I had called Candace in Maine,giving her an ETA, but I forgot that I had entered a different time zone when I crossed the border. So poor Candace and her family were expecting me an hour earlier than I arrived. I had good directions to her house and would’ve made it there a few minutes sooner if the city of Saint John put up street signs on busy city streets. I recognized I was heading off in the wrong direction after a block or two and turned myself around in the right direction. I nearly conked Candace’s Mom in the head as she opened the door as I was knocking on the door. Without much trouble, we loaded the van up with her stuff and said goodbyes to Mom and Candace’s friend Diane. I couldn’t believe the relatively few boxes she had, moving to another province. She, on the other hand, was afraid I wouldn’t have room for all her stuff! LOL!
It was really nice to have company on the ride. It’s a lonely ride to Cape Breton from Saint John alone. Candace was great fun and we had a ball making fun of the town names as we passed. We found our hotel without incident in Amherst, Nova Scotia and Candace was introduced to one of my idiosyncrasies – tripping over nothing. I laughed heartily as she helped me up from the asphalt in the parking lot with a skeptical look on her face. She must have been thinking What have I gotten myself into with this Spaz?
Candace’s homemade sandwiches made for a wonderfully homey supper as we settled in for our first night together. The huge age-range between us didn’t seem to make much of a difference in our conversation. And there was always our love of Great Big Sea that we had in common if we ran out of things to talk about, which we didn't.
Friday, August 4th
A complimentary breakfast, supplemented by Tim’s coffee found us on our way to North Sydney. We stopped in Baddeck for lunch. I HAVE to stop in Baddeck whenever I am in Cape Breton. It’s a hard and fast rule. If you could see it, you’d understand. Maybe these photos will give you a hint:
Candace surprised the heck out of me when she jumped off the retaining wall into the waters of Lake Bras D’Or. “Mmmm warm!” she smiled. We left Baddeck and stopped at the Gaelic College just long enough to enjoy the sights and sounds of the College’s piper. One day I’ll get back there to attend classes again. |
