24.10.13

Surf and Turf

Yet more photos from our Prince Edward Island vacation.  Starting with more lobster!


And the source of the world's best ice cream (it is damn good and highly rated)...



That's it...  until I find more.  Possibly a few pics from Halifax and Toronto will make their way to this blog in the near future.

12.10.13

Prince Edward Island--Adieu...

Some final pics from PEI...  I hope to return to the island again, it is a beautiful place and I've barely explored the island's many features.

Charlottetown, the main city, has a beautiful harbor area, along with a protective fort (interesting history to this place, worthy of more research).





Along the harbor is a cool convention center, and a little local art.



Of course the city is filled with old victorian houses and beautiful churches (see previous posts in this series).

This may seem odd (I wonder why), but I found interesting traffic signals.  Since I'm color blind, horizontal lights, especially those with duplicate red lights, can mess me up a little.  But look closely at this light...  each color also has its own shape!  Great idea for those of us who are color challenged.


And there's great reasons to return to Charlottetown:


Finally, a couple "arty" shots from around the island...  First, of all things, a garage door, and then a cool old fishing shack in Georgetown.



That completes my pics from PEI.  A wonder trip, a wonder place, and really fine people.  Now if winter heating bills weren't $10,000/year....

5.10.13

Prince Edward Island Pt. 4


The next day, we followed the PEI National Park shoreline quite a ways, headed to the End of the World....


Actually we were at East Point, the NE tip of PEI.  This is blue fin tuna territory (500-1500 pounders are landed).  And a cool lighthouse open for tours.


 



East Point is also where three different tides converge...  from the Gulf of St. Laurence, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Northumberland Strait.  Also East Point is just a cool place to hang.





As we left East Point, the world resumed...


Further down the Eastern coast, we stopped at Basin Head, home of the singing sands.  The sands weren't singing that day, but it was a cool place with some nice herons hanging out.





The black clouds in the pics above meant we had to hit the road...  seems that the remnants of "Hurricane" Gabrielle were still dogging us.

Prince Edward Island Pt. 3

We spent a day driving around the central part of the island, crossing through some beautiful landscapes and headed to the Prince Edward Island National Park, and the infamous House of Green Gables.




A favorite stop was another Provincial park, Cape Cabot.  Since we were "off season", the beaches were pretty much empty, and I had to play lifeguard.




The obligatory tourist stop on PEI is the Ann of Green Gables house.  This is a nice little park area, again, well preserved, with walk through the "haunted" woods.







We then cruised along the northern coast, and the PEI National Park extending for miles.  Supposedly the warmest water north of North Carolina.




We ended the day at the famous Glasgow lobster dinner...  what a feed!  And very happy people all around us.



Prince Edward Island Pt. 2

PEI has been called the "most beautiful place on earth"...  I'm not sure of that, but there were a couple days driving around the island that I was impressed by that statement.  About 200 miles tip to tip, around 150K people, and everything neat as a pin.


You get to the island via ferry or by crossing the Confederation Bridge (above).  Immediately you are surrounded by a very rural culture, potato farming being prominent.


Always surrounded by water, there are many Provincial parks as well as notable views of the Strait of St. Lawrence.  And lighthouses....    (it's common to have a little lighthouse in front yards, sort of like pink flamingos in the US)



We drove up to North Cape, the NW most point of PEI.  There's a large wind farm up here, and great ocean views.  (oh, and everything on the island is in French as well as English....  the Acadians maintaining their language and culture).






Note the size of this wind generator blade...  in comparison to the people...


Very rural, each farm has incredibly huge lawns, we're talking acres....  and, again, all neat as a pin (with tractors and implements all neatly lined up together...  I'm sure this is where I get my OCD gene, since my grandfather was born on PEI).



Got to be the riding lawnmower capitol of the universe!