Tuesday Sept 15

We got away bright and early, at 6:30 a.m.

It was a long drive to the Best Western Hotel in Woodstock NB, 1,000 kilometres (621 miles).  We arrived at 6:30 p.m. and our first priority was to pick up a new harness for Jasper.  He's gained a bit of weight and his old one was a bit too tight.  After a quick stop at Pet Valu we enjoyed a small pizza at Pizza Hut before checking in for a quiet, restful night.

The sun was just rising as we pulled out!

Traffic was light all along our journey.

Crossed into Quebec at 8:05 a.m.

It's moose country!

Crossed into New Brunswick at 3:50 p.m.

Wednesday Sept 16
 

We were up early and on the road at 8:15.  We stopped and filled up with gas at the Irving Big Stop before arriving at Trueman Blueberry Farm.

We had a nice visit with friends Tom and Krista Trueman and they treated us to their amazing ice cream cones.  Before leaving we bought a rhubarb pie, raspberry jam, rhubarb chutney and some donuts in the store at their farmstand.  We pulled out to continue our trip at about 1:00 and soon crossed the Confederation Bridge.   Just outside Charlottetown we had a late lunch of sausage on bun at Moo Moo BBQ, then drove on to Montague.  We arrived at the cottage (Alice's Place) at 4:00 and got settled.

It's a lovely little spot, comfortable and well equipped.  Everything we needed was there!  After a 510 kilometre drive (317 miles) we were too pooped to go out for dinner so we had grilled cheese sandwiches and rhubarb pie at home. After some TV we were off to bed early!

Piping Plovers are among the migratory birds that stop here every year.

Tom and Krista have a very busy Agri-Tourism business.

There's a lot more than blueberries here!

The Confederation Bridge spans 13 kilometres of the Northumberland Strait.

Flowers welcomed us to PEI at 1:45 p.m.

Thursday Sept 17

We left about 9:00 heading north and east, toward East Point Lighthouse and along the way stopped to check out The Wheel House Restaurant in Georgetown.  It looked good, so we agreed to go for dinner during our stay.  We walked Jasper along Souris Beach and  stopped at Basin Head where Carol and Jasper walked on the Singing Sands while I explored the Fisheries Museum.  Then we took pictures at East Point, had lunch at North Lake Boat House and crossed a rickety old one-lane bridge at Naufrage Harbour.  Our final stop was St. Peter's Bay and then we home to Alice's Place for a nap.  We had dinner at Bogside Brewing in Montague and then watched some TV before bed.
 

The view from our veranda.

The shore in front of Alice's Place

Aquaculture in front of our cottage.  A mussel boat is spraying water to clean it's harvest.

Souris Beach

Basin Head Fisheries Museum

Carol and Jasper headed down to the beach at Basin Head to walk on the singing sands!

Most people left their shoes in the sand beside the wharf.

The sand has a unique silicate structure.  When it's damp it makes a squeaking sound when you scuff your feet down in it.  Jasper was quite amused by the process, he spun in circles and yipped every time Carol made the sand 'sing'.

There are Carol and Jasper coming back up.

A handy spot for a foot-wash!

East Point Lighthouse

East Point Lighthouse Gift Shop

North Lake Boat House Restaurant

Creeping Thyme at Naufrage Harbour

Naufrage Harbour Beach

Friday Sept 18

We enjoyed a slow start this morning.  We left at 9:45 and headed to Panmure Island. It was windy and cool with drizzle.

We saw the lighthouse first, then took a nice walk on the very long beach at the Panmure Causeway. Jasper had a good run.  Carol and I stood several hundred yards apart and he ran back and forth between us, again and again until he was pooped!  He really enjoys the beach!

Carol found some sea glass and then we headed on to Murray Harbour to check out the Harbourview Restaurant patio for dog friendliness. Yes it is a good spot for dogs.  We'll go there soon. Carol bought two slices of Harbourview's amazing coconut cream pie and we left for a drive along the coast to Wood Islands. Ooops, we had an unexpected detour, the coastal drive is not possible because a bridge is out. Some obscure roads took us to Dough Rollers, a bake shop Carol had read about.  It was closed so they could get ready for the 27th annual '70 Mile Coastal Yard Sale'.  Sounds interesting . . .

We drove on to Wood Islands and had lunch at Treena's Takeout.  Last year we shared an order of Treena's fish bites.  This year we each had our own . . . they're great!

Then we headed home for a nap, had a leisurely afternoon and stayed home for dinner, homemade beef barley soup.  After a bit of TV we headed off early to bed. We have a few spots to visit and a few yard sales to check out!

Panmure Island Lighthouse

Panmure Island Beach

Jasper ran between us . . .

. . . until he couldn't run anymore!

The ferry from Wood Islands PEI to Caribou NS

Wood Islands Lighthouse

The shore in front of our cottage

Saturday Sept 19
 

We left home at 8:45 with the GPS pointed at Dough Rollers Bakery near Murray Harbour.  Along the way we stopped at about three yard sales and Carol quickly decided that PEI junk is the same as Ontario junk. There were no yard sale purchases. Carol bought carrot cake and a blueberry scone at Dough Rollers. Then we headed on toward the Cape Bear Lighthouse and Marconi Station. The wind was howling and it was bitterly cold at the lighthouse
 

One of the yard sales we stopped at was beside the buffalo farm we visited last year but there were no buffalo today. Point Prim was windy and cold too.

