Baddeck and Ingonish

We got up and left Port Hawkesbury at what has become our normal time, 9 AM. We opted for McD's which was across the street. Funny, just like on some of our past trips, as soon as folks find out we riding motorcycles and from the U.S., they approach us and start a conversation. At McD's, a couple of older folks enjoying their morning coffee, asked where we were from. When I said Georgia, they said they thought they heard a "southern" accent. They then began to ask, the standard questions: "Where have you been in Nova Scotia?"; "Where are you headed?". We laid out our trip plans, and they mentioned a couple of "must sees". Like Alexander Graham Bell's home in Baddeck, and the Glenora Distillery in Inverness (reported to be the oldest single malt distillery in North America). We had the Bell home on our stops for the day, but we would pass the Glenora Distillery on our way south after Cheticamp, so we added that to our list of "to do's".

We started on our way north, and the although the day was much cooler than previous days, it was still pleasant much of the day. We entered the Cabot Trail in late morning, and quickly found ourselves in Baddeck, Alexander graham Bell's home. While Erin and I explored the museum, Daniel and Jenn walked about the grounds taking some pictures of the beautiful cove and lighthouse that was below. I found out some things I didn't really know about Mr. Bell. Although he made his fortune with the telephone, he had used that money to pursue "pure intellectual curiosity". He invented the first "wireless" communication device in 1890,  when a device he designed transmitted a vocal signal from one building to another in Washington D.C. using light waves. Pretty amazing for the time and still seems pretty impressive today. Funny, Bell always considered himself an "amateur" inventor, not in the same class as other inventors of his time like Edison. Anyway, we spent a couple of hours looking around and then it was back on the road.

The next several hours of riding was awesome, climbing into mountain top cloud tops, and dropping into deep blue ocean, tree lined fishing villages. It started to get a little colder later in the day, in fact it dropped to 53 in one mountain pass. We drove on to Ingonish to the only place you can buy a Cabot Trail  Motorcycle "T" shirt, the Coastal Waters Inn. We had a pretty decent lunch, and then drove the 10 miles over to our stop for the night, The Castle Rock Inn. They didn't have any food to our liking, so Daniel with the help of the front desk clerk invented a pretty ingenious way to eat pizza. You see, there was a pizza place in town, but they didn't deliver. So Daniel ordered the pizza, and then  had a local cab pick it up and drive it to our Inn. Although the pizza and a 2 liter bottle of Coke was $29, the cab delivery was only $10 including a $3 tip. When Daniel offered a piece to the clerk that had helped him, she respectfully declined saying she had never eaten pizza! Wow, we must be out in the wilds.

Anyway, everyone is safe and having great time. Daniel really misses the boys, and wish that they could experience some of the things that he is, and is talking about coming back sometime when they are a little older. That is it for now, talk to you tomorrow from Cheticamp!