Thursday, September 26, 2013

Days 30-32: Prince Edward Island

Acadian Catholic Church

I thought this was an amazing view with the cemetery right on the edge of the sea.

Cap-Egmont Bottle Houses
Inside wall in the chapel - the pews were made from colorful votive holders.  

Outside chapel wall - chapel is made of approximately 10,000 bottles.

Six-Gabled HOUSE
This is the first building Edouard Arsenault built in 1980.  Where did he get all the bottles?  Back then, there was no recycling for glass, except pop and beer bottles - everything else went to the dump!  So each week, Edouard took his old truck and gathered bottles from local dance halls, the legion, restaurants, and the dump!  He was a recycler before his time.

Inside wall of gabled house.

In the middle of this wall is a brown gallon jug to give you an idea of size.

Garden sculpture

TAVERN
bottles on the bar...

Some of Edouard's favorite bottles are on display in the tavern.

This was a very familiar scene on P.E.I., almost all homes had wash drying on the line.

Lobster traps near North Cape.  We went to the New Glasgow Lobster Supper, a tradition that began in church basements on P.E.I. and continues today.  The informal meal began with clam chowder and all the mussels you could eat, rolls fresh from the oven and a variety of salads, lobster and then lemon meringue pie.  Lemon meringue pie was served by most churches but now they have many dessert choices.  Money for this lobster supper goes to the rural volunteer fire department of New Glasgow.

North Cape

Dusty Roads
An evening of Canadian folk music with Dusty Roads as the headliner with special guest fiddler, Mary Smith.  The second half of the evening anyone who wanted to sing or play was invited to come on up and they were accompanied by the house band.  This is a very traditional venue on Prince Edward Island.

Mary Smith

Lobster traps for sale along the roadside...

100 Kilometer Yard Sale
This was amazing, we'd never seen anything like it - all along this highway were spots like this where someone's trash could become your treasure.

Weekend 100K yard sale!

Souris Lighthouse

Cardigan Bay at Georgetown

Red dirt road, soybean crops on either side of the road leading down to the ocean.  Prince Edward Island 's main crop is potatoes with a rotation of corn and soybeans.

Sun shining on the fields in central P.E.I.


Anne of Green Gables
Silver Bush - Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables, once wrote, "I love this old spot better than any place on earth."  Silver Bush was owned by her Uncle John and Aunt Anne Campbell and she was later married in it's parlor.

Lake of Shining Waters - view from Silver Bush

Where the original Green Gables house stood.  You can still walk Lover's Lane and the Haunted Wood.

French River

Lighthouse on New London Bay

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Day 29: BRIDGES

LONGEST COVERED BRIDGE

We started our day and ended our day with bridges.  Shortly after crossing into New Brunswick, Canada we discovered the world's longest covered bridge in Hartland.  We couldn't take our trailer through so we walked across!  

This bridge was built by private citizens in 1899 who were tired of waiting for the government to decide whether or not to build a bridge across the river at Hartland.  It officially opened in 1901 as a toll bridge - it cost 3 cents to walk, 6 cents for a horse and wagon, and 12 cents for a double team.  In 1906 the provincial government took over the ownership and maintenance of the bridge and removed the tolls.

Looking out at the St. John River...

Scott on the sidewalk that was added in 1945, which is a small bridge in itself.

Inside wall of bridge

Here we are at the other end!

You have to imagine this part tacked onto the picture above...


We drove through the middle of New Brunswick most of the day with forest on both sides of the highway and not much to see.  We did see lots of moose signs but no moose!  


CONFEDERATION BRIDGE

At the end of the day we crossed the 8 mile long Confederation Bridge that took us to Prince Edward Island for the next few days.  

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Days 23-28: MAINE

Lunch for two - the scallops literally melted in your mouth at The Sea Basket in Wiscasset.

MAINE HOMES
.

This is a great example of a typical Maine home; they add on and add on again.  Some are even connected to the barn!

Another home with many additions.

L.L. Bean Flagship Store

Canoe paddle door handles - no locks!  Originally L.L. Bean had no locks and today they are open 24 hours so they still don't need locks on the doors!

A-1 Diner
We had dinner at the A-1 Diner in Gardiner, Maine - the next day I took a picture and yes, that's our truck!

LUNT'S Lobster Pound
A family run restaurant that was very friendly with the waitress helping us eat lobster correctly!  A lobster "pound" is a casual restaurant where the lobster is cooked and eaten outside.  The pound is a salt water tank where the lobsters are kept until cooked; an authentic pound would be near water where the fresh salt water could continually wash over the lobsters.

Boiling wood-fired lobster pots right alongside the highway in Trenton, Maine.

My dinner...

Yum!


Lifestyle change?

This wooden shark was hanging from the end of a house...  I laughed and had to take a picture!  Is he hanging there to keep the hummingbirds away?

There are many family or small community cemeteries along the roads of Maine.

Another house that has been added onto - notice the garage/barn is attached.  Scott and I counted 8 additions!

We asked the local librarian about the houses and as families grew, they added on and people stayed in the same home for generations.  We saw one home with a plate that said, "Built in 1847".

Goldenrod

Pitch Pine


Planter filled with kale and mums - love how this looks!

We added 7 more states - Vermont, Delaware, South Carolina, Rhode Island, Mississippi, West Virginia, and Nevada!