The sun is hot, the wind is strong, mosquitos are everywhere, and the people are chatty.
I loved the experience of driving over the 13 km long Confederation bridge which connects New Brunswick to PEI over the Northumberland Strait. Before this bridge was completed in 1997, folks had to ferry over which was not so easy through the Winter ice. The history (and of course, sight controversy) of this bridge is really interesting and it gives a whole new appreciation for our 10 minute drive across the water to get to another Canadian Province – it’s worth a read, here.
Once we arrived on the island, we went in the first shop we could find (drawn in by a unique name) and chatted with the shop owner for a long time, gathering recommendations and learning about the culture here. I did not have reliable cell service anywhere in PEI but that was no bother since the local’s recommendations was all we needed. Plus there’s no real getting lost as it’s such a small Province with only so many roads. Actually, the population of Province of PEI is only about 182,000 people. Compare that to the population of Burlington, Ontario – 188,000 people. Burlington is a town adjacent to the city I live in – Hamilton, Ontario, population ~652,000. Suffice to say, I can not sympathize with the PEI locals complaints of traffic from Summerside to Charlottetown.
Stocked with our recommendations from locals we met along the way and from all of the Tourism Information Centers (those won’t be shutting down any time soon like the ones in Ontario do), we were off to drive the country roads and explore the island.
Of course we did the touristy things like the Potato Museum, walked the streets of Charlottetown, Orwell Corner Historic Village, Victoria by the sea, participating in local Ceilidhs, and visited as many lighthouses as we had the tolerance for. We did also indulge in Atlantic Canada’s largest candy story where we found cherry-flavoured Big League Chew! Of course, many a day was spent on the red sand beaches and swimming in the cool waters of the Northumberland Strait or the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Some of our favourite beaches were: Basin Head Provincial Park, St. Peter’s Harbour Lighthouse, Skinners Pond, PEI National Park beaches – Brackley and Greenwhich sand dunes.
We even re-discovered a Canadian icon, Stompin’ Tom Conners, and of course now we can’t get his songs out of our head – “It’s bud the spud! From the bright red mud, rollin’ down the highway smilin’!” And “Margo’s got the cargo, B’y, and Reggies got the rig.” If you don’t know – you gotta give ‘er a listen here and here. You’re welcome for getting these awesome songs stuck in your head too.
While we were prepared for the chatty locals, we were NOT prepared for the onslaught of mosquitos that would attack us at all hours of the day no matter where on the island we were. Only the constant, strong island winds would keep these mosquitos somewhat subdued. It happened that first night. We found a private beach to camp at on the West side of the island, we were watching a documentary in the roof top tent and started to notice that we were being swarmed. I am not even embellishing when I say that the tent was covered every inch in mosquitos. We heard a constant buzz, amplified by their army and we were afraid to leave the tent to go pee and brush our teeth. Even the Thermacell was no match for these super-mosquitos. We had to thank past-us for making the most important purchase of the trip – a handheld vacuum that was intended for sand and dirt in the car, but really became invaluable in our fight against the mosquitos. Aidan also learned a lesson – not to leave anything on the top of the car, lest we drive off and lose it forever. Yes I am talking about the vacuum. We were devastated. We thought we must at least try to get it back so the next day we drove the red dirt road, backtracking an hour to find our beloved vacuum on the side of the road still intact! New rule – nothing on the top of the vehicle, ever! I am not proud to speak of how many mosquitos have died at our hand, we had an unfair advantage of that vacuum. But it allowed us to sleep at night and sometimes that’s all that matters.
We did other fun things in PEI like Strawberry picking, Haskap berry picking (yes, berry picking with the mosquitos), attending a sea glass festival with prizes for unique and rare finds, and enjoying potatoes prepared as fresh cut fries and Cavendish crispy fries! PEI has some good iron-rich soil to grow potatoes on a small island surrounded by the ocean. This province measuring 5,660 square kilometers produces a million tons of potatoes annually! That’s a per capita production of about 6,600 kg of potatoes per person! “Another big load a potatoes!” (Stompin’ Tom reference, if you listened). So well done PEI, what would we do without your family-run potato farms?!
Lastly, I have to give a shout out to Western PEI which often gets missed. There is a really interesting wind farm in the North cape, including an energy museum and walking trail, which provides the province 25% of electricity from wind. Aside from that, if you’re looking for a locals experience – Western PEI is where you need to go. We met a lovely woman at an end of the road and we spontaneously went swimming together! Hey Heidi, I’ll come back and visit and we can swim together again! One of our camp spots for the night was a wharf where we set up early for dinner and sunset. We didn’t realize that this was such a popular spot by the locals and ended up having 3 separate visits by locals who came over for a chat and to share a bit of their story. Well, one man just came over to share his Moonshine which, I have to say tasted very soapy! When we woke up in the morning around 7:30am we looked outside our tent to see we ended up in a parking lot! There were vehicles all around us coming to work on the wharf! Just saying, all the locals we spoke with the night before, said we would be fine to sleep here. We had a good laugh about it and luckily there was a path out.
Well that’s two weeks in PEI from my eyes. A lot of challenges (mosquitos, wind, hot sun with no shade) mixed with many amazing moments and no shortage of locals to chat with. What more could you ask for.
Leave a Reply