We knew it would take most of the day to do the loop all the way around the Cabot Trail...even without doing anything except stopping at overlooks. So, we packed up the dogs and a lunch and started out in the morning.
We gassed up before we left since there aren't many stations along the way. At first we thought we must be on the wrong road, since it was very bumpy with lots of patches, and it was not at all scenic. But, finally we turned at a sign for the Cabot Trail and the road got better.
A lot of the road goes through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. When we entered the park, there was a right lane labeled "Purchase park passes" which had about 10 cars in it, but a lot of people were passing by in the lane going around. We got in the lane to pay and sat...and sat...without moving for about 15 minutes. I got out twice to find out what was going on at the ticket booth but couldn't tell what was happening. So, we finally just pulled around and never found out what we needed a ticket for, but no one ever asked to see one.
There was lots of great scenery on the trip. There were mountains that reminded us of the NC lower mountains. The Atlantic Ocean was to our east and the Gulf of St Lawrence to the west. There are whale-watching tours from the Ingonish area, but that is over an hour from where we are camping and we can't leave the dogs that long. I will check into it in the Bay of Fundy. We looked for whales from the viewpoints but didn't see any.
At the north end of the Cabot Trail, we took a spur road to the little harbor of Bay St. Lawrence and sat in the car on the tip and ate our lunch. The road back down the trail had some great views of blue water and coastline. They have quite a few pull-off places to look and take pictures. I had heard people say the curves were scary, but they were nothing compared to highway 1 on the Oregon/California coast!
After we got back to Baddeck, we went out for a real lobster dinner. It was good (and pricey!), but it's a lot of work and we decided we liked the lobster burger since it's easier, cheaper, and you get more lobster!
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| First view on the Cabot Trail |
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| This is where we ate lunch |
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| I took this through the window while driving! |
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| The road ahead |
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| The road behind |
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| First poison ivy we've seen! |
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