Saturday, September 19, 2015

Day 24- Alexander Graham Bell


This was one of my favourite days of the trip so far.  We drove a short drive to Baddeck, Cape Breton in the morning and used our Parks Canada pass to get into the Alexander Graham Bell museum.  I just loved the way the museum was done.  While it didn't focus on his invention of the telephone much at all, it did a wonderful job of immersing us in his character and his life.  He seemed like a wonderful person- so passionate, interesting and kind.  Sean and I bought his biography in the gift shop because we were so interested in reading more.  I had no idea he did all the things that came after the invention of the telephone. In fact, he was rather embarrassed that he stumbled upon the aha moment through an accident… he wanted people to know that he was capable of coming up with something all his own.  Did you know that he taught Helen Keller? And he married a deaf girl who was also his student?

Anyways, he moved to Cape Breton because it reminded him so much of his native Scotland.. and I can see why- Cape Breton really is what I imagine Scotland to be like.  The  town he lived in, Baddeck, is still small, peaceful and lovely.  

After the museum, we wandered down the main street of Baddeck and had a nice lunch at the Yellow Cello where we were able to find yummy gluten free hot dogs and burgers-what a find! We even splurged and ordered a round of Shirley Temples.  So yummy!  We are always such a sensation when we go into restaurants.  Everyone wants to know if the kids are all ours, and they almost always stop to comment on how well-behaved the children are!  After lunch, we went in a few shops where the kids spent lots of their spending money and daddy treated us all to fudge and ice cream.  We must have stayed in one store for over an hour looking at all the treasures. I found a pretty hooked wall-hanging and a kit to make my own! And Sammy bought an Irish Whistle. Peter picked out a metal puzzle, Zach added to his growing coin collection he has been nurturing since our visit to the Mint. Traveling after Labour Day has been wonderful – no crowds, nice weather, and most everything is still open for another few weeks. The ice cream stores are usually low on flavours- this one only had vanilla or strawberry, I think... but it was still yummy!
One amazing coincidence happened in the museum! I was just going around a corner when I looked up and saw my very-next-door-neighbours standing right in front of me!! I thought I must be mistaken, but when I heard her voice, I knew it was them! What a small world!!!! The kids couldn’t believe it was even possible, and even I was wondering what the chances could be.  Apparently, they weren’t as surprised to see us, because our other neighbors have been following us on facebook and told them we were in Halifax the same time as them a few days ago. What a strange coincidence! I’ve never even ran into them in the grocery strore in my own city!



After Baddeck, we made our way around to the other side of the island to a little town called Port Hood which is where grandpa Ed’s grandma was from.  She was the only Catholic on his side of the family for a few generations, and it was fitting that we stayed in a campground right below the church that she was baptized in!  The campground was nice and quiet, and it even had a ‘heated pool’ though the heat part was debatable. None-the-less the kids enjoyed a dip and spent a lot of time taking silly slow-mo videos of themselves jumping into the pool and going down the slide.  I don't know how they are going to decide which campground was their favorite at the end of the trip. They have had so much fun t each stop along the way.  



I was thinking how travelling with a trailer and staying in campgrounds is really the best way to travel long distances with children. It gives them time at the end of each day to burn off some steam the old fashioned way - by playing out doors.  They climb and run and chase each other, and generally just have a  blast. In fact, a lot of their journal entries have focused on the campgrounds we've been at instead of any of the actual destinations :)

If we were in hotels every night, we would end up eating more junk, and the kids would end up watching TV or just getting bored all cooped up in a little hotel room. I would totally do a trip like this again one day again.

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