Brudenell River Provincial Park, Georgetown PEI
Driving down the Atlantic side of Cape Breton early this morning was just as spectacular as the western side of the Cape. Clear blue skies, shimmering water and sandy beaches made for a great journey on our way to Baddeck. I encouraged Ned to take one particular road, even though it really didn't make too much sense to me. It looked on the map like it was a bridge jutting across a small harbor, but the two lines for the roads didn't quite line up. I was hopeful that it would work out. Turns out it was a very small car ferry that took all of 5 minutes for us to board and ferry across. It was hooked up by a cable and held maybe 10 cars. I love when short-cuts work out:)
Our big adventure of the day was visiting the Alexander Graham Bell museum in Baddeck. Alexander Bell's summer home was here and he worked on many of his experiments while here too. The home still exists, is privately owned by family and not opened to the public. Alexander was very fond of his beloved "Beinn Bhreagh" (beautiful mountain) and said it reminded him of his home back in Scotland. He especially enjoyed the cool weather. Ned was looking forward to Bell's inventions and in particular his foray into powered flight. I was looking forward to learning more about his work with the deaf community. Earlier in the trip we stopped at Helen Keller's birthplace and I picked up her autobiography. It was really interesting to get her perspective on the huge impact Alexander Bell had on her life and I was looking forward to learning about his point of view on their relationship.
Everyone knows about Alexander Bell and the telephone ("Watson, come here I want you"), but learning about Bell, the man, and all the other inventions and things he dabbled in was truly remarkable. For example, sheep husbandry. "Bell's desire to help the local economy prompted him to experiment with sheep breeding. He attempted to develop a flock of sheep which would consistently bear twins. He believed that a relationship existed between the number of nipples a sheep had and the number of lambs to which it could give birth. Over 30 years of research led Bell to conclude that no such relationship existed. He was successful, however, in breeding a flock of multi-nippled sheep." After reading that it was quite fun to see all the photos of Alexander and his children flying kites and enjoying the outdoors, with sheep often milling around in the background.
His other accomplishments were building the world's fastest boat, a hydro-foil that was used in WW1; helping launch the first successful powered flight in Canada, named the "Silver Dart"; was a founding member of National Geographic; pioneered the use of the tetrahedron, as a structural element; created a telephone without wires, called a photophone; and multiple inventions to help deaf people with their speech. The list goes on and on. Unlike Thomas Edison who was a professional inventor, Alexander Bell loved the process of learning new stuff and considered himself an amateur inventor. In Helen's book she talked very fondly of kite flying with Alexander Bell. It was really special to see photos of the two, hand in hand, flying kites together.
What I admired most about Alexander was his love of children. He made a point of listening to all their questions because he loved how children have no preconceived ideas. He said this gave him true inspiration to think outside the box. Truly a genius and an inspirational man.
Our second ferry of the day transported us from Nova Scotia to Prince Edward Island. This ferry was a big one! It had elevators that put passenger cars on the lower deck. We were placed with all the big boys - logging trucks, fuel tankers and 20 wheelers! It was a little intimidating to say the least. The 75 minute ride across Northumberland Strait was glorious. Lots of sunshine, blue skies and I even got internet! While waiting in line for the ferry a gentleman informed us that one of our tires had a big bulge. Uh-oh. We just bought 4 new tires in Maine and had less than 2,000 miles on them. Once we were on the island, we located a Michelin dealer just a few minutes before he closed. Fortunately, he was able to get us a replacement that should be in by noon tomorrow - fingers crossed. Since our plans for tomorrow include biking the Confederation Trail, this shouldn't put too much of a crimp in our style. I'm kinda digging this "bike while car work gets done" routine - haha.
Tonight we splurged for a seafood dinner, dining al fresco overlooking the Cardigan Bay. For a change we took a break from lobster. I had salmon, Ned had halibut. It was our favorite meal of the trip so far. Delish!
