A & K Lick-A-Chick

In Bras D'Or (outside Sydney) is a restaurant called A&K Lick-A-Chick. After hearing about this place as the "best tasting fried chicken on the island", we just had to stop in for a bite.

It was lunch time and judging by the number of people waiting in line, my husband and I knew we were in for a bit of a wait. We found a booth and with ticket stub in hand we passed the time listening to the locals, looking at the merchandise (taking note of the hats in individual plastic bags over the counter) and watching the traffic rush by. When our number was called, my husband and kids had to wait another 10 seconds while I took a picture of our delicious crispy chicken and fries. Then we ate like beasts from an episode of "Wild Kingdom."

This place is such an icon that there are over 4300 fans on Facebook. A discussion item on the fan page asks "what is your favourite menu item" and it appears to be a toss-up between the 3 piece chicken dinner and the chicken fingers. A person named Sha wrote that "chickens don't have fingers."

After a satisfying lunch, we were back in the car and on our way to Louisbourg. Thinking that we should've drove across the street to Lick-A-Treat for an ice cream but, then again, we had one earlier that day in Baddeck.


Directions to A&K Lick-A-Chick.

See more pictures from our visit on Flickr

A visit to Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site

It was day one of a whirlwind three day tour of Cape Breton. My husband is one of those drivers who doesn't like to make pit stops at leisure. As a "cultural explorer", it is sometimes painful to drive past something worth stopping for (at least in my eyes).

That being said, imagine my astonishment when I said to my husband 5 km outside Baddeck "hey, let's see the Alexander Graham Bell centre" and he said "yes". As a kid, I always wanted to visit. Partly because growing up, I remember my parents had coasters with an exterior photo of the centre.

The centre is managed by Parks Canada and it is here where you'll find artifacts, audio-visual programs and photographs that tell the story of Alexander Graham Bell. This remarkable inventor and humanitarian, Bell taught deaf people to speak, transmitted sound to graphophones, created man-carrying kites, airplanes and the fastest boat in the world. Oh, and he invented the telephone.

Inside the centre, our daughter was handed a Seek and Find activity where you matched items to those in the exhibit and then circled them. After a 25-minute talk about his life and accomplishments, it was clear that this lifelong learner loved children. In fact, the exhibits painted this family-man as one who was inspired by them. On display were early models of phones, kites, the original record-setting hydro-foil boat (HD-4), and original parts of The Silver Dart airplane.

By this time, my son was intrigued. When asked what impressed him he said that he liked how Dr. Bell experimented with air conditioning. My daughter liked the talking tube. My husband and I liked the tectrahedron (a triangle) that Bell considered the perfect structure. Bell used this shape in his kites and there was an area in the exhibit where kids could make their very own tetrahedron.

Across the Bras d'Or Lake, is Dr. Bell's family estate "Beinn Bhreagh" meaning "beautiful mountain", it was here where Dr. Bell and his wife Mabel spent much of his last 37 years.

Back in the car we went, after stopping for ice cream (our daughter was handed a coupon when she passed in her Seek and Find activity). Next stop, Louisbourg.

See more pictures of our visit on Flickr.


Useful links:
Parks Canada Alexander Graham Bell site

The Flight of The Silver Dart

The Village of Baddeck

novascotia.com

One year of The Right Coast Nova Scotia

Happy Anniversary!
It's been one whole year since you were created. The name "The Right Coast" was how I described Nova Scotia in Cover Letters to identify that I was a "come from away" applicant. My sister-in-law came up with "the right coast" and it stuck.

I wasn't really a "come from away" but your typical person who, after graduating university, moved out to the west coast to find work. It took 11 years to come home to the other coast.

So, as I re-discover Nova Scotia as a wife and mother a blog was born. You see, since the age of eight I've had a journal. Thus, moving to an online journal, is a natural progression. But this journal would be read by anyone and not hidden under the bed.

To celebrate one year of The Right Coast Nova Scotia, here are a few of my favourites:

My favourite posts:
Lavender Jelly was my very first and favourite post
Between a rock and a soft seat: Economy, Nova Scotia
Paradise, Nova Scotia: This was fun to write, after the sting of paying the speeding ticket wore off.


Most read by readers:
How to pick mussels: Yum!
Canada's Best Smoked Salmon: Willy Krauch's
Making Nautical Wreaths: Recently a reader asked where you could buy one, this stumped me. Anyone know?

Most comments from readers:
Melmerby Beach Provincial Park: A spring time visit got a lot of comments.
Destination Guy's Frenchys
Everything you wanted to know about Nova Scotia


My favourite pictures:
Because I love taking pictures and have a tough time picking which 2 or 3 go into a blog post, I've just started a Flickr account where you can see more. The pictures on Flickr are the more recent ones (July'09 onwards).

Most importantly, thank you for reading this blog and giving me ideas for new posts. Time is short for us all and I appreciate how you take a minute out of your day to read these posts.

I am excited to be a blogger for Nova Scotia's tourism website: novascotia.com and The Right Coast NS is also on Twitter.

Thanks for reading!
Maria

Ferry Boat Tales

A few weeks ago I met up with a girlfriend for lunch. She works in Dartmouth and I work in Halifax so I agreed to hop on the 12:15 ferry from Halifax to meet her at Alderney Landing in Dartmouth. I had read about a new summer program on the Metro Transit ferry system where actors tell tales of Halifax's rich seafaring history.


