Our Adventure Begins

After we ran a few errands with Nanny and Tyler and dropped them off, we were off to start our little escapade. Steve had booked two nights at the Sea Parrot, a beautiful manor located on the Cabot Trail in North Shore. To get there, we took a little ferry pulled by cables called the Englishtown Ferry. This is always a fun part of the Cabot Trail and a favourite with the tourists. Speaking of, Steve played tourist by taking some photos and while he was taking this one, he was yelled at by one of the operators for standing on the ramp.
The Sea Parrot is just a 15 minute drive after you get off of the Englishtown ferry. This was our second visit to the Sea Parrot. We fell in love last year with the beautiful rooms, amazing view, not to mention the incredible hospitality of the owners, Lonnie and Roy. They have cabins and apartment suites that are available and each one is specially themed. Our room was the "Far East"room lavishly decorated in Asian accessories.
After settling into our room, we explored the beautiful grounds that Lonnie and Roy work so hard to keep looking terrific. There is access to an amazing rocky beach which Steve and I walked soon after. We could have easily stayed here and relaxed in the many hammocks or lawn chairs all day, but the day was still new and we wanted to make the most of our time together.


We got in the car and drove down the road to Wreck Cove. As we passed by the hydro power plant, Steve noticed a map. The map was for roads leading to various parts of the island, including Baddeck and Cheticamp. We were totally up for an adventure so we decided to take the road to Baddeck. Keep in mind that this was a dirt road and totally out in the middle of nowhere. We passed by the odd camper along the road, but other than that there was nothing out here. To our surprise, we did run into a pack of cows! They may have escaped because there were no pastures out there for them to feed on, but yet they were tagged. The wild cows weren't the only wildlife we noticed out on the isolated road, we also saw a huge moose! Finally after 2 hour drive we arrived in the village of Baddeck.
By this time, it was great to see civilization again. We stopped to do a few caches in the area, but then our stomachs were telling us to stop and get some dinner. So with this being said, Steve and I found a Chinese restaurant. When we got inside and sat down, we realized that this is the same restaurant that we ate at the first time Steve came to Cape Breton. It was neat to come back to it again. On our drive back from Baddeck, we noticed a structure from across the bay that looked really neat. From our distance from across the water, we could see that there was a road that looked like it went to the building. We couldn't resist the temptation to go and check out what this large building was. Steve found the road and we met a few locals just as the road appeared to have come to an end, so we asked them where it lead to. They said that we could take a path to the old saw mill. Aha...mystery solved, it was an old saw mill! Cool! We got out of the car, walked down the path and soon we were greeted with this amazing structure. It was huge! What a perfect place for a cache!
Then after our exploration ended, we were back on the road again. Steve decided to take a drive down to Englishtown. While there we noticed that we had cell reception again, so I called to see how Nanny and Tyler were doing and say goodnight. It was a beautiful night and I got some great photos before heading back to the Sea Parrot.
When we got back to the manor, the hot tub was calling our names. The Sea Parrot has an outdoor hot tub overlooking the beautiful sea. The night was gorgeous and the view was amazing. We had a cystal clear view to the neighbouring islands, including Bird Island and the Point Aconi Power Plant. The hot tub was incredible! It was very difficult to get out because it was just too relaxing. It was the perfect ending to a fantastic day! This was day 1 of our adventure.