We just got back from our 5000km road trip out east.
We drove through Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Maine, Massachusetts, and New York before landing back home in Ontario.
Let me tell you all about the good, the bad, and the ugly!
This is part 2 of a 3 part series. Find part 1 and part 3 below.
Day 4 - Canada Day
Day 4 started off well. We made another breakfast of bacon, eggs, and coffee in the camper, then went off to meet my nana. She left shortly after visiting us at the campground, so today we went to visit her.
We spent the late morning and early afternoon exploring a flea market in town, then checked out a local grocery store. They had some great produce on sale that I ended up making a fruit salad out of. We grabbed an apple bigger than my hand and strawberries were on sale for $1.47 CAD, which is cheap out here.
From there, we went back to my nana's house to visit with my papa. He's not been doing too well health wise, so he can't leave the house much now. When we got there, his VON and PSW were still there.
While visiting, we happened to discovered that my nana had recently adopted 2 cats since her's passed away last year.
She didn't tell us that these cats were still kittens though. A lot of the visit ended up centering around the cats. I happened to wear a hoodie that day, which I ended up turning around so that they could fall asleep in my hood while I held them.
After getting a few family photos, we went back to the trailer for a bit to relax and catch up on some chores before meeting up again for dinner. Mom hadn't been sleeping well from the stress of driving across the country and meeting ex-in laws after so long, so she went a take a nap while I did the laundry.
This was our first time doing laundry this trip. The campsite's washer did well, but the dryer was hopeless. I put the load on for 2 cycles and the clothes still weren't dry.
I wasn't willing to put it on for another load because the washer was $3 for 45 minutes and the dryer was $2 for 20 minutes. I'd spent $7 and 85 minutes trying to do laundry already.
Instead, I thought I could make a laundry line at our site to dry the clothes. I fought to untangle the string, to tie it around trees, to set the clothes out on it, but no matter what I did, I couldn't quite get it.
The line would sag and the clothes would brush the ground. In the end it didn't matter anyway. The east coast is quite humid, so nothing really dries well outside. We were also in the shade and it wasn't too windy either unfortunately.
We took a stab at the laundry again after dinner, and just caved by putting it in the dryer one more time. It was dry after that thankfully, but I definitely don't miss using dryers. At home, I always line dry and it does just fine.
Before that though, we took a pause and went out to dinner. We went to this restaurant attached to a hotel called 27 South. My nana, papa, little cousin, mom, sister, and I all went. Thankfully, they were open on Canada Day and were accessible for my papa.
It had been 10 years since I'd seen my cousin; the last time I saw him he was 5, and now he's 15. I wasn't quite sure what to talk to him about, so I did what I usually do at restaurants, play table soccer.
Since I had some sticky notes in my purse, I made a little paper ball, and had us both make nets with our fingers, then flicked the paper ball back and forth until the food came. I also taught him how to play the finger game chopsticks.
It was a nice way to entertain ourselves while we waited. It also helped me interact with him some more. He seemed to enjoy the game. At one point, we flicked the paper ball a bit too hard and it landed in my nan's purse. We didn't tell her and she found it the next day, much to our amusement.
After dinner, we drove my little cousin back home since my aunt's place wasn't too far from our campsite, then called it a night. Mom and I played scrabbled while listening to more Are You Being Served and doing some face masks.
We didn't get very far into the game before we realized we had been playing wrong the whole time. We kept using the double word score tile and a double letter tile. After that, we just gave up as we did want to go through an fix the scores.
Before sleeping, we were discussing our travel plans and decided to change them. On the way to Nova Scotia from Ontario, we drove through Quebec and New Brunswick. On the way back, we were going to drive to PEI then through Maine. However, we decided to ditch PEI this time and instead drive through more of the states on the way back.
We decided we were going to drive through Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York on the way home. This was great for my Starbucks mug collection as I'd get to pick up 3 new mugs.
I already had a New York mug and I'd already picked up a Quebec mug. I wanted to pick up a Nova Scotia mug, but turns out they have an Atlantic Canada mug. Meaning, it encompasses all of Atlantic Canada - P.E.I, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland. It's my first dark green one!
Anyway, US here we come!
