I'm awake early...around 7:00AM...but I'm lingering in my sleeping bag before getting up....and I'm thinking. I've been fortunate enough to travel all over the world in my life...business as well as pleasure. And over the years, I've been able to visit some wonderful places...friendly places...some more friendly than others. But this morning, I'm thinking about this place...this Prince Edward Island. I've only spent a day and a night here, and I love it already. It's pretty country with lots of rolling hills and a spectacular coastline. And the people...I can't say enough good things about the people...they are, to a person, laid back, friendly, attentive, courteous...maybe it's something in the water. Anyway, this would be a splendid to live a long, stress-free and fulfilling life.
OK...now it's almost 8:00...time to get up and get moving. We've got coffee again, fresh-brewed...and I've got time for a nice long shower. After coffee, Ed and I hike the beach for a good two hours...way down the coastline. It's a fun and easy hike along a crimson coastline (much like the colors in southern Utah).
Ed and I have an early lunch...a sandwich for Ed and another batch of lobster salad for me (this time, I add a little curry to the mayo...excellent). Around noon or so, Ed and I had off to Charlottetown for supplies. We have experienced our first major equipment failure...the threads on the gas line on the Coleman camping stove have stripped again (I had exactly the same problem this time last year), and now we need a replacement part. This is going to be difficult because only a tiny handful of retailers stock parts like these. Plus, we need insect repellant, paper towels...lots of things. Several people that we've talked to have suggested a store called Canadian Tire...so, off we go.
I can not say enough good things about Canadian Tire...they have everything, the staff is friendly (of course they are...it's PEI). In fifteen minutes or so, we're able to buy everything on our list...including the prized Coleman valve!
We do have another stop, however, because I have lost the back for my diamond earring. With a "target market" of sixteen year-old females, Claire's is not a store that I ever anticipated visiting...but, today, they've "got my back"...so to speak. And...I'm able to pay Claire with a "Loon" (the Canadian dollar coin). After that, it's a quick stop for gas before heading back to the bar at the Stanhope Resort.
April has agreed to "shuck us in" to PEI. This involves eating a raw oyster (Ed's favorite!) and drinking a shot of local moonshine...a tradition modeled after Newfoundland where you drink a shot of local rum and kiss a codfish (just between you and me, I like PEI's tradition a lot better).
So...around 4:00PM or so, we're relaxing with a cold beer, posting a few items on the blog, and awaiting the "shuck. April has the chef prepare the oysters while Kelly, the bartender, pours the moonshine...and then...down the hatch! Another friendly staff member, Adam, assists...along with the chef. It's all great fun...plus, we get official certificates...signed and everything.
I'm also enjoying (as I am sure Ed is as well) the chance to spend a little more time with April. I feel that my life has been enriched by meeting her.
By now, it's late in the afternoon, and Ed and I have much work to do. We've decided to take the 800M ferry from wood Islands, PEI to Caribou, Nova Scotia. Between the bridge and the ferry, the cost is a "wash", but the ferry saves us a good two hours of driving...plus,we get an ocean voyage! In order to be at the ferry two hours before sailing, we'll have to break camp tomorrow at 5:30AM. So...a fond farewell to April, Kelly, Adam and the rest of our friends at Stanhope Resort.
Back at camp, we lose time because we can not find the "boombox" for my iPod and, of course, one can not pack up without listening to that great "mash-up" mix by Girltalk. Ed and I end up completely unloading and reloading the Escape...the iPod, of course, is in the camper, but we needed to reorganize the Escape anyway.
Two of our fellow campers sto by with some leftover new potatoes and, with those, Ed and I cook up some last night's flank steak into a tasty "hash"...excellent (particularly when paired with a nice Australian Shiraz).
By the time we finish dinner, clean up and drink the last of the wine, it's already 10:00PM. Time for bed because tomorrow is going to be downright brutal.
Ed's Sidebar, Day 12:
The walls! They are all around, not trees, when I wake. A horse is staring through the cabin window. Surprise!
A bird I do not know sings
in a tree I do not know the name for.
The Indians had a name
once for everything I do not know.
Ed's Sidebar, Day 13:
one minute you are doing well, the next
like an outbreak of smallpox
the bugs get you. i suppose it is like
what happened to the indians
except last night the indians won.
There was this camping trailer in the woods. It was tan in color, nearly concealed where the gravel ended. From a certain perspective, it looked like a giant propane bottle among the pines, with its rounded sides and its vent tower on top. I guess from the right perspective, anything can look like it might blow up the world.
Even our language changes in the land of New Brunswick, land of lumberjacks and fishers. We spend our loonies and toonies here. We find our water, we do not get water from the case. To search for something seems more natural than knowing where it is. Or even who it is. Yep. Yep.
Ed's Sidebar, Day 14:
Camping Maxim Two: Everything you do will take five times longer than you think.
These little black flies--they are carnivorous, eh? They bite, they chew, they bore. Black flies do not eat ham and cheese on rye with a cold beer.
In some parts of Fundy's rainforest the sun never reaches the ground. There are no woods like this back home. Here we can squeal like Martians, succumbing to flies.
Ed's Sidebar, Day 15:
Prince Edward Island is a postcard, a land of farms, modest hills, and friendly people. Land of church spires and graveyards. We could be in the 18th century here, except the graveyards would not be so full in the postcard rack.
1 comment:
Wish I was with you...
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