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Published: October 7th 2010
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While I was enjoying my last leisurely month in Australia, I was making plans, via email, with some friends in Canada for a road trip. It was exciting to think of some of my best life friends, a car, the colours of autumn, and a place called Cape Breton. Cape Breton is a place that I've heard about it's beauty but have never been. So my good friends Steph and Nick ( famous from my Roadtrips and Reunions blog)had some time off work, and I have more then plenty of time. So Saturday I found myself on the highway cruising southbound, destination Halifax. That night we had a few drinks and talked about our upcoming road trip that was to start in the morning.
The weather has been unusually warm this time of year. In fact temperatures have reached above 20 and as high as 27 in the last couple weeks. So when Steph mentioned the words “Mustang Convertible” we all got excited. But after pricing a Mustang rental, we realized that it might not be a budget friendly option. At the rental office we did overhear that a Dodge Charger was just returned. We looked at each other and
smiled. With our Mustang plans being shot down we were looking for a big North American car to drive. In no time we were in a black metallic Dodge Charger on a blue skied autumn Sunday afternoon with Halifax in the rear view mirror. With plenty of room we scattered our things throughout the car, plugged in the GPS and motored our way east. Due to a personal joke from the night before involving a set of marker pens, a notepad and some drunken attempts at artwork, we brought along our gear to draw some noteworthy scenes that may happen on the trip.
The highway yielded to the hillsides to become a narrower highway as we drove. A little green bridge appeared in front of us with the words “Welcome To Cape Breton” painted on its frame. We had our first traffic stop of the trip as we waited in line for 10 minutes before we could cross the little bridge. It was to be the first of many stops in traffic. We arrived in Baddeck as we had planned to stay here the night and begin on the Cabot Trail the next morning. We had no reservations but
found a nice hotel that offered us a room with a balcony facing the Bras D' ors Lake. Now a friend of mine had just done a similar route a few weeks back and told me about the fun he had at the Royal Canadian Legion in Baddeck. Well, later on that night we ventured down to the Legion to see some locals. Turns out we provided 50 percent of the customers (3 of us and 3 other customers) but we had fun with a few games of pool and sole ownership of the jukebox. We enjoyed the old photos lining the walls and the other pieces of memorabilia.
The next morning I woke and peeked out past the curtains. A beautiful pre dawn was awaiting me outside. I quickly gathered some things and set out in the car in search of a nice place to watch the sunrise. I found the village dock and walked out to the end to be greeted by a a middle aged man with a large camera and tripod. This man was from Texas and with sounds of excitement in his voice he told me about his trip thus far and the moose
he had seen. He had a real sense of accomplishment with the moose sighting. We snapped photos as the sun crested the hill, onto the lighthouse and then placed a gentle glow on the lake with its first rays. I had a coffee at a local shop and returned to the hotel to get Steph and Nick up and excited for the day.
Now I have an opinion about roadtrips. I think road trips are the king of travel. The freedom of the road, the soundtrack from the stereo, the scenery of backdrops, the speed, the feeling of the cool wind on your skin, the laughter with great friends and the de-gressing that turns responsible adults into children. Together that equation makes some of the most memorable travel times. We had the weather on our side as we manoeuvred our way through the Cabot Trail and into the Cape Breton Highland National Park. We had to use a cable ferry to cross a little bay and back onto the Cabot Trail. Climb the steep inclines of Smokey Mountain and drive dirt roads to find some other treasures. The car filled with laughter from personal jokes, insightful questions, bad vocals
to favourite songs and just plain fun times. We stopped to enjoy lookouts, a small hike to a water fall and unnecessary detours. We looked at our map to find a little dot on the north coast called Meat Cove, our curiosity got the best of us and we decided we had to go see this place. We drove the narrow roads til the pavement disappeared and we were driving on twisting dirt roads that were perched along the steep ocean cliffs. The community of Meat Cove was about 5 houses, one restaurant, and one camping site. It was a serene little place perched high above the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean. The end of the road is always a good adventure.
After an eventful day of driving we decided to call a town called Chetticamp home for the night. Found a place to stay, had some food and crashed early that night. The next morning I gathered my things and ventured to Tim Hortons for my breakfast. I planned on having a relaxing morning walk by the water but decided I should bring the Charger for a morning walk or drive. I parked in a few different
places along the waterfront and snapped a few pictures. The sun was breaking the clouds, the water still, leaving reflections on the surface of the water. I snapped some pics of a few boats that I liked. We had little plans for our previous days but today plans were non existent. We just started driving and talking our way back to Halifax. I was driving and following the west coast of the island when I came down a hill to spot a gathering of scarecrows. I slowed the car and pulled in. It was a patch of land with about 60 scarecrows of all sorts spread around the property. Upon further investigation we discovered that all had name tags and a little blurb or quote attached to them. There were two lumberjacks chopping wood, kids playing ring around the rosey, and famous people/scarecrows such as the Queen of England, and Jean Chretien. It was kinda creepy seeing all these scarecrows with there masks and attire.
During the morning we decided to just start driving back to Halifax and if we made good time we could go wine tasting in the Annapolis valley. We were on pace to have plenty
of time but we hit construction zones. We found ourselves stopped for 20 minutes or more. We became impatient, then crazy, the music getting worse with each selection and the volume getting louder and louder. At one point the three of us were doing the YMCA dance in the vehicle with the smiles and head shakes from onlookers. There happened to be more then one of these stops that day but we made the most of it when we had to stop.
That afternoon arrived in Grand Pre in the valley to taste some wines. We sampled some whites, some reds, some ice wines and even some apple cider. Not a bad way to end a road trip. I gave the keys back to Nick and we head back to Halifax in the afternoon sunshine, a bottle of cider in one hand and a notepad with several pieces of art in the other.
We did it. We set out to have a fun and freedom filled road trip. Three best friends and the open road with the backdrop of autumn colours and a big North American car. We laughed, we joked, we drew pictures and shared some amazing
scenery together. We did it without having a lobster dinner or a lobster roll (they are everywhere) or a speeding ticket. Three days of being kids. Mission accomplished.
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