What are the highlights of the Cabot Trail and/or the Cape Breton Highlands and how long should we allow for a driving tour?
Any good restaurants? Any other South Shore must sees?

What you will enjoy about the Trail is plainly the scenery. Take your time to drive the Trail stopping at the most breathtaking spots to snap pictures. If you want to go whale watching, plan to spend a few hours at Pleasant Bay. If you hike, you may want to do the Skyline Trail but again, you will need to plan a few hours. You can do the trail in a day but might want to spend the night in Inverness at the Keltic or at least have lunch or dinner there.

As for the south shore, you are about a 5 hour drive from Cape Breton. Mahone Bay and Lunenburg are wonderful towns to visit. From Chester you can take the Tancook Ferry out to the Island. Not much to see but an enjoyable ride.

What are your interests and I might be able to better direct you.

Other fabulous places on Cape Breton Island include Louisbourg, the Miner's Museum, and Highland Village. Baddeck is a nice place to stay, with the Alexander Graham Bell museum and lake cruises on the schooner Amoeba.

There are very few restaurant options along the northern part of the Cabot Trail past Dingwall, but the drive out to Cape North and Meat Cove is very scenic and a rental car goes anywhere. I'd recommend stoping at the Keltic Lodge in Ingonish for lunch. (This property is one of the three government owned resorts in NS.)

I'll second the recommendations for Lunenburg a picturesque 'perfect storm' seafaring town, Louisburg with its Williamsburg type reconstructions, and Halifax for its citadel and the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

I very much appreciate the time you took to reply, but we have now decided that CBI is too far for the time we have & now will stay closer to the ferry...at B&B's/inns in Carleton, Brine's Lake, Queensland and Shelburne. Mahone Bay and Lunenberg are definitely on the radar screen. We are still interested in good restaurants and museums however... sailing, whales, something that might interest a 13 y/o girl? Any ideas? Thanks again!

You should experience the Bay of Fundy tides along the north shore. There are recommendations on this board for Digby and Wolfville that you might want to take a look at. PEI would be a bit of a drive, but the Anne of Green Gables site might interest your daughter. Lunenburg has an interesting museum on the history of the area and is home to the Bluenose, NS's tall ship. I'd suggest driving up the south shore as far as Halifax before returning to Yarmouth along the Bay of Fundy if you're pressed for time.

This year is the 400th anniversary of the founding of Acadia (the first French settlement in North America), so there are lots of Acadian celebrations going on in the Evangeline Trail area. And speaking of Evangeline, a 13-year-old girl might find that story appealing. Here's a link to the website for a musical production about Evangeline and her long-lost Gabriel. (http://www.evangeline-musical.com/en/envan/index.htm).

*Great suggestions*. We'll now do the Tall Ships Festival in Halifax and I certainly will peruse the website. I just found another website with lots of Acadian (and other) festivals! Thanks!