Prince Edward Island

PEI is a very beautiful, rural, rustic place. I was likening it to a 'Western Manitoba by the sea'. After driving over the incredible Confederation Bridge to Borden, we rested our hungover heads and headed into Summerside to catch up with some of Joe's old friends.

Tuesday morning I got up for a run in rural Borden to Seven Mile Bay. When I got back, we got ready and headed to Charlottetown. We walked the harbour, toured downtown and ate genuine seafood chowder and PEI potatoes at a pub. We toured St. Dunstan's Basilica, Province House, Ardgowan House and UPEI before heading to the beaches of the North Shore.

Province House, the birthplace of Confederation

Charlottetown

Brackley Beach, North Shore

Cavendish Beach, North Shore

North Rustico, PEI

We returned to Summerside via Kensington and toured CFB Summerside, which has now been converted to a hotel and restaurant complex called Slemon Park. Joe's very good friend Michelle works there and showed us around.

On Wednesday, we headed to North Cape, the northwesternmost point of the Island. After stopping in Alberton for food, we drove the scenic route along the coast, admiring the tiny fishing villages and secluded beaches. North Cape is beautiful. When the tide goes out it heads in two directions since the cape is where the Northumberland Strait and Gulf of St. Lawrence meet. It is a desolate, yet beautiful place. The government of PEI has set up an impressive wind generation farm there which adds a good chunk of electricity to the grid. We got to see a lot of seals hanging out in the shallows along the western cliffs.

North Cape - where Northumberland Strait and the Gulf of St. Lawrence meet

North Cape

Windmill Farm at North Cape

We headed back to Summerside via Tignish and visited Joe's grandma and toured the city.

Thursday I went for another run. Part of it was along the Confederation Trail. Several years ago the government decided to lift all of the railbeds on the Island and converted the entire system to a bikeway. It's pretty cool and I'd like to tour the Island that way someday. On my way back I went down to Carleton Beach and took some great pics of Confederation Bridge while the tide was out.

In the afternoon, Joe and I headed into Summerside to do some errands and then checked out some old haunts of his - Chelton Beach, Sea Cow Head, and McCallum's Point. This was supposed to be our beach day, however it ended up being the coolest and windiest day we experienced on our trip. Fortunately, we never saw any rain the entire time we were in the Maritimes, but I never got to have my book day on the beach in PEI I was hoping for!

Confederation Bridge

Joe at Chelton Beach

Sea Cow Head, near Summerside

Joe told me they used to jump off the rocks at Sea Cow Head when they were kids. I think they must have been pretty retarded.

In the evening, we went back to Slemon Park where there was a karaoke night. We stuck around there for awhile and then headed into Summerside with Michelle and Katherine to the Heritage Pub, which was pretty dead. We shut the place down anyways.