Getting to Prince Edward Island we crossed the longest bridge over ice (when the Gulf of Saint Lawerence freezes over in the winter). It is thought to be the most Scottish place other than Scotland with 50% of the population having Scottish ancestry. About 97% of the population is caucasian.
Prince Edward Island
There is a Tim Horton’s everywhere. Kind of a cross between a Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. The locals prefer their Tim Horton’s coffee with double the cream and double the sugar. Sandy had an espresso which was delicious.
Prince Edward Island (PEI) has a pastoral landscape with rolling hills, farmland, woods, red beaches, and ocean views. The author Lucy Maud Montgomery during the late Victorian Era wrote Anne of Green Gables in 1908 based on the area. She was born on PEI.
Their economy is primarily agriculture, tourism, and fishery. 25% of Canada’s potatoes are grown here. Fishing is primarily composed of lobster, oyster, and mussel farming.
There were plenty of beautiful corn, potato, wheat, and mustard fields on Prince Edward Island.
Cornwall
We stayed at a KOA. They had 50 amp service, water, sewer, large level pad, and partial ocean views. We could not use our Dish because of trees and the wifi was only good enough to surf the internet. It was a great opportunity to catch up on laundry. Cornwall is near Charlottetown, the largest city on Prince Edward Island. We drove to Summerside and had some amazing lobster from a fish market.
Bottle Houses
Edouard Arsenault made 3 Bottle Houses constructed of cement and over 25,000 recycled bottles. He was a fisherman, carpenter, and lighthouse keeper. He made a Chapel, Six-Gabled House, and a Tavern. Unfortunately, he built them on railroad ties. The severe winters deteriorated the foundations, so between 1992 to 1998, the original buildings were reconstructed on sturdier foundations. The flower gardens on site were beautiful.
Canadian Potato Museum
The worlds largest potato sculpture. Potatoes are grown all over the island. The Canadian Potato Museum has a nice self guided tour regarding the history of the potato. There are numerous old farming equipment on display. Some Japanese tourists insisted they take a picture of us and instructed us how to pose.
There is a second museum that consists of donations from locals. It was interesting to see a very old anesthesia machine. An iron lung was the first ventilator used primarily for polio patients during the 1940’s and 1950’s. It worked by raising and lowering the air pressure inside the chamber to cause respiration. The patients body was in the chamber and their head stuck out through a rubber seal at one end.
They have a potato cafeteria. We enjoyed potato soup, chips, and a loaded baked potato. Yum.
Victoria
It is a picturesque old historic seaport that prospered during the 1800’s. The Trans-Canada highway bypassed Victoria as well as shopping centers and tourist attractions preserving its heritage. Its what makes the town so attractive. We stopped in Island Chocolates and had coffee and chocolate. The red beaches are from oxidized iron in the cliffs that erode to the beaches.
Wood Islands
Europeans first settled the island in 1803 followed by a large party of Scottish settlers in 1807. It is primarily a farming and fishing community. Its also where the Northumberland Ferry transports between PEI and Nova Scotia. The acres of flowering mustard fields were stunning and the color was brilliant.
Northumberland Provincial Park
We stayed at the south eastern part of the island. There were beautiful ocean views and a long sandy beach. Although we had 50 amp service, the water pressure was only 30 psi and the sewer was on the wrong side of the RV. No wifi. No satellite because of trees. The ocean water was warm at about 70 degrees.
We watched more episodes of Marty Stouffer’s Wild America. His love of wildlife and the outdoors is contagious. Most of his film footage is incredible, challenging, and remote. Seems like he staged some of his animal encounters. Filming captive animals became popular with him and Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom. But others, including National Geographic, used captive and zoo animals, but gave the impression they were filmed in the wild. In Montana, there are animal photography businesses where you can rent almost any animal for a photo shoot in a natural setting to look like its wild including: tigers, lions, wolves, mountain lions, lynx, grizzly bear, coyote, bobcat, foxes, badgers, porcupine, raccoon, skunk, mink, etc. Why spend $10,000-20,000 and a couple weeks to go to Africa and maybe film a lion with cubs, when it only costs $500 for a session with a lion in Montana. See Animals of Montana. If someone can hire Heidi Klum to model then it goes with reason someone can hire a mountain lion for a photoshoot. I am not opposed to amazing images that tell a story especially for scenes that would be almost impossible to obtain, but, if it looks too good to be wild, then its probably isn’t.
We did the Points East Coastal Drive. It is a scenic drive that meanders by wineries, beaches, lighthouses, marinas, museums, small towns, a brewery and a distillery.
Flat Tire
We noticed the tire pressure for one of the Jeep tires was low. There was a sharp piece of rock that punctured the tire. We were lucky to find a tire center that was open on a Saturday. They patched it from the inside for $20. We enjoyed lunch on the water, scallop caesar salad.
Newman Estate Winery
We met the winemaker/owner of Newman Estate Winery. He is young, trained at U.C. Davis in Sacramento, California, and does everything at his winery. He makes both a red and a white wine. Both were very good, so we bought 4 bottles at only $12/bottle US. In San Diego, grape vine bud break was in February. In PEI, bud break isn’t until May. Even harvesting in October, his brix (sugar level) is only 20, compared to California 25, so the PEI wines tend to be low alcohol and light bodied.
Rossignol Winery
Rossignol Winery is more developed, larger, has more varietals, and has older vines than Newman. It has a cute building and nice wine labels. But their wines were not as good. They have great ocean views and host weddings and special events which helps to pay the bills. What is key to wine tasting is a large glass to inhale the bouquet and show it off. Drinking is only half the experience. The wineries on PEI serve tastings in a shot glass. Ugh. We are so missing California wine!!
Prince Edward Island is beautiful with warm and friendly people. We passed a Canadian war memorial along the highway. It was done very nicely. There was actually a woman visiting it whose husband had flown one of these planes.
