Sunday 7/10/2022 - Day 29 of 31 on our 2022 Canadian Maritime #2 Caravan with Yankee RV Tour

Today, we took a bus tour of Prince Edward Island. Our guide was an exceptional lady and our driver was very skilled. Our guide was a college professor and our driver used to drive tractor trailer! We are in great hands! Naturally, I took a walk first with beautiful scenery!

PEI is Canada’s smallest province, but the opportunities they offer are enormous. It is located on the Gulf of St Lawrence and is 139 miles in length with a population of over 145, 000 residents. PEI is connected to the mainland by air, Northumberland Ferry service and by the Confederation Bridge.

At 8 miles long and has an S curve to its shape to avoid the drivers focusing on the horizon as they drive across it. It also contains 310 light poles and we were told that it could be seen from space at night. I can’t find any confirmation to that fact, but it would be pretty cool to see! Prince Edward Island has many nicknames: Garden of the Gulf, the Million-Acre Farm and the Birthplace of Confederation. This last nickname is especially significant to Islanders as it illustrates the province’s role in the creation of Canada. It was here in our capital city that the Fathers of Confederation met in 1864 to discuss the formation of Canada.

Since the lupins are past their prime, we skipped the hour long drive to the French River and opted for a downtown tour instead. Great choice!

Victoria Park is a beautiful park with a wooden board walk along the water that goes for miles! The largest of Charlottetown’s many parks, Victoria Park offers a variety of outdoor activities including tennis courts, ball parks, grassy fields, a swimming pool, and a new accessible playground. Islanders flock to Victoria Park year-round. Despite its popularity, the park retains the feeling of pleasurable isolation that comes with Island living.

The property containing Victoria Park was established in 1789 by Governor Edmund Fanning as a 100-acre parcel for the use of the colonial administrator for St. John's Island (renamed Prince Edward Island in 1799). The shore frontage of the park measures approximately 1 mile and has several prominent features: at the east boundary, a cove which is the discharge point for Spring Park Brook; in the middle, Battery Point (also called Old Battery Point); and in the southwest, Duchess Point. Prior to the War of 1812, the Prince Edward Battery was established as a fortification at Battery Point facing the main shipping channel into Charlottetown Harbor. This fortification was manned by British Army regulars, as well as colonial militia until the mid-19th century.

The property came to be known as the Governor's Bank in reference to a "land bank" but this was soon nicknamed by locals as Fanning's Bank in reference to Governor Edmund Fanning. The nickname was eventually shortened to Fanning Bank which remains in use to this day. In 1826, a farm house and barns were built on the property and in 1832, a tender was called for constructing a residence to house the colonial administrator. This residence which opened in December 1834 is officially named Government House and remains in use as the official residence of the Lieutenant governor of Prince Edward Island. British military forces left Canada in 1905 and in that year the 16 acres (6.5 ha) property containing the Prince Edward Battery and a field adjacent to Government House were given to the City of Charlottetown to add to Victoria Park.

Our first opportunity to get off the bus was at the 2022 outdoor art exhibit. The numbers were initially brought to the city in 2014 to celebrate 150 years since the Charlottetown Conference in 1864. The giant digits celebrating the calendar year were brought back in 2015 by Downtown Charlottetown Inc., and has since become an attraction for graduation photos, tourists or anyone visiting Charlottetown's waterfront. Each year the last number or the last two numbers are changed at the end of December, just before the New Year.

Naturally, we had to grab a group photo!

Nearby, there is an interactive, public art piece that lets people create a ‘love lock’ to celebrate the special relationships in their lives! A sign at this new feature reads; Latch on a Token of Your Emotion. If you’re newly in love, recently engaged, just married or celebrating decades of couple hood, initial your lock, attach it, kiss, and toss away the key. Share your Love Photo with hashtag #CharlottetownLove

It’s a 21’, free standing, steel installation that spells out the word “LOVE” before a beautiful harbor water backdrop, inviting visitors to lock down their love. Similar love lock landmarks can be found around the world, from Florence’s Ponte Vecchio to the Great Wall of China and closer to home Old Montreal and the Toronto Distillery District. The Pot des Arts Footbridge in Paris, also referred to as Lovers’ Bridge, is often overloaded with little locks each representing a romantic gesture.

Our bus tour took us on parts of the Central Coast Drive, it includes the Green Gables Shore on the north side of the province, featuring the Gulf of St Lawrence’s soft sand beaches and Anne of Green Gables. It also includes portions of the Red Sands Shore.

The potato industry is a big business in Prince Edward Island!  A recent economic impact study found that the industry is worth over a billion dollars to the Island economy each year!  Potatoes are the primary cash crop on the Island and PEI continues to be the largest potato-producing province in Canada, over 87,000 acres, growing one-quarter of the potatoes in the country.

