Today we left the Walmart in Port Hawkesbury and drove east to Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site:

The first room focused on Bell’s work with the deaf, including a fascinating display explaining Bell’s father’s invention, Visible Speech.  Bell’s efforts to understand the nature of spoken audio led him to discover the waveform of voice which in turn led him to the invention of the telephone:

This poster was on the wall near the restrooms:

After inventing the telephone and making his fortune, Bell and his wife moved here to Cape Breton Island where he focused on aviation and hydrofoils:

A replica of the Silver Dart, a collaboration with Bell and others in the Bell-funded and led AEA.  This is the first heavier-than-air craft to fly in Canada, as well as the first airplane in North America to fly over one mile:

Bell and Baldwin developed the HD-4, the first water craft to travel over 100KPH.  This is a full size replica of the original HD-4, completed in 1919:

Models of the HD-4 (left), HD-5, and HD-6:

The original hull of the HD-4:

The original radiator and gas tank from the Silver Dart:

The original propeller from the Silver Dart:

Alexander Graham Bell’s slide rule:

Bell telephones:

The first device to ever transmit voice over wire:

It’s easy to see why Bell called this area home in his later years:

The kids completed their Parks Canada Xplorers workbooks and received their tags:

We left the RV at Alexander Graham Bell NHS and continued east with just the truck to visit Cape Breton Highlands National Park:

We drove the Cabot Trail through the park.  The rugged shoreline was beautiful:

M and I hiked the Skyline Trail, despite the late hour and temperatures in the low 50s, which we did not expect.  The altitude here is not that great, so perhaps the cold was due to winds blowing off the North Atlantic.  We got handled both problems by walking fast:

Meadows have recently formed here because moose are eating all the saplings.  Parks Canada built this enclosure to compare rates of plant growth with and without moose influence:

We spotted a moose cow browsing outside the enclosure:

The Cabot Trail, where we will be driving after finishing the hike:

More wildlife:

The end of the Skyline trail:

On the way back, now 20 minutes after sunset, we ran into this bull moose just outside the moose enclosure, about 50 feet away: 

Moose inflict more human injuries than any land mammal except the hippopotamus, so we hiked cross-country the skirt the moose and avoid startling it into charging:

We managed to get back to the car and reach the visitor center minutes before its 9pm closing time.  The kids handed in their Parks Canada Xplorers workbooks and received their tags:

We drove back to Alexander Graham Bell NHS, hitched up the RV, and drove east to overnight at the Walmart of Sydney, Nova Scotia.  See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.