Re your questions: here I go again asking for more info--how long will you be here and do you mean that the whole time will be in Cape Breton except for the GTG, or part time in Halifax? That would help me focus on what to recommend.

Meanwhile, no visit to Cape Breton would be complete without a trip around the Cabot trail, especially in October when the leaves will be turning. And no trip would be complete without a trip to Fortress Louisbourg. The fort will be open in October, but they may not have the costumed people and interpreters that late. They will have a Visitor Centre open and some tour guides who will guide you arounf the site. If you are a Rita Mcneil (MacNeil?) fan, you might like Rita's Tea Room. There's also the Alexander Graham Bell museum in Baddeck. Dundee has beautiful scenery. Cheticamp is interesting. If you like things like hooked rugs there is an Elizabeth LeFort Museum where they display her work (apparently she's a famous rug personwhose work often looks like paintings --lots of different hues and shading). Then there is a store called Flora's where they sell hooked rugs and kits etc. Its open year round and there are often local women hooking rugs there that you can watch or talk to.

You might want to check out a bizarre little thing called the Slicker Guide to Halifax if you are headed this way, or on a more serious note if you are a hiker, Michael Haynes has written some wonderful hiking guides published by Goose Lane Publishing. Hiking Trails of Nova Scotia has a section on Cape Breton and the Highlands National Park, and I think he may have since published Hiking Trails of Cape Breton. Not sure if hiking is what you meant by a love of the outdoors--let me know more of what you like and I can get you more details.

Cheers, Collette Saunders Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada