Day 13 - Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia !


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Published: July 10th 2009
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Today was the big day, we were finally going to Prince Edward Island and I was so excited. I was also excited about having to pay to take a shower, NOT ! This was going to be a new experience for us but I was anxious to see how it worked. We gathered our bath buckets and quarters and we made our way on over to the bath house. We started investigating the situation and soon figured out that there was a box right outside the shower that you had to put the money into in order to get water. Once you put a quarter into the box, the water would come on and it would last for 5 minutes so every 5 minutes you had to step out and add another quarter. Let me tell you that the two seconds that it took to step out and put more money in that box was the coldest two seconds of my life ! Thank goodness I ended up being a fifty cents girl and Lynn was too, but it took poor Heidi seventy five cents so she had to endure it twice. You know, my Momma would say that these are the things that memories are made of and I agree completely. I’m sure we’ll be talking about having to pay to take a bath for many years to come. Tim and I may even have some grandchildren one day that we can tell all about it. We had a cold, dark and cloudy walk back to the campsite but at least it wasn’t raining. It was now time to say goodbye to Camper’s City and Moncton, New Brunswick because Tim and Lynn had an itinerary for the day and according to them, it was time to hit the road. As we were driving down the road, I asked Lynn where our first stop was and she just gave me this cute little grin. I knew then it was going to be one of her and Tim’s quirky little things they had on our list to do. Oh no, it wasn’t a quirky “little” thing on the list, it was a quirky “big” thing. They were taking us to Shediac, New Brunswick, to see none other than “Le Plus Gros Homard du Monde’ est a”. Let me translate that for you folks, we were headed to “the home of the world’s largest lobster” ! I’m telling you what, these two can come up with some crazy stuff yet I’m not sure what’s crazier, them coming up with it or me actually following them all over the country to see it ! Well, we made it to Shediac and sure enough, perched up on a huge rock was the biggest lobster I’ve ever seen. The five of us took turns climbing all over him and taking lots of pictures. Although the world’s largest lobster was something to see, I started wondering to myself, “I wonder when Tim and Lynn are going to find the world’s smallest something for us to go see ?. Heck, knowing those two it’s probably on the list somewhere ! Even though it was great to see the world’s largest lobster and I did get a little exercise, it was about 48 degrees outside and it was time to go. We meandered through the little shops there and then headed on out to catch some breakfast. Okay, for those of you who are counting, this would end up being our second trip to McDonalds in two days ! Ugggghhh ! It was me and Heidi’s turn to play waitress so we took everyone’s order and headed on inside. Uh oh, Tim’s gonna have to eat a bagel or an English muffin this morning because they didn’t have any biscuits at this McDonalds. They have McLobsters but no biscuits, go figure ! He really couldn’t complain because at this point he was very lucky just to get anything for breakfast besides ice cream or pizza. We were all just talking yesterday about how there’s either an ice cream shop or a pizza parlor on every single corner up here in Canada. Well, he was fine with the McMuffin and we were soon on the road again, Prince Edward Island, here we come ! Tim was driving, Jason and Lynn were on moose patrol and Heidi and I were napping. They woke us up as we were approaching the Confederation Bridge which is the bridge that takes you onto the Island. I do not like bridges but I was so excited and could hardly wait to get to the other side. We made it across, filled up with gas and headed towards our first stop, The Bottle Houses. On the ride over to see The Bottle Houses, we came across a really neat church and cemetery so we decided to stop and take a look. It was the Our Lady of Mont-Carmel Church, it was 111 years old and it sat on the immaculate shores of Northumberland Strait. We walked around the cemetery for a few minutes and then I made my way inside the church to check it out. It was truly enchanting and the architecture was indescribable. I took a few pictures, said a couple of prayers, lit a candle and then made my way back outside to join the others in the motor home. Our next stop was The Bottle Houses, which is considered to be one of the top ten most unusual Canadian attractions. Route 11 took us directly there and we were able to tour the grounds of the clever recycling project of the late Edouard Arsenault. I have