After Halifax we moved on to Antigonish to attend the 153rd Highland Games. The weather turned a bit cool (50-60's) and had some rain off and on. The weather didn't deter us from going to the games for two days. We were able to watch competitions in Highland Dancing, Pipe and Drum bands, Heavy Weights, and Tug of War. The Heavy Weight competitions include the Caber Toss ("tossing" an 18-26 foot log weighing around 125 pounds), Weight over Bar which is throwing a 56 pound weight up over a bar which may be 18 plus feet high--watch your head, Hammer Throw, Stone Throw, etc. They were all very interesting to watch. Of course all of the competitors wore kilts ("Its a kilt, if I wore underwear it would be a skirt"). The tug of war was a real crowd pleaser with the teams coming from surrounding areas. It can really be intense. All of the competitions took place with the sound of bagpipes wafting through the air as various piping and drumming competitions took place. It is an excellent cultural experience and is wonderful to see so many young people still involved in the ancient games.
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| Girl's Teams in Tug of War Competition |
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| Pipe and Drum Band in Competition |
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| Caber Toss |
After leaving Antigonish, we headed west to Blomidon Provincial Park. The provincial park system is similar to our state parks. Blomidon is on the Minas Basin which is part of the Bay of Fundy system. The Bay of Fundy is "Canada's Natural Wonder" because of the dramatic 35 plus foot tides. This park had a wonderful view of the water and we were able to see the tide changes and walk on the "beach" left during the low tide. The tides change every 6 or so hours, so there are 2 high tides and 2 low tides each day. The currents exceed 8 knots (4 meters/second) and the flow is equal to the combined flow of all the streams and rivers of the Earth. The following pictures are of the same location and show how dramatic the tides are:
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| High Tide |
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| Low Tide |
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| Mike, Pat, Buster & Gracie at water's edge |
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| Walking on "beach" at low tide going to water's edge |
Now for the really crazy part. We all decided to hike UP to Cape Split. This is a 16 kilometer (approx. 10 miles) hike. Now for Mike this was a piece of cake, for Pat a little tough but doable. For Chuck and Phyllis (you can stop laughing now), they figured they would hike up a bit and come back down. Well being the foolish people they are, Chuck & Phyllis went to the top. Exhaustion was quickly setting in. Mike and Pat had been at the top and had started back down when they passed Chuck & Phyllis still going up. The view was spectacular, but we still had to go back down. It wasn't all downhill on the way down either. Well about 1/3rd of the way down, Phyllis tripped over a root and did a face plant into the ground. Bloody face and all she and Chuck finally made it back down after hiking for over 5 hours. Yes, we were crazy, but what a sense of accomplishment after we did it and the muscles quit crying. Here are some pictures of the path and the view at the top. No pictures of the black eye and other bruises though.
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| This part looked pretty level. Wished it all was. Chuck on path. |
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| Finally a rest at the top. |
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| Smiles are deceiving. She was pooped. |
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| Buster and Gracie smiling into the wind on the beach. |
Now on to Baddeck.........
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