A Bit more about Prince Edward Island

Our last three days on Prince Edward Island were a mixed bag of activities.  

On Monday we went into Charlottetown for the afternoon.  It is not big, but there is some industry and some buildings of historic interest. First we went to the Beaconsfield Historic House, which  was built for a man whose wealth was from the sailing ship industry.  When steamships took over the seas he went bankrupt.

I don’t know why I like to tour these homes, but it feels like it gives us a look into the lives the rich lived in the past.










Another interesting place in Charlottetown is St. Dunstan's Basilica.  

Craig said its cross shape reminded him of Notre Dame in Paris.

I liked the ceiling.

Our final stop in town was one I had taken from the itineraries of two different "Caravan" companies. I confess I have their catalogues and have used them as source for interesting places in the Maritime Provinces.

The Cows Creamery Ice Cream Factory Tour promised to be yummy, but was a real bust! Their movie was a promotional about their Tee Shirts, and the tour was a hallway with three windows.  One was into the teeshirt printing room, one was into a room with inactive machinery and the third was into a cheese storage room. 

There were no "free samples", not that that mattered. Basically it was a draw to get people into their store to buy rather fun teeshirts and ice cream, which by the way we did!

It was worth the admission price: $0. If you want good ice cream stop by, but if you want a factory tour, forget it!

Tuesday we drove the Alfa 47 miles to Northumberland Provincial Park, which is very close to the dock of the ferry that we’ll take Thursday. The only downer is there is no wifi of any kind, but we found a hot spot at a Visitor's Center about a mile away. 

Wednesday was another “drive around” day. We did most of the “Points East” loop along the coast. One of Craig’s goals was to visit one or two distilleries. We were disappointed in the one that said they did potato vodka because they have shifted their still to Halifax.  All they had in PEI was a sales room.

The second distillery did not do potato vodka at all.  Their spirits are made from liquid mash they import from mainland Canada. But we tasted and bought some of their product anyway. 

Their still was operating, and we got to hear about the process.

These are two of the view points we stopped at:

At the easternmost point of PEI, the sea looked very cold and a bit on the rough side.

This sandy beach was adjacent to farmland.

If you ever get a chance to visit this pleasant island, give yourself lots of time to just relax! We were there for six nights, and could have stayed longer.

This is our last post from PEI. I am publishing it from the Cape Breton Highlands National Park Visitor Centre in Nova Scotia. Wifi at our current park is very weak, and I don't know when we will be connected again. Today, Friday, we are driving the Cabot Trail, and if it doesn't rain tomorrow we will take a Whale- and Puffin-watching boat tour.

The weather is great, in the 70s with scattered rainy days. I hope all of you who are down in the States keep cool during the heat wave!