Today started with a house cleaning. Vacuuming, emptying, flushing and filling tanks, cleaning bathroom, etc.

Our first stop was at the Inverness Mining Museum.  Inverness and the area around it had coal mines until the 1980s when it became uneconomical to continue the mining.  The museum tells the stories of the miners, the continual cutting of wages for the workers, the eventual unionization of the workers and the accidents that occurred at the mines.  One of the boys killed was only 12 years old.

Our next stop was supposed to be a Whiskey Distillery, but we missed it.  The driver (Ruth) blames the navigator for spending too much time fiddling with the GPS and not paying attention.

Speaking of fiddling, the next stop was the Celtic Music Interpretive Center in Judique which has exhibits on the different types of music. The more upbeat Reel was our favourite. There is also an 8 minute video fiddling lesson here along with 4 fiddles on the wall you can pick up to play along.  This must have scared all the cats in the neighbourhood as we worked through our E, A, D and G chords (we think). Many howls of laughter.

The original plan had been to drive along the eastern shore of Nova Scotia which the map shows as a scenic drive.  A bit more searching on the map showed we’d have to take another ferry so we decided to take the Trans-Canada Highway to Halifax.

We’re staying at the Shubie Campground in Dartmouth, across the harbour from Halifax.