PEI and Nova Scotia

 
When I left off I had been in New Brunswick and about to enjoy the tides of the Bay of Fundy. Well, as amazing and beautiful as it was, I tell ya, there is something wrong with paying $9 to get into a park to look at some rocks (Hopewell Rocks). It is even wronger (not a word, I know) to pay $2 per trip to take a golf cart to said rocks when it only takes about 15 minutes to walk! As beautiful as these flowerpot rocks were, I wasn't enjoying myself sandwiched between people going up and down the crowded stairs to get to them. Tourism has ruined travel. I used a travel quote by Paul Theroux in one of my earlier blogs, but that is a quote by me. Next time you find yourself paying a ridiculous amount of money to be herded with a swarm of other tourists you can quote me, "Tourism has ruined travel."
Not to say I am not enjoying myself, I am!
My next stop was PEI. There I stayed with a fabulous couple, Jack & Shirley, that friends from Vernon connected me to. They were most welcoming and hospitable. The first day I took in Anne of Green Gables, a PEI must see. Though crowded with tourists, there were walking paths, "The Haunted Woods" and such that made for a peaceful walk and a nice afternoon.
As I was leaving Green Gables, I noticed that an indicator light on my dash had come on letting me know that a light was out. I sent a text to my dad asking him what to do. He called me back while I was driving to my next destination so I pulled over at what I thought was a random attraction. My dad talked me through taking the burned out bulb out and gave me instructions on putting a new one in after I had a chance to buy one.
When I hung up from the call, I thought I would take a few pictures of the cows before I moved on and when I first pulled on to the yard I had noticed a cat, and missing mine terribly, I figured this feline needed some squeezing. When I had finished enjoying the cows, I turned around to look for that cat only to realize that there were kittens, lots of kittens! As soon as I sat down one of them crawled right onto my lap! In the barn there were even more kittens, a pile. Tell me, what is better than a pile of kittens? There had to be dozens! It completely made my day.


As hard as it was, I eventually left the cat farm... I mean cow farm, and toured around the island. I covered a lot of the south shore stopping at many waterfront areas including Cabot Beach Provincial Park where I saw a fox! A thrill as I haven't seen much wildlife at all, except the copious amounts of lifeless raccoon on the side of the highway.
I eventually, after a very full day, made my way back to Charlottetown where I found a Canadian Tire and purchased a new bulb for my car. In the parking lot I popped the hood and put it in all by myself! Careful, of course, not to touch the new bulb. It feels really good to be able to do things on your own! With a little over the phone coaching from dad of course!
Jack & Shirley took me touring the East side of the island the next day, they were great fun. We stopped for fish and chips for lunch and they took me to this place called Basin Head where we jumped off a wall into a canal sort of thing and then rode the current down to a sand bar in the ocean! It was very cold at first, but it was great fun! A highlight for sure. In the evening they invited me along with them to friends of theirs for a nice home cooked roast beef dinner.
I hadn't seen a provincial sign on my way into PEI, it was raining so I didn't look to hard, so on the way out I stopped at an info booth and asked where it was. I was told they were doing some landscaping so the sign had been temporarily removed. I told them I hadn't missed a provincial sign yet, so they suggested across the street there was a sign that might do.

Crossing the Confederation Bridge again, I continued on to Nova Scotia.

My first day in Nova Scotia I didn't see or enjoy much as I had picked up some sort of bug and I was feverish with a very upset stomach. I spent quite a bit of the afternoon snoozing in my car.
Feeling much better the next day (yesterday) I explored Nova Scotia. From my home base at the Walmart in Dartmouth, I visited Cow Bay thinking of my dear friend Vashti, who loves cows. I then moved on to the more touristy attractions such as Peggy's Cove where I did an ocean boat tour, I unfortunately didn't see any whales. I also went to Mahone Bay, but didn't see too much there as it was Sunday and already almost 6 pm so most shops were closed.
Today I am going to have a relaxing day as it is a bit rainy. After I finish this blog I am going to make my way over to the Chatters and see about getting my hair cut and then do a little shopping, maybe find a Pearl Vision and see about getting my glasses adjusted. In the evening I will get to visit with Maria, a friend who used to live in Vernon, who I just discovered a couple weeks ago via Facebook, is living in Halifax and has an internship at the Halifax Regional Library.
Only one more province left to go...