PEI

The Halls and Hellquist departed Ossipee Lake, NH on June 24 for the Canadian Maritimes.  The day dawned a beautiful day and remained good until east of Bangor, Maine where we ran into rain for the rest of the day.  We crossed into Canada at the new Calais, Maine/St. Stephan, New Brunswick immigration facility.  We spent the night in Moncton, NB.  The next morning we "treated" Linda and Jeff to Magnetic Hill.  Here you drive your car down a slight hill, park at the bottom, put the car into neutral and back up the hill.  You really go up the hill, but how it occurs is curious.  Maybe you get a headstart but by the time we reached the top of the hill, I even had to break.





We drove north to the 8 mile long Confederation Bridge that crosses the Northumberland Straits to Prince Edward Island.  The photo above is from the New Brunswick side.  We stopped at the visitor center and then headed across the lush red-soiled countryside of PEI.  Farms cover the countryside with potatos the main crop. 

We stopped by the charming small town of Victoria for lunch.  The small town had a local chocolate shop and a small local playhouse getting ready to present "On Golden Pond".  The photo is Victoria Harbour.

Lupine is planted all along the highways.  This native of the Pacific Northwest is magnificent with blue, pink, and white flowers. 

Everyone travelling to PEI heads to Cavendish on the north side of the island.  Cavendish is well known as the site for the writing of the novel"Anne of Green Gables".  We drove into Avonlea which is a re-creation of the villlage of the novel, but decided not to go in.  We did visit the site of the home on which the novel was based.  This is under the Canadian National Park Service.  The site consisted of the "Green Gables" home and barn plus a visitor center.  After Cavendish we drove along the north coast and through Prince Edward Island National Park.  The beaches on this side of the island consist of  long sandy beaches. That night we stayed in the Provincial Capital of Charlottetown and enjoyed a leisurely dinner at a sidewalk bistro, then walked around the historical portion of the city. 

Tuesday morning we awoke to a rainy day and headed to the eastern shore of the island, stopping at the lighthouses at Panmure Island, Cape Bear, and Wood Island (above).  We stopped for lunch at Panmure Beach.  This is normally a popular swimming beach with over a thousand bathers.  Today it was pouring and no-one was there.  Jeff's desert was "the best bread pudding" he ever tasted  We boarded the ferry for the 75 minute sail across the Northumberland Straits to Nova Scotica.  When travelling to PEI we found that you pay to get off the island whether on the ferry or over the bridge.

note:  I am well behind due to our busy schedule, but will try to send other news soon,  We are presently in St. John's, Newfoundland and heading west to Gros Morne National Park.