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Published: October 15th 2008
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After our yummy Wendys breakfast we decided to go back down to the wharf to see if we had missed anything yesterday....not much. We stopped briefly at the wharf and at an information center and decided that Charlottetown didn't offer that much more than we'd already seen and so we'd head west to check out a couple of lighthouses and some wind farms. I am semi interested in seeing Cavendish which is the home of Anne of Green Gables. Not ever having read the book as a kid this doesn't have the appeal that say the Alps of Heidi and I'm told is pretty tourist-y so we'll see. Time as always is the enemy and if we can do it tomorrow we will...but it isn't a priority.
I forgot to mention, Canada has lots of information centers and they are very easily identifiable because there are great big question marks in either blue or brown. It is a convenient way to get information and they generally are very helpful.
I can understand why PEI is called the Gentle Island. The scenery is much less spectacular in the sense that you don't have the drama of high cliffs and high
tides. It is bucolic with lots of farms, the predominant crop is potatoes of the new potato variety rather than the russet and I'm told that when the potatoes are in bloom...yes they bloom... it is very pretty, acres of purple flowers. There were still lots of unharvested potato fields but nothing was blooming. The soil is the reddish Oklahoma kind which I am sure is iron rich and very good for farming. We drove towards the far northwest point of the island. We had heard there were a lot of wind farms up there and we decided that it would be fun to see and besides there was yet another lighthouse to see. We intersected the province and mostly stayed on two lane roads and took our time.
We stopped a couple of times for coffee...Timmy Hortons has become our best friend...and just generally meandered along. The island is not that big. We arrived at North Cape restaurant and lighthouse at around lunchtime. Miles before we arrived at the cape we were able to spot the huge windmills and as we got closer we were able to see windmills of every size from very tiny ones to the
enormous ones. It was neat. They were all spinning at different speeds depending on size and made a variety of noises from a high pitched to the woosh-woosh-woosh that the largest ones make.
We stopped at the restaurant/museum/gift shop and looked at some of the information they had on the windmills and then went upstairs to have lunch.
The dining room was quite nice with a 270 degree view of the water. We had a light lunch...me scallops and after lunch went to a small observation platform and watched the sea birds. We checked out the lighthouse and then got in the car and drove to some of the windmills. They are enormous! It is hard to comprehend how big they are in pictures.
After shooting a few pictures and movies...well a lot of pictures and movies we got in the car and started heading south east to the West Point lighthouse which is our destination for today.
West Point Lighthouse is one of the few lighthouses that is now an inn. There are two rooms in the actual lighthouse and then about 9 rooms in the inn/restaurant attached building. I was not able to get
us into the lighthouse because those rooms were booked and I was later told booked months in advance but we were hoping that there would be room in the inn (heh) itself.
As we were approaching West Point we encountered more windmills as well as some that were being erected. We stopped at a place where the enormous blades were on the ground in preparation for mounting by a crane. As we were sitting there taking pictures a pickup truck came roaring buy and a couple leaped out and started madly taking pictures. Turns out this wouldn't be our only encounter. We got back in the car and headed down the road where we were followed by the people in the truck. Seems that West Point was destination for both of us.
We checked in, schlepped luggage upstairs to our room (note to self: don't pack a lot of stuff if you think you're going to be carrying it upstairs without an elevator...just ask Cal.) We checked out the beach which was right over a small berm from the lighthouse. I was finally able to put my feet in the Atlantic ocean! I had expected the water to
be freezing but it was surprisingly...just cold. I wouldn't want to swim in it but a few minutes of wading was not at all unpleasant. There were a few people sunbathing on the beach. The surf was pretty rocky so not real comfortable to wade in for a long time. The beach itself was very fine light colored sand. I went back upstairs and Cal wandered around some more. He came to get me a little later and we went down to have a drink before dinner. We were joined by our pickup truck buddies. Phil and Val were their names and they were from Winnipeg. They were very nice. If you have ever seen the movie
Fargo and the character Marge Gunderson (the cop played by Frances MacDormand) you know the accent only about 25 times more pronounced. I couldn't in a million years duplicate how they sounded but it was sort of charming.
We all sat on the porch and talked for a while and after a while decided we'd have dinner together. They were on a month long vacation. They were both probably a bit younger than us but he was retired from the railroad and
she was a photographer. I finally ordered a lobster dinner. You'd have thought I would have gotten around to this before now but this was the first and it was excellent. After the lobster we all ordered dessert and I had a coconut cream pie that was the best I've ever had. The filling was good but the crust was absolute heaven, exactly the way pie crust should taste and never does. I'm not sure whether they used lard or butter or shortening but it was outrageous it was so good.
After dinner we went upstairs and watched TV for a little while before we went to sleep with the windows open and the sound of the surf. I forgot to mention that the rooms were very charming. Each one was furnished in antique furniture with a hand made quilt on the bed all unique and colorful. I'm a pushover for handmade quilts.
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