AUGUST 5, 2011 – THE DRIVE TO EAST POINT

We head off early Friday morning toward the farthest east coast of PEI. The weather is perfect & as usual, there are hardly any other cars on the road. The drive winds around the coast & through some central parts of the eastern part of the Island. As we drive along a sign states “distillery tours & tasting” so of course we have to stop. We’ve just missed the tour, but tastings are in order of original PEI potato vodka. It has an earthy aroma, but a very smooth palate. We had better have a bottle & find out it is more expensive than Grey Goose. It will be passed out sparingly!!

We reach East Point & watch the waves crash against the cliffs. There is another lighthouse to climb (only 67 stairs), but we decided to pass and continued down the road & discovered a tiny dirt road that ended on the beach. The beach was called the Singing Sands and had glorious soft sand that we strolled in & even dipped our toes in the icy cold water.

Another little road off the beaten track lead us to a wharf lined with lobster boats, traps pilled high & the little fishing shacks that lined the break water. We walked down to the end of the inlet and again, the waves were smashing in onto the rocks.

We were headed back to Charlottetown for the night but I had seen an ad for “red sand” jewelry & wanted to stop for a look. The only problem was, the shop was located in “Victoia by the Sea” which was about 30 minutes past Charlottetown toward the Confederation Bridge. John however, wanting to do nothing but curb my whine drove directly to Victoria and found the shop. Unfortunately, the name was misleading & only contained regular type jewelry which really didn’t appeal to me. The little village was however, very pretty & filled with different artisans. We have now been in “Victoria” on both coasts!!




We decided that our last night on PEI should be downtown. We found a wonderful little boutique hotel in the heart of the city & checked in. Since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast, we headed out for dinner. The hotel had recommended a few spots, but who would believe that Charlottetown would be so busy. We ended up at a lovely little Italian restaurant on the “pedestrian mall” & had a great dinner. We could have used a patio heater, but made the best of a beautiful “chilly” night. There was a great little band playing and the streets were busy with tourists.


AUGUST 6, 2011 – OFF TO CAPE BRETON

It’s a beautiful day for a ferry ride. The drive from Charlottetown to the ferry at Woods Island is about an hour long and is the southern most point in PEI. The crossing was uneventful, but as soon as we arrived in Pictou we noticed that things were different in Nova Scotia. The first sign we came to advised that there was a ROTARY in 2km. We weren’t sure whether it was a service club meeting or an old fashion telephone, but soon discovered it is a traffic circle. Thank god the GPS called it a round about so we knew what to expect!

Our first stop was the information centre & the lady there was extremely helpful explaining all the different areas & telling us where to go & what to see. She even booked our first night’s accommodation for us. The drive from Pictou to Beddeck wound its way through New Glasgow & Antigonish. A road sign advised a “LOOKOFF” in 500 meters but by the time we figured out it was a “view point” we had passed it! The scenery is quite different from PEI with beautiful rolling hills & very dense forests. We arrived in Beddeck and found our beautiful Victorian Inn about 4pm and set about getting our “chores” done. I had laundry to do & John needed to wash the car to get the red mud of PEI off the car.

The inn had a lovely restaurant and the special just happened to be a lobster supper complete with mussels. We hadn’t had lobster or mussels for a day so we were down a quart! It was just as good as the last lobster supper, only not all you could eat, but certainly as much as you needed to eat! After dinner we spent a couple of hours & a bottle of wine determining our travels for the next couple of days. (well, not so much a bottle as a portion of our 4 litre box). We found a decent “box” of Beaujolais in Charlottetown & it is much easier than always trying to find a liquor store. It is, of course, a little tackier carrying into a hotel, but no one seems to mind!

We had planned to do the Cabot Trail next then head to Newfoundland however the weather doesn’t look that great for the Cabot Trail so we’ve altered our plans to follow the weather.






AUGUST 7, 2011 – THE CEILHAH TRAIL (KAY-LEE)

Beddeck just happens to be the site of the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site. We spent a couple of hours touring the museum & finding out more about Bell than you would ever imagine. Not only did he invent the telephone, he was instrumental in early flight inventions in Canada (hydroplanes as well) & spent a great deal of his life helping develop “speech for the deaf”. He even helped Helen Keller learn to speak. So much for the history lesson!!

