Artisan, rural PEI, the beaches, a National Park and ta -da, a restaurant review.

I figure you all know all about wind chimes and especially those that are "tuned", don't you?  Well Island Winds wind chimes, famous because the are "tuned" and are hand made right here in South Granville, PEI.  Peter Baker makes chimes in this old barn off a dirt road off a little back road, off another road— we asked some guy standing in his front yard which way to go when we got close.  (those cars in the lot that are not ours belong to Peter and his niece.  No other customers were there.  

Peter seemed rather glad to have someone come by and seem interested in what was happening in his barn ( I was sorta looking around not paying a lot of attention to his niece showing Patt the chimes on display.)  and he started talking. He stopped cutting tubes and took me upstairs to the assembly area.  

This is not your high tech operation.  He laid out the wire on the table by hand, cut with the clippers there on the table and crimped in place with the pliers.  Talking all the time.  He thinks his oldest son may take over the business, but now he has a fun job in Newfoundland working on coastal trails and ski instructing in the winter.

This is the view out his back window.  It is pretty country side.  But it is country and once you have seen the bright lights of trails in Newfoundland…. and ski instructed.  However I figure once the boy sees how much his Dad is making he just may rethink the skiing and hiking - and enjoy low overhead and high profits.  We bought one of those chimes that are in tune.  Not the one that plays the opening chords of Anne of Green Gables though — that baby is huge and will set you back.

The country is pretty — wish I had gotten a photo of a wheat field.  they ARE pretty — the potato fields look sorta like soybean fields, and there were lots of those.

The coastal drive throughout Prince Edward Island National Park is quite stunning.  Should have had James here taking pictures.  Would have been better photos.

In places there are rather dramatic cliffs, red sandstone like rock in sedimentary cliffs.

The cliffs go out into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, which actually has some quite large waves.   Reminded me a bit of Hawaii.

There are some flat sandy beaches too, the water was not warm, but not frigid either.  It was 19 degrees celsius.  There that cleared that up didn't it.

Further down the beach for some reason there was a sandy beach, with white sand, not quite so red, and actually had a fairly large number of people — in the water too.   19 Celsius  — 66 fahrenheit.

There also were some unusual sights on the road.  this farm with big boat in yard.

and further on this row of rather dilapidated boats.

Looking for a place to eat on the way back to Charlottetown, and thinking we may find a small diner or something,  Patt barely caught sight of this little place next to a quick stop gas station at a T intersection.  It was probably in a town of some name we never knew.  So now 

Canada Restaurant Review #3

Shelly's Take Out

Eat Inside

The photo missed the gas pumps in front of Lilly's Community Service.  That is all the signage there is for the restaurant too.  We mentioned we almost missed the place and had to turn around to come back.   Shelly said she thought about putting out a sign "but with just the two of us, I'm afraid it'ud be too much."  

This is Shelly, we did not learn the other woman's name who worked there.  She was glad to have two customers who did eat inside though she allowed as how there was a good take out business and we so observed. We were the only two eating inside. Perhaps she ought to rethink the sign,  the food was good.

Payment was made to Lily, I reckon that is Lily —who apparently does not want to run out of styrofoam coolers or is expecting a lot of people to be wanting them real soon as a lot of counter space seems to be occupied by them.  There were two rows of counters so it was not like were are talking Super K here.

And the fired haddock, peas, and fries and Jones sodas — (we have gone native). We enjoyed Shelly's and would return anytime we are in the area of Bedford, just do not know where but it was on road number 2, just beside a T intersection north of Charlottetown south of the beaches.  I think we could find it.

Restaurant Review # 2 and a bit of history

Once again we are eating seafood.  Of course we are in the "Maritimes" the coastal provinces of Canada so well — duh.  We are now on Prince Edward Island having left New Brunswick — little geography here.  Anyway back to the review.  This place was highly recommended by locals we met in one of the small towns (they all are)  on the Island.  Some of the food is a bit strange though.  We tried mozzarella cheese and gravy on fries with a fish sandwich and mashed potatoes and green peas with fried haddock.  And it was good.  Condiments choices were white and malt vinegar.

Decor was plain and rustic.  and it was crowded.  Tourists mostly I think but the waitresses seemed to greet some customers by name.  Seafood was all that was on the menu.

Brehauts, by the way, is the name of the place and I do not think it is supposed to be German but if it is they are the only Germans anywhere around amongst all these English.

The reason seafood was all that was on the menu is because the restaurant is just across a little bridge from this scene.  This is Murray Harbor and all there is to it.  About ten fishing boats and a couple of sheds and a pile or two of lobster cages and crab catching things.  A dozen or so houses, and I do not think even a post office or more than one store.  Did have a Baptist church.

We drove along the coastal highway through fields of yellow grain and green potato vines.  Views were quite nice,. Beach front property tends to be farms, like real farms with potato fields, wheat fields, horses and cows, or just plain ole wood lots. Read in the news paper that PEI - as the island is known - exports potatoes around the world.

Also they have some old lighthouses that are now little museums that have a few artifacts and charge you a couple of bucks to get in — seniors get a discount. This one was not heavily visited when we were there.  Probably was not after we left either.

The view from the top looks out over the Northumberland Strait.  (separates the island from New Brunswick).  In the old days used to ice over in chunks.

Back in Charlottetown we went for a bike ride around town. Stopped by the Lt. Governor's house and gardens on the bike trail — the day had cleared up and was very nice after a rainy start as was obvious from the photo above.

