August 4th to 6th - Baddeck NS

Aug 4th - Mon - to Baddeck NS (Cape Breton Island)
On & off showers all of the way today. We were heading for a PA park but after Terry drove for a few miles on a rough road into “nowhere”, he decided that we would pay more for a site that was more centrally located and on a good road. So we came back to a nice park just south of Baddeck which has the same problem right now as every other park in the area - more rain than the ground will soak up. We are tiptoeing through muck & puddles again.
We chatted with a neighbor as we were setting up and then made a trip into Baddeck for a few groceries and some more pieces to fix our falling apart lamp. I would buy a new lamp if I saw one just like the old one! Made a couple of trips to the office & laundry room to get an internet connection - turned out it needed resetting and then we could get it at our site.
Lightning and thunder started about 8 and lasted almost 2 hours with just a few short lulls. I have never been in a lightning storm of such long duration. Of course, the rain had to intensify also but let up so we could sleep.

Aug 5th - Tues - Baddeck
Still overcast and drizzly today so a good day to do laundry, internet stuff & read. We made another trip into Baddeck for fuel, booze and a visit to the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. Alexander Graham Bell had a home in Baddeck for part of his life which explains the location of the museum. I was not aware of his many accomplishments. The invention of the telephone was just the most well known and provided him an income to do other things. Before the telephone, he developed a very successful system to teach deaf people to speak. The museum was very well done and a great spot to get out of the nasty weather.
It quit raining before dinner so we decided to check out the line marked “river trail” on the campground map. A faded sign called it a “nature walk”. In spite of the incline down to the river, many spots were mud holes. But it was a fun change and I got a picture of the prettiest little plants that I found out were called “bunch berry”. They look like a ground dogwood but at this time of year the blossoms have turned to bright red berries.

Aug 6th - Wed - Baddeck
We were excited to hear the weather forecaster last night say “clearing skies for Nova Scotia” until she went on to say “except for Cape Breton Island”! But in spite of the low clouds, we headed out for a drive on the Cabot Trail today. It is a 195 mile scenic loop around the north part of the larger, more westerly portion of Cape Breton and includes (in the northern third or so ) Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The roads are good and the scenery, when the fog lifted, was lovely. We stopped at a spot called “Joe’s Scarecrows” which is a restaurant & gift shop that has a huge circle of “scarecrows” in all manner of clothing. Some are seated, kids are on bikes, some are set up so you can stand behind and include your head as part of the scarecrow and most have a printed tag with their name and a little blurb. Just the goofy, fun type of thing that we enjoy. We stopped for a late breakfast and walked a couple of short trails.
About halfway through the drive, Terry decided that we should detour to Sydney and get someone to diagnose a “not normal” sound from the front end of the truck. He thought it might be a wheel bearing. A guy at the Chev dealer took the truck for a short drive and agreed with Terry so we have an appointment to take it in tomorrow afternoon.
We took the shortest ferry ride I have ever seen (the trip was about 4 times the length of the ferry) to cut off about 20 miles of the bumpy drive from the Cabot Trail to Sydney.