Happy Father’s Day!

Overcast and cool early this morning but by 10:00 it had warmed up so off we went to explore more beaches.

We drove the Trans Canada Highway to Victoria-by-the-Sea; a delightful village. This is a 33 minute drive from Charlottetown and a 32 minute drive from Summerside. Or for us a 17 minute drive from Borden-Carleton.

https://www.victoriabythesea.ca/

Victoria Beach

I wanted to call this Rovis Beach as it’s at the end of Rovis Beach Lane but looking on a map it was called Victoria Beach.

We parked near the end of this lane.

From the above picture you can see we didn’t check the tide schedule before our little junket. What were we thinking? All of our beaches today were at high tide. Oh well. You can’t win ’em all.

Here:

* washrooms near by at the wharf, about a five minute walk

* paved parking

* eating establishments within a five minute walk

* unsupervised beach

Along the water they have a beautiful new boardwalk. I was impressed. What an great addition. It makes for such a lovely waterfront walk. Then you can walk down the wharf to several restaurants or stroll around this picturesque village.

Remember in a previous post I said you’d be seeing some more lighthouses? There’s one down near the wharf in Victoria-by-the-Sea.

https://www.victoriabythesea.ca/SeaportMuseum.html

Think the shrubs need a little hair cut.

Some other places of interest:

Chocolate and live theatre. Two of my favs. 🥰 Can’t go wrong.

Off we go. Next stop.

Victoria Provincial Park

Although this is a great size, in my opinion it needs some tender loving care. It’s looking a bit tired and neglected. But there were families there using the swings and as we were leaving another car was arriving. It’s always nice to see parks being enjoyed.

Here:

* lots of parking

* washrooms and changing rooms

* swings

* picnic tables

* solid wooden stairs to the beach

* unsupervised beach

Argyle Shore Provincial Park

Our next stop was Argyle Shore Provincial Park.

https://www.tourismpei.com/provincial-park/argyle-shore

This beach is 32 min. from Charlottetown, 25 min. from Borden-Carleton, and 39 min. from Summerside. We happened to be here during high tide so we didn’t really get to observe the full beach. It’s quite a spacious park with lots of grass so it’s great for kids to run around and play and has two picnic shelters which makes it ideal for a multi family get together. It’s a nice spot to pull out your camp chair and sit along the bank and read, have a tea, or just enjoy the view. We spotted several people doing just that. A young couple were just leaving as we arrived and we saw someone having a walk on the beach. Again, nice to see it being enjoyed.

Here:

* parking area (not paved)

* two children’s play areas

* long solid wooden stairs to the beach

* washrooms, changing rooms, and showers

* outdoor picnic tables plus two shelters with multiple picnic tables

* unsupervised beach

Don’t you just love this little waterfall?

On our return drive we decided to take a small detour and enjoy lunch at By The Roadside Gallery & Cafe owned by Cathy and Bill Gallant.

What a lovely couple. They have created a warm, welcoming spot with delicious homemade soups, sandwiches, salads, and sweets. Everyone makes you feel at home. In addition there are so many items for sale, many created by Cathy and Bill. This is one of our favourite PEI cafes and have been coming here for the past four summers. If you’ve never been then you need to. It’s open Thursday – Sunday 10 am – 5pm.

https://m.facebook.com/By.The.Roadside.Gallery.and.Cafe

While talking to them a while ago they mentioned a beach where they’ve been going for years so we went to see the next beach a few days ago.

Richards Point Beach

Another beach that doesn’t have a name sign so I’m calling it Richards Point Beach as it’s on Richards Point Road.

This was a delightful discovery.

Here:

* no washrooms

* unsupervised beach

* field parking

Then back to enjoy this beautiful day with a little (or a lot) of deck sunning. Ah Love it.

Hope you had a great day.

What beautiful weather we had on Wednesday. Even though we had soooo many things to do we decided to take a break and visit one of the local beach areas.

We headed out of Borden-Carleton, taking a right turn onto the #10 South (near the DD Pizza and Donair Hub). A beautiful scenic drive with some breathtaking views of the Northumberland Strait.

Before arriving at our beach destination we stopped in Cape Traverse to look at the monument to the Prince Edward Island “Ice Boat Service”

I know it’s difficult to see from the above picture but in the stone behind the ice boat there are carvings of people, as if they are moving the boat.

