Another delicious breakfast greeted us this morning at the Blackbird Retreat. This time, we had hard boiled eggs, freshly baked blueberry scones, bread, jams, fruit salad, and cherry tomatoes. We savoured every bite and sip of our coffee and tea, knowing that the other bed and breakfasts on the trip will likely not come close! Our host then took us for a tour of the 200-acre property, showing us what had been created through the generations of owners. There was an apple orchard, fields with potential for growing wheat and oats, blueberry patches, raspberry bushes, pine forests, maple trees tapped to produce syrup, hops for beer, mushroom patches, a barn that they hope to convert to an event space and art studio, another house they are converting into a lodge, tons of trails that could be used for cross country skiing and snowshoeing, and even ancient Arcadian forests. It was incredible and inspiring to see how they plan to create businesses and find ways to ensure they are contributing to the community, while living off the land.
After signing the guest book, we drove a short distance to Big Spruce Brewing to sample their beer before leaving Cape Breton. From Cape Breton, the drive to Halifax was much more forested than what we saw in PEI, which had a lot of farmland. I guess Nova Scotia has more land, and also the landscape is more mountainous, so the population is much more spread out.
We stopped briefly in Antigonish for lunch at Gabrieau's, and ordered their seafood croissant and lobster thermidor. Both were ok, but pricey for what you get.
Once we arrived in Halifax (note that you need a dollar to pay the toll for the bridge) we were able to let ourselves into our Airbnb, then get settled before dinner. We opted to head downtown to see what we might find, and bumped into the Conservative Party's National Convention! This meant there were tons of well-dressed people walking around with name tags, looking for food alongside us. Luckily, we got a table easily at a gastropub (I guess Conservatives are less likely to be caught drinking in public?) and enjoyed a dinner of lobster mac and cheese with some smoked meatloaf.
Since we were already in town, we explored a bit around the waterfront while we still had daylight, poking our heads into the various tourist shops and reading the history on info panels. The most interesting displays were around the Maritime museum, honoring the heroes of the Halifax Explosion in 1917. There was also an outdoor concert stage right beside the convention center, where some local musicians were playing Canadian folk songs. Before it got too late, we made our way back to the Airbnb to wind down for the night.
I'd say today was a decent introduction to Halifax. More to come tomorrow!
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