ZR-1 Canada Trip July 2011

[secondchance]

Great to see you and Lindy having a blast!

[QB93Z]

Hello from Sydney Novia Scotia again.

Back to the Travel Log:

Because of two days of rain and cold, we postponed our drive around the north end of Cape Breton Island on the Cabot Trail. Everyone has told us that the Cabot Trail is the most scenic drive in Nova Scotia, so we want to have nice weather. So we re-arranged our itinerary twice to try to get a nice day.

We decided to leave the west coast of Cape Breton Island and head south to get away from the rain and fog.

We set out on the south end of the Cabot trail:


We stopped at a old-time general store run by a French woman who had a little of everything for sale and was the local order and delivery location for Sears:


When we stopped in the Information Booth in Baddeck, we were greeted by Marie, in period costume. She encouraged us to visit the Alexander Graham Bell Museum:

Should I put this photo in the Corvette Babes section?

We crossed the lochs trying to get to a boat tour to see puffins and eagles on Bird Island. Because of the 35 km/hr winds, the boat trips were cancelled.

So we went to Louisbourg on the north-eastern end of Nova Scotia. In the 1700's Louisbourg was one of the busiest ports in the New World. There is a reconstruction of an 18th century French fort there.

Here is a view of Louisbourg Harbour today. We thought that the yellow lobster boat went well with the Yellow Z:


Here is Louisbourg Harbour Light in the background from a rainy viewing area:


Here is a nice shot of the Yellow Z from some high ground overlooking the harbour:


So, despite the rain, we are having a good time. Hopefully we will have good weather tomorrow (Sunday) so we can drive the Cabot Trail.

More in two days from the next hotel with Wifi.

Jim

[DaveK]

Looks like you're having fun! If you want to take the long way home via Sudbury, drop in!

[A26B]

What a great trip and using the ZR-1 for what it was intended. Photos are outstanding!
Continue to have a great time Jim & Lindy!!

[QB93Z]

Hello from Brunswick, Maine. We left Nova Scotia this morning, Monday, and drove to Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and headed west, where we cleared Customs and picked up I-95 South at its origin. we covered 554 miles today, which is halfway home.

Back to the travel log.

Here is another picture of Louisbourg Harbor Lighthouse on a gray, rainy day:


Leaving Louisbourg, we wanted to go to St Peters on the southeast tip of Cape Breton Island. I tried to find a coastal route and ended up on a gravel road that went on and on:
After 8 miles of winding around with very little progress toward St Peters, and the road getting bumpier and narrower, we gave up and back tracked 8 miles to the last paved road,. The car was a mess when we reached civilization again:


The next day, Saturday, it was still rainy and windy so we put off the Cabot Trail drive again and went to St Peters by the main road this time. It was definitely worth the trip. We found several lighthouses and met some interesting people.

The most interesting thing was a canal and lock that connects the large central lake of Cape Breton Island (Bras D'Or Lake) with the ocean. The canal was built in the 1800's to allow commerce and transportation for most of the region. There is one lock that you can see in the background of this picture:


The interesting feature of this lock is that because of the tidal variation, the ocean level is sometime higher than the lake and sometimes lower. This requires that the door at each end of the lock has to be double:


The lock has been repaired and updated over the years and is still used daily for pleasure boats.

Jim

[QB93Z]

We had lunch at Chubby's:

Chubby's is a roadside, take-out place that is in the yellow school bus. The fish sandwich was excellent! One of the specialities at Chubby's is NewFi Fries. (NewFi refers to people from New Foundland.) NewFi Fries are french fries covered with turkey, dressing, cheese and gravy. We didn't try the NewFi fries, but the lady ahead of us had ordered them. We struck up a conversation with her. She was the daughter of a lighthouse keeper. She told us that she remembered he father rowing a small rowboat on to an island each evening to light the light and rowing out each morning to turn the light off. He did this until into the early 1960's when the lighthouse was rebuilt and electrified. She is one of fourteen children, so you can guess what the lighthouse keep did with his spare time. She gave us directions to find the light:


Then we drove out to Isle Madame which is a small island near St Peters that is mostly French Canadians. There is some very beautiful scenery:


We also found the Local Chapter of WAZOO with a car up on the lift for some transmission work:

[QB93Z]

Continuing the Travel Log.

While we waited for the weather to improve, we explored Sydney and discovered a tribute to the strong Gaelic (Scottish) heritage of the population. We found the World's Largest Fiddle:



On Sunday, the weather finally turned nice and we left Sydney and headed for the Cabot Trail around the northern end of Cape Breton Island.


We drove in a counter-clockwise direction, starting at Ingonesh and heading north up the coast:


One of the first sights was an American Bald Eagle having breakfast on the shore:


This is a nice small pebbled beach I found that was fascinating because there was no sand. As each wave receded, the small pebbles would click on each other making a sound like slowing tilting a box of marbles. I have never seen or heard this effect before:



Here is a neat shot in one of the puddles left by all the rain in a "pull-off":



I will post more after we get back to Maryland tomorrow.

Jim

[secondchance]

Originally Posted by QB93Z

You don't look too happy.
Later pictures seem to suggest you got her rinsed off before continuing, right?

[QB93Z]

Originally Posted by secondchance

You don't look too happy.
Later pictures seem to suggest you got her rinsed off before continuing, right?

Hi Yun, I was not unhappy. I was assessing my options to get it clean. Luckily we were in Sydney, which is the largest city on Cape Breton Island, so I found a wash-it-yourself place near our motel. I had to stop in there the next evening also because the car got dirty again on Saturday.

I am sure some ZR-1 owners are not used to seeing a ZR-1 in that condition, but I don't mind. I am having a blast going places and doing things in my Corvette.

I will upload some more pictures after I get all of them transferred to our network from the travel drives. Lyndi and I took over 4000 pictures.

For the camera buffs out there, Lyndi's camera is a new Nikon D5100 with an 18mm to 200mm zoom lens. It is an excellent camera setup and worked well for almost everything we wanted to photograph. Next trip we might add a 300mm zoom lens to the kit.

Jim

[jcruz]

Finally some blue sky! LOL

Great travel log...