Checking out PEI

Lobster boats & rows mussels growing..

The bus picked us up this morning to see what we can see on this part of the island. The first stop was in the PEI National park along the shore and sand dunes. I think the this local tour leader get a kick back from some of the locals places as he was sure pushing some gift shops, high end restaurants, & a jelly joint. The newlyweds, Charles & Kate, are due to make a stop here next week & he was sure to show us their hotel (meals are $30 to $50 and evening attire is required); I know no one on this caravan will be at this place for a meal. The next stop was nifty, it's where the local lobster boats tie up. There were many of them here as they do not lobster (or do you call it fish?) on Sundays. We were also shown where mussels are grown which is a significant business on the island. It takes over a year and they grow on long plastic mesh socks tied and anchored in long rows. We spent an hour at the house of the cousins of the grandparents who raised Lucy Maud Montgomery who wrote Anne of Green Gables in 1908. This green gabled house and the surrounding area (haunted wood & lovers lane) were her inspiration for the book. I never read the book (Judy bought a copy to read) & never will. An hour there was too long. The last stop was a small jelly factory, gift shop & restaurant.

Off to Prince Edward Island

We made an easy but bumpy 208 mile trip through New Brunswick to PEI and crossed the 7 mile Confederation Bridge to the island. In the winter.....we will NOT be here then to verify this ....all the water around the island and under the bridge freezes. The expressways are pretty good but on the 2 & 4 lane roads you can run into lots of patches and bumps. We travelled with Stan & Connie and stopped at a little place called Red Rooster and had a pretty good lunch. The wagon master sets a time frame to arrive so he has time to get there, set up & organize the arrival of the other 12 rigs on the trip. We'll be here 4 nights

St John New Brunswick exploring

We left at 9am on a bus tour of St John, I have to admit this is a nifty city…..if you don’t have to drive in it. We went after diesel yesterday after lunch and got lost. One stop was at the downtown City Market, I was impressed by how active & colorful it was. Judy did a little shopping while I checked out the fresh seafood, or whatever this stuff was.
We stopped at the reversing falls where the water depth changes from 100’ to 30’ due to an underwater ledge. When the tide comes in and out the rapids go in a different direction. You can see the commernts are not afraid and enjoy riding the water to catch fish that are stirred up.
The last stop was at the Carleton Martello tower built during the War of 1812 (the Canadians call it the American British War) to defend St John. The fort has never fired or taken a shot. We watched the school next door as the exiting kids were all excited, today was the last day of school.

Into St John, New Brunswick

Today we made the 170 mile trip across the Canadian border then onto St John in New Brunswick. We are staying here two nights at a downtown city park, it is just a very large parking lot covered in gravel. It is only two miles at the most off the expressway but it’s a twisty curvy hilly two miles. I do not think there is a straight 2 blocks road in this city due to the hills & water. After we arrived and were set up we went with Stan & Connie to the parks restaurant for a late lunch, we sat on the patio overlooking the beach & lake.

Acadia National Park & Bar Harbor

Today we took a bus trip to Acadia National Park & Bar Harbor, it was the first event on our RV caravan trip to the Canadian Maritime Provinces. We went up Cadillac Mountain which is the first place in the USA to see daylight half of every year. No, we were NOT there at 4:45am to see it. It's the tallest mountain on the east coast until you get down to Rio de Janeiro, so we were told. You can see the sand bar at low tide, this is where Bar Harbor gets its name We also saw Thunder Hole but today it was calm and more like Hummer Hole. Water comes into a natural opening and cave in the rocks and can put on a good show during a storm. We stopped at a restaurant/gift shop and had some locally made Blueberry soda, one was enough. At the turn of the century the two round top mountains visible from the outside dining area were rather “risqué”. Not now…..boob hills.
We then were dropped off in Bar Harbor for a couple hours for lunch & to explore. Moose are popular and you can see that Judy found a friend in a shop & there was even one on a rooftop by the park.

Lumberjack display

Judy was bored and checked out the local activities and found a lumberjack competition/display a mile from the campground.....we ended up with about 20 of us from the caravan who are here at the campground going. The activities included, axe cutting, chainsaw cutting & carving, pole climbing, sawing, log rolling and I'm sure I forgot a few others.

Trenton, Maine preping for the caravan

Today we mover 170 miles to Trenton, Maine where we are all gathering for the Canadian Maritime caravan. We decided to go in two days early and many of us are there already. Here we are sitting around a campfire. The weather has been a little cloudy, damp & chilly but there's no snow.