Canadian Maritimes with Mahoney/Brewers 08

[Bill P.]

Betty,  This is my first post ever on this forum.  I have really enjoyed sharing in your journey.  We RV'd to PEI and Nova Scotia in July.  Since this is my first post you know it is very important.  Cow's ice cream on PEI was just voted the best in the world.  You must have some before you leave.  We hope to see all of you folks someday.  Bill and Connie, Surf City, NC.

 

[Betty Brewer]

August 24, 2008  More on Yesterday

Today?s first entry is a supplement to  my birthday posting yesterday.  It had been such a long day that I lost steam near the end of evening.  Highlights I neglected to mention on our East Coastal Drive of  PEI yesterday are included here.  The mosquitoes  were ferocious.  Locals say that with the 21 straight days of rain they had and now this nice  weather the mosquitoes are having a hey day.  No one is immune.  When visiting a very interesting  site yesterday we were eaten alive.  There was a sign along the road that said Bottle Village Open. We turned down a private driveway to a see a village created by the local home owner behind his home. NO admission, no toll booth, no donation bottle . He was simply sharing his hobby.  He was on his mowing tractor when we arrived.  When he saw us he hollered that we should go in the buildings.  Now the bugs were swarming so I was just going to dash to the car but he got off his tractor and proceeded to give us a personal tour.  I said, ?You must be retired to have this much time for such projects.? .  He laughed and said no  he is the local school bus driver.  School starts on September 4.  Inside the building is where you could really see the unique nature of this construction.  I asked where he got his materials and he said he stopped drinking 32 years ago so now his neighbors bring him bottles.  I saw my favorite Lindeman?s in a top row.  I went inside the little church and inside the little school house.  He names each  structure after one of his grandchildren.  You won?t get this kind of detail on a city bus tour.  We  were happy with our viewing and  trotted back to the safety of our car to  spray  with Cutter?s and treat our bites with Benedryl  and Kleenex, first wiping away the blood.  These critters are nasty but did not spoil the day.  We  got extra exercise at the lighthouse to  swipe away mosquitoes too. 

At the Rossignol Winery, we met the vintner who boasted that he has recently completed a goal of  kayaking  around the entire PEI  island.  He did it in sections between a full time work schedule. It took him 3 years to complete his goal.  He looked about my age.  I was equally  impressed with the quality of his Chardonnay.  He gave many restaurant recommendations on the  island. Forgot to tell you too that we had Cow's  ice cream, a double scoop after dinner!  Worlds's best.

 

[Betty Brewer]

August 24 & August 25, 2008 Blue Heron Drive, Prince Edward Island, Canada

I?m combining entries for 2 days. Yesterday we did the Blue Heron Drive that cuts across PEI at the middle and covers both south and north coasts. It was much more spectacular scenery and more interesting than the east coast, AND it was a shorter trip. The route was aptly named as we saw many, many blue herons standing proudly in waters along the road. We also saw them take flight. I just love those birds. The island does not have any mountains or even hills of significance but there is no flat area either. The rolling hills today were peppered with beautifully manicured farms. Even the round hay bales seem to be placed ?just so.? Fences between farm fields are lovely rows of bushes. We saw numerous churches and because it was Sunday morning we noted filled parking lots so lots of folks here attend church. The beaches are all red sand.  The  fishing villages are  picturesque.

We stopped at the Confederation Bridge and watched a video on it?s construction. I will save my comments on this magnificent, impressive marvel for the day we actually cross it. I may even purchase the video on how it was made.

We stopped at the Anne of Green Gables National Park of Canada and I went in to see the Gables House from the book. Terry stayed in the car. I have never seen so many guys sitting in the car in the parking lot and yet lots of women and children in touring the grounds. Parks Canada guides give very good tours and it is amazing to me how such a fictional story has had an impact on a tiny island. We got home in time to attend a dinner show at the Charlotte Hotel who boasts the longest running dinner theatre. We saw the ?Nearly Weds? which was funny, entertaining, musical and a very enjoyable evening. A bonus was the meal. My salmon and Terry?s chicken were among the best meals out we?ve had on our trip. We sat at a very international table. One of the guests was a visiting actor from the sister show held in Summerside. Another couple was from Ontario near Toronto. A mother and son joined us. They live in Kensington a few miles away but she is from Trinidad and he was  born raised in PEI and now lives in Dublin Ireland working for Microsoft. He could not see the hype on Anne of Green Gables. Said he never even read the book. What an industry for a small province.

