July 23

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Another long, long day. Anna and I woke up at 5:00 am to see the sunrise above the

Meat Cove campground.  We took the sleeping bags out and stayed in our camping

chairs; needless to say, the sunrise was spectacular.  It was interesting to note how

the bird calls increased as the sun went up.  The whole bay was filled with pinkish

sunlight.  The cliffs were majestic; I don’t think I’ve see a more beautiful place in my

life.

Then we went back to bed, but Sasha woke up at 7 am, asking me to clip her nails.

I had to get up with her, to let Anna, Nick, and the rest of the camp sleep.  We went

on the short hike down the beach and clipped the nails.  At around 9 am the heat

from the sun became intolerable, and Anna got out of the tent saying that we have

to leave now.  We quickly got everything in the car, and were ready to set out. We

did everything in such a hurry that we did not eat breakfast—so we rode down the

Cabot trail to the Main Street Bakery in Ingonish (about 1 hour drive) before we

actually ate.  The breakfast was really good, albeit expensive.  We decided to skip

lunch since it was so pricey and filling.

After the breakfast, we took a short hike up the mountain in Ingonish to see the

beautiful Cabot Trail for one last time.  Nick and Sasha fought over the seat at the

ledges, just as usual.  They fight quite a bit.

Then we commenced on our 2 hour journey to the Lake D’Or area.  Halfway there,

Anna saw an add for the puffin watching tour, and said she wanted to go.  We took

a “ferry”  (really a moving bridge for which they charge 5.50Can), and boarded the

puffin boat.  The tour was pretty awesome.  We saw puffins, bald eagles, seals, and

etc.  It took about three hours, but the wildlife sightings were plentiful and exciting.

Afterwards, we drove another hour to the Miner’s Museum.  I really wanted to see it

since I just read “Gerinal: by Emile Zola.  It was a pretty cool experience, since they

have an underground mine in the museum, and the collier takes you down below

the ocea to show how it all worked. We all loved it.

When we got out of the museum, it started to rain, and we were seriously doubting

our desire to go camping.  I called B&B’s and they were all booked. Finally, I found a

B&B for 200$ about 30 minutes away.  It was really expensive, but we did not want

to take the tent out in the rain.  It turned out to be a really cool place to stay (On

The Mira B&B); just a small house with a guy renting out his downstairs space.  The

bonus was that the guy offered me to drive up the road to his friend and get some

crab.  The friends decided not to charge me, so we had a crab dinner with local wine

before going to bed.

Tomorrow, we are off to Louisbourg fortress, and then tidal bores on Thursday.