Our next stop was a beautiful public beach in Inverness. The temp. was +20 & the sun was shining so I couldn’t resist taking off my shoes and wandering the beach. The gorgeous sand stretched for a few miles & where we stopped there was even a lifeguard on duty. There was only another 20 people in sight so I spent a great hour wandering in the sun while JD sat, relaxed & chatted with people.

Another 30 minutes through rolling hills & dense forests and we arrived at Glenora distillery. This is the only place in North America that makes single malt whiskey. The tour was very interesting & we even got a wee dram to try. Single malt whiskey is the same thing as scotch, but it can only be called scotch if it is made in Scotland.

The “Red Shoe Pub” in Mabou is our next stop for a late lunch. Mabou is the home of the famous Rankin Family & the pub just happens to be owned by the Rankin sisters. Lunch was a pint, a bowl of seafood chowder & of course mussels. Apparently one of the sisters was in the house when we arrived but neither of us know what they look like so it didn’t mean a thing. The pub is a real small town pub with the walls covered with old photos of the Rankin family (circa 1920) & an old upright piano. There is live music in the pub three nights a week & I’m sure that would be something to see & hear.

Time to head up to Sydney & find some place for the night. We found a wonderful suite hotel right on the waterfront in Sydney & it is the first place in a long while that has had a “working” hot tub. The tub was located on the top floor of the hotel, surrounded by windows looking out over the water. There was even a nice deck outside complete with lawn chairs & a bbq. As luck would have it there was no one else there so that was even better. After dinner (seafood of course) we found out there was going to be a fireworks display at 10pm. Apparently there was a week long festival in Sydney & Sunday was the last night of “Rock the Dock”. We headed back up to the top floor of the hotel, with wine glasses in hand, a watched a wonderful fireworks display. Since a number of other hotel guests also had the same idea it turned out to be a great evening.

Tomorrow we are off to Glace Bay to see the Marconi Museum then on to the ferry for Newfoundland.





AUGUST 8, 2011 – FERRY TO THE ROCK

The rain is coming down in buckets but we head to see what Marconi did anyway. The museum was small but interesting & we even walked out to the edge of the cliff (in the rain) to see the remains of the base of the tower that sent the first wireless transmission from Canada to England.

We arrived at the ferry earlier than the 2 hours prior to sailing & it was a good thing we did. Cars were lined up & waiting & there wasn’t even security to go through!! Once on the ferry, we found a couple of very comfortable seats & settled in for the 5 hour crossing. Now, this ferry is not like the ferries to Vancouver Island. There are TV’s (with private headsets), a dining room, lounge, cafeteria and reserved seating! You can tell that most of the travelers have done the trip before as they have pillows, cards, their own headsets & packed lunches. It rained the entire 5 hours & when we arrived in Newfoundland we were very glad that our hotel was only 2 km from the ferry dock. The wind was howling, the rain was coming down sideways & it was pitch black.


AUGUST 9, 2011 – HEADING TO DEER LAKE

The rain is still coming down but the first thing we see as we head out of Port au Basques in Tim Horton’s. He has even made it to the “Rock”. We found the Information Centre as we headed out on TCH #1 as they call it (Trans Canada Hiway). The clerk was extremely helpful & advised that we needed to have reservations for everything all the way to St. Anthony, our final destination. The reason for the reservations every where is tourists are flocking from all over the world to see the ice bergs. She helped us book our way to St. Anthony which is at the very north end of Newfoundland.

Everything about Newfoundland is different. The terrain changes every time you turn a corner or drive into a valley. It rained most of the way to Corner Brook where we decided we needed to stop at Walmart & pick up some warm hoodies & rain gear.

The roads are far better than we had anticipated & much better than in the other Maritime provinces. The only scary part (and the reason why you don’t come to Newfoundland in the winter) is the snow plow markers on the side of the road are 12 foot high 6” x 6” posts!!

The most spectacular drive is along the coast once you turn off the TCH #1 at Deer Lake. If you look at a road map it looks like the road & the coast line are the same and in fact they really are. In some areas the Gulf of St. Lawrence is lapping up against the side of the road.




The spruce trees on the seaside of the road look like they have been cut off at about 5 feet and the sea side of the tree is almost bare of branches with everything growing on the land side. The trees on the land side of the hiway are taller & straighter, but not by much.

