Cape Breton Highlands
National Park
Our
vacation to western Canada in
Banff was so enjoyable last year that we decided to try eastern Canada
this year. By spending a week visiting Cape
Breton Highlands
National Park on the northern tip of Nova Scotia, we traded
the rugged majestic mountains for the serene coastline. Not surprisingly, it
reminded us of Acadia National Park in Maine. We
stayed the first couple of nights at the Albert Motel
in Cheticamp (9/1 and 9/2) to explore the western end of the park and for the
remainder of the trip, we stayed at the Keltic Lodge in Ingonish to explore the
eastern end.
Skyline Trail
Our first hike was the Skyline Trail - an
out and back hike along a ridge with a boardwalk that descended towards the Atlantic ocean - probably the park's most recognized
trail. Much like Li, there was an artist trying to capture the moment, but
instead of a camera, he was doing it the hard way using canvas, paint, and a
brush!
Acadian Trail
The Acadian Trail was our second hike of the
day. It was a short steady climb to a mountain top view of Cheticamp Island
in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We also
encountered our first "Red Chair" on this hike - part of the Red Chair Challenge beckoning hikers to find
at least 5 of the 10 red Adirondack style
chairs that were placed randomly throughout the park. Of course, Maureen is
never one to turn down a challenge, and we managed to spot 6 of the 10 chairs
before our vacation was over!
Later that Evening
We
took a couple of quick photos outside our room at the Albert Motel
before heading out to dinner.
Dinner was at the All Aboard restaurant
(that's Li devouring his lobster) complete with live entertainment!
