Saltscapes' food editor wins first-ever Culinary Ambassador of the Year award.

The Taste of Nova Scotia Prestige Awards were handed out last week during the Annual Tourism Summit in Halifax. (Taste of Nova Scotia is a province-wide marketing program, whose members have met and are committed to maintaining the program's quality standards for food, service and hospitality.)

Saltscapes contributor Alec Bruce steps up to buy the snowblower that wowed the world

By now, you've probably heard about the cleverly worded snowblower ad on the online classified site, Kijiji was written by a Moncton man, Weh-Ming Cho.

This has been a banner time for awards! Faith Drinnan, our defacto circulation director at the Oyster Group, received a Women of Excellence award on November 16 at the World Trade and Convention Centre, in Halifax. The annual event is organized by the Canadian Progress Club as a fundraiser primarily for Phoenix Youth Programs (Phoenix is a non-profit organization that provides shelter and resources for homeless and at-risk youth). More than 600 people were at the $150/plate dinner to celebrate extraordinary women nominated in six business sectors. "In the 22 years we've been doing this we've raised close to $1 million," says event co-chair, Jacqueline Gallagher.

Today dawned a beautiful sunny morning after a rainy and windy evening and overnight at the Stonehame Chalets in Pictou County NS. From a vantage point of 800 feet, the view from this location, especially on such a morning, is simply outstanding. A great swath of Pictou County, including Pictou Island, is visible with PEI off in the distance.

We left the main highway at Masstown for a Fundy Shore visit to Parrsboro and environs. It has been a while. We had, perhaps, forgotten just how pretty this area is - with stunning views out across the bay in front and a backdrop of tree covered hills.
There's a great deal of local anticipation about the upcoming Bay of Fundy positioning in the new seven wonders of the world vote.

This was to be a long day.

We left Margaree Harbour on a gorgeous morning (Lord knows we deserved it) for a scenic drive across western Cape Breton Island, up along Lake Ainslie and down to the western end of Bras d'Or through the Isle Madame area where French replaces gaelic on bilingual road signs. This was a new experience for us both: very pleasant communities.

We had the usual wait at the causeway (where 100 vehicles line up to allow two boats to pass) and turned left near Monastery for the pretty little drive down to Guysborough - just a charming town.

Still in sunny Cape Breton thus morning: fingers crossed.

Departed Ben Eoin Campground after a great breakfast on the deck overlooking the mirror flat Bras d'Or Lakes; pretty magical.

The MV Atlantic Vision docked in North Sydney right on time on a beautiful morning with an encouraging weather forecast (that we surely deserved after four and a half days of sunshine in 19 on the road).

Moving dogs and kennels and personal on-board items down seven decks was a bit if a chore, but the crew were very helpful - and the dogs noticeably thankful after 15 hours penned up.

What an amazing and spectacular drive we had today. The day dawned clear, but a fairly hefty wind came up early and strengthened during the day. That meant as we toured the absolutely rugged coastline of the Bonavista Peninsula that some major surf was pounding rocks everywhere with spray flying into the air. It was quite something.

We had to slow for our second moose of the trip - a young bull who didn't seem in any particular hurry to get across the highway. It was a long, straight stretch, so there was never any danger to him or us.

Departed Gander Bay for the short drive to Gander this morning (watching for moose and taking our time). Enjoyed a hearty brunch at the good old Albatross Hotel where unique menu offerings include toutons and molasses, poached kippers and real salt codcakes.

A bit of a lay-up is planned for the next day and a half.

We hit Gander Bay in late morning and Jim was assembling fly fishing gear as soon as his feet hit terra firma. As regular fishing visitors to the Gander, we have friends in the community who are employed by the lodge we usually visit, so it was a bit of old home week camped there overlooking the river estuary.