Playing tourist. June 9

 As I mentioned yesterday, we rented an SUV ( a large, black Chevy Suburban we call the hearse) for a few days.  Other than the trail we rode yesterday, Cape Breton is not very bike friendly, as roads have poor shoulders for riding, and there are lots of hills.  We stayed in Baddeck last night, a summer resort town on the Bras d’Or estuary.  We left the our bikes stashed in their trailer in Baddeck while we explore the island by vehicle.

The locals refer to the estuary as a lake; it is brackish, tidal, and very large. 

Our first stop was at the Alexander Graham Bell Museum.  Bell lived in Baddeck for most of the latter part of his life, and he was part of a group that launched the first flying machines in Canada.  The second photo shows models of his experimental sea planes.  Bell, it seems, generally thought he could improve on others’ inventions.  Hence, he was involved in patent disputes with the Wright brothers and with French inventors who introduced seaplanes. 

We went to the Highland Village Museum, an interpretive center about the history of Scottish settlement on Cape Breton Island. The setting was lovely, and the various homes, outbuildings, church, and school, showed life from about 1925 to 1925.  The third photo shows a process similar to felting, where woven wool is wetted, then shaken vigorously by women sitting at either side of a long table.  It was described as a social activity, similar to quilting bees, where warm woolen fabric and blankets were made communally.

Spectacular scenery