New Brunswick for the Day

 The Bay shows many faces, her wonders to behold; sculpted from the ancient rock and eternity's undertow. -- Unknown poet 
 

One day we crossed "the bridge" and went to New Brunswick. It was an amazing day from start to finish. There is only one bridge from Prince Edward Island. It is called Confederation Bridge and is the longest bridge in Canada and the world's longest bridge over ice-covered water. It took 3.5 years to build and was completed in May of 1997. The other way (besides airplanes) to get to the mainland is by ferry. We left early in the morning and crossed the 12.9 km bridge right after breakfast.

 We drove about two hours to get to Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park on Fundy Bay. This area has the lowest and highest tides in the world. We arrived a little before the lowest tide which occurred that day at 11:40 am. The pictures below show the area from above and then from closer as we made our way down and walked on the bottom of the ocean! It was an incredible experience, knowing that where we were walking would soon be covered up by enough water to kayak on! (More to come on that...) The rock formations are especially awesome due to the constant tidal changes and the due to the force by which the tides come in and out. 

After walking and walking and walking and climbing back up the steps to the top of the cliff, we ate the Subway sandwiches we brought with us. (We had also stopped at the gift shop on the way in, and I was clothed in a new long sleeve t-shirt and NOT HOT.) Lunch never tasted so good. We rested and then decided to explore the area outside of the park since we could get back with our original receipt. We drove to a lighthouse (mentioned in another post) and tried to see another one. As we drove higher into the mountainous region, the fog got steadily worse and worse. By the time we arrived at the gate behind which the second lighthouse was located, the fog was awful. We just didn't think it was worth the entrance fee to not even be able to see the lighthouse. We turned around and headed back, and the lower we got in elevation, the less fog there was. We were excited to see an ice-cream sign, and I was even more excited when I saw the covered bridge right by the ice-cream place. (Side note: You will see Cow's Ice Cream posted everywhere as the best ice cream in PEI. We disagreed. We actually preferred Campbell's Ice Cream.)

We got back to the park with enough time to visit the gift shop again and hit a couple more trails before our big event of the day. Kathryn signed us up for a kayaking tour! It would take place at 5:40, right around the time of the highest tide and then as it began to go back out. When we had filled out all the paperwork for the tour, the guides announced that it would be a little riskier than usual because of unusually high waves. Kathryn was doing the ride no matter what! I was a little less enthusiastic, only because I did not want to be cold. I could picture myself drenched by waves and stuck in a kayak, teeth chattering and knees knocking. It wasn't like that. We did get hit by a couple of waves, but it wasn't as cold as I'd expected it to be. This was not my first time to kayak in the ocean, but Kathryn was surprised at how much work it was. We only got a couple of pictures because the ride was not conducive to photo shoots. Oh, for a go-pro!!

Needless to say, we were soaked, weary, and exhilarated after our ride. We changed and headed out. We stopped in nearby Moncton for dinner. The town is smaller than Greensboro but had a very vibrant and busy downtown area with lots of restaurants. We ate at a place recommended by one of the kayak guides and were pleased. I voted mine the best hamburger of the trip. It was dark by the time we finished and we still had a long ride back to the island. Sad to say, the one of us who can't see in the dark drove, and the one who can see slept. Go figure! She did decide after that late night ride that she would drive on all night drives in the future!

 

PEI — Lighthouses and Bottle Houses

 “Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive — it’s such an interesting world.”  — Anne in Anne of Green Gables

Anne exactly summed up my impressions of Prince Edward Island in the quote above. The lighthouses were all the same and all different. They were definitely not like the lighthouses in North Carolina. There are 48 lighthouses on PEI. Some have been made into museums; some are easily accessible while others are almost unreachable; some are just right. I was only able to visit 3 (actually two on PEI and one in New Brunswick) on this trip unfortunately; we just had so many other things planned. We did try to visit a couple more and were hindered by fog. The first lighthouse on Prince Edward Island was built in 1845 on Point Prim. There are only two round lighthouses on PEI, and it is one of them. You won’t see it pictured here because I couldn’t get to it this time. Most of the lighthouses were built in a timber frame style which was cheaper and quicker to construct. There are only two concrete lighthouses on Prince Edward Island even today. We visited the lighthouse in Victoria, (pictured above and below) Anderson Hollow lighthouse in New Brunswick, and Cap Egmont. Some lighthouses are near each other, but for the most part, visiting them requires a great deal of driving. When (not if) I return, visiting more lighthouses will definitely be high on my list of priorities. All of the ones we saw were free to look at. While in New Brunswick, one that we tried to see required entrance through a gate because it was on government property. It was going to be $9 for each of us. The fog was so heavy; we asked the guard if the lighthouse was even going to be very visible, and when he said no, we turned around.

This is another view of the lighthouse at Victoria, or Victoria-by-the-Sea as they are now calling the town.

This is the lighthouse we saw in New Brunswick. It is on a bay inlet near a dam or lock; it was hard to tell which. It is called Anderson Hollow, and was built in 1889.

This is Cap Egmont, which lies near an overlook on the southern side of the island. It was tricky getting to it, down a very narrow dirt road, but we did it. I jumped from the car all excited to get my first lighthouse picture, and was instantly attacked by SWARMS  of gigantic, starving, blood-sucking mosquitoes! (Kathryn even has a picture of herself where you can actually see the swarms covering her!) I jumped around, swatting and writhing, long enough to get this shot and a shot of the overlook, and raced back to the car. The funny thing was that two other vehicles pulled in when we did, and those people reacted in exactly the same way. We all cleared out in less than three minutes. I recommend viewing this lighthouse, but take some bug spray! We bought some after this, but didn't really have to use it. (Kathryn did not appreciate it when I told her that Anne had never mentioned mosquitoes being a problem on PEI.)

After our SHORT trip to view Cap Egmont, we saw a sign about bottle houses on the way back to Summerside where our second hotel was located. I remembered reading something about them, so we stopped and were so glad we did. The place was so interesting! The "village" contains a house, a tavern, and a chapel all made of glass bottles. The structures were built by Edouard T. Arsenault. His daughter showed him a postcard from Vancouver Island which had a bottle house on it, and that gave him the idea. His first structure was completed in 1980 and the two others by 1983. He has since passed away, but his family has maintained the village, adding a lovely garden. They allow visitors to tour for a small fee. Kathryn and I had a lovely time. Enjoy the pictures below.

PEI Bits and Pieces Part 1

 “The world looks like something God had just imaged for His own pleasure, doesn’t it?” — Anne from Anne of Green Gables

Prince Edward Island is gorgeous, wild in some places, very controlled in some places, like its many farms,  and always with something to enjoy. Its beaches are not like the southern beaches we are used to, and are not really much like the California beaches which I visited a few years ago. (The water is cold, the waves are nonexistent, the jellyfish are purple and plentiful, and the sand is red.) The fields of potatoes or corn or canola are so defined and expansive. The coastal areas are picturesque and wild. What a land of paradoxes!