Yesterday we drove to Sydney and looked at the Coastguard College--or at least, the sign for it. It was a private lot surrounded by ocean and forest with gated entry, so all we could really see was the sign. It actually took us quite a long time to find it at all; we had to stop at the Days Inn for directions since no tourist information centres are open yet. (Remember, Nova Scotia doesn't officially open until May.)
<--See? We did go to the Coast Guard College!
Slightly disappointed and very exhausted, we figured we'd just go back to our Inn and relax for the day, but the innkeeper had suggested going down to Fort Louisbourg, so we figured we'd get on the highway and judge how long it would take based on the mile markers. Well, there weren't any mile markers until many kilometers down the road, and with no way to turn back, we were kind of stuck going to Louisbourg.
So we drove down the highway and eventually reached the town of Louisbourg. We wanted to get lunch or something but no such luck: the ENTIRE TOWN was closed for the season. The gift shops, restaurants, coffee shops, tourist centers...everything. Ok, wierd, but whatever. We continued to drive along the highway until we arrived at the Canadian National Heritage interpretation centre for Fort Louisbourg, which had a big fat metal pole blocking the way! Apparently the fort, along with the town, doesn't even open until summer! Suffice it to say we were pretty ticked.
Still, we could see the fort across the water just a little ways down the road, so we kept driving and a couple minutes later arrived at a dirt parking lot and got out to look around. There were no signs for the fort, but a nice old guy who was parked there (seemingly the only living person in Louisbourg this time of year) told us it was just a little bit further down the road. We thanked him and continued.
We got a little nervous as the road turned to dirt and were even more annoyed when we found the gate to the fort, also closed. But the gatekeeper, another nice old man with a strong Cape Breton accent, just smiled and waved us through the gate, telling us that the fort was closed but we could take a look and stay until 4pm. It was 1:40, and we didn't think we'd need that long. We drove along the dirt gravel road to the fort, which is only open to buses during tourist season and parks Canada trucks the rest of the time (well, and us of course).
<-- Us at Fort Louisbourg
The fort was really cool! It was much bigger than the field we saw back in Annapolis Royal, and it was full of old reinforced buildings and surrounded by a big stone wall. The best part, though, was that it was completely deserted and we just got to walk around and look at whatever we wanted. The Parks Canada people didn't say anything, they just kind of smiled and waved. Maybe they thought we were working there too? It started to get pretty cold and rainy (you can see from my pictures that my hands were pretty much constantly in my pockets) but we walked around the whole fort and saw everything that was open. It was definitely a unique experience to be there when no other tourists were!
<-- Me in front of the really cool Zelda-esque drawbridge
What started out as a pretty frustrating day turned out very exciting and satisfying, and we went back to the inn happy that we'd made the trip all the way out to Louisbourg. We spent the evening eating junk food and watching TV in our room, a little bit of relaxing before Saturday's long drive!
<--Chillin' at the Annfield (in my Monkey Socks!)
Today we packed up and drove out to Halifax, where I am right now in my super cool room at the Waverly Inn (like Wizards of Waverly place! hee hee). I'll write more about today later tonight; right now I want to enjoy my last day in Canada!
No comments:
Post a Comment