With huge relief to be entering an English-speaking
province, Peter and I took the eight-mile trip across the Confederation Bridge
to Prince Edward Island (referred by P.E.I. as those in the know). Once across, we entered the most idyllic
farmland I’ve seen in a long time! No
mega farms here. Everything is to local
scale and everything is local. Oysters,
scallops, lobster, lamb, milk, veg----all!
Some things are slightly different. The channel leading from the bay to the ocean
looked nothing like the one in San Diego---which I found pretty scary at the
time! This is a corrugated metal-lined
slit with massive waves at the end.
Peter and I held our breaths watching boats going out.
Our first outing was across the road and down the lane to
the beach. Walter was enthralled with
shallow water and the chance to chase fingerling fish. We made this trip every day. This and the large, grassy “concert” area
(think “Woodstock”) at the rear of the campground----it was perfect for “pug
runs”.
Of course, no trip to PEI is complete without a trip to the
LM Montgomery National Park site. (You
will remember her as the author of Anne
of Green Gables and countless sequels.)
We toured the home she grew up in, saw the “green gables” and “lovers’
lane” as well as other sites. Peter
couldn’t quite grasp the significance of our visit, but trouper that he is, he
took me to an “Anne of G.G.” play in downtown Charlottetown which was very
sweet. The song about Presbyterian women made me tear up.
One of the more interesting day trips was out to the
lighthouse on the far western point of the island. The island fathers have constructed a
windmill testing area out there---largely because the wind is very strong and
nonstop. They are using these super wind
turbines that are HUGE. They produce 3
megawatts of electricity each---constantly.
This is enough to power 3,000 households. There were 20 of them= 60 thousand
households.
Our last big trip was to “singing sands” beach. Two things here were pretty amazing. They had a channel---lined with corrugated
metal---a bridge going over and multiple signs warning people not to swim in
the channel. For extra security there
was a lifeguard posted by the bridge.
However, entire families were jumping from the sides, into the channel
and floating out to the ocean beach. I
asked the lifeguard. She said the signs
were there for liability reasons. Her
job was to fish out people who were drowning.
Peter and I finally dragged ourselves away from the spectacle and went
out to the beach to test the “singing sands”.
We couldn’t make them sing. It
took a five-year-old to show us how to do it.
Turn your sound up all the way! The link to youtube:
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