P.E.I.

We loved Prince Edward Island. I don't know why I didn't take many pictures there, but here are some.

beach near North Rustico

Lighthouse Café, North Rustico

We took the ferry across from Nova Scotia. I'd hoped to visit Belfast Mini Mills, but we didn't arrive on P.E.I. until almost 5:00 p.m., so we were too late. Instead, we drove straight to St. Ann's Parish for a lobster supper. There are several places that serve lobster suppers, but the church basement seemed the most appealing, and it was great.

The next morning, we went to Charlottetown. We started doing a walking tour, which included the huge St. Dunstan's Basilica, Province House, and the art gallery (which had a fabulous photography exhibit). After a while we ended up just wandering around the waterfront and the downtown. It was charming, and it was a beautiful day.

St. Dunstan's Basilica, Charlottetown

We decided to have our own lobster supper that night, since we were staying in a cottage with a kitchen -- and since lobsters were only $7.95/pound. We bought two live lobsters in Charlottetown, and then we went up to a fishing village called North Rustico and bought two pounds of mussels ($1.75/pound). We had a feast. Earlier we'd thought of going out that night, but after stuffing ourselves all we could do was sit on the couch and watch So You Think You Can Dance Canada auditions. And it was worth it.

P.E.I. lobster

The next day, we visited the home of my bosom friend Anne Shirley. You didn't think I'd skip Green Gables, did you? I think Bill and I were the only tourists there who weren't Japanese; the Japanese love Anne. Bill didn't know anything about the story; as we walked through the house I was saying things like, "And then Gilbert called Anne 'Carrots,' so she stood up and broke her slate over his head!" (There is a little pile of broken slate pieces in Anne's room, of course.) Bill was a good sport. Later, as we drove away, he said, "I just don't get it. It wasn't the author's house, it was somebody else's house, but now it's decorated as though it belonged to fictional people. That was the weirdest tourist attraction I've ever been to..."

Green Gables (the upstairs bedroom with the geraniums in the window is Anne's)

From Cavendish we drove down to Summerside, but then we decided just to get on the road and head home. After a quick stop at a fabric store (more on that next time), we headed over the 13-kilometre Confederation Bridge to New Brunswick. Thirteen freaking kilometres!

last few kilometres of Confederation Bridge

The radio in our car is always tuned to the CBC, and as we drove over the bridge we listened to a call-in show about misheard song lyrics. I didn't even notice the moment when the bridge finally ended, because suddenly I was turning up the radio and shouting, "It's a knitter!" Did you know that Ingrid used to think Lynyrd Skynyrd were singing, "We-ee all have a grandma!" Heh heh.

So that was the end of our holiday. We drove all the way home, about twelve hours. I hope we go back someday; I lost track of how many times I said something like, "Look, we could buy that house and move here!" I loved it. And yes, I did buy some crafty things -- those are for the next post.