We started the day with a trip to the Louisburg Fortress just east of the town of Louisburg, about a 14 minute drive from our campsite. The fort is located some distance away from the admissions building, and you are brought there from it by a bus. The sky was a bit cloudy (thought it had been sunny and hot earlier) and it continued to cloud over as the day progressed.

The fort itself was very interesting, featuring many (at least 25) actors playing the parts of townsfolk, guards, fishermen, wives, and so on, from the period of 1745, the summer. Most actors played a combination of the "real" selves and guide for the fort, even comparing present day conditions to those of the 1700’s. The fort is a reconstruction, not the original, but very beautiful and interesting. Most of the reconstruction appears to be based on detailed inventories taken upon the deaths of certain inhabitants or moves, so they can be assumed to be reasonably accurate. Some of the characters presented a distinct French bias in their retelling of historical events, but that, of course, would be accurate as well. The Catholic church showed its power in its rather lavish sanctuary, compared to the other structures. At noon, there was a volley of musket fire, a changing of the guard, and the firing of a canon. We watched, sheltered from the rain, under a gateway.

We then headed back to town and decided to pass up dinner in Louisburg for a trip to Glace Bay where we went to the Maritime Miner’s Museum. I didn’t know this but the word "collierery" appears to be a synonym for "mine" and we saw it used on many signs and attractions.

The mining museum was also very interesting, including a tour of an actual mine. Best of all the tour was led by a retired miner who regaled us with hilarious stories of his own experiences, about a joker switching people’s false teeth from their lunch buckets, about nine-year-old children going into the mines to take their father’s place, and about horses that pulled the coal cars deep in the mine, and sometimes lived down there for most of their lives. Once horse was retired and "pensioned" off after 21 years in the mines. Their lives must have been miserable. The horses were only brought to the surface during the one week vacation that the miners finally negotiated with the mine owners recently (that is, the 1950’s, I believe). There was a also a garden in the coal mine, lit by artificial light, in memory of a miner who experimented with the idea.

We then went to dinner and decided to try the Miner’s Museum Restaurant. This turned out to be fancier and more expensive than we had anticipated. Helen convinced the waitress to offer us the lunchtime specials at dinner, while I ordered the breaded and spiced chicken platter. This was the best meal I’ve enjoyed yet on our vacation. Everything was very well prepared and presented, though I think the restaurant was a little busier than it expected: only two waiters (a waiter and waitress, actually) handled all of the twenty or so tables, which were all occupied.

We then drove into town to see if there was a bowling alley and a Laundromat. Helen decided to do the laundry while we rewarded Christopher for putting up with the museums by taking him for something more "up his alley". We found a strange bowling alley in the phone book, right behind the Sterling Mall (where there was a Tim Horton’s). We dropped Helen off at the Laundromat located in "Billy D’s" bar, and then went bowling. This establishment had very strange looking narrow pins, and there were ten of them set up for a small five-pin ball. The machine that restored the pins didn’t appear to have a "clear out" function, to remove the fallen pins before allowing the next roll, so quite often we knocked pins around by smashing the fallen pins so that they rammed the others. Even so, it was very difficult to get any strikes or spares. The proprietor was a obese man who reminded me of a Gary Larson cartoon character, the fat little boy who collects bugs in jars. He stared at us uncomprehendingly when we said we wanted to bowl. All the other bowlers stopped bowling and immediately left the building when we started. Then a greasy-looking young man came in and also stared at us. Then a red-haired lady came in and joined the ritual. It was hard to tell if they were checking us out or sizing us up for a mugging.

After bowling, we picked up Helen at the Laundromat, went to Tim Horton’s for another coffee, and then were passing through the town headed back to the campsite when we saw that the main road was now blocked, and we heard loud music—Green River by Creedance Clearwater Revival—being played live. We parked and walked downtown where a large crowd had gathered. The band was Glace Bay’s "own" "Crossover", and consisted of a pretty blonde lead singer and guitar player, a stocky middle-aged bassist, a drummer, and a strong lead guitarist and second lead vocalist. We enjoyed the band for a while, and I was able to find a banking machine and get some more cash. The band also played "Follow You Down" by the Gin Blossums, and a Shania Twain song, and a WallFlowers song, "One Headlight". The band was quite good. I enjoyed watching the crowd line dance, the children running around, young mothers with children in strollers boogying to the music. The female lead was too close to Shania Twain in styling, for my liking, but she was pretty and energetic and had a strong, husky voice. The male was very good and played decent lead on a strat or strat clone. The sound system was excellent.

We then had a bit of an adventure on our way home, trying to find our way back to Mira River, but we didn’t stray too far off and eventually found our way back down Horne’s Road, which, refreshingly, was clearly delineated on the map.

Then we had a quick campfire and went to bed to prepare for the long drive to the Halifax vicinity tomorrow.