Kelly Date August 23, 2009

HELLO FROM HURRICANE KELLY !

I was out and about a bit this past week and caught a few great pictures of some of the colourful scenes at a local farmer's market. The flowers are incredible and they heap them up in huge, glorious piles of yellows, browns,

blues, reds, oranges, and violets. A quick side note to let you know the tiny white bunny from two weeks ago is alive and well and venturing out of his hide away. He’s about five inches long now and adorable as only little critters can be.

This has been a very interesting week Sunday finds me sitting in a coffee shop in the Bay of St. Lawrence, Cape Breton. Since last Sunday I spent a considerable amount of timeworking but come Friday afternoon around 4:00 p.m. I decided to get out of town as this will likely be my last chance to do any 'adventuring' before starting school.

I have included a lot of pictures this time as I will make the assumption that most of you have not been to Cape Breton and will enjoy getting a sense of the place. Last night I stayed at the Cranberry Campground about an hour south west of the Canso Causeway. The Canso Causeway is a bridge/road type system that connects Cape Breton and Nova Scotia. There are so many great places to stop and the scene to the left is typical of the area.

My first stop was the nearest information centre as I wanted to know where the Cabot Tail was. I knew it was a scenic drive, but was unsure of where it started from.

That done, I headed out soon enough and was on my way. The scenery along the Cabot Trail is incredible and I stopped at several points to take pictures or hike some of the many trails along the way. The 'Old Le Buttereau trail is amazing and not too long. Finnigan enjoyed a break from the car and a little bit of 'foot' time on the ground.

The weather was fabulous, but quite humid so we didn't do any long hikes. Next up we saw the Butlach Falls, but the water level was quite low. However, that did allow me to get up close and personal for some of the shots. I took one of the skitter bugs on the shoreline as there were so many.

After that, I pretty much drove straight to the Bay of St. Lawrence and took up residence at the Jumping Mouse campground. This is an amazing eco-friendly place with not too many camping sites and the hosts, Margarit and Fred couldn't have been more gracious. They took time out of their day to chat with myself and others, but of course they fell in love with Mr. Finnigan!

A wealth of information about Cape Breton and their home of Bay St. Lawrence. I spent two nights with them and felt I had made two more great friends. I'm sure I will be in touch with them again. I was even invited (along with all the other campers present) to join them for a birthday celebration that evening in their home. Chocolate cake, champagne, smiles and laughter were the main course. The picture to the right was the view from my campsite and I've included a couple others including a coastline sunset, which is incredibly beautiful.

After the cake and celebration, a couple of us went for a walk down to the docks to get a sense of the storm.... did I mention all this took place in the 'tail end' of Hurricane Joe? It was amazing! I stood at the end of the docks being blasted by the wind and just when the next wave was about to hit, I turned my back to it and got a good dousing.

The winds were estimated at 50 knots, which apparently isn't too bad. I loved it and spent the night car camping with the winds howling around me for much of the time. It was so noisy I actually woke up at one point and sat there looking out the window - much to my delight the skies cleared and I saw four shooting stars in the course of an hour. Wow, I love Cape Breton.

So, today I get to head back to Wolfville, but I would like to come back here again sometime soon. This is the kind of place you can truly get away from it all. The Jumping Mouse has a suite you can rent as well and it would be a wonderful retreat in the winter. But for now, its back to the books and life in Wolfville which ain't too bad - not too bad at all.

Have a fabulous day!