We arrived home from the East Coast on Saturday August 27th. My mom had to go back to work on the Monday so not returning home wasn’t an option. I mean… I could have sent her home on a plane but that seemed a bit rude. Also, I felt I had enough time lugging Peanut around and it was time to park her.
Between August 28th and September 18th I kept myself mildly busy… fixed the downspout on the eave which took the water away from the basement and had the tap leaking in the basement replaced. Had an Antique “sale” on Saturday the 11th… made $25 (WOO! … not). Hit a few shops in Belleville and Peterborough and visited a couple Antique stores.
I spent an entire week prepping for my moms 65th Birthday Party which was on Saturday September 18th which was super fun. Decorated like crazy in a black, gold, silver and white theme. We had a ton of Chinese food, two cakes and presents. Only gained a couple pounds that night. Was definitely worth it!
On Sunday morning I woke up and realized I wasn’t ready… I wasn’t ready to be done with my East Coast vacation. I still had so much more I wanted to do. So I did something totally crazy, I cleaned the house, did laundry, dropped a ton of groceries off at my dads, visited my mom and said “I’m heading to PEI, New Brunswick and Quebec to finish the trip we started”. I asked if she thought I was crazy and she said “yes, but crazy could be a lot of fun”. That evening I went home and packed. The next morning off I went.
So here I am. Sitting in bed in Prince Edward Island having arrived Tuesday September 21st. I drove from Havelock to Fredericton New Brunswick in 11 hours. That was a pretty long stretch of driving. I was pooped when I arrived at the Radisson Kingswood and could not wait to lay in bed and veg. A quick stop for some dinner and I was toast. And once again Chaya and J made excellent travel companions. They are quite the hit when they are in the stroller LOL.
We checked out around 9:15am. Since I’d never been to St. John that was going to be the first part of the journey. We drove 1.15 hours from Fredericton getting us there as the stores were starting to open up. We drove a bunch of the streets to take in some sights. Landed on King Street where there is a gallery called Handworks (12 King Street). They have beautiful handmade paintings, pottery, crafts and jewelry made by local artisans. I would recommend you stop in if you are in St. John. We stopped in at the park for the dogs to run around before heading out to grab some breakfast. And as we drove off I decided to jump off the beaten path and take a random road which did not disappoint. We ended up finding a small beach with amazing views. And man was the air SO fresh.
After my mini tour of St. John I headed back to Prince Edward Island. I was through the check point in under 10 minutes and had my umpteenth covid test (Negative). By mid afternoon I was all settled in and relaxing. I did nothing Tuesday and Wednesday since I needed to recover from the long drive.
Thursday I decided to go for a drive to Murray River where there is a cute little property for sale that I really wanted to check out. The drive was about 1 hour and 15 minutes and although it was beautiful, the location was just to far from anything a tourist might want to do. So I decided to head into Charlottetown to grab a couple items and get myself some lunch before returning home.
Friday my uncle and I decided to take a drive to Stanley Bridge to check out another property that peaked my interest. This one is a 6 unit motel that is right on the water. I have ALWAYS wanted to have my own BNB/INN or motel and the price of this little guy is amazing. Unfortunately I just can’t swing the financials now, but I know what I want for the future. While in Stanley we stopped in at a cute little barn with antiques (insanely over priced btw) so we left empty handed. Drove into Charlottetown to book an oil change since I’m now on my second LONG trip east and the car is the most important part of making this happen.
Saturday (today) I decided to stay close to home since it was close to the pups lunch time and I still had to cook their food. My Uncle David had mentioned that there are heritage homes in the Victoria region of the island and so I took a short 15 minute drive to Victoria PEI. Wow, what a charming heritage site. Every house is a century plus home. Some are shops, some restaurants, several galleries, a book store and community centre. It is definitely a place I would visit again and so should you. I walked all 3 of the streets and down by the water. It was the perfect mini journey.
On the way home I stopped to take a picture of the Canoe Cove School which was established in 1820 (just a couple hundred years old NBD…)
That sums up this part of the Journey. My next adventure will take me through the Acadian Peninsula which is super exciting! And after that to Quebec (Bonaventure, New Carlisle, Gaspe and the Gaspe Peninsula). This is what I am most excited for as I have never been to any of these areas. I will be visiting my grandparents places of birth in Quebec which is very thrilling. I cannot wait!
Until next time 🙂
My Country Farmhouse 