Touring PEI

While the weather on Prince Edward Island was a bit disappointing (cool, cloudy, and very windy), we did get to visit with friends we met last week while in Maine.  Bill and Eileen Marra were touring near Halifax and decided to visit with us on PEI.  While the boys enjoyed a round of golf, the girls did a little shopping.  Another day the four of us went to visit the capital and largest city, Charlottestown.  This is a neat little city with a nice harbor area and many shops and restaurants.  One area, called Victoria Row, is a street blocked off to all but foot traffic with restaurants with outdoor seating.

Since we didn’t see anything on the menus displayed there, we walked a few blocks to the harbor and ate at a restaurant along the water at Peakes Wharf.

 We sat at the table on the upper right in the photo below, then enjoyed some of the music on the lawn.

After a few days Bill and Eileen had their fill of PEI and headed south to visit relatives in Maine.  We took advantage of a decent day on Sunday and took a ride on the Confederation Trail, a rail trail that crisscrosses the island.

We parked at a visitor’s center near the trail and road about six miles along St. Peter’s Bay to have lunch at Rick’s.

As the name implies, the fish and chips are their specialty and are very good.  As we rode back to the car we passed many fields planted with PEI’s main crop, potatoes.

PEI is a narrow island with many bays and inlets.  These waterways provide many beautiful scenes as you drive around the island.  The yellow below is canola, it’s color providing great contrast to the green of the potato fields.

Fishing is the other large occupation on PEI which is famous for it’s mussels.  Almost every small inlet is used to raise mussels.  The white buoys below are attached to lines that hold mussel shells, which take 18 to 24 months to mature.

We booked our site on the island for a month with the option of a refund if we leave early.  With the weather a bit shaky and the site we are on not the best, we are going to head south a bit early.  More later from New Brunswick.