The long drive home.....

We were on the road by 6am. and were going to drive to Maine for the night. But, plan changes. Hurricane Irene is moving up the coast. Have to get to the sailboat and prepare her for the worst. Wayne made the decision to drive straight through. Ugh, of course, it started to rain as soon as we were back in the USA (not hurricane related). Customs was a breeze, also.  Arrived in New Gretna at 3am in the morning, at my parents back yard, jumped into the camper and slept till 7am. The Viking Yachting Center is 1 1/2 miles down the road.  Wayne took off the solar panels, dodger and bimini. Also the main sail. Everything that could come off did. Took electronics and valuables inside. Needless to say I spent a restless night in the boat. Just thinking this might be the last time on her. With new moon high tides (0nly 2 nights out of the year) with high hurricane winds and lots of rain there is a chance that the floating docks could come off the pilings and kiss all the boats goodbye.

8-27-2011
Next morning we packed everything in the camper. After making sure Bum's Rest was tied secure we said our goodbyes to others and ran in the raindrops to our truck. Wayne had also put Bum's Rush (17ft cobia) on her trailer and put her in my parents yard.  Now, Hurricane Irene is in charge.

Of course, we didn't sleep. Had Channel 10 on all night. Plus, water water everywhere!!!! Our back room was flooding. Here comes the wet vac. Wayne finally found where the rain was coming in and temporally fixed it. Now, tornado warning...( had the downstairs bathroom ready with radio, food, flashlight and cushion to sit on/ cover our heads)What next....Oh yea, had to move the car in the front yard so it wouldn't be in the flood water. We had left the camper on the truck and that was on the side yard close to the house. Also, had our generator in case the electric went out for the refrigerator and the freezer. Never lost power.

8-28-2011
Goodbye Irene.. Bless my dad, he called at 7am. and had drove down to the marina to check on Bum's Rest. All the boats were fine. Thank you God and for everyone that was praying. Around 1pm we tried to drive down to the marina, but, all the roads were closed. We know everything is fine. Lots of our friends called who had been down there. So, we will try again tomorrow.

What a way to end our camping trip to Nova Scotia. And you know what? Irene never even got close to Nova Scotia. 

Bum's Rest Poor man's motor home signing off till another adventure.....
                                     Wayne, Patti and Sailor

Sailing on the Bras d'Or Lake

Today is our last day in Cape Breton Island. We did sleep in for the last morning and then I made breakfast. By 2pm we drove down to the Baddeck Wharf to take a sailing tour on the Amoeba. A 67ft schooner. www.amoebasailingtours.com .

Captain John Bryson.  His father built this boat in his backyard. It took 10years to build.

Alexander Graham Bell's manison

Beautiful shoreline

Heading back to the wharf. It sure was a very relaxing ride with lots of sunshine.

Sailor watching the pork chops cooking on the grill. After dinner we walked up to the hall/office for a ice cream sundae.

 Calling it a night. Getting up and leaving at 6am tomorrow. Time to work are way back to NJ. :(  So, I'll not be able to blog, no wifi. Should be back by Friday night and going right to the boat. Then I'll be able to finish the blogging.

Doing a day trip today...

It rained hard last night and the winds blew till early morning. Now the sun is out and quite nice. Getting ready to drive to Little Narrows. First, we have to take a ferry boat.

LOL... we thought we were taking a ferry boat ride. This took less then 5 minutes. At $5.25 each way.

 Beautiful scenic driving on little roads. Yikes!!! watch out for that pot holes.

We finally made it to our destination, Iona, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. On this hugh mountain side they made the Highland Village Museum on 43 acres. It took little over a hour to walk. Starts out what it would of looked like in Gaelic Scotland 1770s-1830s).

They called this a black house.

Dirt floors, fire pit, wood box sleeper. The animals would also sleep inside.

After emigrating to Nova Scotia, (1770s-1850s) the Gaelic ancestors made new homes.

At least it had wood floors. Up stairs bedrooms.

Centre chimney house and church (1850s-1880s)

Centre hallway house with cast iron stoves instead of open fireplaces.

They also had a school house 1900's, general store 1900's, a forge 1900's, carding mill (wool) and a turn of the century house 1920, which Wayne didn't take pictures of.  It was a beautiful day to walk.

We followed the road around the other side of the island and back to the ferry. We are headed to the town of Badddeck to have dinner at the Baddeck Lobster Supper.  Yup! That's right. We had the 1lb. lobster, all you can eat mussels, chowder, desserts. Boy are we full.

Leaving the Ovens....On the road again.

We are driving out of the Ovens Natural Park by 8am. Next stop, Peggy's Cove. Winding roads down and around lakes to the end a light house sits on rocks.

We walked around the harbor and checked out the the shops. Also, lots of tour buses from cruise ships. We didn't take a picture, but down the road is a monument of the Swiss airline that crushed a few years ago.

Now we are headed for Bras D'or Lakes campground in Baddeck, Nove Scotia. We arrived here approx 5pm. Packed the truck and now walking down to the lake. It is blowing real hard. There are a bunch of Airstream's traveling on a tour of Canada here.

They also have cabins and very clean bathrooms and showers :)

Lake beach on Bra D'or Lake.

Ovens Park presents the annual CHAPIN FAMILY CONCERT

Slept in and hanging around the campground. To our surprise, we had no idea that the late, Harry Chapin's brother Steve owns this campground.  His brother Steve and Tom, along with " Big John" Wallace performed a few of Harry's songs, most famous The Cat's in the Cradle. Other family and a few local artists performed some of their original songs.  The show was about 5 hours long. We say over 200 people came for the afternoon.

We had another friend come see us today, Tom Cail, who lives in Chester, Nova Scotia. We met him on our first sailing cruise on Bum'sRest.

It sure was a beautiful day. After I cooked dinner we had a campfire.

The Ovens Natural Park

Ray P. tell Willy we bought him a pet alpaca.

After cooking breakfast, we took the trail around the cliffs to see the ovens (coves). Very pretty. As you see, here are lots of pictures.

You can rent a pan and pan for gold.

This is the beginning of the trail

Can you believe how beautiful this place is!! After walking back through here we walked the outskirts of the campground. When we got back to the camper I decided to wash my hair with the hose. The bathrooms here are not for me, just saying.... After lunch we packed  everything up and drove to Lunenburg, a really cool town about 15minutes from here. It was worth the drive in. We were planning dinner out, but a storm blew in fast, so we came back and hung out with our neighbors.

Picton Castle

When Wayne saw this sailing vessel, he read a book about it sailing around the world.

Visiting Yarmouth, Nova Scotia

We left Parker's Cove by 8:30am and about 11am we arrived to Yarmouth. We found and parked at the Vistor Information Center. We walked the main drag and checked out some of the stores.

The store owner (on corner with staple) told us we must see Cape Forchu Lightstation. Sounds like a plan after lunch/ early dinner at the Rudder's Seaford Restaurant & Brew & Pub.

We left Sailor in the cab of the truck while we enjoyed our seafood.

We need this chair at the boat dock!!!

The fog was rolling in fast. We are glad we came out here, it was worth the ride out. Ok, we are off. Now it's about 3pm and we are headed to the Ovens Natural Park. The sun is finally coming out. We arrived approx 6pm. Found are site and settled in. The park is packed. Decided to take a walk around and check out the campgrounds.