Prince Edward Island Trip: Points West
Our stay in Charlottetown was brief. We woke up Sunday, September 22 and aside from breakfast and a quick walk through of St. Dunstan's Basilica, our time in the city was complete. We headed west along the Red Sands Shore coastal drive, which runs along the south of the island.
Our destination for the night was far to the west, but we were in no hurry. We stopped to view the Blockhouse Point Lighthouse which overlooks Charlottetown's harbor. It wasn't open, but we walked around the outside and admired the view. We also stopped briefly in Victoria to look out over their small harbor.
Gradually we moved west into the North Cape Drive. The only major stop we made was the Bottle Houses in the small French speaking district we passed through. This tacky roadside attraction consists of several small building made of concrete and glass bottles built by a retired lighthouse keeper in the early 1980s. It's exactly what it says on the bottle, so to speak.
Our ultimate destination for the evening was the West Point Lighthouse, which had a hotel attached to it some years back. There's not much around it but potato farms and windmills. We had a quick dinner in O'Leary, and then followed it with a long walk on the beach by the lighthouse.
The sunset was spectacular, as you'd expect from the what is nearly the westernmost point on the island. The lighthouse museum was also by far the most detailed one of our trip, in part because the West Point light is also the largest lighthouse we visited and they had a lot of space. They even had hotel rooms in the lighthouse proper, although they were already booked when we made reservations so we had to settle for rooms in the attached custom built hotel portion. Go soon; the ocean is eroding the shore quite quickly, and it has already claimed the driveway to the lighthouse. We had to carry our bags down a path instead.
Beaches: 1 on the day, 6 on the trip (again, not counting ones we drove past but did not walk on)
Lighthouses: 2 on the day, 7 on the trip (again, not counting ones we drove past but did not visit)
Oysters: 21 in four batches, plus 3 quahogs.
Our destination for the night was far to the west, but we were in no hurry. We stopped to view the Blockhouse Point Lighthouse which overlooks Charlottetown's harbor. It wasn't open, but we walked around the outside and admired the view. We also stopped briefly in Victoria to look out over their small harbor.
Gradually we moved west into the North Cape Drive. The only major stop we made was the Bottle Houses in the small French speaking district we passed through. This tacky roadside attraction consists of several small building made of concrete and glass bottles built by a retired lighthouse keeper in the early 1980s. It's exactly what it says on the bottle, so to speak.
Our ultimate destination for the evening was the West Point Lighthouse, which had a hotel attached to it some years back. There's not much around it but potato farms and windmills. We had a quick dinner in O'Leary, and then followed it with a long walk on the beach by the lighthouse.
The sunset was spectacular, as you'd expect from the what is nearly the westernmost point on the island. The lighthouse museum was also by far the most detailed one of our trip, in part because the West Point light is also the largest lighthouse we visited and they had a lot of space. They even had hotel rooms in the lighthouse proper, although they were already booked when we made reservations so we had to settle for rooms in the attached custom built hotel portion. Go soon; the ocean is eroding the shore quite quickly, and it has already claimed the driveway to the lighthouse. We had to carry our bags down a path instead.
Beaches: 1 on the day, 6 on the trip (again, not counting ones we drove past but did not walk on)
Lighthouses: 2 on the day, 7 on the trip (again, not counting ones we drove past but did not visit)
Oysters: 21 in four batches, plus 3 quahogs.