Cape Breton and the Fortress of Louisbourg

I just got back last weekend from a week long trip with my Dad and Cam out to Nova Scotia! This trip started being planned months ago with my Dad planning to be in British Columbia for a couple weeks with friends with his RV and Cam and I were going to fly out to join him on the cross-country trip home to Ontario. But his trip to BC got cancelled and since I already had the week off work we decided to drive out east and visit Cape Breton and Halifax instead!

My Dad just bought the RV this summer and this was supposed to be it's first big vacation...when disaster struck. We were 5 minutes down the highway when a car lost control on the wet road and slammed into us! Like literally 5 minutes at most...here is a map of the incident. Green is where we got on and red is around where we got hit.

Thankfully no one was hurt- not even the guy who hit us and his car was really banged up. But sadly the water and electricity to the RV was damaged and thus the RV's first big trip was over. Poor RV. Hopefully he will be repaired soon!!

Harvey the RV in better days

:(

So we limped the RV back to my Dad's house (not far from that green circle), and had a little pity party for about 5 minutes. Then we decided to go on our trip anyway! Cam and I drove my Dad's car to get an oil change and to buy a cooler while my Dad unpacked the RV. We got home and the boys loaded the car up while I frantically cancelled our KOA (RV park) reservations and hurriedly made some new ones! By some miracle I was able to book us a hotel near Quebec city for that night, and then a cabin at a KOA campground in Sussex, New Brunswick, AND another KOA cabin in Cape Breton for 3 nights!! We didn't have any plan for our last two nights, but figured we just find motels and figure it out later. This did mean we had to cut Halifax from our trip, but we were all looking forward to Cape Breton the most anyway. We were off that afternoon!

The drive to Quebec City was pretty miserable- it poured rain the whole time and my Dad was still trying to figure out insurance and repairs on the RV. But by the time we reached New Brunswick the next day we were all in a much better mood! Our cabin was a little rustic beauty that was not at all air tight (my Dad said there was a distinct breeze in his bunk), but it was surprisingly spider free so I give it two thumbs up! We BBQ'd some burgers and hot dogs and made bacon and eggs in the morning. We weren't sure how long the cooler would keep meat good so we ate up!

Then we were off to Cape Breton! The drive was pretty uneventful, but scenic! Trees and water and hills- much nicer than home! We arrived in the afternoon at the CUTEST cabin I have ever seen. There were big red cliffs as the backdrop to the KOA campground and the cabins looked out onto the Atlantic (kind of in an inlet, but still- the ocean!). They even had a porch swing! And were also airtight this time. :)

Sunrise :)

Not a bad view, eh?

Cam at the campground beach

 The next day we drove down to the Fortress of Louisbourg- a big fortress that the French occupied in the 1700s. Most of the Fortress is ruins now, but in the 1960s and 1970s they built a replica trying to be as true to the original buildings as possible. It was super interesting! Lots of people in costume walking around- we even saw a guy get shackled by the neck for stealing a bottle of wine. We walked around a lot, ducking into historic buildings to see art, artifacts, watch the blacksmith, and read about life in the fort and the reconstruction of the site. Then we went for a late lunch in one of the restaurants that serves food as if it were still the 1700s.

Us with our bibs on

mmm Turkey Pie

After the Fortress we took a scenic drive home along the coast and stopped in at the Marconi Museum, where the first inter-continental radio waves were transmitted!

The cliffs near the Marconi site

Then it was on back to our KOA for a good ol fashioned bonfire. :). The next day we went to the Cabot Trail, but I will save that for another post!