We said goodbye to Shediac and headed to the Confederation Bridge which was about a half hour drive. Crossing the Northumberland Stait, the Confederation Bridge connects New Brunswick to PEI. It is exactly 13 kms long. It is quite an amazing bridge to think that it was built to be able to withstand a possible hit from passing icebergs. It is also a toll bridge but only for travellers leaving the Island. They embrace you as you arrive by not making you pay any toll,,,,,,but try and leave!! If you leave by crossing the bridge back into New Brunswick then you pay a toll of approximately $48.00. If you choose to take the ferry off the Island into Nova Scotia, they get you there as well. But you only pay for the vehicle, not the people. Prince Edward Island itself, is 2170 square miles. Compared to Vancouver Island (which is 12,407 square miles) it is rather small. Jacques Cartier was out sailing one day in 1534 when he discovered the Island. It was originally called Isle Saint Jean but in 1763 Britain obtained the island from France and renamed it St John’s Island. But in 1798 it was once again renamed, to Prince Edward Island. In 1864 Prince Edward Island held the first meeting in the process leading up to the Quebec Resolutions and the creation of Canada in 1867, thus labelling Prince Edward Island as the “Birthplace of Confederation”. One more fact about PEI that a lot of young women already may know, the setting of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s book “Anne of Green Gables” is in Cavendish. The house that inspired the book is a National Historic Site.
As you arrive on the beautiful red PEI soil, there is a really great information centre complete with numerous gifts shops and a Paderno outlet. If you own a set of Paderno pots, check the bottom. If there is a Canadian Flag on it, then it is made in PEI. This little shopping area is a perfect tourist trap! And yes I did get trapped in one of the shops. Had to get all that good PEI stuff,,,,tourism after all is a huge industry for this small island of approximatley 145,000. As we were heading to Bob and Elayne Kirkwood’s house, I punched their address into our GPS (because I didn’t want to get lost!!). They have an address in York, but then Elayne sent me a text saying they were in Stanhope. On my map York is quite a ways away from Stanhope, so of course I was panicked because Stanhope would not come up on the GPS as a “city”. UGH,,,,, I said to Ray, just leave it and see where it takes us. After our treks through Winnipeg and Montreal, he was probably having serious doubts. Elayne knows what she is talking about (yup, former dispatcher)…..the GPS took us right to their house where we were delighted to see them and their smiley faces sitting on the front porch of their house waving at us. Their driveway was perfect for parking our fifth wheel and truck. It was long and flat at the top and even left enough room for them to get their own vehicle out. Their house is directly across the road from the first tee on the Stanhope Golf course. Bob had a tee time with his buddies at 1:30, so when he was ready he just dragged his golf cart across the road and away he went. While he was off golfing Elayne, Ray and I sat on the side deck to catch up. It was very hot out (apparently a record heat day of 30 degrees), Elayne had put the umbrella up over the patio table. We were drinking our coffee and laughing about old times when suddenly there was a small gust of wind. The next thing we knew the umbrella blew over, I was able to grab the handle of the umbrella before it hit me in the head, but not before the glass table top shattered into a million pieces! The three of us were so shocked! There had to be a million pieces of glass not only on the floor of the deck but in my lap and at our feet. We were lucky,,,,Elayne and I each had a couple of small cuts on our feet and legs. We were very lucky those were our only injuries. Ray was unscathed. We had quite the mess to clean up!
Looks likes bees
We spent four days on the beautiful Island of PEI. We learned that the dirt roads are called “clay roads” because the red dirt turns into clay when it rains. We also learned that we are from “away”, as is Bob even though he has been living in PEI for 4 years. He will always be from “away”. We saw so many beautiful beaches and lighthouses.
We had a lobster roll for lunch one day while sitting right on the water. Ray had a few opportunities to have seafood chowder, which he loves. Bob and Elayne kindly drove us all over the Island including to East Point Lighthouse which is the eastern most point of Prince Edward Island. We so appreciated their kindness.
On our last night Elayne had gotten tickets for us all to go to a “cafe” and see some local artists perform. The first fellow was from Guelph, not PEI. He played a few songs on the guitar and then invited a young lady up to sing. She was from Quebec. They were pretty good, even though they weren’t actually “local”. The 2nd group was really good! They were a three piece band with a young lady named “Anya” singing. All were from locals Charlottetown. Anya had an amazing, sultry voice. She reminded me of Norah Jones. Very classy. I think one day we may hear her again,,,if the right person hears her sing and helps promote her career! The band members were also very good. The first two days on PEI, the weather was great, 29 and 30 degrees. But the last two days we were not as lucky. We had a wind storm and lots of rain. Apparently hurricane season starts on June 1st and Elayne said they only ever get the tail end of the hurricanes that hit the USA coast. The morning we left PEI to head to Cape Breton, it had been so cold throughout the night that we had to scrape the thick frost off our windows!! It is June,,,,right?
