Tuesday, September 11, 2018 (Travel to Pine Hills RV Park, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island)

We pulled out of Arm of Gold RV Park just after 9:00...it was a cloudy, gloomy day. Retracing the route we had taken and leaving Cape Breton Island. Looks like one day that hill will be gone...
The Canso Bridge is a rotating swing bridge allowing over 2000 ships a year to pass through the Canso Canal......
Canso Canal...


Whoa! Now that's a lot of lights for working on the road at night...

Red asphalt ahead...
We passed the Town of Pictou...getting close to Caribou and the ferry terminal...
Pictou Harbour....
We arrived at the ferry terminal just after noon and were told it was "iffy" if we would make the 12:30 sailing. We didn't have to pay anything to board the ferry...it is free to get on the island; you only pay to get off. We were told that if we planned on using both the ferry and the Confederation Bridge, to return on the bridge as it is cheaper than returning on the ferry...

To our surprise, we made it on!
We took our packed lunch upstairs and bought coffee...oh, and Steve had a dried out cinnamon roll from the concession for desert too! 


Another ferry...
The sailing across Northumberland Strait took about an hour and 15 minutes...disembarking from the ferry at Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island...

I think Serena (GPS) took us on a back route to the campground...nonetheless, all the roads in rural PEI are pretty narrow. Yes, we will be renting a car again to explore the island!
Seal River...
A cruise ship is docked at the Charlottetown harbour...
About an hour after leaving the ferry, we arrived at Pine Hills RV Park in Harrington, a suburb of Charlottetown...
A long driveway into the RV park...
It is basically the end of the season for the park, so we had no problem getting a site. The family owned campground is very popular, especially with seasonals...who have only a couple of weeks left in the season.

After checking in, we made our way to our site. Although, a back-to-back site, we were given both sites so that we could drive through. We basically parked in one site though, since it was more level and that's where the services were.  The site behind us will be used for parking our rental car!

We got ourselves all set up...and then decided to sit outside and toast our new location...
I have also booked a rental car from PEI Car Rental, a local company. After trying Enterprise, who we usually use because they will pick you up, I was told they have no cars available because of the cruise ship being in town. So we took a chance and we were not disappointed...PEI Car Rental is owned by a couple who just moved here from Turkey 9 months ago. Tolga and Ozlem are not new to the business, though, having successfully owned and operated a car rental business called Akustik Tourism Centre for 21 years. Tolga even said he'd pick us up in the morning...sweet! Looking forward the next few days exploring PEI!


Sunday and Monday, September 9 and 10, 2018 (Arm of Gold Campground, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia)

It was a cool 8C/46F start to the day...but it was sunny! At about 9:30 we headed out for another day of sightseeing. Today we're going to Baddeck, situated on the northern shore of Bras d'Or Lake on Cape Breton Island.
While the village population is just over 700 people, local hotels feature over 600 rooms. Baddeck is home to the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site, which houses a museum commemorating the work of former resident Alexander Graham Bell.
Our destination is the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site...
Parks Canada’s Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site commemorates the genius and compassion of renowned inventor Alexander Graham Bell. Exhibits show how he and his associates achieved Canada’s first powered flight with their airplane Silver Dart, produced the world’s fastest boat, advanced recording technology, designed giant kites and, of course, invented the telephone. Original artifacts, films, and family photographs highlight his scientific and humanitarian work. Visitors can also enjoy hands-on activities and a variety of programs. Situated on 10 hectares of land with a superb view of the Bras d’Or Lake in Baddeck on Cape Breton Island, the site overlooks Bell’s summer home, Beinn Bhreagh, still privately owned by his descendants.
Admission to the museum was free today...bonus! We learned that there was a special presentation about Bell and his wife...and the hydrodome. But we had a little time before it started in the Water Exhibit area so we started off by going through the timeline...a lot of reading! 
And taking in some of the exhibits on the way to the presentation...



It is mind boggling how many inventions Bell worked on!

(Left)
Curtiss 1-Cylinder Engine
Purchased by Bell for propeller efficiency tests, 1906.
(Right)
Kirkham 6-Cylinder Engine
Water-cooled automobile engine purchased by the Canadian Aerodrome Company for use on the Baddecks I and II, the first Canadian-built aircraft.

We sat through an interesting presentation learning about Alexander Graham Bell...some of the Bell descendants were in attendance too.


The story of Bell's and Casey Baldwin's experiments with hydrofoil craft, culminating in the success of the HD-4, the fastest boat in the world in 1919. The original HD-4 is preserved here adjacent to a full-sized reproduction of the craft.
(that's where we sat for the presentaton)






Model of the HD-4 believed to have been built by Casey Baldwin.

Scale model of the HD-5...
Scale model of the HD-6...












Engine with counter-rotating propellers used on the Dhonnas Beag...


That's quit the cockpit!




After over 2 hours of wandering through the museum, we walked around the beautiful grounds outside...


We finished up at the museum just in time to head to The Freight Shed Bistro for lunch with Dave and Cheryl. They too, are travelling across Canada this summer. We spent a lovely couple of hours catching up with them and comparing notes on places we have seen so far along the way.
And then we wandered outside to check out the wharf...





Amoeba tour boat returning. Hard to see but the Bell estate Beinn Bhreagh is on the hillside directly behind the boat. Unfortunately there is no public access to it.
Then it was time to say goodbye to Dave and Cheryl...it was great you again...safe travels! We drove through Baddeck before heading back home.

We filled the car with gas, dropped off all the stuff from the car, in the trailer...and then took the car down to the office and left the keys with the campground owner. It will be picked up by the car agency in the morning.

We spent Monday, our last day here, taking care of some odds and ends. We researched campgrounds on Prince Edward Island, picked one and booked it. Then I did some research on car rental agencies.

Steve finished up pictures for the next blog, so I uploaded them to Blogger. I ended up pulling out our old laptop so that I could work on the blog update while Steve got started on another batch of picture editing.

We enjoyed our last happy hour outside in the late afternoon sunshine...and then Steve grilled steak for dinner.
Tomorrow we continue our adventures...to Prince Edward Island!