So, on a Tuesday afternoon I paid $2.25 (made sure I got a transfer ticket for the trip back) and caught a Dartmouth-bound ferry. It was a beautiful sunny day so I sat on the top deck to soak in the view and the rays. Minutes after leaving dock, out jumps Jack Tar and his friends. Jumping from seat to seat and telling a story about a battle near Sambro, ferry passengers (once the surprise settled in) soon realized that they were in the middle of an reenactment.


Here we were, in the middle of Halifax Harbour receiving an entertaining history lesson where the harbour itself has been the topic of text books, movies, conversation and so on. Another cool thing was traveling on the oldest salt water ferry service in North America.

It was perfectly choreographed and the length of the story was the exact length of the ferry ride. I didn't want it to end but I knew my friend was waiting for me and I was hungry.


Ferry Boat Tales is presented by the Halifax Regional Municipality in association with Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. Produced by Heritage Explorers and performed by DaPoPo Theatre.

If you go:
July-August - Tuesday to Saturday

To Dartmouth
(Halifax waterfront at the foot of George Street)

12:15 pm 2:15 pm 7:15 pm

To Halifax
(Dartmouth waterfront at Alderney Landing)
12:30 pm 2:30 pm 7:30 pm

Free with transit fare: $2.25 Adult; $1.50 Senior/Child

See more pictures on The Right Coast Nova Scotia's new Flickr account.

The Whirlygig Factory

Whirligig.

Isn't it fun to pronounce? Besides that, they are also fun to look at. When you are driving along the Lighthouse Route between Mahone Bay and Chester, you can't help but notice the flurry of whirligig's at The Whirlygig Factory. So many that they'll make your head spin.

As I type, I can't help but wonder why my spell check is picking up whirlygig with a "y". I'll come back to that later but first, what is a whirligig?

Wikipedia describes a whirligig as "wind-powered hanging art"- big contrast for what they were used for in ancient times as spinning torture devices. Now these lawn and garden ornaments is considered folk art. A visit to The Whirlygig Factory is where you can get your fix of these quirky and fun ornaments.

It was here where I met Barry and Kara Coutts, owners and creators everything whirligigish. They'll custom make your piece or choose from many designs either on display or on their website.

When I arrived, Barry was the first person I met. Busy in his workshop, he was working on one of his "Tit-il-ating Mermaids". These lovely ladies make you giggle at first and then you realize that these beauties are works of art. Found throughout the property reading in hammocks or playfully posing in a flower garden. It takes 400 feet of copper wire to make the hair, 5 hours to strip the wire and fashion it to the head. Their jewelery are fashioned from glass beads and sea shells.

The Turner Collection was inspired by Bunny & Pat Turner of Nova Scotia who wanted an old traditional whirligig reproduced. Barry was then motivated to create their own line of true "folk" whirlygigs, the one pictured here is "Musher". Also part of the collection is "Harvey the Hunter", "Wanda the Wash Lady", "Charlie the Chopper", "Peggy the Pump Lady" - all wind powered, colourful and entertaining.

As to why there is a difference between whirlygig and whirligig? A quick phone call to Kara said it's merely for phonetic reasons because that's how most people would spell it.


Helpful information:

Location of The Whirlygig Factory

The 10th Annual Whirligig & Weathervane Festival September 19 & 20, 2009 in Shelburne, NS

The South Shore region

The Lighthouse Route

Swimming at Taylors Head Provincial Park in June

It was a glorious Sunday morning.

It was the morning after a family gathering where we dined on lobster and potato salad. The sun was strong and the wind was weak. The black flies were either sleeping in or the bug spray was really working.

It was the perfect time to take a drive "down the head" - that's Taylor Head Provincial Park. It's a gem of a park along the Eastern Shore known for it's white powdery sand and scenic hiking trails.

It's also known for it's cold water. In fact, I can only count on one hand how many times I swam in the water as a kid. One time I was told by a camp counselor that helicopters dropped ice cubes into the water. Why? I never asked. Perhaps my lips were shivering too much to ask.

As my father, sister, cousin, and friend where walking along the beach, my sister out of the blue said "I'm going in!" We said in shock and horror "where", she said "there!", pointing to the water. Before you could say "I dare you" she was running toward the water and jumping in. Clothes and all. You know that happened next? We proceeded to jump one by one into the water as my daughter looked on.

You know what? The water was nice. Then again, I was fully clothed.


Additional info:
Taylor Head Provincial Park brochure and directions

Pink Lady's Slippers: To pick or not to pick

There is a trail behind our house and recently I discovered various patches of Lady's Slippers. Actually, it was a woman taking a picture of these flowers that first caught my eye.

What are these puffed up flowers all about? Well, here are a few interesting facts:

- they are a wild orchid (Cypripedium acaule)
- also known as the moccasin flower
- can cause severe dermatitis if touched
- it's the provincial flower of Prince Edward Island, since 1965
- it is the only flower with a lip (slipper)
- they prefer poor, acid soils (around pH 4-5) and do best in light to moderate shade.
- growth is slow, and it may take several years to flower
- they are fragile and do not transplant well, in fact, it's discouraged
- should not be picked or used in floral arrangements

People tell me that information about Nova Scotia's conservation of the Lady's Slipper is available but I cannot seem to find anything. Send a comment if you know and I'll happily post it.