DAY 58 : September 3/22 Saturday. Cabot Beach Provincial Park
Woke up around 8am and Jonathan was having a look at the instagram messages (we have a semblance of wifi at the provincial campgrounds! — one free access for one device). He noticed a missed message from around 11:30pm last night from Lucas that invited us to come down to the dock at SeaCow Port at 8am and watch the haul up the tuna they caught last night in a nice quiet and safe environment. We were so disappointed to miss that opportunity!! That would’ve been something else. Murphy’s law says that we got the message on the day we woke up at 8am instead of the usual rustling around by 7am.
We did a tidy up of the rig (I gotta say that despite everything technically having a “home”, our place is usually filled with crafting and papers and clothes and random stuffies covering much of the surfaces in here, sigh). Then it was time for the daily “toes on the line” maneuver… I’ve not mentioned this yet, but each time we bring the slide in (it encompasses the dinette section of our RV that slides out another couple feet) the kids stand with their “toes on the line” of where the slide will come up to and it’s a little thrill each time thinking their toes might get gobbled up by the moving floor.
From the inside of our RV we saw out the window an osprey dive into the water and catch a fish then fly over us. That was pretty cool. Our site was right at the water’s edge. Beautiful despite the bugs!
Before leaving the campground, we did the usually Sani-dump and also downloaded a load of Stompin’ Tom Connors songs on Spotify while we had access to wifi.
Drove to Alberton, a sweet little town with a nice big dirt parking lot near the Independent Grocer and just up from the Alberton Bakery where we stopped for a treat. Cute little store where all the locals hang out and visit. We ordered cinnamon buns and found a table in the corner next to a group of semi-retired locals who were meeting up for coffee and breakfast. They were so friendly and we got to chatting. We asked them about where to get a fishing rod and they recommended the Home Hardware. Betty and Michael are pastors in the area and have a place down by the confederation bridge. Betty gave us her card with her cell in case we were back down that way and need anything or had any questions. We said our thank you and goodbyes to them and their friends Leo and Dave, and walked up the Main Street to check out the other little shops.
First stop was the Canadian Dollar Store, then Jonathan walked up the road Saunder’s Variety store and called me saying they have some natives type shoes that might fit Oliver. I walked the kids up there and checked them out. This plain fronted store was a treasure trove of super awesome high end shoes! I instantly thought of my sister-in-law, Lisa, who is my shoe shopper extraoirdinaire when I visit in Invermere. They had some awesome boots I would have tried on under other circumstances! They had crocs but no Natives for Ollie. He and Jonathan both found cozy socks though and I paid for them while the boys walked farther up in search of Home Hardware.
Meems and I walked over to the little Independent Grocer to buy supplies. We were intrigued by the tiny aisles (with tiny carts) to get around. They had everything we needed except plant-based meat options. We bought two bags of fruit freezies for $1.29 each… though in hindsight, the freeze season is kinda over. We also bought ourselves a lovely PEI reusable shopping bag with nice PEI images on it :)
As we were walking back to the rig, I got a text from Jonathan saying, “Get yer driving boots on Honey!”. Oh man. After all these days on the road, I have yet to get behind the wheel. I think I maybe drove it once in a parking lot back in Vancouver. I have offered a handful of times, but he’s happy to drive. Amelia was super sweet and excited… “Let’s go Mum!! Get in the driver’s seat!” With a big smile, she hustled me in and was super supportive. It was literally only a few blocks to the Home Hardware, and thankfully Jonathan had backed into the parking spot so I could just drive out forward, lol. I drove to the Home Hardware and parked it perfectly, I may add. When I got out, there was a cheer from the doorway of the HH as Jonathan and the cashiers congratulated me on my accomplishment (he had told them it was my first time driving the rig). Very funny.
Jonathan had bought a fishing rod for bass, and some 40lb line. The kids had their eyes on some LED lights for their bunk and decided upon the longer more expensive set to use their money for. We also bought a skipping rope.
We continued our journey down to the North Port Wharf and Harbour to try our luck fishing with the new gear. We met a friendly couple from Halifax there who were also trying their luck fishing. I got a bite of some kind of the bass rod and when I reeled it up, it was a lobster hanging on… he let go as soon as he was out of the water. At least we “caught” something. Basically the lobsters were just eating all the mackerel we had as bait for the bass. Minutes after, the woman next to us also hauled up a lobster, but it came onto the wharf where we could examine it. The husband had been a fisherman in PEI until he was 30, and he held the lobster for us to see and showed us all the details about her. Pretty cool.
By 3pm we left the North Port wharf and headed to see if we could check out the Beach Goats that Amelia had picked out off the list of things to see and do. Judging by the website, we were not sure we’d get to actually do an activity there at St. Chrysotome on the south shore of the cape. Sure enough, when we arrived, the sign said Closed. Jonathan jumped out and we could see the goats in their pen at the back of the property that overlooked the beach. He knocked on the door and the woman who opened it said it was indeed closed as their family has Covid. Doh. She said we could have a quick look at the goats but she would be coming anywhere near us. So we wandered down and said hi to the cute goats and watched them head butt each other and fall off their toy slides.
We drove through an Acadian area and through Abram Village where clearly a huge Acadian festival was happening. Pennants of red/white/blue strung up across the streets, and the parking lots of the community centre buildings were jammed with cars and people. We saw a “gumboot toss” happening where people were taking their turns throwing a rubber boot across a lawn and having it measured officially.
It was around 4:30pm that we arrived in Summerside, the town we first got to when we arrived in PEI. We were hoping to find the Escape Room that Oliver had chosen for his activity, and online it said it was open 1pm - 10pm, but when we finally located the little tiny “mall” it was supposed to be in, the whole thing was closed. Another bummer. We poked our head into a sushi restaurant but decided to just go back and make our own snacks. We moved the rig to “The Shipyard” by the water’s edge for the nicer view and made snacks. The tide was in and Ollie and I sat on the stairs leading down and had our sandwiches.
Back on the road towards Malpeque Bay and by 6pm we were at Cabot Beach Provincial Park (site 72) and enjoyed a veggie medley dinner of beets and beans and corn and potatoes (inside the rig due to all the mosquitoes). I watched the sunset with Oliver despite all the bugs. Jonathan called up to the local pub up the road to see if we could get a table to have a drink and eat some Malpque Bay oysters, but disappointingly they were fully booked for the night. Another minor strike out for the day.
So we tucked into our little home on wheels. Jonathan made tea and played chess with Ollie. Meems was tucked underneath our dinette table playing with her little mini set of Calico Critters she had yet to haul out of the storage, and I sat curled up on the back bed typing out more blog days as I’m so far behind. I’m able to type it all up in Notes and the copy and paste it to the Blog by wifi, but the bandwidth at the provincial campgrounds doesn’t seem to allow me to post photos.
By 10pm I was reading two more chapters of Anne of Green Gables to two sleepy kiddos and it was off to bed.
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