In Gros Morne National Park the mountains form huge fjords & lakes that stretch inland from the gulf. There are miles & miles of hiking trails and from what we saw of various spots along the road a great many people were taking advantage of the trails. There is even a golf course at Cow Head which is located at the northern end of the Park.

Today is one of the longest driving days we have had since starting our trip, but the scenery along the way makes it all worthwhile. We arrived in St. Anthony at about 3 pm but since our room wasn’t ready the desk clerk suggested we just take a drive back the hiway about 30 minutes to St. Anthony Bight (“jist folly da road til yous gets at the end”) to see the icebergs. Just outside town as we are driving toward the “end”, I see what looks like a moose statue at the side of the road. Well, it wasn’t a statue!! John slammed on the brakes just as “mom” ran in front of the car leaving junior on the side of the road. Our first sighting of the largest population group in Newfoundland.

Not sure exactly where we were going, we ended up at L’Anse aux Meadows. The Meadows is a National Historical site of the first Viking settlement in North America, 1000 AD. There are a few scattered shacks but I’m sure it pretty much looks like it did when the Vikings arrived and it is really the northern most point in Newfoundland. We did finally find the right spot & it is something else to be able to stand at the side of the road, next to the water & look out at the icebergs that are only a couple of hundred feet from the shore. We finally head back to the hotel about 5pm and to my delight discover they have booked us into the “honeymoon” suite for the two nights we are here. A king size bed (last night’s was a double), Jacuzzi tub and flat screen TV! All the comforts of home. It’s an early night as we leave for our boat tour at 9am tomorrow morning.

AUGUST 11, 2011 – WHALES & ICE BERGS

Our stop at Walmart was well worthwhile. The temperature this morning was +8 and it was overcast but not raining. A long-sleeve turtle neck, under a sweatshirt, covered up with a golf wind shirt, topped off with a fleece hoodie, we were ready for anything!! A quick stop at “Timmy’s” for breakfast then off to the “Northland Discovery Boat” for a 2.5 hour tour into “Iceberg Alley”.

Icebergs are usually gone by this time of year however, a very large iceberg broke off the Petermann Glacier in Greenland last August & is still breaking up & melting off the Newfoundland & Labrador coast. The “Petermann Iceberg” is estimated to still be more that 55 square kilometers in size & be 15,000 years old. Even though the morning was cloudy, you could see a white glow in the sky that is the reflection off the ice. In August 2010 the Petermann Iceberg was estimated to be almost 250 square kilometers.


I can’t begin to put into words what it is like to be within 50 feet of an iceberg that is 150-200 feet high. You can feel the chill in the air as you pass by these shimmering mountains of ice & the spectacle takes your breath away. It was something that neither of us will ever forget & something you could never put a price tag on. I managed to get some great pictures that will always remind us of this amazing experience. We spoke to one lady on shore who had taken the tour yesterday & she said they saw a group of seals sliding off the icebergs into the water – wouldn’t that have been something to see.

And not to be out done by the ice, we had a show put on for us by a group of humpback whales that were no more than 25 feet from the boat. They spouted & rolled and slapped the water with their fins and more than once our guide hollered “tail” as the whales flapped their tail up in the air as they dove into the deep. There was even a calf performing for us. We’ve now seen whales on both the west & east coast and I find myself still holding my breath at their majestic grace.

As we headed back toward the harbor the captain advised we were going to stop & do some Newfie ice fishing. He scooped up a piece of iceberg about the size of a “cube of beer” & broke pieces off for us all to try. The ice was absolutely crystal clear & tasted great. I guess there were no pollutants to contaminate the water 15,000 years ago. The ice is even harvested & made into specialty beer & vodka. I’m sure we’ll be able to find a bottle to bring home.

It’s a busy day in St. Anthony as a cruise ship arrived about noon. Apparently they come in for the day, usually from Greenland, see the sights then ship out again. Today’s ship didn’t come right into the harbor, but the people were tethered in & a number of them were going on the same tour we took.

Tonight we are going to a “Viking Feast” which takes place in a dug out type of earth hut up on the cliffs overlooking the harbor – should be interesting!! Right now I’m going to have a Jacuzzi to see if I can warm myself up!