When Ed's parents went to China, Ed and I talked about going there. I said I was NOT going. The compromise was that Ed would go to China and I would go to Halifax to visit Ed's brother's family (who had just moved there.) Yes, I would rather go to Anne of Green Gables than the Great Wall of China. As you well know, that's not how things worked out. We took the whole family to China and Ed and I used up his expiring Aeroplan points to go to Halifax. I guess we both won.When we flew out, I wasn't the only one knitting away in the airport. I think she was getting suspicious of my "kinnearing", don't you?
We hit Halifax and Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick in about 4 days. It was a whirlwind tour. In Halifax we toured downtown, Peggy's Cove (my favourite) and Laurencetown Beach.
Georges Island is in the tiny island behind us where hundreds of Acadians were exiled in 1755.
This is the Halifax temple. I love this Inukshuk knit sweater I saw in a shop in downtown Halifax, and no, I will not be knitting it.
Peggy's Cove (below)
We spent some time in the Mount Thom area (Pictou County) looking for the graveyard of Ed's great, great, great (great?) grandfather.
"During the first half of the nineteenth century Angus Murray, his wife,
Elizabeth McDonald and their nine (!) children left Brora, Sutherland,
Scotland and immigrated to Mount Thom, Pictou County, Nova Scotia. Angus
had been a blcksmith in Brora. He bought 150 acres of land for 61 pounds
currency in 1831. Both Angus and Elizabeth are buried in the elusive
Baillie Cemetery, in 1844 and 1840 respectively." (Volume 1, Number 1 Murray Matters ISSN 1183-3726 )
Although Ed and I searched for 2 days for this cemetery, we never did find it. All we got for our troubles were scratches and scrapes from bushwhacking.
Ed's Mum went there last week and was able to find it (she had been there before) and it is very overgrown. We figure we were probably within 20 feet of it, but with the overgrown forest, we couldn't find it. Next time, we will have GPS coordinates. And there will be a next time...
From there we drove up the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island all the way to Ingonish in Cape Breton National Park.
We stayed in a little touristy town called Baddeck, home of a little touristy yarn shop called Baadeck Yarns, (get it, BAAdeck?) They had wool from the east and west coast and it was a lovely little shop.
We also went to the Alexander Graham-Bell museum. Unlike some rock bands, this guy was no one-hit wonder. He was instrumental in teaching the deaf to speak, created man-carrying kites and airplanes, and produced the fastest boat in the world. He was a teacher, inventor and humanitarian who called Baddeck his "Beinn Breagh" (home).
Tune in tomorrow to take the ferry to Prince Edward Island.
4 comments:
Ok so Halifax looks really fun. And that lady looks really pissed. How many times did you take her photo?
Love your pics, and I love NS too! The history is so interesting. Caleb's dad grew up in Ingonish and his grandma is Acadian. That is why Mila's middle name is Evangeline, after the Acadian poem...And I especially love the picture of Theodore:) It is fun to have these adventures isnt it?!
Bea, I only took her picture twice. The first one I missed her completely. Clearly I am not skilled in the art of kinnearing.
I totally wanted to take a picture for you this evening, but it didn't lend itself to kinnearing with my big camera--would have been way too obvious. We stopped briefly at the visitor's center at Arches National Park outside Moab, UT, just to hit the restrooms and refill water bottles. There weren't many people around--just one lady sitting in a camp chair in front of the building, knitting away on what appeared to be a beautiful brown-toned sweater. She was wearing fancy black dress sandals--not appropriate for hiking the red rock, or even for walking any distance. I imagine Arches just wasn't her thing, so she was knitting while she waited for her husband to get back from his hike. She looked so out of place. :-) Sorry I didn't get the pic for you!
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