Canada

My husband, John, and I love to travel. We have only been about half the Canadian Provinces. We love the Canadian Maritimes and have been to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island (PEI), and Newfoundland as well as Ontario and Quebec. The last time we were in Canada we took the ferry from Portland, ME (home of Maine's oldest lighthouse) and on to Newfoundland and Labrador. We love camping at Fundy National Park, Alma, NB, and the Bay of Fundy Tides which are some of the highest in the world.

They have wonderful seafood chowders, as well as many lobster dishes. I remember when you could get a Lobster Roll just about anywhere for $1.00 (many, many years ago!). Today, they are a few dollars more, but McDonald's sells a very good one at the best price. We also love Digby Scallops, as they are the sweetest tasting scallops you can buy anywhere.

Alexander Graham Bell, that most illustrious resident of Baddeck, Nova Scotia came here several years after he invented the telephone. He loved Nova Scotia and built his home, Beinn Breagh, across the bay. It was over the ice of the bay that the "Silver Dart" recorded the first airplane flight in the British Empire in February 1909 and in 1919 the H.D.4 hydrofoil set a water speed record which would stand for ten years.

Bell's wife was deaf. The telephone was a result of him trying to find a way to help the deaf hear. I think he worked as a young man for a school for the deaf in the states. He had the ideas, but despite his success at inventions, it was his wife's money that allowed Bell to "retire" and take his family to Nova Scotia and experiment some more. It was a match make in heaven, as they were all very happy and Bell reportedly loved having his family with him in Nova Scotia.

The Bell Museum in Baddeck is located at the entrance to the Cabot Trail in the heart of Cape Breton. It is the "beginning and end of the Cabot Trail" and is a popular stopping place on the Trans-Canada Highway. It also has a wheelchair available for accessibility.

Baddeck is a charming village that provides a magnificent setting to overlook Cape Breton's beautiful inland sea, the Bras d'Or Lake. There is much dramatic scenery and beautiful flowers, especially the pink and blue lupines everywhere in the spring. I would recommend it as a very nice addition to a trip to Nova Scotia in the Canadian Maritimes. Great camping and cabins abound along the Cabot Trail. It is closer than Newfoundland, and has its share of moose, fox, and other wildlife, and has better seafood!