The Beauty of Nova Scotia

This work by Suzette Leeming is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License.

One thing I have noticed on this trip, it the number of rest stops along the highway, east of Ontario. Why can't we do that? I'm not talking about the McDonalds and Tim Hortons stops, but honest to goodness rest stops, with washrooms, pop and coffee machines, picnic tables, maps, trees, and so on. A place to stop and stretch your legs, empty your bladder and rest and enjoy nature for a few minutes.

Leaving Dieppe, we drove south to Nova Scotia and we actually picked up a few souvenirs for our kids (okay... for ourselves too!) The even had a young lady playing the bagpipes at the Welcome Centre! What a beautiful province! We drove up the north shore to a small town just north of New Glasgow, called Pictou. This was the landing place of the first Scottish settlers, to form New Scotland. Pipes were being played in the town square, and the scottish style pubs were displaying their tartans. In the harbour, they had recreated the ship (the Hector) that brought their ancestors over. We couldn't resist stopping at a local pub for a good scottish brew! John had a dark beer from Halifax, while I drank a red beer that gave Rickards Red some serious competition. I decided to ask the lovely young lass that served us, if she could recommend a place to stay. After talking to us a bit and getting to know what type of people we were, she offered to phone her friend, who was the innkeeper of a hotel just down the street, called the Customs House Inn. So there we stayed, in what used to be a government customs office, now renovated and turned into an inn, with every modern convenience, beautiful fixtures and antique furniture. The price was extremely reasonable for the beauty of this inn... well, beauty inside because the outside still looked like a dull government building.

Another thing I've noticed is that all of the hotels we stayed in so far were totally non-smoking. Strange for us, but no serious problem. I don't mind going outside for a smoke. I learned something about myself as well - I am a terrible bitch in the morning without a cig. After that first smoke, I could go literally for hours without another. Maybe that's clue to how I will be able to successfully quit.

The second beautiful, luxurious hotel we've had the pleasure of staying in. And I cannot believe how extremely friendly the people are. I still saw some depressed areas, namely closed businesses, etc., but it wasn't as prevalent as in New Brunswick. The lack of tourism is hurting this community as well. Surprisingly, the gas here is similar to what we were paying in Ontario, but I understand it's gone down there since we left, while we have kept paying the same. I'm glad we decided to come on this trip!

In the morning I discovered I had a problem with TomTom, so we drove into New Glasgow and used the free Wi-Fi internet, to try and solve the problem. I ended up deleting the TomTom application, and reinstalling it. Everything worked great after that. Another thing we've noticed out here is the free wi-fi internet everywhere! Why don't we have that? There are literally hot spots all over here. With TomTom fixed we were on the road again, driving along the north coast and head onto the Cabot Trail. Tonight, we plan to stay in Pleasant Bay, on the coast on the outskirts of Cape Breton National Park and the Cabot Trail.

More to come!