Well it was a long day, by the time we got away from Kingston it was about 9 a.m., we had to gas up and stuff. We seemed to be on every road in New York state that had construction.  The scenery was great, the Adirondack mountains are always spectacular.  We arrived at Lake Champlain just as the ferry was pulling in, so we had no wait.  We arrived at our campsite at Sugar Ridge Campground, Danville, VT about 6 p.m.  It was a beautiful spot, perched on a hilltop with a fantastic view.

We got ourselves set up, had some supper and then took the dogs for a walk.  After a  long day we had a restful night and hit the sack early.

Another long day on the road but very pretty scenery. We left Vermont at 8 a.m. and the first 15 minutes of the drive were beautiful.  A low fog had settled in the valleys and we looked down on them from the hilltops.  We arrived here at the Oak Bay Campground at 7 p.m., of course we lost an hour with the time change. The weather was still very nice but the forecasts for PEI were calling for showers every day.

We took the dogs out for a walk on the beach but the mosquitoes were so bad we couldn't stand it, we were both itching like crazy.

Well we had a great day, we left the camp early so we could have some extra time at the Hopewell Rocks. It was really great, we walked down but took the shuttle up. We didn't want Zoë to get too tired (lol). The dogs had a great time but we had to hose them down when we got back up to the top.  The silt and fine gravel from the ocean floor stuck to them as though it was magnetic.

We arrived in PEI about 4:30 p.m., picked up our rental car and still got to the campsite by 5:30 p.m. After we got set up we went back up the road a bit to Hurricanes, a seafood restaurant for dinner, it was excellent, I think we will have to return again. Loved the clam chowder there.

We had difficulty with the WiFi signal and had to sit in the car to send any email, we could not pick up the WiFi signal in the RV, but if we drove down the road about 100 yards we could get it. 

It had been a long day, so we sent a few quick e-mails home and got to bed early.  

We were out of bed way too early but we did sleep very well, there was a cool wind that blew in off the bay all the time. First thing in the morning Gary tried to get an Internet connection but it just wasn't working, this was quite perplexing to him and he started getting antsy and decided that maybe we should move. I suggested we could live without the computer for a day or two!

We took the dogs for a long walk along the bluff and Zoë was running and bouncing all the way, we think she was so happy not having to be harnessed in the motorhome that she forgot she is a non-bouncy dog.

After we got organized we went into Summerside to see a friend of Gary's who he used to work with. Dave & Barb retired from their banking careers in Toronto and now operate a Bed & Breakfast in Summerside.  Dave gave us the grand tour -  it is a lovely place. You can find details at http://www.warnhouse.com/  Dave got out the map and told us about several places we should go and see. It was great having a local give us some tips. We didn’t stay long as they were getting all their work done for the next round of guests. They rent out 4 guest rooms, so it keeps them busy. As we left I said to Gary, "That’s not my idea of retirement!"

Then we drove to Canadian Tire - how could Gary go more than 3 days without going to a Canadian Tire store?  We went down to the boardwalk along the shore in Summerside and had fish & chips - they were very good. We walked the dogs along the boardwalk for a while and enjoyed the oceanfront atmosphere and the quaint shops.

We drove out to the beaches that Dave had told us about and walked for a bit.  Zak wanted to go in the surf but we held him back, we didn’t come prepared for swimming and I didn’t have towels for him. He and Zoë did wade along the edge.

Back to the RV for a bit, Gary napped. We then headed out for the New Glasgow Lobster Supper. I was great, I totally enjoyed the whole atmosphere - very maritime and very homey - and the homemade pies at the end were wonderful. There was another one at St. Anne’s church that we decided to try later in the week. We stopped at another campground to check it out on the way back, we really liked it but found out they don’t allow pets. So Gary checked out some others in the RV book we have and tomorrow we will drive around and look at them. We don’t mind this one, but we are not sure we want to spend the whole week here without WiFi..

Today the WiFi was totally dead so we were off to look at other campgrounds. It was a miserable rainy day so we didn’t really have anything else to do and we did see a lot of the countryside. The dogs just slept in the back seat. We drove all around the central part of the Island and must have looked at about ten different places. A couple had WiFi but were not all that nice, the KOA in Cavendish wasn’t too bad, and we considered it, but we were still taken with the New Glasgow campground. When we called to ask again about pets, they said there were a couple of sites, in the upper part of the campground we could use as long as we kept the dogs in the upper area. 

We went to the New Glasgow campground, checked out the sites and told them we would check in the following day.  Then we had a nice dinner (seafood of course) at Stanley Bridge.  The dining room overlooked the harbour and we watched children jumping about 20 feet from the bridge into the river throughout our meal. 

Today we relocated to the campground in New Glasgow, it is a beautiful place. You can see details at http://www.campcabinpei.com/  It was a cool and damp rainy day so we didn’t do anything. It was nice to just curl up with a blanket and nap. We went for dinner at the St. Ann’s Church lobster supper, it was okay, but we liked the New Glasgow lobster supper much better.

Tuesday morning we woke up to sunshine and decided to drive up to the North Cape. It is very scenic, we stopped at a few beaches and lighthouses along the way. At the cape there is a windmill farm that Gary was quite intrigued with. We then headed home, it was a long day by the time we got back so we went to a local seafood place at Stanley Bridge.

