"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." - Colossians 2:6-7
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!
Thanks for your interest in joining the Faithworks group and sharing your background. After our meeting last night I'm happy to let you know that we would like to extend you the invitation to join this committee. We'd look forward to meeting with you at our next meeting"
I'm really excited about this opportunity and I'm looking forward to serving with such a great group of individuals who are dedicated to serving God by creating opportunities for both local and international mission work.
So ... the next morning we were recharged from a good night's rest. Unfortunately, our car was not. We forgot to unplug the cool-a-tron. Thankfully, Uncle Marv just hooked us up to his car, and away we went!
On the way to Louisbourg, I got pulled over for the first time in my life for speeding. Thankfully, I just got a warning. PHEW! We stopped for lunch and the beauty of seafood kept coming. I enjoyed a seafood chowder. We parked in a lot and saw the fort from afar via shuttle. This is what it looked like:
See the guy sitting on a bench?
He greeted us and told us that soldiers were
looking for criminals so be aware!
In the first house - this was used as a home and tavern.
There should be a rope thing somewhere which was used for fishing.
Only ale and rum would be served as beverages.
The people working here wore authentic outfits and pretended that they were actually
from this time period as opposed to serving as tour guides.
Getting further in the fort
Where the soldiers slept - 3 to a bunk.
Windows would get boarded up during winter
so you can imagine how nice this room smelled!
This man was accused of stealing a bottle of wine and was sentenced
to endure a public humiliation trial and to stay in the stocks. A woman
in the crowd begged the magistrate to let him off as it would bring too
much embarrassment to their family.
"Voleur" on his sign means "Thief"
If only my garden could look like this ...
They were really excited about ... a seagull? ... a cloud? ... an airplane?
The inside of the fort
They had a real farm on the premises.
We visited a room that had children dancing. Women were selling fresh bread in the streets with signs saying: "French bread pour acheter". We saw a public demonstration of the shooting of the guns. And, we also saw (and I participated in) some 17th century adult dancing, just like what you would see in the Jane Austen movies. It was so fun!! I think I'll have to post those videos in another blog, because I think this one might be too big already? They are posted at the bottom of the blog. Other characters we met were innkeepers, cannonists and a priest. There were soldiers who had to work 24 hours straight and then had 48 hours off. The men explained that the cultural and societal expectation to bow originated to show the people they greeted that they had no weapons on them. Various rooms we saw ranged from the soldiers' barracks to barns, storehouses to the latrines, a general store, a restaurant, the guards' quarters.
Any minor offense that the guards committed and they would be placed on a wooden horse with their hands tied behind their back, their waist tied to their feet. Not only was this process completely painful, but it was extremely humiliating as it was done at the changing of the guards. These minor offences could include smoking on duty, not having 3 rounds of bullets on his person, sleeping on the job or arriving late. When the guard asked us where we were from, we had to say that we were not from Toronto, not even Upper Canada, but rather from York.