Today our last tourist event in Charlottetown was a visit to Founders Hall to view a wonderfully done interactive audio visual story that brought Canadian history to life. History can be dull but the headphones we wore and the games we played in the time machine as it went back to 1860?s made learning about how the Confederation unfolded was fun and informative. I learned a chief reason for the joining of colonies was their fear that America would attack. Another motivation was to join the country with a railroad. Canadian history is very interesting and I enjoyed following their development with the things that were happening in USA at the time.

We visited a Sandlot of sand sculptures done each year.  What a skill.

We move on in the morning rain or shine.

 

[Marc L]

It's not the making of the Confederation Bridge, but here's a video from Discovery.ca on how high tech the bridge is:
Confederation Bridge clip from Daily Planet on Discovery.ca

I did not see the making of, but I did cross the ferry a few times while they were building it.  Some amazing cranes they had, from a Scandinavian country I believe, but don't remember which.  Using GPS they would position the piers and tables.  I missed the opening by a week, went by ferry the week before the opening.

 

[Tom]

Marc, the video I saw was an ad, and nothing else  ???

 

[RVOA]

Terry stayed in the car. I have never seen so many guys sitting in the car in the parking lot

Wish I had followed Terry's plan too  ;D

Are there many people around Betty? - we were there around Sept 10th (06) and the whole island was very quiet.

Paul

 

[Marc L]

Marc, the video I saw was an ad, and nothing else  ???

Hi Tom,

I just tried it again.  I do get an ad, but the video follows.  I wonder if the content is blocked outside Canada, but if that was the case, you could not get on the site at all.  Like when I try to go on the website for the Daily Show, I can't.  I have to go on the website for the Canadian network that airs the show in Canada.  Since Discovery Channel have different content in US and Canada, maybe that's the same.

Marc...

 

[carson]

Tom, I can view the video; click on "view without Silverlight".
I actually saw the whole thing on the Disc. channel a while ago - fascinating.

 

[Betty Brewer]

Wish I had followed Terry's plan too  Are there many people around Betty? - we were there around Sept 10th (06) and the whole island was very quiet.

Paul,

There are still a fair amount of tourists here. The RV Park is nearly filled on weekends.  A huge Holland America Cruise ship was just across the harbor in our view this morning. Photo to follow.  We are leaving Charlottetown this morning.  Just in time to avoid the cruise  ship passengers.

Betty

 

[Betty Brewer]

August 26, 2008 Borden-Carlton near North Cape Drive on PEI Sun and Shade Campground (902) 855-3492

I've included photos from the Sandlot yesterday and Terry in the  Founder's Hall meeting a  famous person.

After some mighty loud thunder last night and a steady rain, we awoke to fair skies and huge Cruise ship in the harbor across from us. It was  time to get out of Dodge and avoid the crowds. We moved grand total of 45 miles to a spot near the Confederation Bridge. It will be our base camp as we complete our tour of PEI. I wandered, by myself,  back to all of the gift stores at Gateway and visited the Welcome Center again to view the museum and video describing sights to see  on the island. I bought chocolate from Anne of Green Gables store and bought Raspberry Cordials for Terry. I took shots of that massive bridge and bought the DVD of it?s construction. If you get to our home you will have the obligatory viewing.

I returned to the small village of Victoria, a town that we passed over due to time yesterday. I visited the cutesy shops and then wandered out on their pier. I saw lots of tourists taking shots so I nosed my way in and looked over the side of the wharf to see a boat load of big shells. I wondered what they were and was told they were clams. I?ve never seen such big clams. Two guys in a little boat were unloading the clams which were held in big plastic tubs, onto their trailer. In another larger boat I saw tubs of crabs being hoisted out of that boat onto the wharf to a waiting truck. Each tub was being weighed as it entered the boat. Now this is what I call ?Catch of the day.?

