Unlawful to feed the wildlife

We have been breaking this rule every day since we made it to Kejimkujik National Park. The mosquitoes are soooo friendly here that we can't help but to feed them!

Kejimkujik National Park

We took a day off from blogging yesterday. Not sure why, just never got to it! Spent the morning getting ready to leave our house sitting at Paula and Jerry's and headed out around noon.

A relaxing day

Not totally relaxing, in fact in the morning Ruth did some baking, and I gave Sherman's interior a thorough vacuum job. However in the afternoon, we relaxed.

A productive day

Well yesterday turned out to be a productive day. Although we had some showers in the afternoon, we still managed to get a lot done.

Poll results

We've had some poll questions over there on the right hand side for a while now and I thought I'd post the results.

Greenwood, Nova Scotia

On the road early yesterday morning, but only had a short drive to do. First we picked up our little car where we had it parked for the last couple of weeks at Gaspereau Mountain, then we went over to Lindsey's and had a shower and visited with her and Cameron for a bit.

Centre Rawdon, Nova Scotia

Yesterday was an uneventful day. We took our time leaving our free fairgrounds boondocking spot, and then took the main highway towards Halifax, but turned off to take a shorter route towards Kentville.

Truro, Nova Scotia

Well, we didn't expect to be in Truro again, but that just goes to show that plans can change! We didn't have a great travel day yesterday, and that's why we're here instead of down along the southeast coast.

Queensport, Nova Scotia

We drove about 135 kms yesterday, (84 miles) yet we're only about 60 kms (37 miles) as the crow flies, from where we started!

Replacement for Adsense

As I expected, Adsense is not the only game in town. You'll notice that we now have advertisements again to subsidize the cost of our travels. These advertisements are provided by Chitika and from first impressions, I'm very impressed!

St. Peter's, Nova Scotia

More rain, fog, and cold. I forgot to tell you that on Saturday night, Ruth and I and Whiskey slept in the tent and it POURED with rain. We were warm enough, but with the wind flapping the walls of the tent we didn't have a great sleep. And it was drizzly and foggy all day yesterday.

Fortress of Louisbourg

A short Canadian history lesson today, and lots of pictures in today's post.  It was foggy all day, so it's not that I forgot to clean the camera lens!

Louisbourg, Nova Scotia

Yesterday was a busy day. In the morning we hiked the 7.4 km (4.6 mile) Franey Trail, and in the afternoon we drove 158 kms (98 miles) to Louisbourg.

Franey Trail

This is a 7.4 km hike that takes you above the village of Ingonish and overlooks the Clyburn Valley. It's a pretty steep hike to get up there, and then a gradual decline around the other side. We rate this trail a 7.0 out of 10.

Ingonish (day 3)

We relaxed most of the day yesterday. We have one more hike we want to complete, but it has a few viewpoints and it was foggy and drizzly all day yesterday so we are going to do it this morning.

We finally saw a moose!

We hiked a 14 km (8.8 mile) trail yesterday and right when we had to turn around at the end of the trail we spotted a moose. We almost missed her, even though she was less than 50 feet away.

Branch Pond Look-off Trail

This a fairly long hike, at 7.0 kms one way. So it's 14.0 kms (8.8 miles) return. It follows an old fire access road that used to go all the way to Lake of Islands, which was 12.5 kms one way, but that section is no longer maintained and we found it mostly overgrown. We give this trail a 6.5 out of 10.

Ingonish, Cape Breton Island

We did four separate trails yesterday, for a total of 11.5 kms (7.1 miles). We have now done 57.7 kms (35.8 miles) of our 75 km (46.5 mile) hiking goal!

Broad Cove Mountain Trail

This 2.3 km (1.4 mile) trail goes through the forest up the side of the mountain, with a nice lookoff at the top. Fairly steep in sections, but some stairs are built into the trail. A nice view at the top, we give this trail a 6.5 out of 10.

Warren Lake Trail

This is a 4.7 km (2.9 mile) loop around Warren Lake. It's a pretty trail, and we really enjoyed this hike. We give this trail a 7.5 out of 10.

Jack Pine Trail

This 2.3 km (1.4 mile) trail loops through one of the few jack pine forests in the park. There are some interpretive signs along the trail. Again, not a bad trail, but nothing special. A couple of view points make it interesting. However, we give this trail a 5.0 out of 10.