If you’re intrigued by this and want to find out more check out this Facebook group.

https://m.facebook.com/capetraverseiceboatcommitee

Right across the street, in the former Cape Traverse United Church, is Ice Boat Rarities and Antiques.

https://m.facebook.com/iceboatrarities/

What an array of collectables and antiques in here! This is such a unique spot. You could easily spend hours feasting your eyes on all they have. Here’s just a sample.

Right next door is Island Uniquities and Antiques. Another fabulous place to check out treasures.

http://www.islanduniquities.com/

https://m.facebook.com/islanduniquities/

Now off to our beach.

This beach is the first in our series entitled Hidden Gems: beaches that seem hidden away (probably enjoyed mostly by local residents).

Wharf Road Beach

Now I have to be honest with you, I have no idea if this is the name of the beach but since it’s on Wharf Road that’s what I’m calling it.

To me this is one of the nicest beaches on PEI if you’re looking for long walks on a secluded beach. Heavenly! You can walk in either direction but I’d suggest this would be best accomplished if you’re there at low tide. Richard even found two pieces of sea glass-a green and a brown.

We found the area in this next picture very captivating and would love to discover more about it but researching online has not given any insight. Guess the locals know.

We’re assuming this is possibly the remnants of an old wharf (since it is called Wharf Road). If anyone knows about this please comment. We’d love to know. We sat on some concrete blocks near here and enjoyed an afternoon cup of tea. Slurp Ahhhh

Here:

*parking for possibly 6 cars plus maybe some more on the road (but that might make driving in and out difficult)

*no washrooms

*lovely, quiet beach

An additional plus to this beach is the wonderful view of the Confederation Bridge.

We’re planning on visiting quite a few beaches next week esp. during our trip down/up east so keep tuned for more incredible PEI Beaches.

As Tuesday was such a beautiful day we decided to begin our PEI beach junkets.

These beaches are all in the PEI National Park on the north shore.

It’s important to note that in July and August there is an admittance fee to enter the National Parks.

And please remember:

All the beaches in the PEI National Park are part of a protected area so you are to stay on the designated trails and boardwalks. And no pets are allowed.

Brackley Beach

What a wonderful beach just a 15-20 minute drive (depending on the traffic or how fast you drive 😉) from Charlottetown. Brackley is a wheelchair accessible beach and I’ve read that a special beach wheelchair with fat tires can be booked ahead through the visitor centre but I haven’t seen it.

Here:

* large parking lot

* washrooms, showers, and change facilities in the beach complex

* outdoor shower to quickly rinse off the sand

* beautiful, pristine, supervised beach

There is a long expanse of beach for your enjoyment.

Travelling along the Gulf Shore Parkway we come to beaches 2-5

Shaw’s Beach

Another lovely beach. And a bit quieter than the main Brackley Beach.

Here:

* roadside parking

* no washrooms

* unsupervised beach

Covehead

The Covehead Harbour Lighthouse leads you to a quiet, fairly secluded beach.

As there are 63 lighthouses on PEI this will be the first of many that we’ll share.

Here:

* small amount of roadside parking

* no washrooms

* unsupervised beach

But

There’s more to be found here. There’s deep sea fishing, an ice cream shop, and several eateries. Our supper was at Richard’s Fresh Seafood. https://richardsfreshseafood.com/

As this was early June there was no line up but in the summer there can be quite a wait. But it’s well worth the wait.

Every summer we make it a necessary stop – usually more than once. Yum Yum. We’ve tried lots of fish and chips all over PEI and this is our absolute, hands down, favourite. To us no where else even comes close. As my mother would have said, ” It’s some good.”

If you haven’t tried this eatery then you should.

There’s a view of the harbour and some times you’ll see teenagers jumping off the side into the water. (Even though I don’t know if they’re supposed to.) After our meal we usually walk down to the water and enjoy a cup of tea.

Ahhh. Pure delight.

Ross Lane Beach

Continuing along the parkway from the Covehead Harbour Lighthouse it’s a 2 km. drive to this beach. I’m sure you’re going to get tired of me saying they’re lovely beaches, but they really are.

Here:

* parking lot

* washrooms

* online it says this is supervised but I thought it said unsupervised when we were there so I’m not sure.

Stanhope Beach

Back in my teenage years, and boy was that a long time ago, this is the beach where we usually went. Oh my. Did we have fun back then. I’m wondering if as many visitors go here as to Brackley Beach. They should. It offers so much.

This is a wonderful beach and you can walk for what seems forever in either direction. What a treat.