Day 5 - Cape Breton
This day was the day we were beginning the drive out to Cape Breton. But before that, my nan wanted to see us one last time. My aunt also wanted to come see us off.
We agreed to meet up with my nan and doing some shopping around town before heading off. We went to the grocery store to pick up some water and snacks, then went off to the thrift stores to find travel mugs for my mom and sister. We also ended up picking up a few random bits and bobs as you do when shopping.
After that, we drove over to my aunts house to chat for a bit and say our goodbyes before starting the 5 hour drive to Cape Breton.
We got to our campground, Lakeview Treasure, in Catalone around 7:30, making the drive more then 5 hours as per usual for us.
When booking the campground, we were just looking for a place to stay that was close to Fortress Louisburg, so we didn't check the reviews or the rating. I wish we had as it was definitely not the best place.
It had a beautiful lakeside view literally 20 feet from our camper. It was so close, that I could see it from my bedroom window. I think how close we were to the lake was the only redeeming factor though.
The bathrooms here were not great. Nothing will compare to the Flixbus, but these were pretty terrible. Most of the stalls didn't have locks, there was no paper towel or hand dryers, the showers were coin operated (normal) but it took a while to figure out how they worked. There were no signs, just sharpie written on the coin slot itself.
Mom and I went on a walk around the campground and the rest was questionable too. There were 3 playgrounds and many have broken pieces with sharp plastic, or were missing swings. There was also a pool, but it was pretty green. I think you'd have better chances of not getting sick if you swam in the lake.
When we all called it a night, we bundled up real well as this was the first night when the weather was below 10c (50f). I slept fine, but the left side of the camper, as I mentioned in the renovations article, has some issues with insulation.
As the camper warms up in the morning, the condensation builds up on the left side and begins to drip. We though this only effected the dining area, but discovered late at night that it also effects the left side of the bigger bed - the side my mom happens to sleep on.
I do remember waking up 3 times after feeling droplets on my face, but I just buried myself in my sleeping bag and went back to sleep. Mom was not so lucky however. She did end up getting up in the middle of the night having to wipe down the trailer.
That's how day 5 went.
Day 6 - Louisburg Fort in Cape Breton
Our morning started out the same as any - making breakfast, packing up the camper, and setting off on the road again.
As I said before, we booked this campground in Catalone because of how close it is to the Louisburg Fortress. This was our next destination on the trip, so it made sense to stay close.
For those who don't know like I didn't, The Louisburg Fortress used to be a lucrative and fortified French fishing village back in the 1700's.
In 1745, the British attacked after the declaration of war between Britian and France. It only took 46 days for the British to capture Louisburg, but 3 years later it was given back to the French.
That didn't last long though, as Britian launched another attack in 1758 and captured it again after 7 weeks. In order to make sure the French would never get it back, they destroyed the town.
Flash forward to now, the town has since been restored and acts as a national historical site. Visitors can explore the town within the Louisburg Fort and experience what life back then was like.
In the fort, every worker appears to speak English and French. It was interesting to be exploring the village, be greeted with "Hello, Bonjour" and, depending on how you responded, what language they'd respond with.
Canada is a bilingual country, but living in Ontario as I do, it's not often that I hear French. It seems to be much more prominent on the eastern side.
It's a bit pricey to visit Louisburg as it's $20 per adult, but the fortress is definitely worth it as there is so much to see. It's huge and there are tons of exhibits and displays happening all day. On top of that, some of the staff have characters. They act as soldiers - French or English - prisoners, barmaids, etc. and it makes the place that much more entertaining. It's absolutely an all day thing.
At the front, where the shuttle bus drops you off, before even entering the town, they have a French and English presentation. They split us off into 2 groups based on our native languages, then told us some history of the fort, as well as their characters' back story.
The English group was in a house that had belonged to a woman who was married 3 times, her 3rd marriage being when she was 69 to a 28 year old man. She lived just outside the village walls, but I can't remember why.
After freely exploring the village some, we had the chance to watch muskets and a canon being fired. The demonstration used French colonial artillery techniques.
It started with soliders entering from the arch way, the drummer in front setting the pace. The head solider (don't know the proper title) would shout commands in French - no English translation - such as how to walk, when to load the musket, and when to fire.