Below is Canada's version of Independence Hall in Philadelphia.  This is where "the Confederation" of Colonies got together and decided to declare independence from England in 1864.  Quebec, Ontario,  Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick were the first four provinces to form Canada as an independent nation.  There are now 10 provinces and three territories.  Of course Canada retained the symbolic and close relationship with the British Empire and became independent without discord that arose with our separation from England.  I am thinking England might have learned something about Empires.  The building is very famous and is on the license plate of PEI.

Also the statute is in remembrance of WWI soldiers, later added WW II and Korean War engraving.  The Great War is being commemorated in the news here quite a bit.  There was a lot of Canadian participation starting in 1914.

the Hopewell Rocks — famous Hopewill Rocks

Part of the Bay of Fundy on the New Brunswick side of the Bay includes the famous Hopewell Rocks.  The most famous are the flower pot rocks because - well they look sorta like flower pots. You have to work at it.  The tide when it it at its most extreme will rise and fall 47 feet here.  Today not so much only 27', which is a bunch.  Uncovered a lot of ocean floor.

Made room for lots of tourists.  Lots and lots, like these two from China I know, I heard them counting in order to take the photo (even I can count in Chinese, or at least know when someone else is doing it, also they looked pretty much like two Chinese women).  There were other internationals too, but not so many from North Carolina that we could see.  Did not see a single Duke tee shirt so it was a good day.

Did see this kid knee deep in the mud explaining to his Dad that he could not come out because walking on the rocks would hurt his feet.  I asked his Dad how old he was.  Eight was the answer.  Man that kid is just going to get so much smarter for the next several years.  Pray for the Dad.

This is me and one of the famous rocks — guess which one yet? — give up ?— well it is ET.  I did not get it either.

The cliffs are quite dramatic and dwarf the people down below them — see them, the people I mean.

I walked down toward the water away from the cliffs,  did not get deep into the mud, but did get pretty far away from cliff side— wanted to get into the water.

 and I did.

This is one of the views looking back at the cliffs from the water — that is sea weed growing on the rocks that makes up those dark looking mats like things.  The people still look pretty small.

 and this is one of the famous spots where people congregate taking photos — as we did.

firs, ferns and moss

Dickson Falls in Fundy National Park is quite the nice hike and the Canadian Park Service has done a great job of getting you there with a network of walkways along the cliffs in the little valley.   It is an Old Growth Maritime Forest, so moist is the order of the day.

This is the main part and no I don't know how big it is, not terribly huge, just pretty.

We then went on a longer hike through the forest along a coastal trail to a viewpoint called Matthews Head.  Might as well called it "firs, ferns, moss, and the occasional birch".  It was a well worn trail though we did not see many other hikers.

It was classified "moderate" - the Canadians are not a bunch of wussies, I can tell you that when it comes to classifying hikes.

 The views were quite nice, occasionally fog was strong and intense, and wind was a constant.

And here we are at Matthews Head, one of the few moments when the sky cleared, the fog lifted and we could see some blue sky.  Also got someone to take our photo - to state the rather obvious.

The cliffs were impressive and warning signs did not seem necessary.  There was an occasional little single board fence put up, but not many, and not much more than a suggestion.  So I reckon in addition to not being wussies, they assume you are not dummies either.

They did mow the paths in the meadows.  You can see a bit of fog in the back of the meadow between the trees and the sky that was gray.  At times blue.  At times gray- very gray.

Later we went to Cape Enrage- so named because the waves were "enraged"  according to legend. That is a working lighthouse that we did not actually get to because of the fog. The lighthouse was sounding a fog horn that was pointed out to sea and sounded kinda nice but we were advised that the volume would hurt your ears if you went too close - so access was closed to tourists while we were there.

So I walked down to the "beach"  no sand castles here.  These big rocks were fun to walk on and are of course covered when the tide comes in.  Also no one swims here either.  The water is cold!

Again the place was not so full of visitors and tourists, note the other couple in the foreground.  There was also an "adventure camp" here and young people were rappelling off the cliff.   I did not rappel down.  There were a series of steps that are against the cliff where it turns in, in the distance straight ahead, over the person in white.

a Canadian Restaurant Review # !

We have officially started our Canadian vacation.  And in style.  Tides Restaurant, Alma, New Brunswick — Been here all of half a day after driving in from Bangor, Maine.  (you can see some trees and not many cars doing that).

That is the Tides across the street from the Captains Inn, where we are staying, so it was not hard for us to find.  Also Alma has something like 232 full time residents and only about is sorta small so we might have found it anyway.

We had lobster!  and it was awesome !  I was prepared with my plastic bib — didn't make too big of a mess, but did not leave much behind either.

The view out the windows onto the bay was quite nice and our start to dinners in Canada was A OK.

This is what was just outside the restaurant windows and across from our B & B.   We recommend Tides, and suggest the lobster with the Chardonnay, the blueberry salad, and you may want to consider the apple crisp a-la mode for dessert.  We did.  

And earlier on our trip we fared quite well in Pennsylvania too.  Ray and Diane were great hosts.   Went on a beautiful hike along the Pequa Creek (pronounced Pekway not like it looks)

 The first night we had dinner of charcoal grilled Delmonico steaks and corn on the cob in their back yard which looks out onto the Conestoga River scene below.  Yes we started out having dinner done right too.

In addition to the hike, Ray and I went on a canoe trip down the Conestoga River — actually saw some bald eagles too.  like real live bald eagles.  

So our trip got started out great and tomorrow starts our first full day here in Canada — looking forward to it.