June 16 - Bangor, Maine

Another travel day today (long one), so not many pix to share. I am settled into my hotel in Bangor for the night. Checked out of the hotel on PeI, fueled up for the road on a hot breakfast. Same as yesterday, except I had 2 pieces of bacon today. I am not a big bacon fan/eater, but I had a very long way to go!

Wore my new sneaks!

And of course... the day dawned sunny and bright! Not a raindrop in sight. Sigh. It was still pretty cold, but I dressed for the temp at my destination (Bangor). The trip was uneventful. A few delays due to construction, but very few. I ran into some showers before and after I crossed the Confederation Bridge and headed toward Saint John, New Brunswick.

Entry to Confederation Bridge

On the bridge

The border crossing took some time. It is like a toll booth setup, and they had 6 lanes. Only 1 was open. Even on a Thursday there was a line of traffic. I did not take pix there because, well, homeland security and all.

I WAS worried because the person in front of me was a U-Haul; if it was full it would take quite a bit of time. Fortunately, it was empty (as I saw when the border guard looked in the back) :) Mine was easy - they ask where you are from and heading, where you were coming from, how long you have been there, and if you are bringing anything back.

I just told hin gifts and souveniers; he asked what sort. Then asked if I had any food (I said no, I did not tell him I had a bag of M&Ms in my snack pack!) or alcohol. I had 4 beers left from Canada, and the guy laughed. I said I had bought them (with tax!) and was not going to leave them behind. He agreed and I was free to re-enter the USA.

It was any easy drive from there to my hotel in Bangor, albeit long. Arrived pretty much on schedule. I think this has been the longest drive yet. It was over 7 hours with stops for gas etc.

Change of plans for tomorrow. I just really want to be home at this point, see my kitties, unpack, and see my brother. Rest these weary bones and my back from the road! It will take about 4 hours; maybe a little more with stopping for gas and dealing with Massachusetts traffic. I can do an overnight trip to the Penobscott Island pretty much any time. Also you are not allowed to take any pictures without prior approval from the Tribal Council. That has changed since I last visited.

Some extremely random observations I have about what little I have seen of Canada and the Maritime Provinces. If you are Canadian and following, please do not take any of this personally. I only visited for a very short time.

Drivers: New Brunswick and PEI are tied for most polite, but I will give the most polite award to NB. Nova Scotians drive very fast. That is fine when you are in your own country, and I can definitely relate!! But I did not want to risk a speeding ticket up there (it probably had lots of taxes!). Plus I was being the major tourist :)

The parts I saw of Canada were extremely clean - the roads had no trash on the side as you see in the US, and I did not even see much roadkill. I think they must have a "road fairy cleanup crew" that comes around to keep things so clean. I am also very impressed by all the recycling and green effort there is. Canada is light years ahead of the US on this. Every single hotel I stayed in had a separate trash bucket for recycleables. Even the gas stations have separate bins for trash and recycleables. Very impressive.

The local people I met and spoke with were unfailingly polite (I have mentioned that several times) and always helpful. There seems to be a little slower way of life, and I embrace that. Slow down... smell the coffee, smell the roses, notice the scenery. They were also very cheerful! I keep mentioning that, but it makes me smile. It can make your day. I actually ran into a couple from New Brunswick this afternoon here in Bangor when I was bringing in some of my things at the hotel, and they greeted me and stopped and we spoke a bit. Nice!

Taxes.... Huge..... 'Nuff said.

Tomorrow - home!

I hit the "publish" key on this too soon, so if you are viewing this page around 8:15 tonight you will want to revisit. I do have a few photos to add.

I will give a rundown and critique of the hotels I have stayed in once I am home. I did not think it prudent to publish their names and where I was staying while I was so far away from home.

Here are a few random shots out the windshield that amazingly came out not too badly.

Random roadside PEI

Random roadside New Brunswick

Random roadside PEI

June 15 - Prince Edward Island

Another treat today, ladies and gentlemen. I have a TON of pictures to share! (And another long post.)  The weather forecast was correct; rain off and on and cold (fortunately I had my new fleece on!). I was not to be deterred from today's journey. Fueled up again with a hot breakfast (scrambled eggs, toast, a piece of bacon, 2 glasses of OJ, and coffee), and headed up the west coast of PEI.

It was about 50 today, at best, and verrrry windy! Lest you think I am kidding, I stopped and took a pic of some lilacs. They are just coming into full bloom up here.

Lilac bushes

I thought I smelled something that vaguely resembled pizza for awhile, then saw some signs and realized what it was. Garlic farms! I drove past two, and they were quite pungent. Bit of a change from all the potato farms :)

First stop was Cap-Egmont, and the bottle houses. Wow.... so cool! Edouard Arsenault apparently had quite a sense of humor. He transformed over 25,000 bottles into the current attraction which consists of 3 buildings, plus a miniature lighthouse that was added later. There are also extensive gardens, very beautiful, and well-maintained. Also a large vegetable garden. From the website: "Edouard spent the winter in the basement of his home, cleaning bottles, removing labels and dreaming of his project. In the spring of 1980, at the age of 66, he began his construction, a mere hobby yet. As his six-gabled structure was taking form, visitors started coming in. Impressed by his work, they encouraged him to continue and to advertise it as a tourist attraction. And so, in 1981, the first Bottle House was open to the public."

It took him 4 years to complete the project. I went a little overboard taking pix, so I will put a few here in the post and the rest at the bottom.

