Broad Cove Mountain Trail

This 2.3 km (1.4 mile) trail goes through the forest up the side of the mountain, with a nice lookoff at the top. Fairly steep in sections, but some stairs are built into the trail. A nice view at the top, we give this trail a 6.5 out of 10.

Warren Lake Trail

This is a 4.7 km (2.9 mile) loop around Warren Lake. It's a pretty trail, and we really enjoyed this hike. We give this trail a 7.5 out of 10.

Jack Pine Trail

This 2.3 km (1.4 mile) trail loops through one of the few jack pine forests in the park. There are some interpretive signs along the trail. Again, not a bad trail, but nothing special. A couple of view points make it interesting. However, we give this trail a 5.0 out of 10.

Jigging Cove Trail

This trail goes around a small lake, with another section that goes to the coast and back. We did the other section during the coastal trail earlier on, so this just details the 2.2 km (1.4 mile) hike around the lake. Not  a bad walk, but nothing special. we give this trail a 5.5 out of 10.

Neil's Harbour, Cape Breton Island

Yesterday morning, we left Bay St. Lawrence and had breakfast at Cabot Landing day use park. After that, we headed just past the village of Neil's Harbour to hike the Coastal Trail.

Coastal Trail, Cape Breton Highlands National Park

Yesterday we did the Coastal Trail. It's an 11.3 km (7 mile) hike that follows the coast south of Neil's Harbour. It's a decent hike, and we rate it a 7.0 out of 10.

Bay St. Lawrence, Cape Breton Island

There are several hiking trails leading out of the Meat Cove area, and we wanted to do one of them before we left. The girl running the campground suggested the Mountain Trail, and she said we were welcome to leave Sherman where he was while we did the hike. We left Whiskey behind to guard Sherman!

Meat Cove, Cape Breton Island

We had a great day yesterday. The sun was shining pretty much all day, and although the temperature never got much above 12C (55F), the nice bright sun made up for it.

Lone Shieling Trail

Another short walk, not really a hike at all. And with a full service washroom facility in the middle of the short trail, this one is almost not worth stopping at. We give this trail a 2.5 out of 10.

MacIntosh Brook Trail

Only a few kms from Pleasant Bay, this is just a short trail of 1.7 kms (1.1 miles) return. It's a nice hike though, and we give it a rating of 6.0 out of 10.

Pleasant Bay (day 2)

Well yesterday started out drizzly and cold and it didn't get any better until the sun went down! In fact, we didn't see the sun all day until 10 minutes before it set.

Pleasant Bay, Nova Scotia

We had a busy day yesterday so we broke it up into three separate posts. We did two different hiking trails yesterday, so I have already done a post about each of the trails.

Skyline Trail

Skyline Trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park is the most popular trail in the park. But it's not because it's a great hiking trail. I give this trail a 6.0 out of 10, and even then it's only because of the view at the end.

Acadian Trail

Yesterday morning, we did the 8.4 km (5.2 mile) Acadian Trail. This trail also leaves from the Cheticamp Visitor Centre of Cape Breton Highlands national Park. Overall, I give this trail a 7.5 out of 10.

Job hunting

No, not us.

But I thought it might be worthwhile to try and help our son out in a weak job market...

Cheticamp (day 2)

Well we already told you about our nice hike yesterday afternoon on the Salmon Pools Trail. It turned out to be a perfect day, however they are calling for 40% chance of rain again for today so we're heading out early to do our first hike while it still looks nice out.

Salmon Pools Trail

Just got back from a three hour hike. Today we did the Salmon Pools Trail which starts out behind the campground at the Cheticamp Visitors Centre of Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Overall, I give this trail a 4.0 out of 10.

Cheticamp, Cape Breton Island

We did go get some laundry done yesterday in Inverness, and then we sat and waited for the rain to stop. They had been saying 40% chance of rain, but of course they don't have a clue and it rained all morning, eventually stopping around 1:00pm. Maybe they meant it was going to rain for 40% of the day!

Inverness, Cape Breton Island

We don't really have any plans as to how far we drive each day, and yesterday it turned out that we didn't drive very far. We just stop if we see a spot worthwhile to stop at. If not, we keep driving.

Port Hood, Cape Breton Island

We said goodbye to our friends in Antigonish, but will probably stop in again on our way back through in a couple of weeks. By the time we left it was after 10:00am. We made a quick stop for some groceries because there won't be any large grocery stores along the Cabot Trail.