Prince Edward Island Potatoes are grown for three specific markets. 1. Table potatoes, sold to retail and food service sectors. 2. Processing potatoes, manufactured into French fries, potato chips, and many other products. 3. Seed potatoes, grown to yield future commercial potato crops

Approximately 60% of Prince Edward Island potatoes are destined for processing, 30% go to the fresh market through retail or food service, while 10% are grown for seed purposes.  Seed and table potatoes are shipped to over 20 countries annually, including the United States, Puerto Rico, Ukraine, Italy, Thailand, and more! Prince Edward Island’s shipping season begins in late July, with early or “new” potatoes hitting the market in Atlantic Canada.  The main crop is harvested starting in September.  Shipments to all markets begin at this time, with round white, reds and yellow varieties often available first and russet varieties available later in the autumn months.

Prince Edward Island is home to many aqua farms that harvest and process top quality shellfish. The favorite is the Island Gold Blue Mussels enjoyed in homes and in fine dining establishments across North America and beyond, along with our quality PEI Oysters and PEI Clams. These farms have access to some of the most ideal growing and harvesting conditions available that Atlantic Canada has to offer. These natural bays provide the best environment for rope grown blue mussels, offering top quality, hearty mussel meats harvested year-round.

Our tour guide, told us about the infamous Raspberry Point Oysters. In the pristine spot, on the north shore of PEI is Prince Edward Island National Park and that’s where Raspberry Points grow in off-bottom cages. Keeping them off the bottom gives them lighter flavor and nicely manicured shells. But it’s cold up there at the northern tip of the oyster’s world, so Raspberry Points take a whopping six to seven years to reach their standard 3 1/4-inch size. Raspberry Points are consistently good—salty like a Malpeque, but always nicely rounded and substantial. After a novice oyster eater has enjoyed some Beausoleils, then try a Raspberry Point. They will provide a bigger mouthful, more crunch, lots of salt, and they goes down so easy.

Since we got an early start on our bus tour, we had time to go to Cavendish Beach and dip our feet in the water.

Fronting the Gulf of St. Lawrence, this broad natural sand beach stretches for 5 miles from the entrance to New London Bay in the west, to the red sandstone cliffs at Cavendish East in the east. The entire beach is located in the Prince Edward Island National Park.

A boardwalk carried us over the fragile sand dunes fringing the edge of the beach and separating it from MacNeill's Pond and Clark's Pond. Some of the caravaneers that did not brave the soft sand to get to the rocky beach, stayed on the boardwalk.

Green Gables National Heritage Site, located in Cavendish, is a popular tourist destination. Each year hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world visit the site which inspired the setting for L.M. Montgomery to create her beloved tale of a red-haired orphan, Anne of Green Gables. In addition to the Green Gables House, several museums and sites invite visitors to learn more about Anne and Montgomery and a popular musical version of the story runs every summer at the Charlottetown Festival.

The site highlights the heritage of the area and portrays Lucy Maud Montgomery's role as an author of national historical significance. And of course, we visited the house, took a stroll on the Haunted Woods and Balsam Hollow trails, enjoyed ice cream and purchased items from the gift shop! The rooms in the house were reconstructed to take on the themes from the novel.

Before an orphaned red-head even popped into her mind, Lucy Maud Montgomery fell in love with Prince Edward Island and its glorious coast. PEI is the perfect back-drop for Montgomery’s novel that warmed the hearts of readers around the world. The town of Avondale is based on real-life Cavendish. Montgomery grew up in Cavendish and believed that it is the most magical place on earth. Many of the scenes in the novel off of real life locations in PEI.

Strongly connected to it's proud fishing tradition, North Rustico residents pride themselves on their closeness to both land and sea. We stopped at the wharf's in North Rustico and saw an Osprey nest. We also got information on how the lobster traps work.

We enjoyed our lunch at the world-famous Fisherman`s Wharf Lobster Suppers in North Rustico (known as "The Crick" by locals.) 

We enjoyed the 60 foot salad bar, All-You-Can-Eat Mussels, Seafood Chowder and unlimited desserts!

We stopped at the PEI Preserve Company. The 1913 Creamery, is a historical centerpiece of the community, on the banks of the River Clyde. Located in the lovely village of New Glasgow in Prince Edward Island. It started with them producing by hand-made low sugar, no preservatives preserves, specialty foods, and blending full leaf tea. It grew into a restaurant and more. 

Also on the property are the beautiful Gardens of Hope and Respite Cottage. In 2004, a vision was created to form The Country Gardens Foundation of Hope, Inc. large part of its vision was to build a “Respite Cottage” within the Gardens of Hope. The spacious 12 acre gardens were created for Islanders and visitors alike to enjoy the natural beauty of Prince Edward Island. 

An old Catholic Chapel called St. Joseph's , located at the entrance to the National Park in Cavendish, was moved to its present location within the Gardens of Hope. The “Respite Cottage” is a place of rest, hope and renewed spirit.  The cottage is made available for individuals, families, or caregivers coping with the effects of a life threatening illness. It is also made available to caregivers and those ministering to others who themselves are experiencing compassion fatigue. We enjoyed another great evening around the campfire with our friends!