Cats vs Dogs…Showdown At Sunrise

The view from our campsite @ Northumberland Provincial Park Campground.

Day 69    August 17    Prince Edward Island, Canada

On this morning, we were greeted with a beautiful ocean view from our campsite. We were also greeted with the view of two cats on a leash at the campsite next to us. Pretty much a doggie nightmare situation, as far as Dax and Trixie were concerned, and we had to do a bit of coordinating with our neighbors, as far as when our dogs would be coming outside for their morning walk.

Breakfast. The dogs are still inside, ’cause the cats next door are still outside.

The cat vs dog situation was in control, and after our walk, we headed south.

On the road…

Lovely countryside.

Local maritime architecture near Georgetown….sea shacks.

Local maritime architecture near Georgetown.

Cool old abandoned church near Georgetown.

Cool old abandoned church near Georgetown.

Cool old abandoned church near Georgetown.

Made it to Georgetown for lunch and to visit a couple of tiny art galleries. Had an amazing lunch, which included a curried soup made with fresh clams and mussels. The seafood on PEI continued to “wow” us.

Georgetown!

Lunch time views….

Lunch on the deck, complete with beautiful water view.

The soup, the soup, it’s all about the curried soup!

The most awesome salad ever!

Tiny art gallery in Georgetown.

Continuing south, we attempted to get on the ferry to Nova Scotia, however, the ferry was already booked. Instead, we backtracked a few miles and checked into the Northumberland Provincial Park Campground, where we, once again, had a nice ocean view campsite. We’d try the ferry again in the morning.

We enjoyed a nice  bike ride around the park, before it began to rain. Perfect timing!

@ Northumberland Provincial Park Campground.

@ Northumberland Provincial Park Campground. Mark pauses to take in the view.

@ Northumberland Provincial Park Campground. 

Good Thing Our Brains Are Attached…..Things We Left Behind

What is this sign trying to tell me? @ East Point Lighthouse

Day 68   August 16   Prince Edward Island, Canada

Neither of us are usually super scatter-brained, but apparently the potential is there. Seems we left a few things behind in Canada. First we left behind, at a campground, our floor mat. And today, we drove off without our bike lock. What would be next…our brains? I guess it wouldn’t be a great loss, since we didn’t seem to be using them all the time anyways.

We enjoyed a nice morning/afternoon walk-a-bout in Charlottetown, PEI. There’s lots to do and see around this quaint small city. We visited, and by “visited” I mean “walked past” some interesting shops and restaurants, churches, art galleries, and stuff like that. When you’re visiting a city or town with your dogs in tow, often times, you just have to enjoy “walking past” stuff.

Art Gallery in Charlottetown, PEI

Charlottetown, PEI

Charlottetown, PEI

Downtown Charlottetown

Charlottetown

Charlottetown

Pho Hung, in Charlottetown. Perhaps the cousin of Low Hung.

Charlottetown

A big Basilica in Charlottetown

Celebrating 150 years of Confederation in Charlottetown, the birthplace of Canada.

After grabbing some fish and chips for lunch, which I must say, was the best fish and chips I’ve ever had (Not saying much, since I only eat fish and chips about once every 10 years or so. However, it was super tasty!!), we headed up Route 2 to explore the sites along the East Coastal Drive.

Lunch stop in Charlottetown

Obligatory cool church and graveyard on the East Coastal Drive.

The hi-light of the day had to be discovering Greenwich National Park. (This is also the place where we ditched…uh, forgot/left behind, our bike lock).We took a little hike, and then returned to the space shuttle to grab our bikes and ride down to the beach, to the Greenwich Dunes. The scenery was gorgeous!

Hiking instructions at Greenwich National Park

Greenwich National Park

Greenwich National Park

Greenwich National Park

Greenwich National Park

Greenwich National Park

Greenwich National Park

Greenwich National Park

Greenwich National Park

Greenwich National Park

Look that way……

Portrait of our shoes

And we reached the ocean. Greenwich National Park

Greenwich National Park

Man (Mark) and bike. Greenwich National Park

Greenwich National Park

Greenwich National Park

Next stop…the end of the world. We knew it, ‘cause the sign said so. East Point Lighthouse. This place had it all….great views, funny signs, gift shop with good music cd’s, and a cafe with delicious ice cream.

Roadside scenery on the East Coastal Drive

Roadside scenery on the East Coastal Drive

Roadside scenery on the East Coastal Drive

Roadside scenery on the East Coastal Drive

End of The World @ East Point Lighthouse

East Point Lighthouse

East Point Lighthouse

East Point Lighthouse

Great view of the super red rocky coast @ East Point Lighthouse

End of the road @ East Point Lighthouse

I guess this means “caution” @ East Point Lighthouse

Continuing on the East Coastal Drive, we stopped for dinner at the Blue Fin, in Souris. The meal started out wonderfully, with an order of mussels, and seafood chowder. And the meal ended bizarrely, as we sampled a side order of Poutine.

Mark had insisted we give this national dish a second chance, so, we did. It was just as awful the second time. Poutine…..French Fries, covered in cheese and gravy…yuck!! I fail to see the appeal of this food.  How and why is this the national dish of Canada? Come on Canada, I know you can do better than this!

