A Bright, Bright, Sunshiny Day

Wednesday was a brilliant, sunny day, just perfect weather-wise. I grabbed a couple of muffins from Tim Horton’s and ate breakfast at a picnic table on the boardwalk in Baddeck. Not a bad view for breakfast!




Out my washroom window in the morning.

Breakfast on the boardwalk.

Since it was my last day in Baddeck, I decided to take it easy. I hit the tourist shops again and found a t-shirt on sale for $9.99. Although the exchange rate gives Americans about 20% off, the Canadian tax rate is 14%, so there’s really only about a 6% advantage after all. I dropped in at the hardware store to get a basket/bin thing to keep some stuff in and was amused to find the ones I wanted came with NHL logos. Unfortunately, they only had Vancouver and Toronto. I got a Maple Leafs one and told the sales guy too bad they didn’t have Ottawa. This led to a discussion about the inherent wrongness of a California team winning the Stanley Cup this year. Everyone here knows hockey, unlike at home.

I had lunch at the Highwheeler Deli, sitting at an outside table in the sun and taking my time. Then I went up to the Alexander Graham Bell museum. Bell was so much more than just the inventor of the telephone. He always saw himself first and foremost as a teacher of the deaf. He worked with Helen Keller and his mother and wife were both deaf. In addition, he was a prolific inventor, working on tetrahedrons (kites people could ride on), airplanes, and the hydrofoil, among other things.

Tetrahedron kite.








Hydrofoil.







After the museum I wandered down to the pier and took a sail on the Amoeba, a sailboat that is about 64 ft. in length. No, I did not get sea-sick; there was too much wind and open air for that, fortunately. I did get a little sunburned, though. I left my carefully-pack sunscreen at the hotel.





Look Mom, one hand. This was taken by the guy in the Montreal Canadiens hat who kept saying “eh?”

I have to say most of the Canadians I’ve met have been very kind and friendly. Some of the interesting people I’ve met so far:

• All the people at Sherbrooke Village, including Evelyn, Heather, Althea, and Meg
• Fred Schupbach, from Switzerland, now running a B&B
• A couple from Salt Lake City (well, Park City, a suburb) biking the Cabot TrailA couple from Arizona: the wife was into yarn and weaving and the husband into history. He was not all that excited that I kept giving his wife local yarn shop info, but did like the Acadian history book I passed on to him
• A trio of older women from Manitoba touring together
• A man retired from Eli Lilly and his wife who has an MLS (at the cailidh in Baddeck, of all places)!
• Parker, the owner of the Louisbourg Harbour Inn, whose relatives helped rescue the crew of an American sub-chaser when they wrecked in 1943 in the harbor.