After driving around the Halifax area we decided to search a bit further away and headed to Cape Breton. It's the area with the most Scottish heritage in the province. The largest town is Sydney so we considered that our first destination to make sure it would have all the amenities we would need to survive. What we didn't expect was the stunning fall colors the entire 5 hour drive, nor the beautiful lakes that continued to take our breath away. Here are some pictures to get the idea:
Although we updated our GPS system to handle Canada it still seemed to have some issues and I'm convinced it would get us lost on purpose. We eventually got to Sydney and realized that the town is no where near as advanced as Halifax is. After talking to some locals over lunch we found out the city used to be big into mining but once they cutback on that industry the town has struggled to stay afloat. You can tell the locals had a lot of town pride and they were sad to recommend that we head back to Halifax due to the technical job prospects available.
We didn't consider the trip a loss, it was amazing to see more of our chosen province. I also have to report that once you enter Cape Breton most road signs are in English as well as Gaelic. They also have some of the best tourism road side assistance "huts" I have ever seen. We popped into one for a bit of local guidance when the GPS went rogue and sent us in the wrong direction. The ladies there were such a fountain of knowledge! They were excited to see young folk looking to settle in the province and told us all the spots to stop for pictures as well as the local pubs that were hosting an event called Celtic Colours. Celtic Colours is a two week event were musicians from around the globe come to share their Celtic pride in music. Apparently they thought we looked parched and could use a prolonged stop...gotta love a province that's worried about your alcohol intake and musical diversity. Their final recommendation was a stop at the Fortress of Louisbourg. It's an area that was settled by the French in 1744 and is now a historic reconstruction with full costumes. Seems our scouting trip turned into a tourism trip. Below are some pictures of the fortress:
With a good percentage of the province explored it was time to head back to Halifax. With our Tim Horton's coffee in hand the drive home was a breeze. More to report soon.
Eagle Out
Eagle & Goose,
ReplyDeleteVery pleased to see you have successfully infiltrated your target...
Hello Eagle, so happy to see you up and about with the spiffy new blog site. Yes I shamelessly made myself at home as your first follower. I'm sure that you'll be thrilled to know that I have added you to my own wildly popular blog, under Friends & Family.
OK now, I thought Goose gave up your nest site, and based upon the intel provided I sent a picture of it the latest in satellite recon... Was I close? I got no response, which tells me either our com system still has some bugs, or Goose ordered an immediate pull out.
"Dear god woman, the Yanks have discovered our position! Evacuate now and meet at rendezvous check point, Tango, Ida, Mike,_, Henry, October, Romeo, Tango, October, November, Sierra!" ;)
Loved the pictures, keep them coming please.
Loved your story about customs, it would seem that our Egyptian operative made for an excellent distraction and facilitated your entry as planned.
Well I'm off to the DMV to bleed some hard eared cash, I'll type at you later.
Joe