Nova Scotia felt like two or three trips in one. It seems like we have been here for weeks, despite the fact that it has been only a little over one week here. Part of the reason is the variety of experiences we’ve had here. We have done a fair amount of “trip maintenance” (laundry, planning, cleaning and reorganizing), we have visited cities and small towns, and Cape Breton has been an experience all its own. 

Leaving PEI, we detoured to do a little Greeno(ugh) family history journey. A lot of my family on my dad’s side settled in Nova Scotia for generations, mostly in the region closest to New Brunswick and PEI. One side quest I have is to see if I can find any records related to this family history, since a lot of it took place in times and places where records of births, deaths, and marriages were uncommon. I haven’t had much luck, but we did have fun driving by Greeno Lane, visiting a small cemetery in the woods where my 5th or 6th great grandfather might be buried (the internet said his grave is there, but there was no visible sign of it), and driving the length of Greeno Rd, which I can only imagine is where some relatives of mine settled generations ago.

We carried on and happened upon the town of Pugwash (great name, right?), where we took a wrong turn and ended up in the visitor info center and North Cumberland Historical Society, which just happened to be open that afternoon. So I asked them if they had any Greeno history records. They did have a file labeled “Greeno/Greenough” and someone had tracked much of the same family history I had tentatively found when I did some online research a while ago. There were no new documents or anything, but it was nice to see that someone else had come to the same conclusions I had, and how wild it was to wander into this random former train station in a tiny town I’d never heard of and find a record of my direct ancestors who lived in the area!

After lunch, we headed on to Halifax. The scenery was beautiful— forest, farms, rivers and waterfront. We could absolutely understand why folks would choose to settle here. In Halifax, we parked the van in a long-term lot and walked to our hostel, the HI Halifax Heritage House. It was not an inexpensive place to stay, but was nice, clean, and very well located. Definitely less expensive than anything else in the area, and we really just needed a place to be where we could walk around! We walked down to the beautiful waterfront walkway that night and sat in Adirondack chairs while a bunch of folks danced and played music at a swing-dancing event nearby. We also got delicious milkshakes from a weird Ice cream / cake / convenience store.

The next day was a museum day. We walked the waterfront, visited the Maritime Museum (highlight — learning about the Halifax Explosion of 1917 and reading stories of that wild day), and visited the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. Our favorite part of that visit was the Maud Lewis exhibit. I had definitely seen her work before, but didn’t know anything about her or her life. Her house was dismantled and moved there after her death, since the whole small house is painted and decorated by her. The rest of the museum was also interesting with many fun highlights— and just the right size to cover most of the museum in an hour or so. Also, I got to ride a ferry back and forth across the harbor, which always makes me happy, and we had a nice dinner at a very old pub called Henry House.

Overall, Halifax was great. Interesting history and culture, a fabulous waterfront, and really cool old buildings everywhere you look.

Then we headed to Lunenburg, via Peggy’s Cove and the waterfront in between. Peggy’s Cove is just as touristy as you hear it is, but it is also very pretty there. We got there early, so had no trouble parking and walking to the lighthouse. Morgan spent a while wandering on the rocks and watching the ocean, while I rested my knee and ankle (be careful stepping out of the van, kids— it’s fine now, but ouch). We bought a very sweet piece of seaglass art, from the artist, in an artist’s cooperative called Hags on the Hill, then headed out.

Our next stop was the Hooked Rug Museum of North America. It is just what it sounds like, and the kind of thing we love to find — a very small museum with dedicated and passionate folks running it where we love to stop and learn about something new. We enjoyed picnic lunch by a beach, then drove on to Lunenburg.

Our stay in Lunenburg was a harvest host site at Lightship Brewery, a 10 minute walk around the harbor from the main waterfront. It was lovely to sleep backed right up to the water. It was a rain evening, but we wandered into town anyway, saw the Picton Castle (looking even rougher than usual), and had some seafood chowder for dinner before heading back for a drink on the covered deck of the brewery. The morning brought a lovely surprise — the day dawned bright and sunny, and we learned that a coffee shop sets up in the brewery every morning, so we enjoyed a morning drink and a delicious savory scone on the deck, looking across at the colorful Lunenburg waterfront. We spent the morning walking around, getting amazing pastries from Annie J’s Bakery, and visiting the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic. While picnicking outside the van, we met a fellow from Ireland (originally) who now lives in Lunenburg with his family. He was eager to share how much they love living there, and what a good community it is. He has spent time living all over the states as well, as he worked as a traveling soccer coach for quite a while, but he’s loving it here. Yet another fun conversation with a really friendly stranger.

Our drive from Lunenburg was just a couple hours, and we spent the next day at Porters Lake Provincial Park, in a lovely site looking over the water, taking everything out of the van, reorganizing, and repacking. It felt good to take stock and get things in better order before the next couple weeks of travel, despite the long day of work.

After Porters Lake, we headed for Cape Breton, which is definitely its own, unique place! Cape Breton has a strong, very much alive and present, connection to its Scottish heritage. Many folks migrated here from Scotland in the 1700’s-1800’s, and the Gaelic music, culture, and language are alive and well here. We arrived too late to do anything on our first night there, but got up early and visited the Celtic Music Interpretive Center, where we had booked a Music Walk. Two lovely young people led us on a walk through the woods near the center, down to the beach, then played fiddle music for us while we were beachcombing. Does it get better than that? They shared some basic info about the area and the musical families that live there and have for generations. Then we visited the museum and had a lovely lunch accompanied by more music. It was a great experience.

We drove up to Cheticamp, via an hour or so on Inverness Beach and a dip into the water, then spent a couple hours doing laundry at a laundromat full of quite creepy taxidermy, before heading for our site for the night in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The site was nothing special, but positioned us well for an early morning hike on the Skyline Trail the next morning. The views there were spectacular. We spent the day driving the Cabot Trail, which has a well-earned reputation as a beautiful and dramatic drive through the highlands. We detoured on a Coastal Loop that led us to Neil’s Harbour where there is a lighthouse that sells ice cream. So of course we had to go there. We settled in for a very rainy night at Ingonish Beach Campground.

The next day was very foggy. Like, very very foggy. Like, driving steep, winding roads where you couldn’t see the curve 100 yards ahead of you foggy. We went very slowly. We visited the Gaelic College near Baddeck, where we watched a bagpiping demonstration and learned more about the instrument, heard some amusing tales told in Gaelic and English, and learned more about the history of the area. In the evening, we went back to the college for a Wednesday evening Ceilidh. A Ceilidh (pronounced “KAY-lee”) is a gathering with music, dancing, and/or singing in the Gaelic/Celtic tradition. Tonight, two of the college faculty were performing on fiddle and piano, and they were fantastic! We also got fiddle tunes and step-dancing by some very, very talented young people who are new recipients of a local scholarship for music and language studies. While people have traveled here from many places, it still felt like a local event that we all got to sit in on. The culture here has become quite a tourist attraction, but still seems deeply embedded in the everyday lives of many people here— as evidenced by these young folks growing up in musical families, or surrounded by the music that made them want to start playing, dancing, and learning Gaelic.

Cape Breton felt like a pretty special place. I’d love to go back, and would seek out as much music as possible— and there is A LOT! Now we are off to Newfoundland, the part of our trip I’ve most dreamt about since we first started planning. I’m so excited!