Wok N Roll with us...Bob and Teri Along with Atlas and Kalani

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia 7/12 – 22/2015

We spent a total of ten days in two separate campgrounds in the Cape Breton National Park. The Park is beautiful, large and has a vast variety of landscapes including ocean coastal, wooded lakes, tundra, and both hardwood and boreal forests. We hiked every day when it did not rain including the trails: Skyline; Bog; MacIntosh Brook; Lone Shieling; Salmon Pools; Benjie’s Lake; Jack Pine; Coastal; Jigging Cove; Green Cove; and Middle Head. (Wow, while typing them I realize that we hiked a lot!). We heard so many birds singing and whistling on the trails, yet they were a tease and very hard to locate as was most of the wildlife. We saw a total of two Moose, and included one picture within even though we were unable to get him to show his face. They seemed hard to find and very, very timid when we did find them. We saw the local Green frog (his actual name), beautiful butterflies and many dragon flies in various colors. We traveled the entire Cabot Trail and also visited Meat Cove, Bay of St. Lawrence, Cape North, Dingwall, White Point, Lakies Point, Ingonish and Cape Smokie. We put a lot of miles in our boots yet saw something different each place we explored. We have provided a lot of pictures, hoping to display the enormous beauty here.

While here we also visited the Whale Interruptive Center in Pleasant Bay. We were reminded of many things we learned in years past and learned some new things as well. While we knew that whales are cetaceans we had forgotten that all cetaceans swim by moving their tail flukes up and down as opposed to sideways as in fish. Worldwide there are 79 known species of Cetaceans with 68 of those species being toothed and 11 being baleen which strain their food from the water. Even after the moratorium on commercial whaling was imposed in 1986, it is estimated that almost 25,000 whales have been killed since the moratorium came into effect.

Whales hear their world like we see ours. Their reliance upon hearing and for some species magnetism is key. Scientists have tracked the sounds of Baleen whales over 1000 miles away. Many whales use not only their ears to hear but also the vibrations through their jawbones and through the ‘melon’ which comprises their forehead. They use their sounds to communicate with other whales often many miles away.

Their brains are 6 times the size of ours, being the largest on the planet. They can perform tasks that require complex learning, they display elaborate social behaviors and they have substantial memories. They also display individual temperaments, needs for play and companionship. Many scientists believe that their intelligence may match our own. It really makes one think more deeply about what we as humans do in places like Sea World.

We learned about the incredible respiratory systems that whales have that enable some species to dive to depths greater than 3,000 feet and stay submerged for more than 2 hours. Their respiratory system involves not only strategic placement of organs but also a slowing of their heartrate as they dive. They truly are incredible creatures. We left this museum with a realization of how little we understand regarding these giants as well as a love in our hearts for these beautiful creatures.

One of the days that it rained while in Cape Breton, we drove up to Baddeck, Nova Scotia to visit the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. At the museum we learned so much more about Bell than just the telephone (including his tie to Canada).

March 3, 1847 Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Both his father, Alexander Melville, and grandfather were pioneers in phonetics. His mother was an accomplished artist and pianist despite her progressing deafness. After a poor high school career, Alexander Graham spent the year of 1862 in London with his Grandfather. It was that year that Alexander Graham attributed to turning his life around, becoming engrossed in the lessons that his Grandfather created for him. In 1864, Alexander Graham Bell’s father, Alexander Melville Bell, created a phonetic alphabet that he called ‘Visible Speech’. At the age of 21, Alexander Graham began teaching deaf students in London. Using his father’s system of Visible Speech, he had great success at getting his deaf students to speak.

Right after Alexander Graham began his teaching career, his young brother Ted died of tuberculosis in 1867 and then his older brother Melly died as well of the same disease in 1870. A short time later, Alexander Graham was ill too. In 1870, the father decided he had better move his family to a better climate. The family then relocated to Ontario, Canada where Alexander Graham regained his health.

In 1871, Alexander Graham traveled to Boston to teach his father’s Visual Speech at Boston’s School for Deaf Mutes. At the Boston school Alexander Graham also has many private students. One of these students, age 15, is Mabel Hubbard. Just three years later Alexander Graham asks his private student Mabel to marry him. Alexander’s father provided his judgement (shown below) and her father gave his approval.

In 1876 he receives the patent for the telephone. One year later, in 1877 Alexander Graham at the age of 30 is married to his private student Mabel Hubbard, age 19. As a wedding gift to Mabel he gave her all but 10 shares of the Bell Telephone Company. In 1878 their first daughter is born, Elsie May. Two years later they have a second daughter, Marian. In 1881 they lost their first son to breathing difficulties at birth. In 1883 they lost yet another son at premature birth.