Wednesday we drove the opposite direction, we went to East Point. There are some really beautiful beaches along this route and the dogs had a great time running along the oceans edge. There is a lighthouse at the tip of the Island that we could climb up. There was a great view from up there and we got to see a seal out in the waters. This was another long day and we finished it off with dinner back at the New Glasgow Lobster Supper.

Today we took the morning off from sight seeing and just wandered the area around our campground. After lunch we drove into Cavendish and toured Green Gables and Avonlea. The village of Avonlea is a re-creation of what Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote about in her books. The buildings are mostly authentic and have a connection to her childhood. They have been relocated to the village and there is daylong entertainment, it is sort of like a small version of Upper Canada Village but all to do with Anne of Green Gables. We got to meet Anne and Gilbert, it was very interesting.

Tonight we ate just down the road at the PEI Preserve Co., it was very nice and we will try and get there again before we leave. When we got back we had a campfire and sat out until the mosquitoes started to attack. Tomorrow we plan to go into Charlottetown, Gary wants to go to the Founders House where Confederation took place.

That’s about it for now, hope all is well, I’ll write again before we leave for the Gaspe, there won’t be any Internet there.

Our last two days in PEI, gosh how the time flies. Yesterday we went out for breakfast at as little place down the road and saw that they also have a butterfly house and lots of gardens. We spent the morning wandering around the gardens and taking pictures of the butterflies. Then we came back to the RV, walked the dogs and left for Charlottetown.

We walked along the waterfront and toured the Founders House. They have a great display set up that depicts the evolution of Canada starting with confederation right through to today. It is very nicely presented. We came back to the RV and spent some more time with the dogs before going out for dinner. We finished off the evening with a campfire. Zoë does not like campfires.  

Today we got up early and started up the North Cape again but this time the easterly side. We stopped at one beach so the dogs could have a romp but other than that it wasn’t as scenic as the other coastlines. There was a nice spot at one of the harbours where we stopped for lunch.  We were able to eat outside on the patio with the dogs. Zoë did not like the boat horns.

We decided to head back to the campsite early but stopped for a few groceries first. While I was in the store Gary ran into John and Diane Craig, old friends of Gary’s and retired Royal Bankers. (They were at our wedding open house). They bought a piece of property from our other friends, Dave & Barb who operate the B & B in Summerside.  They have just build a lovely summerhouse on the property and invited us over. It is a beautiful spot, when sitting on their porch you can see the Confederation Bridge and the coast of New Brunswick across the Northumberland Strait. The dogs were welcome since they have two dogs and a cat.  Back at the campground we packed up and prepared to leave this beautiful little island province the next morning.

We crossed the Confederation Bridge and followed the shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence through New Brunswick on our way to Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula.  Entering Quebec, we followed the Baie de Chaleur coastline to our campground on the beach at Bonaventure.  It was a beautiful setting, we camped right on the beach, at the end of a sand spit.  The view out the front window of the motorhome was all water and surf.  It's too bad the weather was so dull and dreary.  It was cold and windy and wet.

August 28 - Camping Griffon, Anse-Au-Griffon, QC

The scenery was breath taking but the weather was the pits.  It was cold and damp and wet, but we still enjoyed the travels. We saw Rocque Perce and what a site that is. Our camp ground was right on the ocean up a very high cliff. Gary and Zoë walked down the 73 steps to the beach but Zak and I stayed up top. We think we saw a small whale or maybe a porpoise, what ever it was it was bigger than a Lake Erie perch.

The couple camping beside us were from Gary's home town, Port Dover, they live in the old McNeilly house - small world! The lady went to school with Gary's cousins Joan and Nancy.

There is no cell phone service in the Gaspe and the roads are absolutely wretched. They seem to want to boost tourism, but they really need to spend some money on infrastructure and perhaps on some hospitality training.  The area is beautiful and the culture is wonderfully French but they need to understand that the tourists speak English and they need to try to communicate in our language.

Another day of beautiful rugged coasline and equally rugged roads.  We traveled fewer miles but it took much longer.  Lots of construction and mountains. I do not like it when there is no shoulder and you are driving along the side of a cliff, I much prefer the major highways!  We arrived at Camping Annie in Mer de Metis, where there was still no cell phone or internet service. 

We returned to civilization.  The Gaspe Peninsula is very sparsely populated and remote.  While that is a large part of it's charm, we were glad to return to a more developed area.  We hugged the south shore of the St. Lawrence River to our campground just south of Quebec City.  Even the campground was more civilized.  Zak liked it too.  While Carol was in the campground office sending some e-mails home Zak decided to chase some ducks in the pond adjascent to the office.  Zak is normally not too aggressive, but this time he showed some real grit, he took to the water and swam across the pond in pursuit of the ducks!

We sprinted home.  It was all major highways and clear sailing . . . well, except for the jaunt through downtown Montreal.  I was monitoring the GPS and giving Gary directions as we entered the city from the south shore.  I was saying, "Keep right on the ramp." and the GPS was saying, "Bear right." but Gary was saying, "I don't want the tunnel, I want to cross on the bridge."   So he stayed left!  MISTAKE!  We ended up in the oldest part of Montreal, narrow little tree lined street with hardly enough room to turn in a motorhome.  Ouch - it was tight!  But we soon came to familiar territory near the Olympic Stadium and I started recognizing streets.  We escaped Montreal, got back on the expressway and were home in just a few hours.

Now, how is our new house coming along?  We settled in at the Kingston KOA Campground where we lived in the motorhome for a month while we waited for the house to be finished.