Okay, so I know this still a relatively new blog, and I’ve already dropped the ball on keeping up with it – but that’s hopefully not an indication of how trends for the future. In any case, today is September 15th, so there’s lots of catching up to do. I pretty much wrote all about the highlights of my week in Halifax/Dartmouth in the last post, but haven’t gotten around to saying anything about Cape Breton, which was by far the best part of my time in Nova Scotia – and exactly what I wanted. Honestly, cities are nice and all, for their food and shops and things like that, but I’m coming to realise that they just don’t it for me. Maybe it was just my frame of mind while I was away, but for me the best moments were the ones where I could just walk around on trails or drive along highways that only had one lane in each direction. Basically, the most enjoyable things were the complete opposite of things you’d find in a large city. Some people might call it “a whole lotta nothing”, but I loved it, and I’d count the open spaces, quiet and sense of calmness as far better than what a city might offer.
Again, maybe you could just chalk it up to what I was looking for, cause don’t get me wrong, I’ve definitely had a good time in cities like New York and Chicago. But getting the chance to explore Cape Breton, a place I didn’t really know much about beforehand, and all on my own, probably made the experience that much more special. When people say Cape Breton is one of the most beautiful places to visit in Canada, it’s with good reason. Even though I only really stayed at three places, Baddeck, Pleasant Bay, and Ingonish, I did drive around the whole of the island (it’s not that large), and every step of the way is filled with scenic views. Exploring each of those places on foot was also great. If there’s anything that Cape Breton has an abundance of, its parks, trees and trails. One really great park was the Uisge Bahn Falls Provincial Park, which honestly felt a little unreal, or a little too good to be true. Like the name suggests, the trail ends at a small waterfall, which was awesome to see, but the walk to it (and the parts where you can walk along the river) was just as cool. Besides that though, even the people I met made it a memorable experience, like the father/son I came across who were trying to find a spot for fishing trout (or salmon?) – and pretty much everyone would say hi as we passed one another. Not so fun at the time was getting lost because I somehow managed to get off the trail, turning around and realising that all the trees looked the same, but looking back now even that contributed to part of the experience.
From Baddeck it was onwards to Pleasant Bay (you just have to love a place with a name like that!). Again, the drive up to it didn’t disappoint, especially because pretty much the entire way you’ve got the coastline on your left-hand side, and lots of undeveloped land on your right – just a couple of houses here and there. And as a strange of a thought it might’ve been, one thing I remember thinking about was how there didn’t seem to be a single Tim Hortons along the way. The definite highlight of Pleasant Bay was the whale-watching tour I went on, which was a blast. We didn’t see any humpbacks or anything like that (we were probably too close to the coast), but we did see pods of pilot whales, which are pretty small (anywhere from 12-18 feet), and some seals (really shy!) and bald eagles. Even if we hadn’t seen any whales though, the feeling of zipping on the water in a zodiac with the ocean spray hitting your face made it an experience all on its own. I have to admit I can’t really remember much of Ingonish – except that the room of B&B I stayed at seemed to be a converted attic or something. I did walk one final trail there, called the Middlehead Trail, which turned out to be far more dramatic in terms of its scenery than Uisge Bahn – there’s just something about seeing the cliffs rise out of the water that makes you really appreciate what Canada’s got to offer. You really don’t have to go very far to see some pretty incredible things.
Musings of a Grad Student 