to give it to Tim and Lynn because this place was a really neat thing to see. Mr. Arsenault took used bottles and built three different structures out of them. You have to check out the pictures ! The first building you come to is a chapel which was the last building he constructed before his death. It was really cool ! Next, we strolled over to the six-gabled house which is where he used approximately 12,000 bottles to construct this building. Again, this was a really neat thing to see. We continued on through the butterfly garden where we spotted one of the main gardeners, Helen. She was working away manicuring the flowers and plants and she was doing a great job. We finally made our way to the last house and it was a very cleverly constructed tavern. It was a genuine reflection of Edouard’s great sense of humor and how he was such a fun-loving person. He saved the more special bottles for display instead of using them in the structures. The path lead us through the Acadian vegetable garden and then on through the gift shop. We browsed around for a bit, purchased a couple of things and then made out the door. Our next stop would take us across Prince Edward Island to the PEI National Park. Here we ended up in a small town called Cavendish. This is the home place to acclaimed author Lucy Maud Montgomery’s who wrote Anne of Green Gables. We were able to see where she grew up as well as the actual House of Green Gables. Heidi grew up reading these books so she was really excited about getting to see where Lucy’s inspiration came from. I bought my niece a copy of The House of Green Gables and they even stamped it with a stamp of authenticity. We hurried along back to the motor home where Tim was patiently waiting, loaded up and hit the road headed towards Charlottetown. This is the capitol of Prince Edward Island and we were going to drive through it and check it out. On the way to Charlottetown, we passed an ice cream store called Cows Creamery. Lynn and Heidi had read in the book that it was the best ice cream around and that it was considered the Ben & Jerry’s of Canada, so you know we had to stop and get us some ! I’m not an ice cream connoisseur or anything but that was some dang good ice cream. I actually got to watch them make my waffle cone so it was as fresh as they come. I really hope Matthew, my trainer, is not reading this ! We finally made it to the capitol and took the grand tour and it was time to say good bye to Prince Edward Island. I really wish we would have had more time their but at least now I know that I absolutely love it so I will definitely be coming back here. Tim drove us back over the Confederation Bridge and we made our way into Nova Scotia somewhere around eight o’clock that evening. Yay ! Yipee ! Woo Hoo ! I was finally in Nova Scotia and now I could mark it off my bucket list ! I was so excited I could hardly stand it, well until Lynn crashed my party by telling me that Tim had killed a bird on the way over while I was napping. Yep, our first road kill of the trip ! She said that it just flew right into the windshield, she heard a “thump” and that was it. I’m sure it was a painless death and now he’s in little birdie heaven. We rode on until Tim and Lynn spotted us what they thought was going to be a “not so nice” campground but ultimately ended up being great. Tim did a wonderful job driving today, as usual, but his back and shoulders were really giving him fits so he called it an early night while the girls and I made our way to the laundromat to catch up on all the laundry. Well, the laundromat ended up being more of a laundry room with three working washers and two dryers. I thought to myself, with six loads of dirty clothes, we’re gonna be here all night ! That thought was pretty much confirmed when I opened one of the dryer doors and the window to the door was duct taped in place. Thank goodness that the looks of this place were deceiving and it only took about an hour and a half to get it all done. We made our way back to campsite number 67, in the 45 degree weather, and got ready for bed. We were at Scotia Pine Campground in Truro, Nova Scotia and I just couldn’t believe it ! Even more unbelievable is that we’re headed over to Cape Breton tomorrow to go whale watching in the Atlantic Ocean. Life is good and so is God ! Night !





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12th July 2009

I love Anne of Green Gables!!!
I love that movie and book.!!!!...great pics!
12th July 2009

Anne of Green Gables !
Hey Shelley ! You would have loved going to Cavendish where she was raised. We went to her home and to the actual House of Green Gables itself and saw her bedroom. There's a haunted path that connects the two homesites and it was a really neat and interesting place to visit. I bought my niece a copy of the book and the little Anne doll that goes with it. Hope you're having a great Summer ! Take Care, Candy

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