The topping of this day was the long awaited trip to see ?The Storm? an authentic Celtic production put on by the College of Piping in Summerside. This was a very professional production that exceeded my expectations with bagpipes, drummers, one singer and island step dancing along with a harp. Bagpipes are loud when you purchase front row seats. Russ purchased 5 new CD?s.

 

[Betty Brewer]

More photos of  the Production we we enjoyed tonight.  Russ got some great shots too  so I hope he  wiill post.  He thanked me for sitting next to him in this covered but outdoor theatre  as I attracted the mosquitos.

Jim Dick would have loved this production!

BB

 

[Tom]

....I can view the video; click on "view without Silverlight".

That did it Carson, thanks. Interesting video.

 

[Betty Brewer]

August 27, 2008 North Cape Coastal Drive, PEI

We set off at 9 am for this long 300 km drive of the north coast of PEI. Terry used ?Hilda?, our GPS to find a McDonalds to fortify us with egg Mac Muffins. We followed the route and the first mentionable stop was the ?Bottle House.? This was a hobby of a regular kind of guy before recycling. He found his bottles in the dump. His set up is a display of bottles, gardens and fun. The buildings have been redone and are still wonderful. His gardens are beautiful as is his coastal view. We traveled up through Acadian territory evidenced by their flags flying and the French language we heard while inside magnificent Catholic Church in Mont Carmel. The coastal drive was spectacular with red cliffs, red sand beaches and white waves crashing on red water gave quite a contract to the colors I am used to seeing at the beach. The scenery was open fields and we could see lots of neatly planted green rows of potatoes. In O?Leary we spent some time in the Potato Museum. I never knew there were so many types of potatoes. We have been seeing signs along the road for Irish Cobbler. I thought it was a PEI kind of dessert but I learned it is a variety of potato that mature early. It is not sold commercially as it does not store well. PEI produces lots of potatoes. We learned some of the big Processing plants we see along the road make potato chips. The don?t give tours nor samples. Darn?.

Following the suggestions by Jeff and Sue we stopped at the Seaweed Caf? for lunch. I had mussels and seaweed pie. OK Jim Johnson, I know you told us about pickle pie and pinto bean pie. Now I can tell you about Sea weed pie. It was a greenish flavored cream on top of what appeared to be angel food cake. It was dolloped with whipped cream and drizzled in fresh raspberry sauce. Yum. I did not taste any seaweed. Seems anything we have with a thickened consistency may well have seaweed extract in it. We watched a video on the harvesting of seaweed, kelp beds done here in PEI for years. Horses used to drag rakes around the ocean floor during storms to harvest the washed up sea weed. I sampled the hand lotion thickened with the seaweed. It was very nice. I leaned ice cream also has it. So there you go.

We drove on up the coast to the North Cape. This beautiful day awarded us with a tremendous vista of the seas at the end point. The lighthouse was not memorable but the water was cold as I just had to dip my foot in water from the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and Northumberland Strait as it converges on the longest rock reef in North America. There is an interesting Interpretive Center on the Wind mill farm there. They advertise having the largest wind mill in North America, curious so does the one in Quebec claim to be the largest in North America. Does not matter to me. Terry got his first souvenir of the trip, a very nice t shirt. On our way back down the coast we came to the city of Alberton with numerous murals painted all over the city. It sure dresses up a city to see what their history looks like painted on the sides of buildings. We finally hit home at 7:30 pm. Whew what a day. I vote NOT to have such long driving days again. We will stay another night here near the Confederation Bridge and hit the road in the morning for New Brunswick. We hope to connect some time with Forum friends Ed and Donna during our 4 day stay in Shediac.

 

[Jim Johnson]

Now I can tell you about Sea weed pie

Did Terry just turn his head while you ate it or did he go outside ??? ???

