Monday, July 14, 2008

Baddeck

Unfortunately, we’re having internet issues here in Baddeck. The connection I got here at the hotel disappeared around 8:30 so I’ve been unable to publish Day 5 and Day 6. Eventually it will get done.

Yesterday we left Auld’s Cove to head to Baddeck. Again we were blessed with beautiful, perfect weather. I can’t say enough about the weather we have had so far. Sunny and warm but not too hot! We arrived in Baddeck around 11ish and went straight to the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site. There is so much that I didn’t know about this man. I think of him as solely the guy who invented the phone but he was so much more than that. He was an experimenter and a teacher of the deaf. Even Helen Keller said he changed her life. Originally, born in Scotland he moved with his family to Brantford after his two older brothers’s got tuberculosis and died. He fell in love with one of his deaf students and they married. She was an integral part of his life. They owned a big estate in Baddeck called Breinn Breagh. It reminded Bell of his homeland in Scotland. They wanted a non-conventional lifestyle where their young daughters would be able to run about in trousers. Here in Baddeck he continued to experiment with flight and hydrofoils until his death. He was quite the family man and loved his grandchildren dearly. I watched a short video of townsfolk talking about Bell. One guy’s father worked for Bell and Bell told him he should build a home and he said I have 8 children. I can’t afford a home and Bell said you build it and I will make the payments. So he did. At Christmas, the first payment was due months away and Bell had all the employee’s in for Christmas presents. He handed the man a envelope and said Ferguson this is your Christmas gift and he assumed it was a cheque. When he got home and opened it he discovered the deed to the house paid off in full.

After we finished the exhibit, we went to the Bell Buoy Restaurant for lunch around 2. We sat outside and it was gorgeous. This restaurant had homemade ice cream. Jeff ordered a bowl and I ordered the Cape Breton Sundae. All I can say is OH MY GOD. Ice cream, maple syrup, crumbled Scottish oatcakes, and whipped cream. It was sooo good.
Then we came to the Lynwood Inn and checked in. Our room is beautiful here and the main building has a gorgeous veranda where you can eat.
















On the back street behind us is Baadeck Yarns which was closed for Sunday but we will check out first thing tomorrow and they have Ceilidh’s also beside the Yarn place every night so Monday night we will go to that.

We went for a little drive around and saw a sign that said UISGE Ban Falls. We had to go see. It was about a mile hike there and back. So beautiful. If asked to describe this forest I would call it enchanted, even mystical. I wouldn't be shocked to see the roots reach out and grab us.




Back to the hotel to relax before dinner. At 7 we went down and the wind had picked up but we were determined to sit on the veranda. They had live entertainment in the form of Warren, a singer/guitar player. First we were on the front of the veranda facing the bay but the wind was so strong that the waitress moved us around the side which was still cool but better. I had mussels. They tasted okay but I can’t get over how they look so I don’t think I will have those again. Jeff had Nacho’s . Every once in a while you have to take a break from the seafood.

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