It’s still grey and overcast when we wake, the forecast is for better days ahead, will today be the day we find the sun? Or it finds us?
The morning is the typical routine, awaken slowly and too early to be of much use for anything ahead of the morning coffee. Coffee, banana and a yogurt and we’re feeling the day. Clean up the interior of the van, disconnect the electrical service, remove the leveling blocks and we’re away. Today we head to Prince Edward Island, or PEI we are used to referring to it as.
We head toward the Confederation Bridge, the 12.9km (8miles) long concrete structure that connects mainland Canada to its smallest province. Opened in 1997 the bridge has made it significantly easier to visit (and leave) PEI. The toll is $50.25CAD (in 2023) which is paid upon leaving the island.
You can above that from our van we had a very good view from the bridge, those driving cars will barely see above the concrete wall that forms the edge of the bridge deck.
We stop at the PEI visitors center at the far end of the bridge and pickup a lighthouse map and few souvenirs as well as a few alcoholic beverages from the liquor store.
We head to the West across the island stopping in Summerside for groceries. The potato crop is just being planted and we take note of the fact that trees are 3-4 weeks behind Ontario. The same is true of people’s yards as the garden centers are doing a booming business and people are busy planting their gardens.
Leaving Summerside we drive westward towards West Point where we will camp for the night at Cedar Dunes Provincial Park. We get setup on our site and after a short rest in the van take a walk to the West Point lighthouse.
This is our second time here, the last being in 2000 when we visited with our children and camped in a tent that we carried in our minivan. The park was damaged quite extensively by hurricane Fiona in 2022 with many of the cedar trees being uprooted. There are still some around but the damaged areas are easily spotted and will take many years to recover. As you can see below, our site had a spruce tree on it but it was one of very few. The beach is beautiful and in the summer the water very warm as it faces south. A very nice smaller park to stop at with family for some beach time.
