Trekking around Nova Scotia - Day One

Thanks to a very kind schedule, I had a whole 5 days off in a row that didn't start straight after a night shift!  It was the perfect time to take a road trip.  I had been told so many "must see" places, it was hard to know where to start. I thought we could probably see about half of the province in 4 days, but when i mentioned my plan of driving a full circle I was told there was no way I could do that *and* enjoy the sights (it looked a small enough drive on the map!)  So we revised the trip a little and narrowed it down to a few places we thought we might enjoy.

Unfortunately for my well laid out plans, I was sick the day before, so I didn't really feel up to a road trip after all. To compromise, we decided to just do a day trip instead, taking in New Glasgow, Antigonish, and Cape George Point, before coming back home again.

First stop was New Glasgow - about a 45 minute drive away, very lovely road, very little traffic. Pity about all the rain!  

Emily was the first to notice an odd quirk in New Glasgow - all their fire hydrants had been painted into random characters! 

We decided to check out the Museum of Industry, which basically turned out to be a museum all about machinery and trains. Still, it was interesting to go through, and interesting learning about the history of manufacturing in Nova Scotia.  There were also a couple of displays about coal mining, including the history around some major coal mining disasters. 

One of the first displays had some job descriptions of common jobs during the 1800's.  I loved the one for the housewife!

It read "A housewife to work long hours with no pay; duties include cooking, cleaning, bearing and raising children, making and repairing clothes, growing vegetables, assisting with farm chores, considerable responsibility, possible risk to health in childbirth, but great satisfaction in raising a family and helping to build a community."  Hmmm....sounds so appealing!  hahaha

They had a display of some of the tools used by housewives - a butter mould, a butter paddle etc.

Another display that intrigued me was that of the old glass works factory - reminded me of when dad worked for Crown.  I can only hope it was a little bit more civilised than this!

Some of the glassware on display reminded me of all the glassware I grew up with!  They even had a swan ornament like the one that used to sit in the bathroom!  I tried to get a photo of it all, but the flash and the lights around the display made it too difficult.  Oh well....

Another display showed some of the old tools used by hairdressers - imagine going in for a perm if they still used these!

All in all, we had a great time, and even learnt a little bit about the history of our new country!

After a quick look around the gift shop, and a few dollars later, we were back in the car and on our way to Antigonish.  It was another small town - a university town basically - and we drove around the university, St FX, which is now top of the list for Emily's preferred university!

We decided now the rain had stopped and the sun was out, we'd drive up to Cape George Point.  Unfortunately, my handy dandy sat nav had never heard of this place, so I had to "guess" what to put in.  It's slightly nerve wracking driving "blind" on unfamiliar roads!  Now, the fascination with this stop is apparently on a clear day, you can see both Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island.  So we thought that would be pretty neat.  :)

So we drove and drove along this little back road, every now and then I would see a sign for Cape George, but with no directions or distances on it.  Very frustrating!  After a bit, I figured I had driven past the place we were looking for, so we stopped at a rest area that had a lovely view of the ocean, and I got my photos of the ocean - you can just make out the outline of PEI (i think) and you can see Cape Breton too.

Cape Breton to the right

PEI - that hazy shadow along the horizon

After being very pleased with myself for getting my photos, we hit the road again. About 10 minutes down the road I saw a sign for the lighthouse that I had been hunting for!  UGH! The sign indicated the turn off was just ahead.  I saw a gravel drive, but I wasn't sure if that was for the lighthouse or a private driveway, so I kept driving.  I'm thinking it DID lead to the lighthouse!!  Why would they not sign post that???  Why???  The roads were too narrow and bendy to safely do a U-turn, so I conceded defeat, and we kept driving home.  Maybe next time!

We stopped in New Glasgow on the way home for dinner, and then it was home sweet home for the night!

Oh - the silos!  We keep seeing these silos everywhere.  I keep thinking it looks like peppermints on top!