We thought about lunch at the nearby Point Prim Chowderhouse, but it would have blown away if we sat outside with Jasper!

We headed north toward Mount Stewart and passed dozens and dozens of yard sales, Carol kept saying, 'No, don't stop!' but I could tell that she was conflicted. She loves poking around sales!

At Mount Stewart we found the Seagull Bakery and Café where we shared seafood chowder, an egg salad sandwich and a raspberry toastie.  We ate in the car and enjoy watching others trying to eat on the patio in the gale force winds.

A trip to Georgetown finished our afternoon. Carol has a favourite gift shop there, The Lovely Nelly. The owner of the shop is the granddaughter of the apothecary who ran the town's drug store in his home. Her elderly mother lives with her and sleeps in the bedroom she had as a young girl. Carol bought a Santa Claus carved by a local artisan to match the snowman she picked up a few days ago at the East Point Lighthouse.

Last year she got the best cinnamon bun ever at the Maroon Pig Bakery . . . they were sold out today. Dang!

All these yard sales, and we're right in the middle of it all.

Unfortunately, there wasn't anything there for us!

One of three yard sales we visited.

Cape Bear Lighthouse

Point Prim Lighthouse

Ahoy, Matey!

We were home by 3:00 and enjoyed a short nap. Outdoor dinner wasn't going to work with a cold, damp wind, so we went back to Bogside Brewing where Jasper could join us in the 'mostly enclosed' patio. It was well heated. The pizza was great, Carol had a club sandwich made with pulled chicken, also good! Jasper didn't like the live music!

Sunday Sept 20

We left at 8:30 heading for Summerside and stopped at Tea Hill Beach, just outside Charlottetown, to look for sea glass. Jasper had a good run on the beach.

Then we headed to Kensington and stopped at Knead a Brake Café where Carol bought some tasty croissants.

We browsed the vendors wares at the annual Craft Trail Weekend near the Summerside waterfront, then headed on toward Charlottetown. As we passed through Albany we stopped at the Hand Pie Company and had a delicious lunch, (a Maritime Meat Pie and a Tourtière) then it was on to Victoria-By-The-Sea Beach to search for sea glass again. No luck there either. Next stop, the waterfront in Charlottetown and a visit to the Founders Hall Food Market. We thought it might be like Toronto's St. Lawrence Market, but it was just a food court. Carol wandered through the vendors at the weekend craft market in the adjacent park, then we went home, arriving about 4:00. I tossed the ball for Jasper while Carol shook about 50 pounds of red sand out of his blanket on the back seat. We stayed home and had homemade chilli and Knead a Brake croissants for dinner. TV and bed rounded out the night.

Tea Hill Beach

Spinnaker's Landing, Summerside

Victoria Seaport Lighthouse

A dog library.  Need a stick? Take a stick!

Victoria-by-the-Sea Beach

Monday Sept 21

North Cape was our destination today.  We left at 8:15, it's a 2 1/4 hour drive to the other side of PEI.  After gassing up in Charlottetown we carried on through Kensington and Summerside. Our first stop was at Tignish Shores where we walked the beach at Fisherman's Haven Provincial Park. Jasper had a good run.

Then we continued north to the cape.

The walk into the Gulf of St. Lawrence is amazing.  Converging tidal currents have created a long spit of rock and sand. It stretches about 350 yards from shore and today there were a couple of dozen sea lions, close to shore, feeding on fish in the shallow water east of the spit. Wow! At the very tip there were two fur seals sunning themselves at the waters edge. Jasper was only 20 yards away but he didn't notice them, and didn't scare them away.

The morning view from our verandah.

A fisheman checking the mussel stock in front of our cottage.

A drizzly day!

Tignish Shores

North Cape Lighthouse

Ocean currents have created a huge spit at the northern tip of the island.

It's very rocky, not Jasper's ideal beach!

Carol is taking pictures of the sea lions feeding in front of her.

The sea lions - there were a couple of dozen of them!

I don't like this beach!

A fur seal and a seal lion.

Two fur seals

Sea lions are huge!

Seals and a sea lion in the background.

After a long stay on the spit we scaled the hill back up to the car and carried on. We had a bite of lunch at a café in Tignish then drove to nearby Skinner's Pond, home of the famous Canadian troubadour Stompin' Tom Connors. Tom traveled the country from coast to coast to coast and wrote songs depicting his experience. He never experienced international success but he was Canadian icon.

Then it was time for the long drive home.

We were back at 5:15 and enjoyed dinner at home. It seems that every restaurant in PEI is closed on Monday. We watched TV and at bedtime tragedy struck.  Poor Jasper was out doing his business when he got hit directly in the face by a skunk.

Rub-a-dub-dub, Jasper in the tub!

