Monday, July 8, 2019

July 4, 2019 - Prince Edward Island

July 4, 2019
(More photos to come...)
Leaving Cape Breton this morning, we headed south through Mabou which is a very quaint little heritage town full of 19th and 18th century buildings, including the Red Shoe, a small cafe owned by some of the Rankin Sisters. Mabou is the home of the Rankin family, world famous for their folk music. Mabou is nestled in the midst of gorgeous farmland and, the further south we rode, the more the land slipped away from the fierce Highlands and into gentler fields and meadows. 

We crossed over the Canso Causeway back onto the mainland and stopped for breakfast. During breakfast, I told Lynn that I felt that our trip just wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t get to Prince Edward Island. How can one come across Canada and NOT got to PEI? We had nixed it due to pressing timelines but, over eggs and coffee, we hauled out our map and my phone and recalculated the times and distances. We were supposed to hit Moncton, NB tonight but, we made a last minute decision to catch the ferry to PEI instead, hit Charlottetown in the afternoon and the New Glasgow Lobster Supper for dinner. By staying in PEI, we would only be 165kms behind schedule, easily made up over the next few days. We looked at the clock and made a BIG DASH the 150kms up to Pictou to make the 1pm ferry, which we did with minutes to spare! Literally, a few minutes after we arrived at the terminal, we loaded on the boat... I love it when things work out like that!

The day was glorious. The sun was out and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. This was the first truly summer day I think we’ve had since we left the prairies on our way over here. It was so nice to feel the summer warmth on our faces after rain, wind and cold temperatures... The crossing was only an hour and the water was like glass.  

Arriving in Wood Island, we beelined for Charlottetown and took a quick tour through the downtown core. Charlottetown has a lot of very old buildings and the downtown is very quaint with tons of beautiful brick buildings housing hip pubs, restaurants, bistros, art galleries, theatres, and shops. We hit the Red Rock Harley dealership and they helped Lynn tighten up one of his foot boards which had rattled loose from all those rough Nova Scotia and Newfoundland roads (actually, to be fair, they were MUCH improved since our last time here!) 

We then headed up to New Glasgow for their infamous Lobster Supper which is an experience to behold.  Truly, PEI makes me want to weep at the beauty of it all. It reminds me so much of Tuscany with all the green rolling hills but, instead of vineyards, PEI is carpeted with breathtaking farms, producing their world famous PEI potatoes as well as market gardens and dairy. Over every hill and dale, there is another vista that makes one catch your breath and I’m sure everyone who experiences PEI in the height of golden summer has immediate thoughts of moving there. Every view is a postcard. But the locals are quick to remind you of the brutal winters that are long, cold and everything is laden with massive dumps of snow while being whipped threadbare by bitter maritime storms. 





Right. Yes - thanks for that reminder which is hard to imagine, quite frankly, during this time of pastoral repose...

Anyway - The New Glasgow Lobster Supper was started as a local fundraiser back in the 50s and, over the years, it has morphed into a very well known secret, with people lining up at the doors before 4pm. When you come in the door, you are met by folks at a till where you decide on what you want and you pay for it there and you get a coloured ticket which tells the servers what you ordered. You CAN get fish, chicken, etc but lobster is their mainstay and, at the till, you decide HOW BIG of a lobster you want - 1 lb, 1.5 lb, 2 lb or 3 lb etc.... 

Once you get your ticket, you get seated in the old community hall come restaurant and it is PACKED SOLID with people. It was busy when we were there and so the greeter asked us if we’d be willing to share a table which, of course, we were so we were seated with Nancy and Al from Halifax. She was born in PEI and, while she hasn’t lived here for over 40 years, she comes back every summer for a holiday. While we visited, we enjoyed an unending bucket of mussels as well as all you can eat potato salad, coleslaw, green salad and home made buns and pie, along with cold and hot drinks. 

My God. 

We came here six years ago and, while they have updated the interior of the restaurant and added a bar area, it hasn’t changed much, most especially as far as the increadible lobster supper goes! 
We rolled out of there and headed down the road to the Highlands Campsite where we discovered that we were lucky to get a cubby hole for our wee camper as everything on that side of the Island has been booked out for days in anticipation for the huge music festival starting tomorrow at Cavendish Beach, with an all star line up that includes Carrie Underwood and Eric Church to name a few. It’ll  draw about 60,000 people, according to our host. I’m sure it’ll be an amazing weekend but I’m glad we won’t be in the middle of 60,000 people! Gratefully, we’ll be pulling out before the rest of the hordes descend tomorrow... 

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