I was honestly a little worried the shots of the muskets and canon would freak me out because of the last time I was at a gun range in Austin. Thankfully though, I didn't have the same reaction.
I wasn't nearly as close to the shots and was much more prepared for them this time. It was also only 4 shots total instead of as many as possible in an allotted time slot.
For lunch, we went to a restaurant in town where they served period style food, as well as some modern food too. Here they gave us only a 1 heavy metal spoon each as cutlery and big cloth napkin with our lunch.
Mom ordered a turkey pie with boiled carrots on the side, and my sister got some batter fish. Mom commented on how mashed potatoes were an option as a side. We overheard why at the next table over.
Apparently, they didn't serve potatoes because back then as the villagers believed the potatoes were poisoned. It turns out however, that the potatoes weren't actually poisoned, but rather would react to the lead in the plates they used to eat off of.
Later on, there was a solider demonstrating in more detail how to load and fire the 1700's muskets. For this demonstration, they split us into 2 groups, English and French speakers. Our solider was acting as a French solider, based on his colours (blue or red), and the solider giving the French demonstration was acting as an English solider.
The soldiers started by telling us their characters' story - how they ended up in Louisburg, why they enrolled in the military, their wages and typical shift as soldiers, and so on.
During this demonstration they did fire another shot which was also okay for me thankfully. During this demonstration you had the chance to ask them some questions about the gun, the loading process, etc. It was really interesting to see it all up close.
The next and last demonstration we saw was how they would've publicly shamed a prisoner back then. They walked him through the street, hand cuffed, as they stopped every so often to decreed what his wrong doings were.
They started the demonstration in French, then switched to English. The other actors there would boo and scream insults in French and English. They even got the crowd into it too, booing and calling him names.
By the end off it, the prisoner was placed in a chain neck cuff at the front of the village and the crowd got to decided whether he was guilty or not. He was let go after some questioning as he had a good case. It was honestly quite entertaining, which sounds weird to say about a demonstration of public shaming.
The Louisburg Fort was honestly such an interesting place to explore and learn more about. My tip for you if you visit is if you go in the summer like we did, wear sunscreen! We neglected to do this as all the sunscreen we brought was packing into the trailer, which was already closed up.
As a result, all of us ended up sun burned to some extent. I had some on my forehead, neck, and shoulder on my left side, mom burned pretty much her whole face, neck, and shoulders, whereas my sister badly burned pretty much all of her upper body. We ended up stopping at a Walmart to pick me up a hat and grab some aloe vera gel.
From the fort, we started the drive to Cabot Trail where my God grandparents live. We didn't know before it was too late, but Cabot Trail is a mountain - surprise! We were driving up the mountain with an SUV hauling a heavy tent trailer. Needless to say, mom was whiteknuckling the whole drive.
Let's all take a moment to thank our transmission and the turbo for keeping us safe, and for the hitch and hitch pin for keeping those behind us safe. The battery in the SUV did end up dying the next day, but more on that later.
The drive up the mountain was absolutely breathtaking. Along the road, they have a handful of places where you can pull over, enjoy the view, and take photos.
Living in a city, I forget how beautiful Canada really is. We have major cities like Vancouver and Toronto, but we also have endless amounts of countrysides full of mountains, cliffs, beaches, prairies, and so much more. I really do need to explore more of this beautiful country I'm lucky to live in.
If you decided to do drive up the mountain, my advice is pee before you start up the mountain. There are long stretches with no stops or civilization. There are a few spots where you can pull over and enjoy the view, but not much else. I learned that the hard way.
We ended up having to pull over on the side of the road so I could pee. Yupp, I peed on the side of the road. In all honesty, it was a nice experience!
I was right next to a stream, surrounded by a beautiful red mountain, and no cars in sight. It was a very natural and peaceful experience. 10/10, would recommend!
Before we arrived safely at my God grandparents place around 8:30, we stopped for dinner at a local pub called The Thirsty Hiker. While eating, we met some other people from Ontario - they were from Perth (small town near Ottawa). It seems to be the time of year for Ontarians to go out east for some reason.
Once at my God grandparents place, we chatted for a bit before getting ready for bed. This was the only other night during this trip where we weren't camping, but rather staying with family.
To be continued...
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