October 14 - Prince Edward Island

It takes 10 minutes to cross Confederation Bridge. Tolls are collected upon leaving. You can choose the bridge or the ferry. They take you to different destinations. We’ll take the bridge over and back since we’ve unhitched the trailer and left it at Strang’s .

The bridge is 8 miles long and it’s expensive to cross: $46.50 for a regular vehicle and the price goes up from there. Even if you’re on a bike it’ll cost you $8.75 and you can’t actually ride your bike. Cyclists are shuttled across.

It took 4 years to build the bridge and 6000 workers. At its highest point the bridge is 60 meters above the water allowing large vessels to pass underneath. The bridge is curved based on the belief that straight bridges can have a hypnotic effect on drivers making a long crossing.

The guardrails are purposely only 1.1 meters high allowing a panoramic view of the Northumberland Strait.

We are now in the Atlantic Time Zone, one hour beyond EST.

The Charlottetown Visitor Center helps with acclimation, providing suggestions and maps and a warm welcome.

Our first stop is the Charlottetown Farmers Market. It’s a mostly indoor facility but vendors spill out into a courtyard. There is much to choose from, bakers, fresh produce, crafts, homemade soap, food stalls offering lobster samosas and lobster-grilled cheese.  It’s a mini Pike Place.

PEI forever has been on my bucket list and it doesn’t disappoint. It’s remarkably neat and tidy, storybook perfect in fact. It’s the Canadian version of a Norman Rockwell painting. This is Canada’s smallest province, 140 miles long and 40 miles at its widest point with 1100 miles of coastline. It’s actually much larger than anticipated.

There is an abundance of open farmland. We pass open dump trucks filled with potatoes. The red soil is due to iron oxide which “rusts” on exposure to air.

Here the heritage of the Mi’Kmaw People, the Celts and the Acadians merge.

Red Soil

 

Green Gables is the site of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s classic fictional account: Ann of Green Gables. In real life Montgomery had an affinity for the area surrounding this farmstead, (which was actually owned by cousins of her grandfather). The site today is a typical Prince Edward Island farm of the late 1800’s. It has been restored and decorated to reflect the fictional setting of the novel. The house and barn are reproduced in detail to reflect the story of Anne Shirley the red-headed orphan.

2017 marks 150 years since the creation of Canada and they are celebrating by allowing free use of all Provincial Parks.

Because of this the entrance kiosk has a paper banner spread across the pricing poster. No charge. Thank you.

We continue on around the island to enjoy Cavendish beach and Oceanview Lookoff.  We come to a halt after spotting a red fox in the road playing with an insect or a tiny mouse. Whatever it is it’s on a roller coaster ride as the fox tosses it up and then pounces before tossing it up again and again. We watch the fun, (or torture), until a tour bus pulls up behind us and we cede the spectacle to the bus passengers. Red foxes are common on the island.

There’s a cruise ship in port. We continue the coast drive along the Atlantic. This is the furthest east we’ve ever been on the North American continent.

PEI has the highest concentration of lighthouses in any province or state in North America…63, with 37 still active. We manage to visit one.

Point Prim is the oldest lighthouse on PEI. It’s been in service since 1845. At 60 feet tall it was faced with white painted locally -made brick with a round conical shape. The brick is now covered with wooden shingles.  It was automated in 1969.

As we step out of the truck the wind is whipping around the point that marks the entrance to Charlottetown Harbour. It stands our hair on end, but we walk the grounds and relish our viewpoint that stretches out into the water of Hillsborough Bay.

Lunch is at the Water Prince Corner Shop, (141 Water Street). Lobster, of course in a small café setting.

Just before we cross the Confederation Bridge to return to our trailer, we stop for dessert at COWS Ice Creamery. It’s rated #1 in the world. We have a sample and enthusiastically agree. Yum.

Lodging:

Strang’s Shore Campground

1639 Root 955

Little Shemogue