Martimes: Alexander Graham Bell Museum, Uisge Ban Falls, Ceilidh, Travel Home

Monday was more low key. We walked down to the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. It was interesting to learn more about his work. We knew he had done some work with the deaf but had no idea how much! His wife was deaf and had been one of his students. She was fluent in multiple languages and quite brilliant!

Replica of the Silver Dart, the first powered airplane to fly in Canada. Alexander Graham Bell and his group designed and built it. It is interesting to note that the plane was first flown in the US in 1908 before being shipped to Canada and flown in Baddeck in early 1909.

Replica of the hydrofoil 4 (HD-4), the fastest hydroplane that Bell and his associates made.

Actual remnants of the HD-4

Matthew dialing a rotary phone.

Megan trying out the rotary phone.  You can see the written directions they had out to explain it in the background.

Megan and Me in the Parks Canada chairs where we ate lunch.

View over Bras d'Or Lake.

Lighthouse

Info about the first plane flight.

We drove to the Uisge Ban Falls trailhead, driving over this cool steel bridge. There was some nice fall color on our drive.

Me, Matthew and Megan on the trail.

U, Matthew, Me, Megan

Top of the waterfall

U and Matthew with the bottom of the waterfall. It was quite tall and impossible to get a picture with the entire waterfall as it turned a corner on its downward journey.

Matthew, Me, Megan and U

U, Megan, Me and Matthew

Matthew, Me and Megan crossing a bridge on our way back.

We attended the Baddeck Gathering Ceilidh with Crissy Crowley on fiddle and Jason Roach on keyboard. All the music they played was improvised with the fiddle leading and the keyboard following. The fiddle give subtle clues about tempo changes, key changes, type of music changes (march to reel) etc., but they're subtle and not even necessarily conscious. Crissy was trying to figure out what her cues were because Jason did not know. They've been playing together since Crissy started playing fiddle at age 12. They rarely rehearse together even when recording a CD. Jason played a solo which was impressive. There was a tea and oatcake break partway through. We enjoyed the experience!

Tuesday morning, we headed off Cape Breton Island to Halifax airport to begin our journey home. The drive was mostly uneventful with a quick stop to pick up some souvenirs and also some sweet potato wheat thins (delicious!).

We saw a decent bit of color from the road.

On the concourse at the Halifax airport. When going through security, our brand new Parks Canada playing cards got flagged which we thought was pretty funny. We picked up some food to eat before our flight.

When we arrived at the airport, we discovered that they'd changed our seat assignments to the back of the plane. Thankfully, a nice gate agent switched us to the front of the plane since we had a tight connection in Toronto. The only downside was that we were not sitting together.

Me loving the legroom in premium economy! Megan was also in premium economy and U was in an exit row. The extra legroom was so nice! Me talked to her seatmate for the duration of the flight from Halifax to Toronto.

Taking off in Halifax.

Couple pictures coming in to land in Toronto.

We ended up having plenty of time in Toronto to get through customs, immigration and security and walk to our gate. We had a short flight to Detroit. The Detroit airport was exciting with fancy sinks that dispensed soap, sprayed water and dried hands all from the same location. The walkway between the B and A terminal had a music and light show which Megan really liked. Then there was the water fountain and the express train in terminal A. Megan and Me rode the train from one end to the other and then back to the center. So much excitement! The flight back to Phoenix was uneventful.

We enjoyed our time in the Maritimes!

Maritimes: Louisbourg Fortress

 Sunday morning, we drove to the Louisbourg Fortress, a living history site set in 1744 before the English first took over the fort from the French. We enjoyed exploring the fortress and learning about its history. Workers generally greeted us with "Bonjour, hello." Me would often answer in French which sometimes confused people. One man, after Me had responded to him in French multiple times, asked if he should speak in English or French (question asked in French). Me responded (in French) that English would be better for the family.

This cemetery was in a pretty setting. See the lighthouse across the way? It is super tiny!

And there is the Louisbourg Fortress. It looks quite imposing!

Our car found its sibling. (They are both FSH47x9 license plates!)

Fancy chickens

Hello goose!

A cool contraption in the engineer's home that uses a clock type mechanism to rotate a stake in front of the fire. The speed of rotation is controlled based on the attachment used.

The kitchen in the engineer's home.

Sitting room

Dining room. The engineer had a stuffed puffin in his office.

Well

Soldier shooting a musket.

Me and U with the soldier. He told us all about the life of a solder including the clothes they wore and the weapons they carried (swords were just for show). They would work 1 day in 3. During the 24 hours they were on duty, the rotated between 4 different types of work (guard, patrol, upkeep tasks like weeding and landscaping and resting-but not sleeping) with 2 hour blocks for each type of work. It sounded exhausting! There would be three people assigned to a two person bed in the barracks since one of the three was always on duty. Soldiers often got jobs in the town on their days off to supplement their (low) military wages.

The barracks for the enlisted men. 4 double bunk beds=24 men assigned to each room.

The living quarters of an officer. Notice the game on the table. 

The officer even had a toilet!

Matthew and Megan put together puzzles of replicas of old plates. 

Actual plates found in the excavations

View of the town from the ramparts 

Megan, reporting for duty!

The King's Bastion

Military Chapel

Impressive looking structure!

Matthew showed off his strength by climbing up the wall.

Matthew

Megan

Back at the engineer's kitchen. When we were there in the morning, this lady was rushing around making a molasses cake for the master. We stopped by in the afternoon to see the progress and found that it was done. (The lady remembered us being there in the morning, too.)

Measuring cups in the kitchen. They weren't necessarily standardized measurements but the kitchen staff at a house would know how to use the ones in their particular kitchen. This is also how drinks were measured in a bar or tavern. We were warned not to order the smallest size as that was seen as being cheap and would usually result in receiving a low quality drink.

Matthew and Megan

Megan and Matthew roasting marshmallows.

Partial Lego replica of the fortress.

There were 9 Lego mini figures in displays around the fortress. We found all of them.

We drove to the Louisbourg lighthouse (stopping to wave good bye to a cruise ship). It was a picturesque setting. There was a coastal trail which looked really cool although we did not have enough time to walk it.

We ate dinner at the Dory Pub and Restaurant on our way home. We met a nice couple from San Francisco who are on a 10 week road trip in their sprinter van. It was nice chatting with them. We even peeked in their van on our way out. Oh, and the food was amazing!

Mussels! Yet another delicious preparation.

U had the blackened haddock with a beet and peach salad.

Me had the pan seared haddock with a beet and peach salad.

Megan had a trio of sliders: Thai chicken, pulled pork and chickpea patty, the latter being her favorite.

Matthew had parmesan chicken.