Sonya's Blog - Day 82 - Driving to Cape Breton

Sonya’s Blog - Day 82 - September 12th - Driving to Cranton Cottages in Margaree Centre

We are traveling to Cape Breton today. We have a few stops planned on the trip around the Island and our first one is in Margaree. We wanted to make sure we had a good visit and gave Kizmet a couple of walks before we left since we won’t be seeing her for a couple of weeks. She will be pretty spoiled while we are gone, so we are not too concerned about leaving her behind. The morning was just us packing up and visiting a bit before our road trip. We had about a 3 hour drive ahead of us, so nothing crazy.

We got all packed up and said our goodbyes and were on the road by 11. We were on the road about 15 minutes and the truck was telling us our fuel was low, Blake forgot to check before we left New Glasgow. The next gas station was in Antigonish was about 30 KM away and we had 17 KM of fuel left. Blake had to pull over and put the reserve tank in the truck and then we made it no problem. After we filled up we decided to check out Antigonish a little as it is the home of St. Francis Xavier University. We saw that there was a Farmer’s Market and we stopped to check it out as the kids had to go to the bathroom. It was a very busy Farmer’s Market and there were lots of local crafts, veggies and such. We bought some food for lunch and a couple of things for a quick breakfast in the morning. We continued on our way and checked out the University. It is a lovely campus with some very nice buildings. All around the town the University kids were lining the sidewalks and singing songs for Shinerama. They were all around New Glasgow as well, but we thought they were having a car wash. There was a group of kids near the Farmer’s Market and Blake stopped and talked to them. University kids across the country are out raising funds today so support the fight against Cystic Fibrosis. When this fundraising drive started years ago, the kids would shine shoes - hence the name Shinerama. Now they just cheer on street corners to get people to donate, but they kept the name. We made a donation and then honked our horn everytime we saw a new group as that always got us a huge cheer. On one corner the group had a mega phone and the guy stopped his music to announce that we had a really nice truck! Sterling blushed a little.

We continued on our way and crossed the Canso Causeway (picture to the right) a little while later and then we were on the Island of Cape Breton. We found the right road and headed to Margaree. We stopped once to check out The Red Barn which had local arts and crafts and lots of clan information. We found a key chain with a tiny flask that had the Reid Crest on it, that was highly amusing.

We continued on our way and were at our cabin by about 3 PM or so. Unfortunately it has been raining all day from New Glasgow to Margaree, so we don’t really feel like hiking or anything. We unpacked our stuff and then looked at things to do. We decided to head into Margaree Harbour for supper and to look around. First we drove through Margaree Centre and then to Margaree Harbour which was about a 20 minute drive away. There was a restaurant that overlooked the harbour and we found it after a bit of driving around. First we stopped at the harbour to get a few pictures even though it was misty and cold. We headed in the restaurant for an early supper. When we got there it was 5 O’Clock which was good because the restaurant did not open unit 5 and we were the first ones there! That worked out well because we had a table overlooking the harbour and it was lovely. We all ordered our meals and it was very tasty.

After supper we drove around Margaree Harbour and looked at the fishing boats and he village, it was very quaint. We found a little grocery store that was still open so we popped in to grab some tea bags and cream for tea in the morning and then headed back to the cabin. It is a two bedroom cottage, but there are only double beds in the rooms. Natasha doesn’t want to share with Isaac, but luckily the couch pulls out into a bed, so Isaac is sleeping there tonight. He was really tired so once he went to bed we all had to retreat to our rooms so he could go to sleep. Blake is listening to the Blue Jays double header game, I am blogging and Natasha is watching a show while Isaac tries to go to sleep. It is only 8:45 so it is a bit early for the rest of us to go to bed, so that is really our only solution so that Isaac can get a good nights rest. Tomorrow we explore more of the Cabot Trail and we stay in Ingonish.

Sonya