Maritimes: Goodbye PEI, Hello Cape Breton

 Thursday morning, we bid farewell to Prince Edward Island.

Anne bidding us farewell.

Entering New Brunswick

Entering Nova Scotia

We stopped in Oxford, the wild blueberry capital of Canada.

Megan, Me and U with the Blueberry Man

We drove to Cape Breton.

We had initially planned on driving via the coast and stopping at the Celtic Music Center in Judique. However, between spending a bit of time shopping on PEI and a storm coming in the next day, we decided to head straight for Chéticamp and the Cabot Trail. We drove as far as Pleasant Bay. Here are some photos of the spectacular scenery from our drive.

We really wanted to hike the Skyline Trail and figured Thursday was our best bet due to the weather forecast for Friday (the trail ended up being closed Friday due to the wind). We are glad we did it although if we did it again, we would likely just hike the left leg as that is where the better views were.

Megan, Matthew, Me and U

Matthew, Megan and Me hiking down the trail.

Happy Megan

Matthew and Me hiking up ahead.

View of the Cabot Trail from Skyline Trail. The kids said it was like the Road to Hana but on a hill.

Boardwalk out to the headland.

U, Me and Matthew

Do you see Megan? She opted not to walk down all the steps, enjoying the view from the top.

It was a nice place to watch the sunset. A park ranger was kind to take some pictures for us.

Megan and U

Megan, Matthew, Me and U

U, Megan, Matthew and Me

Picture we took from a viewing platform in the moose exclosure (to protect the young trees from the moose).

The Cornerstone Motel. There is a little food prep area around the corner and we had a nice view of the river from our window.

Enjoying the pastries we picked up at the local bakery.

Maritimes: Hopewell Rocks and travel to PEI

 We got up early in order to be at Hopewell Rocks around when it opened. It was a nice drive from Moncton. There were lots of quaint towns with white churches and cemeteries (a common sight on our trip). The Bay of Fundy looked dirty, likely due to all the silt in the water. When we arrived at Hopewell Rocks, we took the shuttle in order to get down on the bay floor quickly. It really was remarkable to see the change in the tides. I think it was around a 40 foot difference when we were there! We enjoyed walking on the bay floor and seeing all the different features.

Picture from the lookout when we arrived about one hour after low tide. They say the water is at a relatively constant level for about 1.5 hours on either side of low and high tide so this was close to its lowest point.

View from above about halfway between high and low tide.

Picture from lookout about 45 minutes before high tide (so close to the highest point).

Megan, Me and Matthew on the bay floor.

Matthew, Megan and U

Me with the Bay of Fundy.

U, Megan, Me, Matthew as we walked along the bay floor.

Me

Megan, Me and Matthew

Me holding up the rock. She's so strong!

U and Megan

We walked along the east facing shore until we came to these mud flats. It reminded us of Alaska! We decided to turn around although later learned it is possible to go all the way around if you hug the cliff. But there aren't the big rock formations that way so we are glad we walked back the way we came.

Few tide pool pictures

Megan, Me and Matthew through an arch.

Matthew

U and Me

Megan and Matthew climbing the stairs to the overlook.

U and Me enjoyed continuing to watch the tide come in both from the overlook and from the bay floor. 

Me with Lovers Arch about halfway between low and high tide.

One hour later....

They eventually closed the bay floor so we had to stay up top. We enjoyed watching the water come in and would even root for it to surround a rock pillar, etc. Nature is amazing!

Colorful trunk!

Me holding up the rock with her finger that she held up with her hands on the bay floor.

Some of the route we walked, now covered in water.

We liked this sign. Very clever!

Good reminder....
Reminded me of India.

We drove to Prince Edward Island, stopping at Gateway Village to pick up some information. The lady in the visitors center gave us free pressed pennies which was super nice of her!

Matthew, Me and Megan with the Confederation Bridge. It is 8 miles long.

We drove the South Shore Road which is definitely a slower paced road with lots of farms. Sometimes while driving on PEI, the road would suddenly become a dirt road. It was interesting.

We went to Skmaqn-Port-la-Joye-Fort Amherst National Historic Site. Established in 1720 when three French ships landed here, it was the location of the first permanent European settlement on PEI. We had a nice view of Charlottetown across the harbor. 

Matthew, U, Megan and Me

Megan, Me and Matthew on the remnants of the old fort.

Me, Megan and Matthew in some of the Parks Canada red chairs.

This was our view!

We drove into Charlottetown.

Megan, Me and Matthew with Province House which is where Canada was established as a nation in 1867 (although interestingly PEI chose not to join until 1873). It is the head of the provincial government.

Me had a lobster roll and everyone else had fancy hot dogs for dinner.

We shared some yummy beaver tails.

We arrived at our Cavendish hotel, Kindred Spirits Inn and Cottages. We found out that Megan Follows, the actress who plays Anne in the 1985 version of Anne of Green Gables, stayed here in cottage 16 this past summer. Upon entering the cottage, Matthew immediately declared that he liked it and would stay here again! U and Matthew played Boggle and Megan and Matthew watched some of Princess and the Pea.

Megan, Matthew and U

Master bedroom

Second bedroom

Couple different views of the living room.

Eating breakfast in the kitchen.

Outside of the cottage. We really liked staying here!