Cheticamp and Mabou

My first inclination was to make our next stop in Cheticamp, since it was the first major town on the other side of the National Park.   However, the best place I could find to stay was "Al's Motel" and, since it was the night of our 10th anniversary, I thought it would be good if I could find something a little nicer.

Cheticamp turned out to be as tacky as I suspected.  This is one of the restaurants

I did find a nice restaurant where I had my second outstanding bowl of fish chowder, and there was a nice view of the water.

We continued on to "Mabou".    The place I found was called the "Inn at Glendyer" and sounded as if it would be pretty spiffy.   Following the directions, we started down a dirt road with the biggest potholes I've ever seen.   As a matter of fact, partway down the road we decided that couldn't possibly be right.  So we went back to the main road, and followed the directions again, carefully watching the odometer, and it was definitely the right road.  

Thank goodness when we got there, the Inn at Glendyer turned out to be a very cute bed and breakfast.  We were the only ones there, and when we went into the sitting room, and Hubby spied a grand piano, he couldn't resist sitting down to play.   As soon as the innkeeper, Esther,  heard the music, she came in and sat right down and begged him to keep playing.

Esther and Allan were a very interesting couple.  She was very nicely dressed and slightly proper.  He was an old hippie who dressed in T-shirt and sweat pants.   For breakfast, she set the table with beautiful linens, china and silver, and Allan made us a lavish breakfast.   Allan couldn't resist bringing in a fresh duck egg for us to see, having gone outside and taken eggs from his roaming ducks and chickens.

Mabou is on the Ceilidh Trial.  A Ceilidh encompasses both the music and heritage of Scotland.  We were quite interested in hearing some Celtic Music.

Interestingly, my Dad's girlfriend, Emma,  has family from Nova Scotia.  She married into the Rankin family, and had told us that there were Rankins in Nova Scotia, and that they were musicians.   Imagine our surprise when we saw this sign:

And when we went out for supper at the Red Shoe Pub (because we had heard there would be music there)  the sign said, "The Rankin Sisters, Proprietors".

Sure enough, this was the Home of the Rankins.  (I don't know if they are the same Rankins, but it's quite coincidental)   We were able to buy a CD for Dad and Emma.  And Dad is talking about making a trip up to Mabou next summer.

Since the place was packed, we ended out sitting with three nice women from Canada.  And there was some Celtic music, being played by what appeared to be a father and son.

We only stayed one night in Mabou, and then headed out for the long drive to Halifax, the Capitol of Nova Scotia