Next stop Prince Edward Island and the Green Gable Coast. On Thursday morning we woke to a chilly 63 degrees, which is pretty much how it was all the way to PEI (as the locals call it) and when we got there as well. It was drizzling the whole way up, but still, it was spectacular scenery. We passed several brave souls on motorcycles, and just wondered why. Why be cold and wet and miserable, when there are cars available? Don’t get it. Steve Bennett, any thoughts, or sarcastic things you might want to add?  There was another 8 mile bridge to get to the island (this one is the longest bridge in the world over water that ices over) , it sure seems like we’ve been on a lot of these mega bridges.

Fun fact: PEI claims to have not only the best mussels and oysters in the world (the Malpeque, which IS my personal favorite), but also the best potatoes. I do like my potatoes, so we’ll see about that, but the plants sure are pretty. After checking in to our very nice hotel on the water in a tiny place called Stanley Bridge-which is very close to both Malpeque and Cavendish, we set out for a bite to eat. Cavendish is where the author of “Anne of Green Gables” really lived. Avonlea was her fictional name for Cavendish. So, anyway, I had a big steaming bowl of PEI mussels, on PEI. How exciting, and delicious! That and a salad topped with bacon wrapped scallops, makes a great lunch! I swear we are eating like old people. We have coffee kind of late then lunch super late (looks like a blue hair dinner….), and never real hungry at night. We went out for oysters and a glass of wine later, then stopped to listen to open mic night at the local watering hole.

On Friday morning we headed to the ever popular and extremely touristy Green Gables Heritage Place, in Cavendish, which is a National Park and the “Green Gable” house here belonged to a relative of Lucy Maud Montgomery, and  was the inspiration for the house in “Annne of Green Gables.” After that we drove around and checked out the island and it’s Capitol, Charlottetown, and Kensington and Malpeque as well. It’s a beautiful place! Oh, and I do have a comment on the potatoes, they seem just fine. If these crazy people used seasonings, say salt, pepper or freaking anything, everything would have been better. I never had a meal here, ever, that I didn’t have to add salt and pepper to. Sriracha, or Tabasco, or ANY spice would have been so welcome.

Rick admitted that he is not terribly fond of Canada, or more specifically, Canadians, (I think it’s actually the French Canadians, because some of the people really were quite nice) at least in this area. I guess there is a kind of superior attitude, that I did not really notice at first, but now that it’s been said…… Attitude by France. Food by England. Bad Combination-too bad they can’t switch that around. So after we leave PEI, we will probably just head to Nova Scotia for a night or two, and then blow off Quebec, Toronto and Montreal. I wasn’t so sure how I felt about that at first, but I do understand.

As we were trying to plan the route out of Canada with a destination of Niagara Falls, we spoke to a couple of guys who worked at the resort, and one of the guys said this: “I would go to Niagara Falls through the states, if you go through Canada, you’ll have to go through Quebec (City), and Montreal, and what you have is the French Canadians who can be very rude, you’re not missing anything.” Alrighty then, route settled. Somewhat. Rick really wants to go to Vermont, so we are heading west through Vermont. He says we will drive as far as humanly possible to achieve this on the first night out of Canada (after Nova Scotia). Wish us luck!

Nova Scotia is perfectly lovely. We are in the small town of Truro (the hub of Nova Scotia-whatever the heck that means). The people seem nice, at least at the hotel. We took our standard walk around town, and to a beautiful Park called Victoria Park to see a waterfall. As we were walking down the street, an older couple (older than us-lol!), stopped their Mustang convertible to ask us a question. Rick immediately said: “We have no clue where anything is-we’re from Arizona.” So the guy said “I was gonna ask if you knew where we could get some booze.” Rick answered “We have some in our room, but other than that, I don’t know.” The guy came back with “Where’s your room?” We all laughed and moved on.

Truro has this thing called a Tidal Bore, which is when the river reverses its flow and the incoming tide forms waves, sometimes reaching 52 feet. People get out there and raft it in. Sounds like fun. Didn’t do it.

Soooo-that’s all for Canada.

I got those photos somewhat out of order……Also, I just noticed that I put the motorcycle folks on both Canada posts-oops. If I knew what the heck I was doing, I’d remove one. But I don’t.

I know it’s not spelled Canadia, but my friend Julie, likes that word and it makes me smile. Did anyone know that pepper spray (and military teargas) is illegal in Canada? Well, I’m here to tell you it is. I know that because they took mine away. No, I don’t carry it on a daily basis, nor do I remember to take it along the times when I would be most apt to use it. That will no longer be an issue, since I don’t have it anymore. I got it because I like to walk my little dog, Idgie, in our neighborhood, and there are coyotes in our neighborhood. I figured that since we will be on the road for so long, it might come in handy, if for no other reason than to spray it at Rick if he makes me really, really mad. Lol-just kidding. So after a half hour of BS, I signed the necessary documents to turn over said contraband. Learned something new. Don’t tell the truth when someone asks a question. Again, I joke.

Back to regular stuff. The road from Portland, Maine to St. John, New Brunswick was beautiful. So green and with so many lakes and rivers, not to mention the coastline. It hit me when we saw the first beware of Moose in the roadway sign with a picture of a Bullwinkle-like creature, that I never mentioned some of the odd signs by the road that we have encountered along the way. In Florida it was alligators and jaguars, next, and for many states it was deer (as evidenced by the many deer mangled by the side of the road), but now we are deep in moose country. Part of me wants to see one, but, please not on a highway at 70 miles an hour.

We checked in to a nice and very clean 3 star hotel in St John. Glad to see they do exist and are not a figment of my imagination. We walked down to Market Square on the waterfront. It was foggy, windy and downright chilly at 63 degrees-we finally got to wear jackets and jeans! On Wednesdays, they have Saint John Idol, a local competition that has a finale with a $10,000 prize in August. There is a stage set up near the patios of the restaurants, so you can eat, drink and listen to some pretty good music. Not a bad way to spend an evening. In the background there was (Canadian) beach volleyball, which means they have to wear a lot more clothes than they do in San Diego or South Beach. After we were full and happy we started to walk back and heard some really nice music coming from somewhere close. There was a little park called King Square, and in the middle of it was a big gazebo with two people playing guitars and singing. Quite well, I might add. St John is definitely an odd little place. The population is about 70,000, and there are some pretty little areas, but there’s a kind of gritty look about the port and some ugly industrial areas on the way in that are kind of a turn off. Walking around the Historic center makes you see the good parts. It’s my favorite way to check out a new place-just get out and walk. We met a nice Canadian guy while walking who made sure we took the right turns and got to where we wanted to go.

Photos below-the moose sign will wind up on the next post. We are having technical difficulties with Rick’s phone. It will not connect to Wi-Fi, which is annoying as heck, and I took some photos with his, while my phone was busy providing the navigation portion of the entertainment.