Next stop Prince Edward Island and the Green Gable Coast.\u00a0On Thursday morning we\u00a0woke to a chilly 63 degrees, which is pretty much how it was all the way to PEI (as the locals call it)\u00a0and 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?\u00a0 There was another 8 mile bridge to get to the island\u00a0(this one is the longest bridge in the world\u00a0over water that ices over)\u00a0, it sure seems like we’ve been on a lot of these mega bridges.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0where the author of “Anne of Green Gables” really lived. Avonlea was her fictional name for Cavendish. So, anyway,\u00a0I 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\u00a0went out for oysters and a glass of wine later, then stopped to listen to open mic night at the local watering hole.<\/p>\n
On Friday morning we headed to the ever popular and extremely touristy Green Gables Heritage Place, in Cavendish,\u00a0which is a National Park and the “Green Gable”\u00a0house here belonged to a relative of Lucy Maud Montgomery,\u00a0and \u00a0was the inspiration for the house in “Annne of Green Gables.” After that we drove around and checked out the island and it’s\u00a0Capitol, Charlottetown,\u00a0and 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\u00a0or 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.<\/p>\n
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,\u00a0but\u00a0I do understand.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0to Niagara Falls\u00a0through 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!<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Soooo-that’s all for Canada.<\/p>\n\n\t\t