Saturday, July 21, 2012

Harrington, Prince Edward Island


On July 14th we set off for the Confederation Bridge that will take us to PEI. This seven mile long bridge is the only drivable connection to Prince Edward Island. No fee is charged to use the bridge to drive to PEI but there is a charge to return. We may decide to use the ferry to take us on the hour and a half trip to Nova Scotia instead… but both of us get seasick.  

Charlottetown is the largest city on PEI and the only one where we got lost.  It took us quite a while before we got used to the Canadian road signs and that’s no fun when you’re towing a very large 5th wheel. With some help, we finally found our way to the Harrington Family Campground that was going to be home base for the next three days while we explored the upper part of the island, the central coast.





PEI is beautiful! Green rolling hills, steep red sandstone cliffs, sand dunes, fields full of flowers and potatoes, wineries, historic old homes and new modern homes just begin to describe the island. But the locals complained that it wasn't as green as usual because of a drought. 




The provincial map is dotted with many towns but the majority of them are just made up of a few homes and the town sign. There are many beautiful churches and old cemeteries and since this is an island there are lots of lighthouses all over the island. Some are still functional and some are historic. Some are placed near the mouth of a harbor and others define the coastline. 




We saw lobster traps all over the harbors and in storage sheds and found out the lobster season was over. No fresh lobster here!  We had thought that all the buoys floating in the harbors were being used for catching lobsters. After asking someone we discovered they were being used to grow mussels, a favorite here.

Lobster traps waiting for storage.







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