Prince Edward Island Trip: The End is the Beginning is the End
All good trips come to an end, and the end of our trip involved a lot of driving. We had to get from the West Point Lighthouse all the way back to Halifax, a distance of 230 miles using the most direct route over the Confederation Bridge, which is only 22 years old. PEI was only accessible by ferry and plane for a very long time; heck the western end where we stayed our last night on the island only get electricity in the late 1950s.
Of course, I'm jumping ahead. It's quite a distance from the lighthouse to the bridge, and it took a while to drive there, including a few scenic stops and a return to the Bottle House to successfully retrieve a sweatshirt M forgot there. We then drove the 12 miles over the bridge. Sadly but understandably, there's not really a view from the bridge due to the concrete walls, but it's certainly a bit weird to be 6 miles from land on a bridge.
At the other end of the bridge is Cape Jourimain. There's a nature center with a nice museum, which we spun through. We also went up the observation tower. At this point we realized that we were in New Brunswick, and we decided lunch was in order so we could officially cross off the province. We had lunch in Port Elgin and drove more or less straight through to Halifax. We dined on the waterfront where we started it all off. We had another six total oysters (4 for M, 2 for me). One early morning flight later we were back in the States.
Speaking of driving, our rental car was a brand new Mercedes-Benz C300. It had 3 km on it when we picked it up at the airport, and 1519 km on it when we dropped it off. That's 943 miles. I'm frankly shocked. Aside from the last day, at no point did it feel like we were piling on the miles. I didn't actually care for the car very much, but I admit that it accelerated very nicely. Too bad the speed limit never got higher than 80km on the island, but then every road was two lanes, even the "highway".
In any event, it was a fun trip. M fulfilled her long held dreams of seeing PEI, and I enjoyed the beaches, lighthouses and seafood. The exchange rate was also nice; thanks to the power of the strong US dollar we got about 25% off on everything we bought in Canada. Overall, 10/10, would do again.
Beaches: 0 on the day, 6 on the trip (again, not counting ones we drove past but did not walk on)
Lighthouses: 0 on the day, 7 on the trip (again, not counting ones we drove past but did not visit)
Oysters: 27 in five batches, plus 3 quahogs.
Of course, I'm jumping ahead. It's quite a distance from the lighthouse to the bridge, and it took a while to drive there, including a few scenic stops and a return to the Bottle House to successfully retrieve a sweatshirt M forgot there. We then drove the 12 miles over the bridge. Sadly but understandably, there's not really a view from the bridge due to the concrete walls, but it's certainly a bit weird to be 6 miles from land on a bridge.
At the other end of the bridge is Cape Jourimain. There's a nature center with a nice museum, which we spun through. We also went up the observation tower. At this point we realized that we were in New Brunswick, and we decided lunch was in order so we could officially cross off the province. We had lunch in Port Elgin and drove more or less straight through to Halifax. We dined on the waterfront where we started it all off. We had another six total oysters (4 for M, 2 for me). One early morning flight later we were back in the States.
Speaking of driving, our rental car was a brand new Mercedes-Benz C300. It had 3 km on it when we picked it up at the airport, and 1519 km on it when we dropped it off. That's 943 miles. I'm frankly shocked. Aside from the last day, at no point did it feel like we were piling on the miles. I didn't actually care for the car very much, but I admit that it accelerated very nicely. Too bad the speed limit never got higher than 80km on the island, but then every road was two lanes, even the "highway".
In any event, it was a fun trip. M fulfilled her long held dreams of seeing PEI, and I enjoyed the beaches, lighthouses and seafood. The exchange rate was also nice; thanks to the power of the strong US dollar we got about 25% off on everything we bought in Canada. Overall, 10/10, would do again.
Beaches: 0 on the day, 6 on the trip (again, not counting ones we drove past but did not walk on)
Lighthouses: 0 on the day, 7 on the trip (again, not counting ones we drove past but did not visit)
Oysters: 27 in five batches, plus 3 quahogs.