Souris

Dinner time in Souris

Old church in Souris

After dinner, awesome sunset in Souris

We stopped for the night at Red Point Provincial Park Campground. Really nice campground, with ocean views! Hard to beat! Loving life!

We Found Them!! The Best Oysters In The Whole World!

Cavendish National Park

Day 67    August 15      Prince Edward Island, Canada

Since we were up early enough to enjoy the wonderful sunrise, we weren’t too upset when it started to rain. Prince Edward Island was throwing everything it had at us. First it was the mighty wind, now the rain and cold!

Rainy day on Prince Edward Island…

Today we drove part of the Central Coast Drive, otherwise known as Green Gables Shore. Apparently there was some connection to a well known Canadian author and her well known to Canadians book, “Anne of Green Gables.” Not being Canadian, I had no clue about this what-so-ever.

Still raining…still pretty…

More sublime beauty…

What I did have a clue about, was oysters. I love oysters. We stopped for lunch at the Oyster Barn in Malpeque, where the oysters are harvested right off the docks. The Oyster Barn was a little piece of heaven on this cold and rainy day. It was just a tiny, cozy hole-in-the-wall restaurant, with the absolutely best dang oysters I’ve ever had in my life! Spoiled me, I tell ya. I’ll never be able to eat other “lesser” oysters!

@ The Oyster Barn, in Malpeque

Best oysters in the world!!

When there was a break in the rain, we took off to Cavendish National Park. And when it started raining again, we made a run for the space shuttle!

Cavendish National Park

Cavendish National Park

Mark & Dax @ Cavendish National Park

Cavendish National Park

Cavendish National Park

Cavendish National Park

Cavendish National Park

Cavendish National Park

Cavendish National Park

Starting to rain again…heading back to the space shuttle @ Cavendish National Park

Cavendish National Park

As the day progressed, one thing was becoming quite clear to us. PEI had the reddest dirt I’ve ever seen. And when red dirt gets wet, it runs bloody red everywhere…everywhere! The place was a mess!!

The rain showed no sign of letting up, so we cut our Central Coast Drive short, and headed towards Charlottetown. We got a camping spot at the Charlottetown KOA, where we hunkered down, defrosted our freezer, and spent the evening planning the rest of our trip.

Let’s ride in the tree, under the awning, where it’s dry…woohooo!!!

 

Hey Gumby!! Look at me, I’m upside-down!

Gumby & Pokey, camping in the rain.

I Freakin’ Hate The Letter “A”

Parish Church of Mont-Carmel

Day 66    August 14

By day #66 of our big trip, I was getting freakin’ tired of the letter A. Not really tired of the whole alphabet yet, just the A.

When we were driving, we’d listen to music from my iphone (plugged into the USB port, and coming in loud and clear on our stellar stereo system). But every freakin’ time I’d re-start the phone, or we’d stop somewhere and then start driving again, the song “A-1 On The Jukebox” by Dave Edmunds, would come blaring out.

Freakin’ drove me nuts!! I never could figure out how to stop that from happening. Seems that the system wants to always start playing with the first song, alphabetically speaking, on my phone.

Damn freakin’ “A.” And the song, “A-1 On The Jukebox,” damn that too. I’d die happy if I never have to hear that again…ever!!

Moving on here…we left the campground in Moncton, and started the short journey to Prince Edward Island, or PEI, as it’s commonly known. We crossed over the eight mile long Confederation Bridge, marveling at the feat of engineering, as well as at the almost gale force winds that greeted us.

Clever (and snarky) sign at the campground in Moncton

Weird Canadian road signage.

On the 8 mile long Confederation Bridge.

A fun sign, welcoming us to PEI.

We ignored the uber windyness on PEI, and headed out on the North Cape Coastal Drive on Rt 1A (ironic, no? we were on the 1A, and were also plagued by that increasingly irritating song “A-1 On The Jukebox. coincidence? I think not!).

On the 1A towards Summerside.

There was a ton of cool stuff to explore as we drove clockwise around the island. A cool old church, glass bottle houses, beautiful scenery.

Parish Church of Mont-Carmel

Parish Church of Mont-Carmel

Parish Church of Mont-Carmel

Parish Church of Mont-Carmel

Cool graveyard @ Parish Church of Mont-Carmel

Cool graveyard @ Parish Church of Mont-Carmel

Cool graveyard @ Parish Church of Mont-Carmel

Cool graveyard @ Parish Church of Mont-Carmel

Cool graveyard @ Parish Church of Mont-Carmel

Cool graveyard @ Parish Church of Mont-Carmel

Glass Bottle House

Glass Bottle House

Glass Bottle House

Glass Bottle House

Glass Bottle House

Glass Bottle House

Lucky us, we found a nice campground for the night, right on the waterfront…Crystal Beach Campground. And lucky us, we arrived early enough to be treated to a most beautiful sunset. A great ending to a great day!

Our home for the night

Sunset @ Crystal Beach Campground

Sunset @ Crystal Beach Campground

Sunset @ Crystal Beach Campground

Sunset @ Crystal Beach Campground

Blue, Mark, & Trixie pose for one last portrait of the day

Blue, Mark, Trixie, and Dax in the background…bed time.