Jigging Cove Trail

This trail goes around a small lake, with another section that goes to the coast and back. We did the other section during the coastal trail earlier on, so this just details the 2.2 km (1.4 mile) hike around the lake. Not  a bad walk, but nothing special. we give this trail a 5.5 out of 10.

Neil's Harbour, Cape Breton Island

Yesterday morning, we left Bay St. Lawrence and had breakfast at Cabot Landing day use park. After that, we headed just past the village of Neil's Harbour to hike the Coastal Trail.

Coastal Trail, Cape Breton Highlands National Park

Yesterday we did the Coastal Trail. It's an 11.3 km (7 mile) hike that follows the coast south of Neil's Harbour. It's a decent hike, and we rate it a 7.0 out of 10.

Bay St. Lawrence, Cape Breton Island

There are several hiking trails leading out of the Meat Cove area, and we wanted to do one of them before we left. The girl running the campground suggested the Mountain Trail, and she said we were welcome to leave Sherman where he was while we did the hike. We left Whiskey behind to guard Sherman!

Meat Cove, Cape Breton Island

We had a great day yesterday. The sun was shining pretty much all day, and although the temperature never got much above 12C (55F), the nice bright sun made up for it.

Lone Shieling Trail

Another short walk, not really a hike at all. And with a full service washroom facility in the middle of the short trail, this one is almost not worth stopping at. We give this trail a 2.5 out of 10.

MacIntosh Brook Trail

Only a few kms from Pleasant Bay, this is just a short trail of 1.7 kms (1.1 miles) return. It's a nice hike though, and we give it a rating of 6.0 out of 10.

Pleasant Bay (day 2)

Well yesterday started out drizzly and cold and it didn't get any better until the sun went down! In fact, we didn't see the sun all day until 10 minutes before it set.

Pleasant Bay, Nova Scotia

We had a busy day yesterday so we broke it up into three separate posts. We did two different hiking trails yesterday, so I have already done a post about each of the trails.

Skyline Trail

Skyline Trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park is the most popular trail in the park. But it's not because it's a great hiking trail. I give this trail a 6.0 out of 10, and even then it's only because of the view at the end.

Acadian Trail

Yesterday morning, we did the 8.4 km (5.2 mile) Acadian Trail. This trail also leaves from the Cheticamp Visitor Centre of Cape Breton Highlands national Park. Overall, I give this trail a 7.5 out of 10.

Job hunting

No, not us.

But I thought it might be worthwhile to try and help our son out in a weak job market...

Cheticamp (day 2)

Well we already told you about our nice hike yesterday afternoon on the Salmon Pools Trail. It turned out to be a perfect day, however they are calling for 40% chance of rain again for today so we're heading out early to do our first hike while it still looks nice out.

Salmon Pools Trail

Just got back from a three hour hike. Today we did the Salmon Pools Trail which starts out behind the campground at the Cheticamp Visitors Centre of Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Overall, I give this trail a 4.0 out of 10.

Cheticamp, Cape Breton Island

We did go get some laundry done yesterday in Inverness, and then we sat and waited for the rain to stop. They had been saying 40% chance of rain, but of course they don't have a clue and it rained all morning, eventually stopping around 1:00pm. Maybe they meant it was going to rain for 40% of the day!

Inverness, Cape Breton Island

We don't really have any plans as to how far we drive each day, and yesterday it turned out that we didn't drive very far. We just stop if we see a spot worthwhile to stop at. If not, we keep driving.

Port Hood, Cape Breton Island

We said goodbye to our friends in Antigonish, but will probably stop in again on our way back through in a couple of weeks. By the time we left it was after 10:00am. We made a quick stop for some groceries because there won't be any large grocery stores along the Cabot Trail.

Antigonish, Nova Scotia

We hit the road fairly early yesterday, about 9:00am. We took the long route that runs close to Halifax because it's a nicer road and it's actually about the same amount of time as the shorter route. I expected a bit more traffic, but the roads were actually fairly quiet.

On the road again!

Well we took off yesterday for our two week tour of Cape Breton Island and the Cabot Trail. We didn't make it very far, but that was by choice.

And the winner is...

C'mon now Sam, you don't really think you could have won...

Only four hours until our contest closes

Just a reminder for any last minute entries.

Medical Insurance

We've hinted a couple of times that we might return to Mexico a little earlier than normal. We're thinking September. Reader Elaine from Canada asked the following question...

May expenses and Adsense income

Well May was a little cheaper, coming in at just over $1,500 in expenses. And our Adsense had a record month! So overall, it was a decent month.