Thursday August 18, 2016 from Lower Barney’s River to New Harris, NS

Alexander Graham Bell Museum

Baddeck Harbor

It rained all night, and when Jim went to dump the black and grey water tanks he found the seals on the grey dump tank were shot, causing the grey water to flow directly onto the ground when the dump valve was open!  Lying in puddles to see why was not an option, so we headed off in the dreary gloom on the Sunrise Trail.  Approaching Cape Breton, the sun came out so we had 5” of sun on the Sunrise Trail and beautiful weather thereafter!  On our previous trip to Nova Scotia, we didn’t have time to visit the Alexander Graham Bell Museum in the very picturesque town of Baddeck, located on the inland lake Bras d’Or.  Thought we could eat in the museum, as it is a very modern building with extensive grounds and parking.  Wrong.  Sugary snacks only.  Unfortunately for us, the Museum was a huge disappointment, and seemed to be designed more for school age kids than adults.  Lots of pictures throughout, artifacts, small movie displays, and models.  We did find out some interesting history of this phenomenal man, who had been born in Edinburgh, Scotland.  His lifelong passion was helping the deaf improve their communication, and his wife was one of his early pupils as a teacher.  She was wealthy through her dad, a Boston lawyer, and financed many of his ventures.  In addition to inventing the telephone (which he didn’t think was that big a deal!), he was responsible with four other men for the first flight of an aircraft in Canada (his personal passion was for manned kites) and later hydrofoils. 

     The drive to the ferry terminal was uneventful (we wanted to check out driving times and logistics), and then settled in at our campground, the KOA Seal Island/North Sydney located across a channel of the Bras d’Or in New Harris, NS.  What a great campground!  Wonderful scenic parking sites and very friendly personnel.

Paul King

  A huge plus, particularly for Jim, was when one of our neighbors in the Campground, Paul King brought out his bagpipes to play a sunset concert.  Paul does this for his own pleasure, something he does frequently.  He had spotted Jim’s USMC decals on the RV, asked if he was the Marine, and offered to play the Marine Corps Hymn if Jim would sing along!  Paul’s playing was far superior to Jim’s efforts!  Paul is a retired Canadian Army paratrooper. His son had served 2 tours in the Army in Afghanistan, and Jim and Paul had a great time talking as he went through his catalog of over a dozen tunes.  

Bridge over the Bras d'Or