East Coast Memories - Day 6

After our fun at Fort Louisbourg, we drove to Cheticamp National Park which was inside the Cabot Trail.  We set up our tent and for the first time in our trip, we had to prepare ourselves for rain.  That means we had to set up a tarp.  Before the trip I purchased a tarp at Canadian Tire.  I shopped with my nephew and we saw all the different colours and sizes.  He picked the colour.  I picked the size.  Obviously my gift is not with numbers, because this tarp was HUGE!  It covered half our campsite!  For those who need the numbers to visualize how big, it was 20 x 28.

That night, there was a crazy storm which ripped a portion of the tarp off.  Instead of really roughing it at camp for breakfast, we packed up the camp and went out to Tim's.  Today was our day to drive the Cabot Trail.  As it was free Parks Canada Day (previously unbeknownst to us), we didn't have to pay the entrance to the Cabot Trail.

This trail was absolutely gorgeous and I'm sure my pictures won't do the beauty justice.  It seemed like every time we went around another corner we found another breathtaking view.  Even though we experienced some fog at the beginning, it cleared up at about the midway point.  We stopped at Igonish Beach for some lunch and at a number of the artisan shops along the route.  One pottery place that I was interested was slightly off the beaten path.  From there we drove to the PEI ferry, but before we could get there we had to take the Englishman Ferry which was basically a ferry on a pulley rope.  We got to the real ferry terminal and again were surprised with a no cost adventure.  Apparently it only costs you money to leave PEI, so we got a free ride.  The inner Dutch in me might have rejoiced a little bit. :)  I was expecting to see some jellyfish on the way, but the seas were clear and the sunset was so vibrant!

That night was spent at Stanhope (part of PEI National Park) and I was very grateful for 2 things: 1) we were there for 2 nights so we didn't have to worry about taking out in the morning and 2) the sky was clear; ergo no tarp needed!

 Can you see the pulleys?