As you could tell from yesterday’s post, Sunshine and I had quite the adventure on the first day of our trip around the Cabot Trail. When we last left you, we were staying overnight in an extremely remote area of Nova Scotia…well…an extremely remote area of Canada.
We woke up just after 6am and we saw that the weather forecast for the day was clouds and rain. Ugh. It was then decided that as soon as we saw the sunrise, we’d take off and try to get back home as soon as we could.
The sun finally peeped out behind the clouds just after 7am and we were fortunate enough to experience a spectacular view that our pictures really don’t do justice for…
So after taking in the views we packed the car and hit the road by 7:30. As we drove off I just had to take a picture of the amazing signage that lured tourists in off the dirt road to the Hines Ocean View Lodge.
Oh yeah. AWESOME…lol.
Thankfully, the rain decided to hold off and we were fortunate enough to experience some more amazing Cape Breton scenery on a beautiful Sunday morning.
At this point, we made our way to the opposite side of the Cabot Trail through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The fog was thick but we drove high enough through the mountains that we actually ended up ABOVE the fog.
The fantastic thing about this road wasn’t just the scenery, but the multiple “look-off” spots where we were able to pull over and take pictures of our surroundings. Because this was the first time in two days that we had seen the sun, we just HAD to take advantage of it and take as many pictures as we could.
As the morning progressed, we ended up seeing three things that kinda stuck with us.
First, we got out of the car to take a self-portrait and noticed immediately that a moose was up the road a bit…just standing there staring at us.
The moose then took off before we could jump back in the car and get a closer look. Meh.
The second thing we saw was after we drove a few minutes and had stumbled upon a look-off where three or four vehicles were gathered together. They were viewing a mountain that overlooked the ocean. It was nice and all, but we couldn’t figure out why people were gathered. A guy drove his truck over and gave me his binoculars (seriously) and told me to look at a particular spot to see a black bear.
Once I saw it, the whole scene took on a different feel. This was a BIG black bear grazing on a mountain. Ummm…how often does THIS happen???
The people were gathered around a guy with a huge camera (he even came over to brag about getting great shots with his 300mm lens), but we still got a shot of the bear, too. It may not be the best, but it’s there.
Trust me…I’ve even pointed it out.
As we made our way back down the mountain, the weather changed a bit back to clouds and rain. Still…at this point in our journey, there was no way the rain could dampen our spirits.
At one point, we had been driving from Meat Cove for about two or even three hours without much civilization around us. We arrived in Cheticamp and saw the third amazing thing of the day that ended up making the both of us extremely happy…
I was pretty darn happy to get my M&M-covered chocolate donut, too.
And off we went again.
It’s funny…the last photos I’ve got aren’t of scenery or of a self-portrait, but rather of one of the CREEPIEST places I’ve ever seen: JOE’S SCARECROW VILLAGE.
This was, literally, an open field next to the ocean on the side of the road where there were a TON of home-made scarecrows standing there. For tourists. That’s it.
We tried to have a little fun with what was there…
But seriously…this was just creepy as f*ck. The “chip take out trailer” (seen below) was closed for the season but honestly…I just couldn’t understand how ANYBODY would want to stop by and look at these creepy scarecrows.
At this point, Sunshine came up with an amazing horror film based on this place. See…this field started off with only one scarecrow. But over the course of the years when a tourist stops by to look at the scarecrow without anybody else around, the scarecrow comes to life…kills the tourist…and turns THEM into a scarecrow.
Just think about it…this field of scarecrows is actually a field of DEAD TOURISTS!
It’s a goldmine of a movie idea just waiting to happen.
We drove back home in the rain…and wind…and clouds. All-in-all there was about 12+ hours of driving. And you know what? We LOVED it.
We’re two very lucky people who really enjoy each other’s company. We talked and talked the entire trip (well…maybe except for the final couple of hours where we were simply too tired to do much else but drive). This was absolutely an adventure we’ll NEVER forget.
And tomorrow’s Wordless Wednesday will be made-up of some of the many signs that we saw on our trip. Hopefully others enjoy them as much as we did.
