Filicki

We got up early and drank coffee while watching the sunrise from our porch. It was a beautiful (and dry) morning although rain was forecast.  After packing up the car we walked out to the beach at Markland. We had the beach all to ourselves. The large pebbles on the beach made a unique sound in the surf - similar to what you mean hear in a white noise app. The large pebbles in the surf with morning sun. We had picked a hike called the Aspy Trail to do first. When we got the trailhead it was raining- we didn't feel like getting soaked again so we waited out the rain in the car. We felt pretty stupid when it stopped, we geared up and then went to the trailhead to read the sign (that we could see from our car) - the trail was closed. There was a nice waterfall (Beulach Ban Falls), though, 10 meters from the parking lot, so that was kind of a consolation prize for the hour and half that we lost. Next we tried Mika Hill with a little more success. Alltrails had warned that there was li...

As we had a short drive today (90 miles), we picked a couple of stops to hit along the way and hoped the rain (our second hurricane of the trip - Ernesto) stayed away. Our first stop was at Chimney Corner Beach - we had the whole beach to ourselves.  Chimney Corner Beach facing south Chimney Corner Beach facing North When we first entered Cape Breton two days ago we saw signs for "The Famous Cabot Trail" and then during our whiskey tour we heard more about his gorgeous drive called the Cabot Trail. (It seemed like we were the only people who didn't know about it).  Well, most of our drive today was along the Cabot Trail - and it definitely lived up to its reputation - particularly before the rain and fog set in. Our second stop was the signature hike in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, the Skyline Loop Trail. Unlike our previous hikes in Nova Scotia, we saw several other people and sadly, it was a little damp (so this hike must be littered with people on sunny weekend...

Today was a day of navigation mishaps. We had a great plan- hike in the morning followed by distillery tour in the afternoon. We put the trailhead location into the GPS and started on our way.  A few miles into our 8-mile ride we passed a sign "This road is not maintained, proceed at your own risk"  - if only there had been a good place to turn around.  The lambo did well, although there are a few extra scratches on the paint finish.  (Micki is glad Filip was driving.) The terrain got worse after the video... We began our hike that was supposed to have an amazing view at the end- only to miss the last turn and add an extra 2miles to our trek, so sadly we missed the view but we did have a great hike in the woods (with raspberries).  And we had a great test run of our new hiking shoes from REI (although no opportunity to try the binocolars). The distillery tour went off without a hitch - we had a great time and sampled whiskey directly from the cask (from 1996) fo...

Back in the saddle again! Drove to "North America's First Single Malt Distillery" where we ate some mighty fine BBQ ribs washed down with Black Angus IPA. We sampled some whiskey too. Our room was nestled up in the hills (where we got the best parking spot) in the end of a 5 unit with a view of the glen at the Glenora Inn & Distillery We thought the wildflowers were beautiful ... notice the fly about to land on Filip's head.... Micki about to smack said fly... 2.5 hour flight, followed by 190 m drive from Halifax Airport to Glenora Distillery in Glenville NS

Mama Mia did not disappoint - the show was delightful, one of the best musicals we have seen, and Micki laughed until she cried (although that doesn't take much). In the morning, we took a quick trip to REI to supplement our hiking gear and to pick up some binoculars followed by lunch at Fiola Mare . (We were pleasantly surprised that the gift card we had "won" at a charity auction in 2018(?) still worked). Meredith joined us for dinner at Top of the Gate before the show.   

Took a quick trip to DC to see Mama Mia tomorrow night at the Kennedy Center (we bought season tickets a year ago).  Trip was 174 miles from Trout Point Lodge to Halifax Stanfield International Airport plus 705 nautical miles to Ronald Reagan International Airport (~2 hr flight).   We stayed at the Watergate Hotel .

We had a full day at Trout Point Lodge and our adventure for the day was a second kayak trip up the Tusket River with a picnic lunch. Today's trip took us about 4 hours in total, was about 5 miles roundtrip and included 3 portages.  While we didn't tip a kayak once, we are pretty sure that we are going to be sore tomorrow.   We went around the right side of the island We took a therapeutic soak in the hot-tub post-paddle to minimize the soreness.  Before dinner we enjoyed a rainstorm on the back deck of the resort. Dinner was a rinse and repeat of last night- small (but different) courses and amazingly flavored. We definitely recommend Trout Point Lodge to anyone coming to SW Nova Scotia. Trout Point Lodge after the rainstorm