.

The second course was Hillcrest Disc Golf Course.

It’s a very pretty course that he played last year.

Mark had found a ferry running from PEI to Nova Scotia.  It was about a 2 hour drive from the last disc golf course but would save us several hours of driving once the ferry landed in Nova Scotia.

Being a Monday, and the fact the ferries left every 1 1/2 hours, we didn’t think there would be a need for a reservation.  We were wrong.  The ferries were booked solid.  We had to turn around and drive 2 hours back to the Confederation Bridge to cross over into New Brunswick.

And, just like last year, we underestimated the driving distances here in Canada.  We had a few stops planned but by the time we drove back over the Confederation Bridge to New Brunswick then drove into Nova Scotia, it was getting late.

We decided to head on to our hotel in Antigonish and get an early start the next day.

Evergreen Inn

Next time: Birthday Week - Day 3

Birthday Week - Day 1

For my birthday this year I once again picked Canada as our destination.  

We took a couple of extra days off work giving ourselves a 6-day trip.  After crossing the border in New Brunswick we headed to our first stop.

Right after crossing the border in St. Stephens is the Ganong Chocolate Museum

This is more of a museum than a factory tour but it was still very interesting. 

The young lady giving our tour was new and had to read her script but she was very generous with the samples!  The museum opened in 1999.

In addition to very nice displays, we watched several videos.  Chocolate samples were handed out often.

This hand dipping technique takes years to perfect and is very labor intense.  Most of the candy today is made using machinery although they do still offer a box of hand dipped chocolates.

The Ganong Brothers family have been candy makers in St. Stephen since 1873.

Open stoves were used to heat and melt the raw ingredients so fire was an ever-present danger in the factory.  Although the company always took serious precautions, it suffered three fires during its history.  Round-bottomed pails hung through the factory. The bottoms were round to keep workers from using them to carry ingredients or turning them upside-down and sitting on them.

Fire doors used weights at the end of a rope to hold the door open.  The rope line included a lead link which would melt in a fire.  When the line gave way, the door closed automatically by rolling down the sloping track, and contained the fire.

With wartime sugar restrictions in place in 1918, the factory had difficulty producing enough candy to create a profit.  The problem was solved by developing fancier boxes which allowed fewer chocolates to be sold at a higher price.

After our fun tour we headed to the gift shop.

Of course we bought a little something!

This is a magnet worthy tour.

Our next stop was the Olivier Soapery in the small village of Ste-Anne-de-Kent.

They have a beautiful building with nice displays and a large gift shop.

We arrived in time for a soap making demonstration.

Olive oil, bees wax, and coco butter are mixed together.

Lye is added to create the chemical reaction.

The mixture is stirred for several minutes before being poured into molds.

The liquid is pored into molds where it will harden for 7 days.  The soaps are then released from the mold where they will hardened for an additional 28 days before being sold.

Of course we bought a couple of things!

Our first night was spent in the Amsterdam Inn & Suites in Moncton, NB.

Next time: Day 2 - More birthday fun.