I must admit that I am addicted to golfing, which is especially easy to do when living here in Cape Breton!

All the golf courses on the Island are exquisite providing various degrees of challenge, breathtaking views and unforgettable golfing!

My favorite is Highlands Links, located in the prestige Cape Breton Highlands National Park on the Cabot Trail in Ingonish, it is absolutely breathtaking and world recognized! (ranked #1 public course in Canada by Score Golf in 2008)  The course was built in 1939 by Stanley Thompson, and has grown from the original 9 hole to the 18 hole par 72 course. It is hard to put into words the natural beauty of this course, but just imagine standing next to the crystal blue ocean, protected by lush green mountains with the breeze of salt air rushing into your lungs, this is Highland Links! Glenghorm Beach Resort offers a great one night golf package.

If you have never golfed Highland Links, be sure to check out this flyover video to treat your eyes to pure delight and check out what you are missing!

Next on my list is the Bell Bay Golf Club.located in the picturesque village of Baddeck. It allows us to golf and enjoy the pristine panoramic views of the Bras d’Or Lake, and the Bell Estate, Beinnn Bhreagh.

Bell Bay has a unique design of four distinct teeing areas for each hole to provide challenging and enjoyable golf for all skill levels.

Baddeck offers unique restaurants and cafes, historic and cultural attractions and a phenomenal wharf and board walk area. One restaurant that I always like to visit is the Lakeside Restaurant located at the Inverary Resort. Their ideal waterside location offers both indoor and outdoor casual dining in season. The recreation centre offers an opportunity to get out on the lake for the entire family. They rent kayaks, canoes etc. If you are interested in checking out both the Inverary and the Bell Bay Golf Club, they are running hot deals!

Last but not least by any means, is the Dundee Resort and Golf Club located in the secluded village of Dundee in Cape Breton.  Dundee is one of Cape Breton Islands best-kept secrets. This secluded full service resort is located on 550 pristine acres overlooking the west end of the Bras d’Or Lake. The golf course has some of the most fantastic views on the island. If golf is not in your vacation plans do not be deceived. The resort offers a huge amount of water sport activities, indoor/outdoor pools, tennis, a children’s playground and a children’s’ recreation program in July and August.   So what’s not to love about this location? Don’t forget McRae’s Dining Room or the grill at the clubhouse during your visit… Dundee Resort is also running current specials that I have noticed in local newspapers including this one that will make you want to dust of those clubs and get out on the course! Dundee Specials

So If you love to get out in the fresh air, have social time with friends, enjoy breathtaking scenery, good times over live music and cold drinks, I guess I’ll meet you at one of these 3 premium golf courses … The question is when are you coming?

As long as I can recall, even as a small child I remember attending the Canada Celebrations in beautiful Baddeck every 1^st of July.

We are so lucky; to celebrate there is everything that one would hope to see on Canada Day, a parade through the Village of Baddeck, as well as fun and activities all day long and of course the fireworks in the evening.

The evening fireworks for us are always the highlight of the day.

Each year we tend to overnight in the Village because the festivities go well into the evening and we always stay at our favorite accommodation in Baddeck the Inverary Inn, it’s one of the best locations where you can see the evening’s fireworks and they also offer a great rate and packages for your stay.

Besides the activities being organized by the Village of Baddeck the Inverary Inn throughout the day also celebrate with their own bbq, and entertainment for the family to enjoy and this allows us to fill in all the time gaps between what the village offers in activities.

It is a perfect family getaway we enjoy every year

I’d also like to say another advantage of celebrating Canada Day here in Baddeck is all the various activities are in walking distance of eachother no transit needed.

Happy Canada Day Everyone, Enjoy it wherever you are!

Next week the Bras Dor Lake Festival only in it’s second year, it is a must do here on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

Spring has sprung around the Cabot Trail.

So with spring in the air my husband and I decided to go for the first what we like to call spring has sprung drive that we so look forward to every year.

To our delight the winds had warmed dramatically to plus 15, and the mountains seemed to be shaking their snow caps off and to beat it all, a huge moose strutted his stuff for 15 minutes just outside the Cape Breton Highland National Park in Ingonish making it impossible for us to pass. So we waited and actually enjoyed the entertainment!

Honestly where else in the world can we experience this?

As the Moose wandered off to the side, I slowly made my way to Baddeck as I pass a man running along the side of the road with his bright yellow suit and then it jogs (pardon the pun) my mind about the upcoming Cabot Trail Relay Race.

Wow is there any better way to discover the Cabot Trail first hand, then to participate in a run around it?

Although I have pondered the idea of trying a “leg” which is at least 12k, I have never had the guts to fully commit but I told my husband to pull over so I could have a chat with one of the teams practicing for next months race to find out a bit more.

The Cabot Trail is considered to be one of the “must sees”, of the world, and after speaking with one of the teams and learning the race is 185miles long with 17 stages, I am seriously considering it, the team was quite convincing.

But I still wondered what are people saying about it? After searching the website www.cabottrailrelay.com, I found tons of great information that is convincing me more and more to get involved, some of which caught my eye:

• Potential to have a “cool” team name like “Harold’s Hooligans, Run Forrest Run, or Can’t touch this” (I bet you can imagine MC Hammer right now and are subconsciously singing that tune)
• My need to be able to run 1km in at least 10 minutes to keep things moving smoothly
• Beautiful Baddeck is the host town! (I stayed at the Inverary before and loved the location!)
• Think of all the socializing I will do!

I then switched gears and moved to the facebook side of things, to see what people were chatting about there, and…WOW! This relay race looks like a family all on its own! Some of the discussions on the wall just made me want to be there!

“Another amazing year… congrats to everyone who made it!! We loved cheering you on as much as we loved running the trail. Hope to see you all again next year.”

“Hi Folks. I ran Leg 14 with Halifax based “Herd of Cats”. What a blast. This was my first time at www.cabottrailrelay.com I’ll be back”

These “Go big or go gnome” crew looked like they were having a blast!

Looks like they have great eats too! You can almost smell the pancakes from there!

So it looks like I need to get a team ready for the next years race, I’ll have to start thinking of a neat name for ourselves… not to mention beating the 10 minute per mile prerequisite.

Everyone’s got a dream!