Antigonish, Nova Scotia

We hit the road fairly early yesterday, about 9:00am. We took the long route that runs close to Halifax because it's a nicer road and it's actually about the same amount of time as the shorter route. I expected a bit more traffic, but the roads were actually fairly quiet.

On the road again!

Well we took off yesterday for our two week tour of Cape Breton Island and the Cabot Trail. We didn't make it very far, but that was by choice.

And the winner is...

C'mon now Sam, you don't really think you could have won...

Only four hours until our contest closes

Just a reminder for any last minute entries.

Medical Insurance

We've hinted a couple of times that we might return to Mexico a little earlier than normal. We're thinking September. Reader Elaine from Canada asked the following question...

May expenses and Adsense income

Well May was a little cheaper, coming in at just over $1,500 in expenses. And our Adsense had a record month! So overall, it was a decent month.

New shocks

I have ordered new front shocks for Sherman! I'm pretty sure that the front shocks on our motorhome are the original ones from 1995, and now have 66,000 miles on them. Now, that number of miles is still pretty low for a 1995, but when you've driven on Mexican highways you can probably double that!

Anyhow, I've ordered Bilstein HD shocks at a cost of $93 each and hopefully they'll show up by Friday so that I can have them installed during our trip out to Cape Breton Island.

Out and about

Well this past weekend I have been out and about visiting.

On Saturday, I went out to breakfast with two school friends that I have known since Grade 1.  That was so long ago, but we always manage to get together at least once a year.  It was nice to get see them and catch up on all the news.

Bachelorhood

I was looking through our pictures over the years, trying to figure out when the last time was that Ruth and I were apart for a full two weeks. Ruth will probably pipe in and answer that question real quick, and I can't recall offhand but I have a feeling it was quite a long time ago.

Everybody loves a parade

I stopped in town this morning to pick up some clips that I needed in order to put Sherman's dash back together. After that, I was on the way to Lindsey and Justin's because we were going to the 79th Annual Apple Blossom Parade.

Guess what?

It's been raining again.   I know, I know everyone is tired about everyone's post complaining about the weather. I guess we are lucky, considering we just have to deal with wet weather while others are dealing with floods and tornadoes.  We really feel for those people, some have lost everything or are trying to save everything from rising waters.

Almost like summer

Less than a week to go until Ruth returns and we can hit the road again. When she gets back, we're heading to Cape Breton Island to explore the Cabot Trail. We were there in the summer of 2008 and it's a beautiful part of the world so we're looking forward to going back there for a couple of weeks.

Contest giveaway

One lucky winner will receive a brand new RV cover of your choice!

We're going to have a contest!

With a valuable RV related item as a prize!

No rain!

Well I think I have gone about 5 days here in Ontario with no rain.  I think that is a record!  It still hasn't been real nice spring weather, except for Saturday when I went to Plattsburg to pick up Alex, that turned out to be a beautiful day.  It is still cool and more overcast than sunny, but I will take that, it helps keep the mosquitoes at bay.

Almost BBQ weather

Yesterday turned out good enough that it almost felt like barbecue weather. They had been calling for showers again, but it never did rain. Good thing, because Lindsey and Justin and Cameron came up to visit and go for a hike.

Motorhome repairs

I spent some time yesterday afternoon working on Sherman. You know, that "to do" list that I am going to get done before Ruth returns!

School is Over

Yesterday was a long day for me.  I was going to Plattsburgh, NY to pick up our son, Alex for the very last time.  After 5 years of college and university in the States he is finished for good.  He has graduated with honours with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Math.  Way to go Alex, we are so proud of you.

Online medication

Whiskey (now 15 years old) has a heart murmur that has essentially caused congestive heart failure. She has been prescribed a medication called Vetmedin that makes her heart pump more efficiently.

Anonymous?

You don't have to be Anonymous. Many of our readers become "followers". Yeah, it does sound a bit like a cult or something, doesn't it? But it's not. It just makes it easy for you to keep up with what we're doing.

A Nice Hike

This is the second post for the day.  To read Kevin's earlier post just click on the previous post.

We I didn't do very much yesterday.  I woke up to rain and it continued off and on throughout the day.  So I stayed inside for most of it.  I did make my dad his favourite cake and later took KC, my dad's dog for a short walk while there was a break in the weather.  Then later on made a nice fish dish for supper.

Out for a bike ride

We got another decent day here on Gaspereau Mountain, so I took advantage of it to go for a nice bicycle ride. Only problem is that we are pretty much located at the top of a hill here, it's not really a mountain. So pretty much any direction leads down, which means you have to cycle back up!