What the Walrus said . . .

Photos and Anecdotes from a vagabond!

ZzzzMoose

The Dancing Moose Cafe (which I like to call “ZzzzMoose”.) I spent two incredible days here in the very nice and unique Camping Cabins that Ton Megens and his wife have available for use. (Book Early!! Ton is already full for this summer!) The location on the northeastern coast was amazing, the sun was marvelous and having Cape Breton Canadian National Park right up the road a few kilometers just added to the enjoyment.

I was dead beat when I arrived at ZzzzMoose, crashed hard for a couple of hours after an almost eight hour drive from Cape Sable Island on the southern end of Nova Scotia. When I woke, the temperature had cooled just a bit, down into the lower 50’s, but now the wind direction had shifted, blowing the coastal grey away . . . I could not have asked for anything better for my first sunset in Cape Breton!

Sunset from the beach at ZzzzMoose, looking south.
Same beach about 15 minutes later as the sunset in the west, but now looking north up the rocky beach. The clarity of the air was amazing with the shift in the wind!
The atmosheric conditions contributed to some amazing colors and swirls.
I really did not want to stop photographing the sunset on the beach, or just the beach itself, but it was getting dark quick and I did not have a flashlight with me. I could just imagine slipping, landing on my camera, and breaking it and me!

Yet, I had to finally call it quits and retreat to my cabin. Ton had promised breakfast at 8 AM . . . and I had missed dinner, so I headed for bed with visions of Belgian Waffles dancing in my head.

My second day in Cape Breton came early. The sun rises her in the northern latitudes around 5 AM, but the dawn light crept into my cabin around 4:30 AM, and as hard as I tried I could not get back to sleep. Thus, I had two options until breakfast . . . I could clean out my car and repack everything . . . or, I could grab my cameras and head north up the beach to see what I could see and what trouble I could get into (maybe even find a moose if I was lucky!!)

This is the very rocky beaqch, about a lkilometer or two north of where ZzzzMoose Cafe and Camp is located. There really is sand on the beaches here, but it is under the rocks, seldom exposed, and it is very coarse and gritty
Where the rivers and streams run down to the ocean, if they are not large and powerful enough to push passed the ocean trying to build large rock dams (like the one shown in the bottom right corner), what occurs are these wetland areas behind the rocky beachs. Perfect moose territory, but no resident mooses at this spot.
Along my wanderings, I found fields of this wonderful plant that had captured the morning dew. This is a Large-Leaved Lupine.
My “SEEK” app was only able to tell me that this flower is from a member of the Willow family . . .
. . . and that this was a flower from an Alder (a type of Birch.)
The view from further up the beach. By this time, my stomach was telling me, very loudly, that it was time to go chase up breakfast.

When I returned to my cabin and the restaraunt, Ton was waiting and I ordered something I had never hear of before. By the photo on the menu and the name “Pannekoek” I thought “Pancake”. I was to be very pleasantly surprised. A “Pannekoek” is this marvelous creation, like a thicker crepe, that is covered with thinly sliced onions, potatoes, chives, cheddar cheese and diced bacon, with a few cherry tomatoes as well. It was fantastic!! I am now going to go home and learn/teach myself “Pannekoek”!!

After breakfast I jumped in the Subi and headed north. I have noticed that there is a definate lack of Subaru’s in Nova Scotia. On my first day here, between the Canadian border in New Brunswick and stopping at Mama’s by the Sea, on Cape Sable Island, I saw maybe twenty. So far on my journey north in Nova Scotia, I have seen about just as many again. None of them are modified like mine. I do not know if I get stared at because of the car, or the “New Mexico” ball cap I wear . . . but I am definately an oddity here.

Coastal Cape Breton, slightly inside the confines of the National Park, close to Neil’s Harbor.
The grinding and gouging of the glaciers that carved Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, have left a number of deep lakes in steeply hilled valleys.
The coastline is quite stunning, and the colors on a sunny morning are beautiful.
The roads inside the National Park are very, very nice and very well maintained. The roads outside the national park, especially the road to and from Bay St. Lawrence. It is winds and bends, rises and falls as it climbs through a valley to get to the northern end of Cape Breton.
This is the harbor at Bay St. Lawrence. It is very small, with the fishing village built up around the harbor edge and up the slopes of the coastal slopes.
Stunning though was the harbor channel as seen in this photo. It is as wide as you can see from concrete wall to concrete wall. Two of the lobster boats, like the one shown here that was being towed back to port, cannot pass side by side in the channel. This must be a fun run when the seas outside the harbor are running high!!

I made it about one third of the way through Cape Breton National Park, and I was sad to have to leave before I had the chance to see the crossing east to west, and the site on the western shores. The park has 14 well marked cross country hikes that can be completed, and that in winter serve as cross country skiing routes. The beaches all have picnic tables, and most also have camping sites. In summer, the temperatures can reach as high as 105 degrees, and Cape Breton has the same humidity in the summer that we feel in South Carolina. Oh . . . and for you golfers, there is a stunningly manicured 14-hole golf course right outside of the park. Why only 14-holes?? Maybe it’s a Nova Scotian thing!! LOL

Finally . . .

I have yet to see any moose! Not clumps of moose fur stuck on trees as they passed, no deep moose prints in the soft peaty soil . . . not even any moose scat (which I assume would be large and easy to see based on the size of the beasties!) I was told by a Nova Scotian that there is only one moose in Nova Scotia and that he is moved around from time to time so new “sightings” can occur, and that the Canadian Government puts up the Moose Crossings signs for the tourists! I am hoping none of this is true! LOL

Tomorrow I move on from ZzzzMoose and Cape Breton towards first sailing overnight on a ferry. I will be honest and tell you that I am a bit anxious about this issue of the ferry. It is probably a control-freak issue (not that I am one of those types of persons!) But I feel certain that sonce thousands of people travel by them annually, that I will survive. I will hope to see you all again tomorrow once I get settled in Newfoundland where I supposedly will have a much better chance to see a moose!!

majik756

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