Here:

* parking lot

* washrooms, showers, and change facilities in the beach complex (similar to Brackley Beach)

* scenic look out

* picnic areas (one with a small stove)

* children’s playground

* supervised beach

What a fantastic day we had and this is just the beginning.

Can’t wait to continue sharing more of our beautiful island beaches with you.

(Somewhere on a Beach-Dierks Bentley)

Where can you find a better place to spend your summer than on Prince Edward Island?

No where.

I live on Prince Edward Island Canada’s smallest province. It’s on Canada’s east coast, close to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Edward_Island

Prince Edward Island has many names:

In French, the island is today called Île-du-Prince-Édouard, but its former French name, as part of Acadia, was Île Saint-Jean (St. John’s Island). The island is known in Scottish Gaelic as Eilean a’ Phrionnsa (lit. “the Island of the Prince”, the local form of the longer ‘Eilean a’ Phrionnsa Iomhair/Eideard’) or Eilean Eòin for some Gaelic speakers in Nova Scotia though not on PEI (lit. “John’s Island” in reference to the island’s former name).

The island is known in the Mi’kmaq language as Abegweit or Epekwitk. That’s roughly translated as “land cradled in the waves”.

The island has several informal names: “Garden of the Gulf”, referring to the pastoral scenery and lush agricultural lands throughout the province; and “Birthplace of Confederation” or “Cradle of Confederation” referring to the Charlottetown Conference in 1864, although PEI did not join Confederation until 1873, when it became the seventh Canadian province. 

Here’s a short and sweet promo video about PEI.

https://www.thoughtco.com/prince-edward-island-facts-508583

PEI is known for many things.

L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables

https://www.lmmontgomery.ca/about/lmm/her-life

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Maud_Montgomery

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Green_Gables

https://www.tourismpei.com/anne-of-green-gables

Potatoes

https://www.peipotato.org/home

https://www.tourismpei.com/recipes/potato-recipes

Seafood

http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/FARD_SFGuide.pdf

https://www.tourismpei.com/seafood

Red Soil

Beaches

https://welcomepei.com/beaches/

All this brings me to my summer project to visit 100 beaches on my beautiful PEI this summer.

I’ll be sharing my beach junket journeys with you and I hope you enjoy PEI beaches as much as I do.

(Money, Money, Money-ABBA)

Here’s a rough guide to travelling costs for anyone thinking of taking the plunge and going to the gulf coast of Alabama in the future.

So now that we’ve been back home for a couple of weeks and gradually reacclimatizing to everything here I decided it was time 😱 to look at the $$$$ for our Gulf Shores, Alabama winter.

The Journey

During the first two days of our journey from PEI to Gulf Shores we had really poor driving conditions and therefore didn’t cover as much distance as we had planned. It took us four days of driving with three hotel stays. Being very tired we ended up eating at the hotels which, as you know, can be quite expensive. Lesson learned.

On the return trip from Gulf Shores to PEI we decided to extend the driving hours each day and make the trip in three days and two nights. We knew that due to Daylight Saving Time we’d have more daylight driving hours. Right. Good plan. Too bad it didn’t work out that way. Our third day was a miserable drive. Driving through Maine was difficult enough but once we hit New Brunswick it got increasingly worse. Single track driving down the Trans Canada Highway. Terrible. We had to overnight in Fredericton which completely destroyed our plan to save money and days driving. What can you do. Mother Nature is not always kind. So now both trips were four days and three nights. We did learn though. On the trip back we stopped at grocery stores in each location and bought items for supper. Smart idea. A lot less costly than restaurants and much nicer to relax and enjoy the food in our rooms. Score one for us.

So here’s the breakdown of the travel to and from. I have to admit it’s not exactly accurate because even though I recorded every item and it’s cost in my journal I forgot to convert the USD expenses into CAD at the time. Therefore my exchange rates were based on today’s rate of exchange. But I’m sure this is very close.

PEI to Alabama

(All $ converted to Canadian$)

Tolls: 63.83

Gas: 229.50

Food: 396.60

Hotels: 402.00

Total: 1091.93

Alabama to PEI

(All $ converted to Canadian$)

Tolls: 11.39

Gas: 300.04

Food: 210.54

Hotels: 452.93

Total: 974.90

Difference: 117.03

The return trip cost us $117.03 less, but remember we pay the Confederation Bridge toll ($47.75) when leaving PEI but not when returning to PEI.