In 1881, Alexander Graham experiments with Edison’s phonograph, creating his own invention the graphaphone. He sells his interest to this invention for $200,000 which he uses to establish Voltra Bureau, a repository for information on the deaf.

Eight years after getting married, the new Bell family visits Baddeck, Nova Scotia for the first time. Alexander says it reminds him of Scotland and in 1886 they purchase 50 acres with a cottage.

In 1887, Alexander Graham begins working with Helen Keller. She has given Alexander Graham much credit for her ability to both speak and write.

In 1895 Alexander began experimenting with kites. From these experiments he developed in 1902 the principal of tetrahedral construction. In 1905 he developed the 1300 celled tetrahedral kite that supported Neil MacDermid on a rope……and he begins dreaming of aviation.

In 1909, Alexander with the AEA (Aeronautic Exploration Association) developed the Silver Dart. It becomes the first powered flight in Canada. One of its amazing features was a water cooled radiator for it's engine.

Not as well-known and/or appreciated was the HD-4, a hydrofoil water craft. It was first launched in 1918 and set her world water speed record run at 114 KPH in 1919. She was originally developed to support the US Navy, but when the war ended in 1918, her original intentions were gone. We remain convinced that these inventions were precursors to other inventions by others.

In the museum there were also some personal videos to share. One that comes to mind were the Bell children, now elderly, that talked of playing as children….playing atoms, bouncing off one another, and others just not understanding them. Another was a worker that remained thankful that Bell paid off his house in full. From what we learned, he was a generous man. Of all the many things that we learned about Alexander Graham Bell, the biggest takeaway was that he loved to invent and explore and quickly sold off inventions, with no interest in following to commercial development. And, his real love was his work with the deaf. While Alexander is gone now, James Grosvenor Watson, the Great-Great-Grandson of Alexander Graham Bell continues to carry on developing advanced methods of working with the deaf today.

Beautiful Butterflies
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Whistling Bird
(they even whistle whistle while they are flying)
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Gillemont Birds (related to the Puffin)
Middle Head
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Seagull Chicks
Middle Head
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Partial Moose Shot
Skyline Trail
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Gopher Snake
Salmon Pools Trail
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Green Frog
Bog Trail
Cape Breton Nova Scotia

Colors of the Rainbow
Dragon Flies

Skyline Trail
Cape Breton Nova Scotia

Bog Trail
Cape Breton Nova Scotia

Pitcher Plant (Captures Insects in it's
Fluid Filled Pods)
Bog Trail
Cape Breton Nova Scotia

Cotton Grass
Bog Trail
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

National Park's Red Chair Program
(a sort of find and post your picture)
Bob Relaxing in Cape Breton

Along the Trail
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Cape North Beach
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

MacIntosh Brook
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Crofter's Hut Along Lone Shieling Trail
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Salmon Pools
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

300 Year Old Sugar Maple Forest
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Meat Cove
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Sacred Heart Church 1893
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Benji Lake
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Green Cove
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Jigging Lake
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Coastal Trail
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Jack Pine Trail
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Middle Head Trail
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

St. Peters Church 1913
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

St. Patrick

St. Peters Church 1913
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Visual Speech Reader
Alexander Graham Bell Museum
Baddeck, Nova Scotia

Alexander Graham's Father to Mabel

Alexander Graham Bell Museum
Baddeck, Nova Scotia

The Silver Dart
Alexander Graham Bell Museum
Baddeck, Nova Scotia

Silver Dart Raditor
Alexander Graham Bell Museum
Baddeck, Nova Scotia

Silver Dart Fuel Tank 1909
Alexander Graham Bell Museum
Baddeck, Nova Scotia

The HD4 in Action
Alexander Graham Bell Museum
Baddeck, Nova Scotia

Salvaged HD4
Alexander Graham Bell Museum
Baddeck, Nova Scotia

Model of HD4 built by Casey, Bell's co-worker
Alexander Graham Bell Museum
Baddeck, Nova Scotia

Home Again, on Maybe the world's shortest Ferry
Englishtown, Nova Scotia

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Antigonish Nova Scotia 7/6 - 12/2015