Bottle House Chapel alter

Chapel pews

One of the Bottle Houses

Bottle House tavern

Bottle House tavern

Bottle House chapel

It was just so cool! There are several pieces of sculpture around the grounds, also created with (larger) bottles. There is a small pond there as well, with goldfish that are huge! You can actually see one in the picture.  It started to rain quite steadily, but I can just imagine what the gardens must look like in good weather. They are chock-full of roses and flowers and local plants.

Pond with goldfish

Bottle House sculpture

By the time I got done and back to my car, the rain turned from steady to heavy, and the wind was picking up. Even though the Cap-Egmont lighthouse was just a few Km down the road, I opted to continue north on the journey. It is not fun standing in a cold windy rain trying to take pictures of a lighthouse! Even for me :)

So northward, and on to North Point lighthouse. I was determined to see it, and journey to the northernmost point of PEI! Where the Northumberland Strait and the Gulf of St. Lawrence meet. It took a little over 1 1/2 hours in the rain (and stopping for a few random pictures).

North Cape lighthouse was built in 1865 after a large number of shipwrecks and petitions to the Government, as well as Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the US for assistance to fund its construction. The Island Government did not have the money available, and unfortunately no funds were forthcoming. (Prince Edward had reneged on his word to fund the building of the lighthouse.) It is unclear who eventually paid for the lighthouse, but the Government of PEI did contribute a little money, and it is believed New Brunswick and several of the neighboring provinces picked up the remainder of the tab (mostly New Brunswick).

In 1951 the lighthouse had to be moved inland due to severe erosion of the cliff upon which it is built.

I was only able to get a few pictures; it was SO cold and extremely windy (the car door almost slammed on my fingers!), and "lightly" raining - ha ha. Also there is a fence around the lighthouse so you cannot get that close to it. It is still in operation, of course.

North Point Lighthouse

Gulf of St. Lawrence

The wind turbines.... There are an awful lot of them up here in the Maritime Provinces. Fields consisting of 20-30 turbines. It was no different at Cape North; there was another huge turbine field. There was an interactive exhibit available (for a small fee - with tax :) ), but I did not view it. Having worked for some years at a company that deals with all sorts of power, I am well aware of how wind turbines work, the general principles, the output, etc. I opted for a hot cup of coffee and a donut instead!

Part of the turbine field at North Point

From there I headed back to my hotel. I have to hand it to the Canadian version of Mapquest (which is not really Mapquest) that I have been using. The directions, and Km are spot on. The time, not so much. Again, it was rainy and very chilly today. Not much construction, fortunately! Stopped at a (different) local pub for a very late lunch / very early dinner. Much better atmosphere than last night's! And the bartender, Debra, was very good and attentive. I had a very awesome lobster roll :) There were not many people in there due to the hour so we chatted awhile; it was nice! (And yes, she was very cheerful!!)

Hard to believe my time here is up; I leave for Bangor in the morning. Where did the time go?? I do not think a month would have been enough time! Alas I did not get to see a ceilidh while I was here. The closest one was in Georgetown last night, which is about 45 minutes from here. I did not like the idea of driving back through Charlottetown in the dark! The front desk did not have any recommendations for anything really local. That is the only thing I wish I could have stayed long enough to see (most of them take place on weekends).

I am happy to be headed for home, however. I really, really miss my kitties (they probably think I died or abandoned them), my own bed, and my Dove bars :)

Once again I have packed the car with what I absolutely do not need tonight or in the morning. Fortunately it is an extremely short distance to the car from my first floor room (there is a small patio outside). Couple of trips out to the car in the morning, get some of that hot breakfast, and head south.

It was an amazing day. Despite the weather, I had a good time and the scenery.... just so amazing. It is truly awesome.

I leave you with a few more Bottle House pictures, and some random shots I was able to get today :)

Window in Bottle House chapel

Pillar in Bottle House

Part of Bottle House tavern

Close up of Bottle House

Random roadside photo of Gulf of St. Lawrence

Random roadside photo

Random roadside photo

June 14 - Charlettown, Prince Edward Island - Addendum

Just a short addendum before I turn in for the night. Dinner was OK; not bad and not great. Mostly sandwiches on the menu, which I was not in the mood for. The special was pork chops with veggies, mashed potatoes, and cole slaw. The latter 3 were good. Pork chops were dry. The waitress was very good, however. I did have a glass of wine with dinner tonight (splurge!).

Small place with a cozy feel. I sat in a booth. In the booth in front of me was (what I thought) two couples. Bad choice of seating on my part. They were loud, and spoke French (possibly from Quebec?). Only one of them had enough limited English to order, and it was very, very limited. When they left, they each wanted separate checks. They were rather rude to the waitress.

In the meantime, some sort of team of 6 guys came in; they were all wearing the same jerseys (no logo so I am unsure what sport they played). They, too, were very loud and one of them kept using the "F" word until the older fellow - I assume the coach - admonished him. All of them asked for milk (except the coach, who had coffee).

I left shortly after that; I was finished and paid the bill. While I understand some places get noisy and loud, this pub was not one of them. It was billed as an upscale pub! The music was low, and the rest of the patrons were normal in their tone and behavior. Many of them were my age. Not a place I will return!

Hard to believe tomorrow is my last day on PEI. Where has the time gone??

I will wear my new sneakers & fleece tomorrow :)

I have also decided to change my route back to Bangor. Originally I was going to cut across New Brunswick through Fredricton, but if I head back through Saint John (around it actually) it will save me about 45 miles and a little bit of time. All about the gas mileage :)

I mis-spoke the other day when I thought the gas was less expensive on PEI. It is not (it was actually New Brunswick where I refueled, I re-checked the receipt). Taxes here are a little over 14 percent!!! On everything.

Bed... sleep.... tomorrow's adventure awaits!