Days 9,10 and 11 were spent on Prince Edward Island, exploring and enjoying the local flavor and history. Charlottetown is a small, cosmopolitan city filled with historical landmarks, wonderful restaurants, and lots of shopping areas. In addition, the waterfront, which is on the Hillsborough River, has a scenic boardwalk lined with shops and cafes. We also discovered a Factory Outlet Mall, but it was nothing like the ones in the States.
After leaving Charlottetown on Day 10, we headed north to Cavendish, the location of the real Green Gables, where L. H. Montgomery lived and wrote the "Anne of ...." series. Just past Green Gables lies the village of Avonlea, where the "Anne of Green Gables" movie was filmed. We stopped in to visit Avonlea, but with the rainy weather (it was pouring), we decided to move on to other things, such as "shopping" (what else is there to do in the rain?). I managed to pick up a new hat for the rain (see pictures).
Day 11 started out to be another rainy day. In fact, the only really nice day we had was Day 8, when we had "the Lobster Feast". No matter. Our plan was to visit the PEI Potato Museum in the town of O'Leary, which was a drive of approximately 1-1/2 hours from Cavendish. This was a good take for a rainy day. We learned lots of interesting information about the origin of the potato. Did you know that the potato originated in South America? The soil on PEI is very good for growing potatoes. If you notice in the pictures we took, the soil looks reddish-brown. That is due to the fact that the soil here is rich in iron oxide, which, when exposed to air, turns rust-colored. As we drove around the island, we saw potato fields everywhere. They are preparing for the July harvest (the "early" harvest). The regular harvest happens in the fall, when most of the islands potato crop is harvested. Schools close for a week for this "event", so that the children can help harvest the crop. In addition to the history of the potato, the museum had lots of other interesting artifacts. You can see pictures of what we saw in the Day 10 album.
On the return trip from O'Leary, we stopped into Summerside, the other large city on PEI. There was nothing in Summerside to hold our attention, so we cruised the main streets and headed back to Cavendish.
Here are the links to the web albums:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/AuCanadaDay9CharlottetownPEI?authkey=Gv1sRgCNne2J-J3Yn2Vw&feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/AuCanadaDay10CavendishPEI?authkey=Gv1sRgCIL21If9q6OFjAE&feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/AuCanadaDay11OLearyPEI?authkey=Gv1sRgCNe43Kek2dzpqAE&feat=directlink
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