The travel costs there and back were a lot more than I had anticipated so they have to be improved upon but I’m sure we can cut those costs next year. (Yes, we’ve already booked for next year and in the same house.👍🏼) The only cost saving possibilities I can see are getting cheaper accommodations and buying most meals from grocery stores or cheaper restaurants as we have no control over gas or toll prices. We also will try again to cut the trip time, weather permitting, to three days and two nights.

Here’s to lessening next year’s travel costs. 🤞🏼

(My Favorite Things (The Sound of Music) – Rodgers and Hammerstein)

It’s unbelievable how long it takes to put things away and then relocate my old things. After getting a lot of things done I decided to sit with a cup of tea and reminisce about the last three months.

What a time! So many great memories. I’ve been looking through all my photos and thought I’d share some of my favourite moments.

Arrival

So close to the beach,

Sunrise

Sunset

And in between

Him

Me

Us

Birds

Beach Treasures

Gator

New Orleans

PEI

I’ll be spending some time reviewing the financial costs of the travelling in the next few days and will post for those interested in ever making the trek to Gulf Shores, Alabama.

Nite all 😴

(Back Home Again – John Denver)

(Back Home – England World Cup Squad)

Yes, finally made it back. It took longer than we had planned but we’re here now. 😀

A slight detour was taken to visit Champlain Mall so Richard could get a Roots hoodie. Why not also grab a Starbucks. 😋

We did have a moment of concern when we got to the bridge and all traffic was directed off to the side 😮 but thank goodness we were allowed to continue as the bridge’s only restrictions were high sided vehicles.

Some happy sights. 🥳

We spent most of the afternoon putting things away but didn’t get everything done. More work tomorrow. We’ll get there.

What’s really funny is that after having been away for over three months we’ve forgotten how some things here work. Gradually remembering. A sign of getting older I guess. 😝

Now this is a strange one. When we packed for Alabama I took the Apple TV and was sure I packed the remote. We got down there and no remote. What? I must have forgotten it in PEI. Thanks to my super son-in-law Scott for getting a new one ordered and sent to me. Now we get back. You got it. Can’t find the old remote. I have no idea where it is. I figure I must have put it somewhere safe so I wouldn’t lose it and now can’t remember where it is. (Oh oh) 😞 But at least I have the new one. 😊

A nice, healthy salad for supper and a bit of tv relaxation.

Nite all 😴

(Today’s the Day – Pink)

Did not get up today until after sunrise. What a nice change.

We decided to eat breakfast here, relax in the room, read the paper, do the crossword, and take our time before leaving. That way we’re relaxed plus the roads should be ok.

Outside the sky looks bright and clear with the sun shining. Looking forward to a great day of driving and seeing this beauty.

(Wishful Thinking – China Crisis)

That about says it all.

Left this morning at 6:20. Excited that today was our last driving day.

Wishful thinking 💭

Hit some traffic but made it through.

We were lucky. We found a stop with a Starbucks. Perfect. Saw this cute moose. Had to take a couple of pictures.

Things were going well. Making great time. A little, light rain but not bad. Looked like we’d make it back to PEI by 5:30 p.m. Yay.

Wishful thinking.

Snow in Maine but driving wasn’t extremely bad. When we got to the US / Canada border we were sure driving in New Brunswick would be much better.

Wishful thinking 💭

The Trans Canada Highway had not been plowed. Surely that was because it was right at the border and things would improve.

Wishful thinking 💭

We saw one plow. A very interesting one but only one. Shame NB government.

The driving was so horrendous.

And these are pictures of the road before it got really bad.

We were only going about 35 km an hour in heavy, single lane traffic. We had to stop for the night in Fredericton. Both of us hated to give up but it was pointless to continue. So here’s where we stayed tonight. Radisson Kingswood Hotel and Suites. Lovely.

https://www.radisson.com/hanwell-hotel-nb-e3c-2l4/canfrnb

Beautiful room and bathroom. Plus we got a great discounted price. Perfect.

We had supper in their restaurant and then relaxed after that disastrous drive.

I have to mention that Richard has made the whole drive wearing his shorts. Not me. I wore my fleece lined leggings and a long sleeved top.

Nite y’all 😴

(White Snow in Spring – Wu Man)

This is our Maine drive right now. Grrr.

Have seen multiple cars in the ditches.

Don’t worry.

We’re driving nice and slow and will stop for the night if necessary.