 

[Betty Brewer]

Did Terry just turn his head while you ate it or did he go outside ??? ???

ROFL  I'll let him tell you.

Betty

 

[Betty Brewer]

August 28, 2008 Touring Summerside, PEI

Today was one of those touring days where we had only a couple of destinations but found more treasures. I wanted to return to the city of Summerside, the second largest in PEI to visit a couple of museums and take photos of the murals we had seen while passing through yesterday. While searching for a fox mural we stumbled on the International Fox Museum. We learned that PEI?s economy was a big benefactor of the fox breeding industry in the early 1900?s. The rich and famous worldwide wanted the rare silver fox. The middle class wore the red fox clothing. The foxes were bred in farms and netted up to $7,300.00 a pelt. Not bad money for the early 1900?s. The demand for pelts diminished by the late 40?s and the price dropped so very little is now done with the industry but we did see the huge homes built with profits. At one time the PEI economy was helped tremendously by this trade. PETA would have had a fit.

The guide was so knowledgeable that when he recommended that we tour the Wyatt house, we took him up on the recommendation. We toured 3 historic properties that were donated to the city by a Cecilia Wyatt, a wealthy woman who had no children. She lived to be 102 and her legacy of the rich and famous lifestyle lives on in her home and furnishings. Touring the inside of the homes we usually just drive by was a real treat. The history in the towns comes alive when given a personal tour. We snapped murals of the city too.

On the way back to the campground I asked Terry to stop at a Woodworking artist studio. There I found wonderful quality wood works and purchased a bird?s eye maple lazy Susan . The evening was topped off when I learned that A Confederation Trail music event was being held in our campground and was free to campers. Russ and Terry did not care to attend this bluegrass event so I went on my own. Not bad when you can walk to the show.

We will leave PEI in the morning and have wonderful memories of a beautiful  gentle island.

 

[KodiakRV]

... PEI produces lots of potatoes. We learned some of the big Processing plants we see along the road make potato chips. The don?t give tours nor samples. Darn?.

Have you tried the ketchup-flavored potato chips?  They seem to be very popular in Canada.  Sales must be similar to barbeque-flavored potato chips in the US.  We were at a market in PEI and they had a dozen different kinds of ketchup-flavored potato chips.  :-\

 

[Ron from Big D]

Betty:  Hope the price of getting off the island doesn't upset you too much.

Shirley and I are in Sault Ste. Marie and departing for hiway 2 and west to Montana before moving back into Canada.  We had kind of a scare yesterday when crossing back into the US.  The customs agent asked for our vehicle registrations, for which I couldn't put my hands on immediately.  He said then, I'll just get the plate information off the vehicles.  Next he came back and said "How come the coach is registered in Montana and you live in Texas?"  I immediately said "Because I purchased the coach in Montana."  He then said " Makes sense" and then waved us through.  Actually, we purchased it in Texas and only registered it in Montana, but we got away without a big hassle.  I would think that we should not have the same problem in Montana, because probably everyone knows about the tax free registrations there.

Oh, also, we lost a tire on the road yesterday and it took 4 hours to get up and running again.  They had delays on the credit card approval and it was an hour to our location.  FMCA Roadside Assistance did a good job.

 

[Betty Brewer]

Have you tried the ketchup-flavored potato chips?  They seem to be very popular in Canada.  Sales must be similar to barbeque-flavored potato chips in the US.  We were at a market in PEI and they had a dozen different kinds of ketchup-flavored potato chips.   

Kodiak,
I've seen those multi flavored chips and not tried them.  I did sample lobster flavored chips at the Potato Museum but I did not get a lobster flavor at all.  I must try to avoid chips as one leads to another too another and you get the story.

Betty

 

[Betty Brewer]

Betty:  Hope the price of getting off the island doesn't upset you too much.

Ron,

Once you've taken the long ferry to Newfoundland, the price of any other toll is not going to bother us.

Which tire did you lose?  Toad or MH ?  How old was it?

Betty