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Published: July 26th 2011
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Got Milk?
This cow's got lots! Who has been waiting eagerly to find out which ice cream is better: Cows or Billy Lumberjacks? We were certainly curious to find out, so our first destination this morning was the Cows creamery. It was about 5 km away, so we decided to bike there; it was the first time we've used our bikes on a day off, and without all the weight on the backs it was quite a treat. Even the uphills seemed easy.
We were expecting a large factory but the whole operation was actually small in size. With only 10 locations across Canada a larger factory wasn't needed. In fact, they weren't even in ice-cream making mode today, they only do this three times a week, but we still got to see where it was made, and watch a video about the process. In the same factory they have their T-shirt making plant; this company is probably as famous for it's parody T-shirts as it is for its ice cream, and the first part of our tour gave us a chance to watch them making some of their newest shirts. The tour was enjoyable, but was clearly also promotional which left us feeling like it
Mirror Shot
These hats are your admission ticket to the creamery tour should have been free, or at least cheaper (it was about $6 each). At the end we got a free sample of one of their more popular flavours, and it was good, but not amazing. Once the tour was done, back in the gift shop we bought a whole ice cream cone to try. Again, good but not as large, nor as good value as Billy's. The cone had a distinctive almond taste which Therese especially didn't like. Final verdict: Billy wins easily.
After the tour we biked back to our residence for a special visit. Eric's mom Shira is picking us up at the end of our trip so we don't have to bike all the way back again (phew!), but is making an east-coast tour of her own out of the deal, and we happened to be crossing paths in PEI for the day. This meant that we got a nice visit and also got to take advantage of a car for the day - a treat we used rather well. After first meeting we actually headed to down town Charlottetown for a bit to walk around the old city, check out some important buildings (the parliament
Funny Shirts
Cows has a full line of parody t-shirts involving cows - we liked this one a lot building, city hall), and to grab a quick bite of lunch. Then we drove out to Cavendish, the home of Anne of Green Gables. While only a short half hour drive away by car, it would easily have taken half the day to get there by bike, and maybe even the whole day given the size of some of the hills we drove over. On the other hand, driving over them gave us a nice chance to appreciate some hilly scenery, usually we're too busy cursing to notice beautiful hills - beautiful flats are much easier to enjoy for us.
We visited the Anne of Green Gables house, a recreation that is a combination of the house from the novels, and the original house where the author took inspiration from, where her cousins lived. By saving our "admission hats" from the creamery tour we got 20 percent off the ticketed price, which would have been a better consolation for Cows ice cream if the ticket-seller hadn't been nice enough to let us in for free anyway. We walked and explored for a while, and also checked out the site of the house that the author herself actually grew up
Who's That?
Eric and Shira with Johnny Mac in just a little down the road. The house is no longer there, but the site is still well preserved. This was not as much fun as the original house, but still a nice walk.
When the three of us had worked up enough of an appetite from all the walking around, we headed 20 km down the road to New Glasgow (not to be confused with New Glasgow, Nova Scotia which we will be passing through later) for a "traditional lobster supper". Such lobster suppers have become well known on PEI, but "New Glasgow Lobster Suppers" are the original, and supposedly the best. For a little less than 40 dollars (after tax) we got: all you can eat bread, clam chowder, PEI mussels, salad, and desert, plus a 1 lb lobster main course. What value! With all the food we were too full to actually ask for seconds of anything (except our drinks), but the meal was really fantastic. The bread and deserts were advertised as being hand baked by New Glasgow housewives daily, which was easy to believe, and all the sea food was fresh and delicious. It was Therese's first full lobster meal, and what a
Can I Trouble You For The Time?
No you may not! I'm too busy climbing the clock way to start!
When that was all over we got a ride back right to our residences in Charlottetown before we parted ways and Shira headed to her hotel in Brackley Beach. With work still left to do before tomorrow, the night was later than usual, but we have another short day ahead of us tomorrow. We are enjoying PEI so much that we'll be staying another full day while visiting some family of Therese's, and taking in some more island sights, so its only about 50 km or so from Charlottetown to our final destination, though likely a hilly 50.
Un-weighted Stats:
Total distance travelled: 8.8 km
Total time on bike: 0h 29m
Average speed: 18.2 km/h
- E and T
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Tot: 0.063s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0348s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
MOM The one back home)
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I'm jealous!
Wow, travelling by car, a seafood feast, and Shira, what a treat! It seems like you are cherishing your non-cycling days. Enjoy while you can because you have a long trek ahead of you in Newfoundland. Give my love to Mary and Paul, and lots of hugs and kisses to both of you from Pickering. Love MOMXXXOOO