Potatoes and Tourists

Hello again. Last we left off as we were heading for Charlottetown, PEI still on the August long weekend. We had trouble finding accommodations in Halifax and ended up staying outside the city. As we traveled to Charlottetown, we again had no firm plans.

We opted to take the Confederation Bridge as we knew it was a site to see. This meant travelling North back through Truro, Nova Scotia and then crossing back into New Brunswick and heading East. Upon arriving on the island you enter the town of Borden-Carleton. This is essentially a tourist trap full of shops and not enough places to eat. We tried in vain to locate the PEI sign to add another photo to our collection; however it seemed to be oddly located and inaccessible, so we carried on for about 45 minutes before reaching Charlottetown.

Headed across the Confederation Bridge

Views from the Van

We knew our chances of finding a campsite were going to be difficult in the middle of a long weekend. We toured around the town for a while and didn't see many options to just park and sleep without it being an issue. I should mention that we are aware that boondocking at Walmart is always an option, BUT it is always our very last resort- which we had yet to do on either of our trips.

We headed towards the waterfront and ended up locating a Visitor Information Centre. I spoke with the lovely ladies working there and they confirmed that everything on the whole island was booked up. When I mentioned that we were actually sleeping in our van, they let me know that we could just park in the large parking lot outside and should have no problems.

With that information in mind, we headed for one of the island's microbreweries for an early birthday dinner. This brought us to Upstreet- a cute little brewery with a yummy menu. It was a beautiful evening and we ended up on their small patio where Tesla was even allowed to join us. The food, beer and service were excellent; after purchasing some obligatory souvenirs, we headed for the downtown.

Happy Birthday!

Every birthday dinner should include dessert and my obvious choice in PEI was Cows Ice Cream. I browsed the store and decided that I needed a shirt from there as on of my PEI souvenirs... yes, my t-shirt collection is now fully stocked after this trip. I grabbed some scoops for Justin and I as he waited outside with Tesla, who is quite the attraction herself! Unfortunately while I browsed the clothes and souvenirs, quite the line up had formed. By the time I made it outside, I was met with a few people admiring her and asking Justin questions.

COWS in downtown Charlottetown

The early birthday celebrations continued with a stroll downtown while eating our ice cream and noting the old buildings. It was a beautiful Sunday evening of a long weekend and many patios and restaurants were bustling. Charlottetown was surprising- it definitely needs to be explored again, but maybe not at the height of tourist season.

Having resigned to the fact that there was no where else to go, we went back to info centre parking. Upon arrival, we noticed that some other vehicles had left, including other camper vans and RVs. We quickly realized that no one else was actually attempting to camp in this parking lot. Alas, we chose our spot and settled in. Thankfully we had spent the time touring the downtown and it was now dark. Without anywhere to hang out outside the van, we turned in for the night.

It soon became evident that the beautiful evening we had experienced had moved on. It ended up being quite the windy and/noisy night. I'd have to say that this is where we (or I, Stephanie) experienced my worst sleep of the whole trip. The wind noise and the fact that we were somewhat "exposed" in a regular parking lot did not put me at ease.


We awoke to pouring rain the next morning. It turns out there is a wicked locally run coffee shop - (Receiver Coffee- Brass Shop) right next to the Visitor Centre that just opened at what seemed like way too early an hour. Our plan was to grab coffee, change, and head to Starbucks for my free birthday drink and WiFi for some forward planning (read: booking a campsite). We then discovered that The Brass Shop had Wifi, and so, after a quick check on Tesla, we settled in for a couple hours.

Early Morning Birthday Coffee

Our WiFi session involved a lot of thinking ahead and planning. We definitely did not want to spend another night in a parking lot. So, we booked our one and only hotel stay (other than in St. John's, which was wedding related) for the whole trip in Summerside. Thinking even more ahead, I booked a campsite at our next destination in New Brunswick.

After being fully caffinated and well fed, the next logical stop seemed to be another micro- brewery. We headed for PEI Brewing Company to see what they had to offer. By this time, it was roughly lunchtime, so we decided to nibble on some nachos while enjoying a flight of their beers. The seating was very casual and we ended up sharing some comfy chairs with an older couple from the US. They clearly loved traveling as they were on the island for the weekend as other plans they had had fallen through... #retirementgoals. We polished off our nachos and grabbed some beer to go (for later) and began the loop around the island as it continued to rain on and off.

We headed East on the Trans Canada. It was a little disappointing that it was raining so hard at times as it made a lot of the scenery difficult to see. We made it to the Wood Islands Ferry and realized that it probably was not an enjoyable ride on a day with crappy weather. My ultimate goal was to see some red sandy beaches and find more Parks Canada Red Chairs.

The National Park is located along the North Shore of the island. Again, given the weather, crowds were thankfully not an issue. We even spotted a fox when entering the park.

The rain had stopped at this point and it was getting a bit warm. In search of a Red Chair photo-op, we shed some layers and took Tesla out for a good walk. And we walked, and walked... no chairs to be found, even after speaking with a couple Parks Canada employees.

Beautiful red sand beach

There were no red chairs down there...

We continued our drive through the park and finally found the chairs. I still need to print all the Red Chair pics and make what I think will be an awesome photo display!

Oceanview Lookoff- Cavendish area of PEI National Park

We continued driving and AVOIDING all things Anne of Green Gables. We made it to Summerside and checked into our hotel. We thought we'd test out the pool, which lasted all of 5 minutes before a family with 6 or so children decided to take over the pool. Fair warning, PEI in the summer is full of families.

The next morning, the temperatures had taken a drop again, so we layered up and headed for the western part of the island. I'm not too sure what we were looking for, and perhaps we could have skipped this. However, it is fascinating to realize how small the island truly is and how much you can traverse in such a short time. On this leg, we did discover the West Point Lighthouse- it is the tallest lighthouse in PEI and was built in 1875. In 1984 it was converted to an Inn, that's right you could sleep in a lighthouse... no idea of the cost, but I imagine you need to book way ahead.

Our final conclusions about PEI were that perhaps it's best to visit during shoulder seasons and that we'll be back once we improve our golf games (#moreretirementgoals).


Oh ya, I can't forget that we had to stop in Borden-Carleton to pick up a few more souvenirs- stuffed animal lobster anyone?

Here's Tesla and Justin waiting for me...

Last, but not least, we paid the $46.50 to use the Confederation Bridge to make our way back to New Brunswick. It was free to get on the island though.

See you next time in NB!

J & S