Prince Edward Island, 11 - 17 July

Ok, I'm behind some on my blogging.  No excuses.  After the Cabot Trail, we caught a ferry over to PEI.  It was ultra cool.  Voyager on the water headed toward an island.

Caught the ferry below at Caribou, Nova Scotia and rode it to Wood Island, PEI.  Took a little over an hour to get there.  Ferry had a cafe, souvenirs (of course), an information area, and sitting areas.  We were not allowed to ride in the fifth wheel.

Most of our time here was spent at the oceanside KOA with friends Gary and Marti.  We cooked out several times.  Good folks.

This is on our coastal drive.  Sort of like the Cabot Trail in miniature.

PEI was probably our best time.  Weather and temps were awesome.  Water everywhere.  Rolling hills.  The departure left us going over the Confederation Bridge and those that know me know I have a little fear of heights.  This 14-mile two lane, really high bridge, THAT HAD CONSTRUCTION HALF WAY OVER IT CAUSING US TO STOP IN OUR TRACKS, gave me a pucker factor 7 of 10.  But, I did it.  Between the Cody, WY drive and this, maybe I can start to resolve this height issue.

The Cabot Trail - Cape Breton Island

I might take some flak on this, but I'm going to post honestly on my interpretation of the Cabot Trail. Overall, the Cabot Trail was a great drive, but not as great as most of the research I've read and from what others have posted on it. Simply put, it's "left-sided." Everything of spectacular value is on the left side going clockwise. There are tons of outlooks displaying beautiful vistas, twisting roads following steep grades and switchbacks on the mountains, crystal blue water everywhere you look, quaint shops and restaurants, and much more. The pics below will show that. Once you reach the top, past the Cheticamp area (Cape North), you find yourself looking for those same amazing views. They don't come again. The largest part of the drive is wooded on both sides and the woods aren't even as unique as other forests we've seen in Maine, NB, and NS. The city of Ingonish and Baddeck are ok if those are your destinations, but the views are not even close to the "other side." To be fair, we did not get off of the trail for the little off-shoot coastal drives because the drive is a good full day. To sum up, left side spectacular, right side...eh. We ended the trail by taking a ferry at Englishtown, a lift of emotion from the not-so-great second half of the trail.

My research shows that most take the Cabot Trail clockwise.  As a matter of fact, there is a sign going this direction, but none the counter-clockwise direction...that I saw anyway.  As I'm nervous around heights and steep dropoffs, I decided clockwise.  I learned on the trip that I could have gone counter-clockwise almost as easily.  It's not as bad as the east Yellowstone to Cody drive I took twice.

We stopped at the Rusty Anchor for lunch and sat outside and enjoyed the awesome view and cool breeze. Temps must have been around 70.  We each had a lobster rolls.  Mmmmm, mmmmm, good.

$5 for the cross to Hwy 105.

Here's some video I threw together for the Cabot Trail.

Alma Fishing Village

On our way to "the Rocks", we passed through Alma, a quaint little town and thought we needed to go back and see that in more detail, so we did.  We took a coastal drive stopping at cool sites along the way doing some shopping.  It is Gina's birthday (2 days ago) and we had a really good time.  Happy birthday Gina!

The Alma Lobster shop was pretty cool.  The city is known as a fishing village and Fundy Lobster is the main-stay.  Check out the size of the big sucker I'm holding below.  Yes, it is alive.  I didn't know they could get that big.

On the drive, we stopped at some local shops.  This one had home-made pottery and wood work.  The pottery is made in-house.  We didn't buy anything here, but had an interesting convo on the differences between Canada and the USA.

I thought this cemetery was a staged site.  Guess why.  It is truly a cemetery full of, well...

Stopped at the Waterside Farms winery on our coastal drive to Alma.  The winery is a fruit winery that developed their wild blueberry fields enough to produce wine.  They also use cranberry and Rhubarb wines right there on the Bay of Fundy.

Just down the road from the Winery is Cape Enrage, another beautiful spot on the bay...only this one has sand for people to swim.

Hopewell Cape & The Flowerpot Rocks

Coming from Saint John, NB to the Flower Pot Rocks, you have to travel Hwy 114 and it is HORRIBLE.  There are so many repairs to the road and the uneven patches beat the crap out of us.  Also, the first part coming off of Hwy 1 had tons of steep grades and curves.  It also gave us the impression:  "Did we take a wrong turn somewhere?"  You know what I mean?  Backwoods...rural...no traffic.  The road is definitely worth consideration to see the rocks.

We arrived at Ponderosa Pines CG early afternoon which happened to be low tide and a great time to see the Rocks so off we went.

At low tide, the beach surface is mud, mud, mud, thick mud, and gravel.

Hopewell Cape is a park.  The path down to the rocks was a beautiful walk on a wide gravel path surrounded by birch, spruce, and fern cover.

From atop a lookout, your first impression of the Rocks.

A stairwell takes you down to the beach where you can walk amid the very cool rocks.

The Reversing Falls

We just had to see the Reversing Falls.  It was kind of cool.  What I mean by that is that the experience was worth the visit, but the hype before getting there took it down a peg or two.  We enjoyed Saint John quite a bit, but tomorrow, we're off.

Before I get into the pics, let's talk Lobster for a moment.  Yep, we sought our first Canada lobster and stumbled onto a joint known for it's lobster and other seafood--Steamers Lobster Co.

Really cool atmosphere.

This was our first experience with these types of clams.  Oh, man, are they freakin' good.  Note to all looking:  Take the cord off and rinse the clam before buttering and wolfing down.  They offer a little water cup for just that purpose and the waitress taught us how to eat 'em.

The meal started with fish chowder for us, then a bucket of clams and a tray of shrimp, followed by the Maine (no, this time it's "main") attraction, Lobster.  Again, a hardshell and a LOT of meat in there.  We finished the meal with carrot cake for Gina and blueberry cobbler a la mode for yours truly.  We wobbled out.  Wow, we were stuffed.  And for the frugal, all I can say is don't come to Canada without saving first.  With beer, the tab was well over $100 bones.

For the Reversing Falls, created this little video:

Happy Canada Day, Saint John

Yesterday was Canada day and Gina and I ventured out to Saint John's city center to see what we could see.  First though, a little blurb about the park.  The park is beautiful in every way EXCEPT for the RV part. It is manicured,  it has ponds, it has a nice restaurant, it has walking trails, and it even has a Kawantis animal park for kids.  Gorgeous all around...

Except for this!  It's a gravel parking lot with broken sewer pipes in odd locations, only 30a service in odd locations, very weak Wifi unless you are right next to the wifi building, and an ugly chain link fence all the way around it.  But, I've been told that their RV season is very short and the $$ they put into them is very limited.  Boy, can I believe it.  I'm confused on how to rate this place.  I'll just say good 'nuf.

Canada day downtown was crowded around the City Market.  Lots of folks, music, volleyball, eats, and just a pleasure to be in.  We walked a few of the historic walking routes which are very close to Water Street.