Day 38 (7/29/09) - South Central Coast

Because it was sunny, and predicted to be that way all day, we hit the road early (7:15 am & 65°) to take advantage of the bright light. We had breakfast in Cornwall - another good meal with an added feature - eggs, bacon, potatoes, toast, and coffee for only $5.99. That's before tax. The tax in PEI is around 15%, so I don't want to hear anyone complain about the high tax in Arizona.

The next stop was Fort Amherst Historical Site. http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/pe/amherst/index.aspx We were there before 9 am and had the site to ourselves. A pretty location with many informational signs. It's another site of interest to Acadians - the orginal French settlers in the new world.

We proceeded along the scenic coast to Victoria-by-the-Sea where Donna had read, in Frommer's, "a tiny and unusually scenic village that has attracted a number of artists, boutique owners, and craftspeople". It was first settled in 1767 and the entire village consists of four square blocks. We drove all four blocks and found mostly residences. We did see a few shops, but they had not opened at that time. Donna is losing faith in Frommer's descriptions.

Further along the coast, on the way to Summerside, we had an excellent view of the Confederation Bridge, linking PEI to New Brunswick - our route off the island. The bridge is 8 miles long and took less than four years to complete. Our contribution to the structure will be $42.50 on Saturday.

An exiting stop was made at the Bottle Houses (http://www.bottlehouses.com/). Turns out this is a very popular site. At $6 a person, the Arsenault Family has no retirement worries. We did take a few pictures and will upload them when we can (I think we have to return to the US before I can get a fast enough connection).

The scenery along Hiway 2, through the middle of the Island, was some of the best. We should have counted churches - it feels like every road on the Island has a church. And these are not small churches. They are frequently Catholic, and have very tall and impressive steepels. It is very difficult to believe there are enough people to even partially fill these structures.

The last stop of the day was at the Cheese Lady's Gouda where we watched a short video on the making of gouda cheese the traditional Dutch way. Sampled some cheese and, of course, bought some. I don't think it will make it home. Good stuff.

Distance: 160 miles (254 km)

Time: 5 hours

KPG: 37.4

No fuel