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United Airlines does it again

Tuesday, July 18, 2017 We’re not home; we’re in a Hampton Inn in Newark, NJ.  We were supposed to return to Rochester at suppertime yesterday, but United Airlines has done it again, with help from the US Customs and Immigration Service. We arrived at the Halifax airport at 11:30 AM yesterday for a 2:20 PM flight from Halifax to Newark, connecting to a flight to Rochester.  With the time change (one hour), our scheduled arrival in Rochester was 6:26 PM.  There’s a nice feature at the Halifax airport, which is a US Customs and Immigration station there, so that we were cleared into the USA before leaving and were able to land at a domestic terminal in Newark and avoid the immigration hassle there.  The best laid plans….. Although our plane was there, we were held by Newark air traffic control, but ultimately got on the plane at about 3 PM.  We were on the plane for only a few minutes when we were unloaded and told there was further delay. As the time passed, it was clear we
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Last Day; Alexander Graham Bell

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Sunday, July 16, 2017 Today was mostly a travel day with a couple of stops, as we wind our way back to Halifax for the trip home tomorrow. Our first stop was at the Alexander Graham Bell site in Baddeck, Nova Scotia.  Bell, born in Scotland, came to Baddeck in 1885 and lived here most of the year for 37 years.  We know him for the telephone but he was so much more.  His life-long passion was working to better the lives of deaf people, and much of his work revolved around that goal.  He was a friend of Helen Keller.  But beyond working with and for the deaf, he was a relentlessly innovative scientist.  This site and museum explain all of that. I’ll focus on a couple of things he worked on.  He was a pioneer in the development of the hydrofoil, and built many.  A full-size one is here, powered by two giant airplane engines: He worked very hard in the development of flying machines, collaborating with a number of people including Glenn Curtis, and their machines ulti
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The Cabot Trail

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Saturday, July 15, 2017 Our entire day today was devoted to the northern half of the Cabot Trail.  This is a road which makes a circle around Cape Breton island, and most of the northern part is in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.  It is named for John Cabot, the Venetian explorer who was probably the first European since the Norse to set foot on the North American continent, in 1497. In the map below, we are staying on the small peninsula between Cape Smokey and Ingonish in the northeast portion of the Island.  Our exploration took us counterclockwise, northeast from our hotel, off the trail a bit to go to Neil’s Harbor, and then around the north to the predominately French community of Chéticamp on the west.  We then returned the way we came. Our guide told us that Travel & Leisure Magazine had an issue in which drives were rated for beauty and interest, and this drive was #4 in the world (after drives in Bali, Kauai and Maui).  Here’s a sample of what the
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A hike; Cooking shellfish

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Friday, July 14, 2017 We are eating too much.  The food has been wonderful, and we eat a hearty breakfast followed by two multi-course substantial meals.  The fresh fish has been so good we simply order more and more.  So, this morning we went on a hike in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, which surrounds the Keltic Lodge where we’re staying.  It was lovely. Here’s the beginning of the trail: Here’s a field of ferns in the bright sunlight: Here’s one of the spectacular views from the trail: There was a lobster boat just offshore from the trail, and we were able to monitor the process of pulling up the traps and harvesting the lobsters: After lunch (fish fry, with fresh haddock and a mountain of fries), we attended a cooking demonstration centered on the preparation of various kinds of shellfish.  We learned how to take the scallops which are very different in height, press them between two pans, and make them all the same height so they cook evenly.  T
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Colaisde na Gàidhlig

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Thursday, July 13, 2017 We are really in New Scotland (Nova Scotia) now.  Cape Breton Island is truly where Scottish history and culture come alive, and the history goes back a long way.  In 1746 the Scots were defeated by the English at the Battle of Culloden in Scotland.  As a result, Scottish language, culture and dress were prohibited, and many Scots left for a better world.  That they found here on Cape Breton Island.  The ties to Scotland remain and are very deep, and this is truly New Scotland. We began our day early, taking the ferry from southern Prince Edward Island to the north of mainland Nova Scotia, and then drove to Cape Breton Island.   We stopped at a unique place, the Gaelic College (Colaisde na Gàidhlig).  This is a campus for the study of all things Gaelic, from language to music (including bagpipe) to dance to literature.  They run week-long programs, some for children, some for families and some for adults, and also advocate for inclusion of
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Touring PEI

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Wednesday, July 12, 2017 Last night we saw the musical made of Ann of Green Gables at a local theater.  It was sweet, fun, and very well done.  There were many children in the audience, and the play spoke volumes to them, especially the girls, about keeping your values in the face of extreme adversity.   We had the morning at leisure to stroll the town of Charlottetown and shop, and as we were preparing to leave our room, we saw a large four-masted ship come to the dock right outside our window: It was a Chilean ship, the Esmeralda, on a friendship visit.  Well, they really know how to make an arrival!  Note in the photo above that the sailors are all up and down the forward mast.  Here’s a close-up: As soon as the ship had docked, a brass band on board began to play, and all the sailors broke into song.  It was a spectacular arrival.  The singing went on for about 20 minutes before the sailors all climbed down from the rigging. Click the arrow in the middle of the p
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Prince Edward Island

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Tuesday, July 11, 2017 We left Moncton this morning and drove to an impressive bridge over the ocean which connects New Brunswick to the province of Prince Edward Island.  This 8-mile long structure, called the Confederation Bridge, opened in 1997, and the toll for a car is C$46.50, but the toll is only collected in one direction. We saw a video about the construction of the bridge, with the biggest problem being planning for the winter ice.  It was quite interesting. Arriving in Charlottetown, the capitol of PEI, we had lunch then took a guided walking tour of the town, learning the interesting story of how PEI became a province.  It’s an interesting tale, and most interesting is that the meeting which led to the confederation of the parts of Canada into a true country was held here, but PEI did not join at that time (1857). It’s a long story. There are some old buildings, none of which is very interesting;  Perhaps the most impressive is the Catholic Basilica:
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