In Antigonish we attended the festivities of the 152^nd annual Antigonish Highland Games. The games held in Antigonish are said to be the longest running Highland Games in North America. While the Highland Games are said to have been hosted on an informal basis in Antigonish prior to 1863, the Antigonish Highland Society first officially sponsored the Antigonish Highland Games on October 16^th, 1863. In the late 1860’s the 78^th Highlanders (remember them from our Halifax post) were the first Pipe Band to participate. In order to participate they traveled by train to New Glasgow and then marched the rest of the way (approximately 40 miles) to the games in Antigonish. We went and experienced the local parade and then continued on to a day of excitement at the games were we watched dancing, drum, pipe and historic athletic competitions too. As we watched the various athletic competitions we quickly became partial to Cowboy Man, a name we created, as he was the only kilt wearing man out there sporting a cowboy hat between competitions. Cowboy Man while we were there set 2 new Nova Scotia Records for both the 22 lb. Braemar Stone (pushed from the shoulder for distance) and also for the 22 lb. Scottish Hammer (round mass, attached to a handle, with no allowed foot movement during the throw. The boots of the competitors have long spikes from the toe that anchor their feet in place). Cowboy Man is from Antigonish, his name is Matt Douherty and he is 30 years old and weighs a light (for the games) 230 lbs. Our other favorite competitor at the games was Dirk Bishop. He is 51 years old, 280 lbs., from New Brunswick and he won the Caber Toss. We also watched the 56 lb. Weight For Height(56 lb. mass, attached to a handle that is heaved over a bar, raising the bar to obtain the highest height), the 56 lb. Weight for Distance (implement suspended from a chain, attached to a handle and thrown for distance) and the Tug-O-War which we discovered was no child’s play event. We enjoyed watching the really incredible athletes compete at their sports seldom seen by Americans. There were also Bag Pipe and Drum competitions, both group and individual, that we wandered around to experience, a fiddler concert and various highland dance competitions too. It was truly a very full and enjoyable day!

We learned a few more new things while in the Antigonish area. The first people in Canada are generally referred to as the Aboriginal. The Canadian Constitution recognizes three groups of Aboriginal people- the First Nations, the Metis and the Inuit.

The First Nations are recognized as the first Indians in Nova Scotia. The Metis are mixed of First Nations and European ancestry. Inuits are the Aboriginal people of Northern Canada that reside north of the 60^th Parallel. So much of their cultural has their Indian roots intertwined and each place we go we learn a bit more.

At the Antigonish Heritage Museum (located in the Old Train Station), we learned about a local Antigonish hero, Ronald Mac Donald. No, he did not make hamburgers. In 1898 he was the first Boston Marathon winner. He would continue later to be a top competitor in the Antigonish games, then attend St. Xavier University, becoming a practicing physician in Newfoundland. In the museum we also saw more local artifacts and were introduced to the Coady International program that was begun in the 1920’s. A somewhat socialist approach, their school is credited with developing co-ops and also Credit Unions in the area. The Coady program today attracts new students from many third world countries. The program is held on the St. Xavier University Campus. So much of what we have learned throughout PEI and Nova Scotia has come from chatting with the docents in these small museums. All have been friendly and very eager to share.

The campus of St. Xavier University is beautiful and it is where we got to see St. Ninian’s Cathedral. The Church was completed in 1874 and granted Cathedral status in 1886.

One of our days while in the Antigonish area, we drove up to the Celtic Interpretive Center in Judique, Nova Scotia. There we had a lovely lunch accompanied by a wonderful Celtic fiddler and keyboard player. The Celtic fiddler was very good and the center has live music every day. The food was good too, where Teri tried the Salted Cod cakes- best described as mashed potatoes mixed with salt cod and lightly fried. Highly recommended. Shortly up the road from there we drove to Inverness, Nova Scotia where we visited the Stella Maris Church, built in 1906 and also visited the Inverness Miners museum. It is at the Miner’s Museum that we cleared up the mystery of why the island had a railroad-car ferrying demand of 132,000 in 1950. It was this demand that created the need for the Canso Causeway project. When we first heard these rail car numbers, they seemed huge to us for supporting such a small island. It is at the Miner’s museum we learned about the huge amount of coal that, at one time, was leaving the Island from the Inverness Mines. All of this coal was being transported via railroad car. At the museum we saw a map of the mines and wow, while mining tunnels get supported, it still seemed surprising that the entire town of inverness has not collapsed. The tunnels are at several levels, and they are not only under the entire town but also quite extensively under the ocean floor at the 4,000 foot depth level!

The first means of transportation between the mainland and Cape Breton Island was a steam powered ferry train barge named the S.S. Mulgrave. An additional ferry, the Scotia I was purchased in 1901 and yet another added, the Scotia II in 1915. But even with three ferries running, the demand for rail car traffic was too great and the ferrying was also too dangerous with several accidents and deaths. In 1952, the first contract to construct the Canso causeway was awarded ($22,000,000). The Canso Causeway name comes from the MiKmaq word “Kamsok” which means opposite the lofty cliffs. Some 10,092,000 tons of rock were required to close the Strait of Canso. The surface width is 80 feet and the swinging bridge connecting both sides for auto and train trafic is 308 feet long. We were fortunate to catch a ship hauling power wind vanes as it was traveling through the canal. We not only got to see the locks in action, but just as interesting was watching the swinging bridge. It was an interesting solution to view this underway.

While Antigonish is not normally considered by most as a destination location, we found it to be rich in history and a fun visit.