Prince Edward Island, Canada

This past week we moved from Moncton, New Brunswick to Cavendish, Prince Edward Island.   Before I talk about our PEI experience let me finish up our stay in Moncton.  While in Moncton we took one last drive before we left.  This took us to Shediac, which calls itself the lobster capital of the world.  To honor that recognition they have a huge statue of a lobster at the entrance to the town.

Fran’s fun picture

and mine!

We had lunch in town and I had, of course, a lobster roll.

Now back to PEI.  They have built this 8 mile bridge linking the island to New Brunswick.  It is a toll bridge but they do not charge you until you leave, which will be close to $50 for our truck and RV.  They do warn you about the toll before you get on the bridge.

PEI is a beautiful place and Cavendish is the tourist center as it has the National Park and the famed Anne of Green Gables house and Avonlea village as well as the Cavendish Boardwalk, some water parks and other tourist attractions.  The entire island is fairly sizeable but only 140,000 people live on it, so it is mostly open country.  Big thing here is farming and they grow potato’s. 

They island is divided up into three sections with each having its own designated scenic drive.  To do all three would take a few days as it would be hundreds of miles.  We ended up doing portions of each to see the countryside and the small little towns.  On the first one we went as far north and east as St. Peters were we stopped for lunch.  In St. Peter’s there is a little restaurant, The Chowder Factory, that is famous for its seafood chowder.  I was not disappointed. 

Another drive took us to the western part of the island and we found this huge Catholic church out in the middle of nowhere.  It has been here since 1898 and is just gorgeous. 

We drove into Charlottetown, which is their biggest city to do some sightseeing.  The town has some very nice restored old buildings and homes.  We learned on our tour of the town that the government provides free grants each year to the owners of these homes to help them maintain them and keep the town looking nice.

Fran loves to take the duck tours whenever they are available in towns we visit.  In Charlottetown it is called a hippo tour but the bus/boat is about the same.

Because the island is famous for its potato’s it is logical that their french fries would be great.  Right next to the hippo tour is The Chip Shack owned by the Queen of Fries.  She sings and dances while she is making your order then comes out and gives each customer a hug.  The fries are good.  We did not try them the Canadian way which is called Poutine.  This is fries with gravy and cheese curds.

Next stop is Truro, Nova Scotia which is the tip of the Bay of Fundy.  We are there for just a few days then begin our drive over to Quebec.