Our Trip To PEI (long post)

 The weather the past two days was hot and humid. Yesterday's high got to 29C (humidex 32C). This morning it is clear and 18C. Today is supposed to be sunny with a high of 31C (humidex 38C). 

Trip To PEI

We left Monday morning at 9:15 am and took the back road to the main highway to New Brunswick. It wasn't a rushed trip so we enjoyed looking around as we drove. Once on the highway, we drove up to Truro and then over the pass to New Brunswick. That part of the drive was a bit boring as all you could see was road and forest. Once we got closer to the border there was a huge wind farm. 

We got to the border shortly after that. 

We took the highway to Moncton as we wanted to get there to eat lunch. Our lunch stop was at Magnetic Hill where they have shops, a restaurant, activities, and picnic tables. We had a picnic lunch. 

We wandered around a bit looking at the shops and then left. I did find a variety of Covered Barn chips I have never seen before. 

We did not do Magnetic Hill as we wanted to get to the yarn shop. A twenty minute drive and we arrived there. 

We spent a bit of time looking at all the yarn as there was yarn I had heard of but never seen. I bought these two skeins by a New Brunswick artist. 

I bought a skein of yarn from Peru which is cotton and silk. Daughter-in-law bought the yarn from Peru in yak wool and silk. We left the shop two happy campers. 

We drove through Moncton and saw a very old building that is a high school. It runs the length of the block. 

Once out of Moncton, we had a bit of an argument with Google maps. We did take the main road east to Shediac. At Shediac, we saw the world's largest lobster which is a huge tourist attraction.

We also saw a neat sign on a building at the ocean's edge. 

We were close to the ocean and could smell the salt water. 

It was between Shediac and Shemogue that we saw a lot of fish processing plants. Lobster traps were plentiful. As we drove, we saw where lobster is canned. We can buy it in our grocery stores. 

Along the way, we saw a lane and went down it. It took us to the ocean and we stopped and walked the beach as it was low tide. As I took this picture, I noticed the bridge to PEI. We were close but still had to take our time exploring. 

The beach was littered with clam and mussel shells. 

It was back into the car and we kept driving and looking at the everything. We got to the intersection to go to PEI. 

We had taken the Starfish route from Moncton to Highway 16. At this intersection, we turned left to PEI, If we had gone straight ahead, we would have taken the road to where my dad was born - Cape Tormentine. 

We turned towards PEI and headed for the Confederation Bridge. This bridge is about 13 km long and you go up an incline when you first drive onto it.

You also go up an incline half way across the bridge. At the PEI end of the bridge, they were doing maintenance on the bridge. 

Once off the bridge, we stopped at the tourist information area and they had this beautiful stained glass of the bridge hanging in the building. 

It was back on the road and getting onto the roads that go along the coast of PEI to Charlottetown. The scenery changed. The soil was red as was the sand. We really enjoyed the trip down the coast and stopped at Victoria to have dinner. We went to The Lobster Barn. I had a cup of seafood chowder that was delicious.

We shared a crab dip plate which was also delicious. 

After dinner, we headed back on the road to Charlottetown. We were to turn left and we turned right because we saw a beach. We parked the car and headed down to the ocean. 

Daughter-in-law took off her shoes and socks and walked out into the ocean. 

She said the water was warm. She saw a starfish and some tiny crabs in the tidal pools. I stayed on the beach and looked at all the oysters that came in with the tide and didn't make it back out. 

The oysters in the shallow tidal pools might survive the low tide. 

We left very happy and headed to Charlottetown where we found our hotel and crashed for the night. 

Yesterday we toured Charlottetown. We saw the parliament buildings. 

Then it was on to Beaconsfield House which was built in 1877 and it is huge.

Then it was on to Confederation Park. We had a great time there walking about. I didn't get a lot of pictures as my phone battery died and I had to charge it. There is a huge monument about Charlottetown and Confederation which was interesting to read. Charlottetown was the first capital of Canada (small as it was). There was a bell from a ship in the park also. 

After looking at the historical part of the park, we wandered to the tourist area. It was busy as a cruise ship was docked for the day. We looked in the shops until it was time for lunch. 

We ate at the Lobster Shack which is a lovely restaurant. I had a lobster bisque along with some Digby (Nova Scotia) scallops. Daughter-in-law had crab cakes. Another delicious meal. We wandered over to the ice cream building for dessert. It is called Cows and the ice cream is wonderful. They have a gift shop and who ever designs for them has a wild sense of humour. 

Then it was off to see some of the old churches. This is the oldest church in Charlottetown. 

It was time to head out to Wood Island to catch the ferry. We had to drive the main road which wasn't as much fun as the back roads. We saw acres and acres of corn and potatoes. We drove past the place that processes potatoes for sale. It is the Little Potato Company which specializes in baby potatoes. They also have 40 acres of tulips which they sell in grocery stores in the Maritimes. 

It was hot when we got to the ferry terminal so we headed inside to cool off while we waited. We got onto the ferry and sat looking out watching our trip. Inside was warm and outside was cool and crowded. I took no pictures but sat and looked out over the horizon. 

We got off the ferry at Pictou where we gassed up for the first time since leaving home. The cost of fuel for the trip was under $60.00. We drove down the highway until we came to our exit to head home. The sign let us know that it was the only exit to the Annapolis Valley. We got onto the highway and half way to our turn to home, we turned off and took one of the back roads home. We got home just after 7 pm. We were both tired but really happy. It was a great trip and we had so much fun. We had no timeline just the routes we wanted to take. We ate seafood not once but twice and it was delicious at both restaurants. 

Today

I have to unpack everything and water the plants. I am not going to be outside a lot due to the heat and humidity. I would like to sew and knit but I do have to grocery shop. It will be a quiet day for me. 

Until the next time...........................................