The "cafe"
Cape Breton
Off we head to the Ferry to take us over to Nova Scotia. The previous night Bob had told me about a GPS App that he liked to use as it works without internet. So I had him show me how to use it and I downloaded the map of PEI and Nova Scotia. I put in the address for Wood Island which is where we were to get the ferry. We started out on Highway 1, which Bob had said that once we were on Highway 1 it would take us directly onto the ferry. Well at some point, the App told us to turn left onto highway 23. We thought that was odd but followed the orders. Highway 23 is a secondary road with potholes galore. Ray was cursing at every bump! We kept going with the 5th wheel bouncing along behind us. I could only imagine what kind of things that I might find on the floor when we got to our final destination. Anyway, Highway 23 took us right back onto Highway 1 right as you get to Wood Island ferry. It took us the long route! Good one Bob! Obviously I had the settings wrong? We had fortunately left the house by 7:00 so we were an hour early arriving at the ferry. Early bird gets the worm, right? The fellow at the ticket booth was so friendly and chatted to Ray about the difference between a trailer and a 5th wheel. Nice folks over in PEI. After 10 minutes of banter, he told us to go and get some breakfast. Which we did in the cafeteria waiting to board the ferry. It wasn’t too bad for Ferry food, because it was made to order,,,,fresh. The ferry ride over to Nova Scotia was just over an hour long. People who complain about the BC Ferries, need to take a ride on this ferry. It is very old, including the video arcade machines. Anyone up for a game of PacMan? They still have one and it even has duct tape on it. The seating is tolerable but not like BC Ferries highback seats. Not much comfort there. That is really the only negative thing that I have to say about our trip over to PEI!!! Last time we were on this ferry, the weather was warm and sunny so we had sat outside on the deck and I never really noticed anything but the gorgeous view. Even though the day was grey, it was a beautiful ride over to the mainland.
We were heading to Sydney Mines on Cape Breton to visit my little brother (all 6’5” of him!) and his wife sue (all 5’4” of her….lol). If you were heading to the ferry to Newfoundland, you would be in the area of Sydney Mines. There is Sydney, North Sydney (where the ferry to NFLD is) and Sydney Mines. All are on the ocean and are within 10 or so kilometres of each other. Sydney Mines, which is north east of Sydney, is an old coal mining town and was once home to “Scotia” a large steel plant which in the 1950’s produced 50% of Canada’s steel. The last coal mine closed in 1975. The only really cool heritage building that I saw was the Cape Breton Regional Police building . It looks like a fort of some sort.
The population is approximately 14,500 but I have a hard time believing thist. Many houses are in the 100 year mark but there are a number of newer homes as well. Jimmy’s and Sue’s house is over 100 years old. Their friend lives right on the ocean and I was lucky to take a photo of his view.
While we were in Sydney mines the weather was about 3 to 7 degrees. Very cold with a harsh wind. I wore both of my sweatshirts over top of my jean jacket in an attempt to keep warm!!! The summers are relatively cool and rarely exceed 20 degrees due to the location of the North Atlantic Ocean. I cannot imagine the cold winters!! Wikipedia says the “winters are cold, windy, wet and snowy”. Well that covers it all as far as I am concerned!! I am not moving there!!! We had a great visit with Jimmy and Sue,,,,perhaps a bit too much alcohol was consumed…….that is the way it goes sometimes.
Hope for Wildlife
When we left Sydney Mines it was raining and foggy. We were originally going to drive the Cabot Trail, but last time we were on it, the weather was foggy and raining. So there was no point doing the 4 hour drive for nothing. So we headed down to Dartmouth. Dartmouth is the closest “large” town to Seaforth, which is where we were heading. Ray and I watch on Knowledge Network a show called “Hope for Wildlife”. It is about a woman named “Hope” who runs a wildlife rescue centre. Their philosophy is to rescue any and all wildlife and then release them back into their natural habitat, when possible. I had googled to find the address and camping nearby. After setting up in Dartmouth we took off to Seaforth. It was an interesting drive, winding down along the coast. It was beautiful with small villages along the way. As we rounded a bend in the road with the Atlantic ocean on one side of the road and a large “pond” on the other we recognized the red building where Hope for Wildlife is even before we got to the sign. We pulled in and got out of the truck to be greeted by two huge turkeys. Ray of course started making his “gobbling” sounds at them. Of course they gobbled back to us. We went into the visitor centre where a guide took us around to the animals they have who are not able to be returned to the wild for whatever reasons, mostly birds, a skunk, chinchilla, rabbit, parrot, turtles, peacocks, two snakes (Ray actually touch both of them!!!) and of course the two big turkeys. Now these two turkeys followed us around to every exhibit. When we went inside, the turkeys were loudly banging on the door and gobbling to get our attention. When they were standing beside us, they would make this funny humming sound. Our guide told us the turkeys make that sound to attract a female turkey. What??? Was it me or Ray they were trying to attract? Ha ha ha,,,,
Anyone visiting Nova Scotia should seriously consider a trip to Seaforth to Visit the Hope for Wildlife. They do great work their rescuing and helping wild animals. They have veterinarians who volunteer their time to help with injured animals. If an animal cannot survive as nature means it to (like hunt for it’s own food) when released then it will not be released. The centre has an area that is not open to visitors and this is so that the animals do not get used to humans. Every precaution is taken to avoid this happening.
Next Blog,,,,returning to Ontario
Lori and Ray
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