Vacation Pics #NovaScota

Last week, I shared some of my vacation pictures and my adventures in Nova Scotia. Here's a few more pictures from the end of our holidays.

Baddeck, Nova Scotia, on the shores of Bras D'Or Lake, was Alexander Graham Bell's summer home for many years. Of course I knew he'd invented the telephone, but I didn't know about his other inventions and interests. He was a true Renaissance Man. The other thing I didn't know was his love story with his wife Mabel. After contracting scarlet fever, she'd gone deaf, and since Bell was a renowned teacher of the deaf, she became his pupil. They fell in love and married. She totally supported his ideas and made it possible for him to carry out his work. As the website says, their story shows us how the world can be changed by one person's love for another. A real life love story.

The Silver Dart, an early airplane developed by Alexander Graham Bell's company and tested on the ice on Baddeck Bay.

We saw a lot of other great things in Cape Breton. There was a visit to the beautiful Glenora Distillery where we sampled their whiskeys (you can't call them Scotches since they weren't created in Scotland). We enjoyed our whiskey sampling with a side of live music.

Music is big part of Cape Breton culture, and I wanted to experience as much music as I could. I even learned the difference between a Jig and a Reel (the timing signature). But my favorites were the slow Airs, like this one I found on You Tube. We actually heard this one played. It's called Niel Gow's "Lament on the Death of his Second Wife". No word on whether he wrote a lament for his first wife.

The scenery in Cape Breton is truly stunning. Mountains sweep down to vast ocean vistas. Sometimes the sheer cliffs made me dizzy. One of my favorites spots was the beautiful sand beach at Inverness, Nova Scotia. Nice and flat.

I would have taken a picture from the top of the mountain as we wound our way through Cape Breton Highlands National Park, but I was too dizzy. I'm definitely a flatlander, but even I can appreciate the beauty.

So the holiday is over. We're home now and getting back to "normal", but we'll always have our memories! Do you have a favorite holiday memory?