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Prince Edward Island

The next province up is Prince Edward Island.  Despite PEI (as its known) playing such a huge part in the formation of Canada it actually did not join Confederation until 1873 - six years after Canada was formed. The reason?  Crippling debt and pressure from the other provinces of Canada who were afraid that the United States would take it over.

When most people think of PEI they probably picture Anne of Green Gables.  Well, you won't see any of that here....  I have visited this beautiful province of red soil twice - with a friend in 1995 and on a solo road trip in 2008. Mainly because I am too lazy to scan photos that had Green Gables in them (and I can't find the photo album anyway), the photos here were taken on a (kind of wet) long weekend in 2008.  Confession time...I'm not really a big fan of Anne. Oh dear...people are already on me about being a "true" Canadian as I dislike curling and there are not enough adjectives in the world to express how much I hate hockey.  Now I'm really in trouble.....

So off we go in my rented Yaris for a short overnight trip...

First stop is the beautiful Prince Edward Island National Park...specifically Cavendish Beach.






Except for the one person walking along the beach in the photos I was the only person.  It was windy, invigorating and absolutely wonderful!!!



Red earth, green grass and (almost) blue sky...gotta love it!


And here's the East Point lighthouse...


Of course, there has to be a dog and bonus time, you can see my rental as well...I think the dog approved of it. As you can see by the puddles I basically stepped out of the car whenever the rain stopped.



My bed and breakfast for the night -Tir na nOg Inn. in St Peters Bay.  I wanted to visit a different area than I had been before which is why I ended up here.  9 years ago it was somewhat cheaper!!!  The 435 km Confederation trail shown below, runs right across the street from the inn.



I stayed in the Green room


The front drawing room.  


As luck would have it the local fire hall was having a lobster roll fundraiser so the hosts collected our money and collected our meals. Our hosts, their friends and other guests at the inn gathered around the table to enjoy it together.  It was delicious!

The next morning I woke to torrential rain which did not show any signs of stopping.  I had plans to drive along the east coast winding my way back to Charlottetown but it did not make sense to do this when I would not be able to see anything.  So I headed back to Charlottetown a few hours earlier than I had planned.  I stayed in a really strange bed and breakfast there that I won't even mention here...oh well it was central and cheap.  Even more convenient the Enterprise rental car location was a block away.


Of course, my main focus for PEI was to walk the capital city walk in Charlottetown.  So I did!


Province House completed construction in 1847.  It's not the most attractive building but this is where the Charlottetown Conference took place in 1864 which resulted in the Canadian Confederation three years later.


I fell in love with this row of houses.

And that's it! Yes it was short but on this trip I attended a walking convention in Nova Scotia, flew to Newfoundland for a week. drove through New Brunswick, flew to Ottawa then up to Nunavut so cut me some slack okay?  Even though my road trip on this occasion was short I did enjoy it. I am shocked at the few photos I took in Prince Edward Island due to the dire weather. Well, I have a solution for that - I need to go back on another solo road trip!!!

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