PEI - Tourism and mechanicals

Friday we drove the mountain bikes down to the local mall so we could park the truck somewhere. Parking for a large pickup in the old town area is just not part of the church of what's happening now. Between construction and a general lack of parking, a bicycle is a hot ticket for sight seeing. The Confederation Bike trail goes right by the mall, so we rode into downtown Charlottetown. It's just cuter than a bug. Here is the marina. Notice the short cute lighthouse in the center-ish of the picture.


St. Dunstan's Basilica. I'm not sure when they received basilica status. It's the main Catholic church for the province of PEI.

It's very pretty on the inside.



This is one of the oldest and best examples of Victorian architecture on the island. It's been completely restored. It looks directly out onto the water.


The gardens at Government house.

Government house was originally built as housing for the Lt. Governor, and still serves that purpose today. It also faces directly onto the water.

Saturday we set out for the Panmure Island, home of white sand dunes. PEI is big, stuff is far away. So we'd been driving for awhile, and it was necessary to find a restroom. McDo is always good for that. But really, how can you not stop at McDo when they've got this sign out? If it was dual signed in French, it would be McHomard.


This is the McLobster, it's sort of a lobster salad. The cup next to it is a McCafe single shot espresso. Neither was terrible, but it wouldn't qualify as destination dining.


Then it was back on the road. More scenic beauty.


An old Baptist church.


The attached cemetary. We liked the lobster on the head stone. See the Mackinnon name on the grave behind the lobster? That name is all over the island.


One of PEI's really cute light houses. This is one of the taller ones.


Sand dunes on Panmure Island.


This is Jim in the Atlantic, which was fairly chilly. Note the lack of shore breaking waves.

We drove up to Souris after Panmure. It's a very attractive part of the island. This is the Parish church of the Holy Trinity. It's not Catholic so I'm pretty sure it's Anglican. It dates back to 1837. We were walking back to the truck, and the ex-mayor of Souris stopped to talk for a bit, he said it's still in use, there are 4 parishoners left. The city would like to restore it, but title is held in England, and until title transfers to Souris, they can't work on it.


Even more scenic beauty. Look at the cloud layer that's running horizontally across the picture. That is Cape Breton way out in the distance.


Some of the red cliffs PEI is famous for. I took this at the ferry dock. We were considering taking the ferry to the Iles des Madelaine, but there aren't many sailings, and the timing is such that one would have to overnight on the Ile. I asked the kid selling ferry tickets what one did over there, he replied that since they have no trees and the wind blows all the time, it's either kite flying or sea kayaking. We decided to pass on the trip.


We had planned to go up to the NW part of the island tomorrow (note the use of the past tense), but with RVs it's always something. We started getting the "check trailer wiring" warning yesterday, which we often get after it rains. Today we are getting the "service trailer wiring" warning which translates to "you have no trailer brakes." So we'll be at the Chevy dealer early in the morning with no appointment to see if they can diagnose and fix. We think it's water related which is just stupendously annoying. Have not the designers of trailer wiring packages noticed that it rains on occasion? The bummer of it is that we have to be off our current site Tuesday morning, they can accommodate us elsewhere in the park, but I hate moving, particularly with no trailer brakes.
So, we're here, it's a beautiful place, and there you go.