Maritimes Trip - Day 18

It was a fond farewell to Kouchibouguac National Park, New Brunswick - swatting mosquitoes to the last second.

The line of cars leaving PEI was hilarious. A weekend music festival had attracted thousands and most of them were leaving as we crossed the Confederation Bridge. The back up was over 8 kilometres long. As great a sight as that was to me there were still thousands left. It's extremely busy here. We are in a Holiday Inn Express for one night in Charlottetown,

We arrived on the island around noon so did a little exploring before checking in to the hotel. When we were last in PEI (1984) the central scenic route was called the Blue Heron Drive. That is now the Central Coastal Drive and is the route we chose today. In a word, PEI is beautiful. Near Kensington we went off the route to the St. Mary's Historic Church. Established in 1902, it is a striking structure especially against the gorgeous blue sky.

The little hamlet of Park Corner was an incredible interlude with its rich canola fields, even more impressive if you knew the dirt road detour we had to take around a washed out bridge.

Considering I had never even heard of Park Corner it holds some interest to many as the home of the Anne of Green Gables Museum. Carriage rides are a real thing there.

At French River we were treated, and yes that is the correct word, to a lookout that was situated in the perfect place. My experience has always been that lookouts are in the wrong place and I end up endangering lives by stopping along the road nearby. This time they got it right.

The locations are certainly not well known but the scenery is inspiring. This one is a little place called St. Thomas. As is the case, every time you try someone always walks into your picture.

Our visit to Cavendish Beach was short. It was an absolute zoo and reminded me strongly of Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls. So commercialized. Shouldn't be allowed to happen. We arrived in Charlottetown around 3PM. Moving on to our final airbnb with the kids tomorrow for two days.

Maritimes Trip - Day 17

It was a gorgeous day today - temperature in the low 20s, a nice breeze, sunny and a beautiful blue sky. What more could you ask? Nuke these damn mosquitos!

Karen decided to teach the little ones about their fingers at breakfast - just one of the things grandmas are for.

There are lots of hiking trails in Kouchibouguac but there are also lots of people here (once again, a reason not to travel in the summer). Therefore, we deliberately picked trails that greeted us with an empty parking lot. Very good results with that maneuver.

A day at the beach never is for me but seeing the kids having fun made it worthwhile - and it wasn't anywhere near a whole day.

Maritimes Trip - Day 16

Today was a very unsettling day weather-wise starting with a viscous thunder and lightning storm with lots of rain, enough to make a mess of any dirt trail. That coupled with a heavy growth of all sorts of plants and trees made it easy to avoid this today. 

I have no desire to encounter ticks - I had enough of that in Africa and barely lived to tell about it. The mosquitos are nothing short of horrendous here. The graphic had an actual size - I removed that because they really feel this size.

                      We spent some time at the visitor centre between storms and weather alerts.

Luckily I booked this place months in advance because I was able to get us all as close neighbours. Gavin is attached to our cabin - he on the left and us on the right. Adam is across the road in a larger separate cabin. Tomorrow promises to be a better day.

Maritimes Trip - Day 15

Just as we were about to leave the Owl and the Otter Karen asked, "Is that a screw in the front tire?" Damnit! Yes it was. Not a good start to the day. Gavin found a tire shop (online) on our route out of town. I was shocked how many places he called - all saying they were booked and could not help us even though it was a bit of an emergency - even Subaru - they'll be hearing from me. We just about had to empty the back to get to the locknut kit required to remove a Subaru wheel.

The rest of the day was pretty well just driving. We entered New Brunswick again on our way to Kouchibouguac National Park.

Karen and I have stayed here before. The cabins are great and both Gavin and Adam's family were pleased. Now if they could only find a way to keep the horrendous mosquitos under control life would be so much better.

Maritimes Trip - Day 14 BONUS

                                                 A fond farewell to Mineville, Nova Scotia!

Maritimes Trip - Day 14

                             Into every life a bit of rain must fall...or in some cases a lot of rain.
                                         However, the key is to make the most of it anyway.

The kids were off doing things with their kids so Karen and I decided to take a drive to see some of the numerous little harbours northeast of Halifax. It was a truly abysmal day so I did not take many photos at all. Not many more than this.

Tomorrow we'll be leaving this amazing place and on to the wilds of New Brunswick in Kouchibouguac National Park. I hate to leave the Owl and the Otter but we have to move on.

Maritimes Trip - Day 13

                     We are having such a great time in this airbnb. The kids are having a ball...

There's no question in my mind that Halifax is one of the most beautiful cities in Canada. You could spend a good deal of time exploring the waterfront. Taking the Dartmouth ferry is unquestionably better than driving to Halifax and looking for somewhere nearby to park. 

                                                              We're here - saddle up!

The story of the Hadhad family is tragic but so heart-warming. In 2012 their chocolate factory in Syria was destroyed by bombs. They emigrated to Antigonish, NS in Canada where they rebuilt their factory and became a rapid success. Here's where the story gets touching. They began pouring a percentage back into the economy of the country that took them in and the rest, as they say, is history. There's a valuable lesson in their journey. We need more people like the Hadhads.

It was a wonderful day...a little hot but a nice breeze helped. The kids loved it. Adam took his family to the beach and refreshing 13 degree water - we were not with them. We were in Halifax with Gavin et al and hooked up with Adam later.