Tuesday Sept 22

We enjoyed a slow morning at Alice's Place and left at 9:45, headed toward The Dunes, at Brackley Beach. We took a short side trip to Burning Point Beach along the way, and arrived at The Dunes at 11:00 a.m.   It's a gallery, gift shop and café surrounded by amazing gardens and sculptures. We walked the gardens snapping pictures before Carol browsed the gallery and shop.

As we drove on, we kept a window cracked open, Jasper continues to smell a bit.  We arrived at Fin Folk Food, in nearby Grand Tracadie, and had a wonderful lunch before heading to the beach.

Jasper swam there last summer, but today was too cold and extremely windy. I waited near the shore while Carol and Jasper walked out toward the crashing surf. It wasn't long before blowing sand turned them back.

On the way home we stopped at a Pet Valu to give Jason another bath. Unfortunately they don't allow 'skunked dogs' to use the do-it-yourself bathtub. We bought some skunk neutralizing spray and took Jasper home where we used it to give him another soaking. We arrived back home about 3:30 and relaxed until dinner time.

The gardens are exotic!

Most of the benches and chairs are made from driftwood.  Quite unique!

Fin Folk is right on the beach at Grand Tracadie

The view from our dog-friendly indoor table.

Possibly the world's best lobster rolls!

Carol and Jasper are heading out toward the crashing surf.

They had to turn back, the wind was blasting sand into their faces.

A view of the restaurant from half-way out the beach.

Wind or no wind, this guy likes the beach!

Wednesday Sept 23

Our last day was going to start at nearby Panmure Island Beach so we took a relaxing morning again and left at 9:45, heading to Georgetown. Carol picked up sticky buns at the Maroon Pig Bakery then browsed a couple of shops before going back to Lovely Nelly's for another Santa Claus carving.

We took a short side trip to Cardigan and stopped at Clam Diggers for lunch on the patio. Oops, no dogs allowed, they explained that it's a provincial law in PEI. They couldn't explain all the other restaurant's that ignored the law this week. At Fin Folk Food they even have an indoor dining area that allows dogs.

We moved on, 30 minutes to Murray Harbour and the Harbourview Restaurant - Damn! Closed for the season, open again in April. We went back 25 minutes, through Montague to Stella's Food Truck. We were very hungry by then and it was tasty!

It was 1:30 before we got to Panmure Island Beach where Carol and Jasper searched for more sea glass, then we relaxed in lawn chairs and enjoyed the last seaside vista of this trip.

On the way home we stopped at a car wash and vacuumed about 30 pounds of red sand out of the car before running it through the car wash. Now we're 'all spiffed up' and ready for the 1,500 kilometre (935 mile) trek home. We we back to Alice's Place just after 4:00 and enjoyed a quiet night.

The view from our veranda was nicer this morning!

Jasper gets another treatment with 'Skunk Out'

The Maroon Pig Bakery

A beautiful afternoon at Panmure Island Beach

Jasper had another good run!

Thursday Sept 24

Today we drove from Montague PEI to Edmundston NB, covering 652 kilometres.  We left at 7:30 and stopped at a roadside farm stand to buy some Irish Cobbler potatoes.  We started across the Confederation Bridge at 9:40.  It's free to use the bridge when you enter PEI but if you want to leave it costs $20.

We made good time in light traffic and pulled off to gas up at Young's Cove NB.  Carol looked around at the Irving gas station and said, 'We stopped here last year in the motor home.  We parked right over there and ate submarine sandwiches.'   There was a Lumberjack Sub Shop right beside Irving.  The subs weren't very good last year so we didn't buy any today.  Instead we had lunch at Mary Browns in Oromocto NB.

We hoped to stop at Hartland on our way to PEI but we were running a bit late that day, so we stopped today to see the world's longest covered bridge.

We enjoyed light traffic all day.

Some colour in the trees!

The first glimpse of the Confederation Bridge

You have to pay if you want to go home!

A span of 13 kilometres across the Northumberland Strait

I was getting a bit tired, so Carol drove the last hour and a half. We arrived at the Days Inn in Edmundston at 4:00. After a short nap Carol fed Jasper and we had a sandwich at a nearby Subway where we could watch him in the car from our window seat.

Friday Sept 25

Today we drove from Edmundston NB to our home in Kingston covering 835 kilometres.  We left at 7:00 and about 15 minutes later crossed into Quebec. That made our clocks all switch from Atlantic to Eastern time, 7:15 a.m. switched to 6:15.

Traffic was light but it was foggy so we had to slow down frequently because of poor visibility. Once we passed Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! it cleared and we picked up speed. The tour guide - navigator - moose spotter - driving instructor was so busy keeping an eye out for moose that she totally forgot to take any pictures!

We stopped to stretch our legs at a rest area on Autoroute 20 and later gassed up near Drummondville QC. By noon we were approaching Montreal and crossed into Ontario at about 1:00.

After a quick bite of lunch at McDonalds in Lancaster, just across the Ontario line, we made our final dash. We pulled in at home at 3:00 and quickly unpacked.  It was a great trip, we had a good time . . . but it's always nice to get back home!