Rapher's Log: Stardate 07/05/19
Well, here we are, three years later and I'm finally back with an official trip related Rapher's log! This one almost didn't happen, various things going on that made it seem like getting away was not an option. At almost the last minute, Sandra & I reaized that a short trip to PEI might be doable. "almost last minute" is about 2-3 weeks in advance. For me that's very last minute, I usually book vacation plans months in advance. After finding our regular hotel wasn't available, and one backup hotel was charging over $300/night (a Comfort Inn), I was a little worried. Finally settled on the Quality Inn that we'd stayed at many years ago. After securing a room, I decided to look into what might be going on that weekend (PEI has many different events & festivals). And thus, I figured out what was going on with the hotels - the Cavendish Beach Music Festival. A huge 3 day country music festival, brings in over 60,000 people. Carrie Underwood was headlining this year. Oh joy.
This PEI trip probably was better planned than most due to the festival. One of the main things we always like to do is play a round of mini-golf at the River of Adventure...which is probably less than a 2 kilometres from the festival site. Way too close for comfort. Didn't want to pass on going, though, so we rearranged our usual schedule to do the mini golf at the start.
Enough on planning, you're here for the fun stuff, aren't you? Well, aren't you?? ;-)
Left at the usual PEI time, 9:00am, stopped for McD's for breakfast, hit the road before 9:30. Stopped in at the Amherst Tourist Bureau before noon. Wasn't as crowded as we thought it might be, figuring a lot of people weren't headed to the music festival until Friday. Traffic through New Brunswick wasn't as bad as expected either, we were only slowed down due to a truck that was painting lines on the road. (well, not while we were there, they were just driving very slowly) Once past that truck, traffic moved fine. We got to Gateway Village around 12:45. Another surprise, thought the place would be packed but it really wasn't. Sadly, one of the biggest stores that we normally visit was closed - the Emporium. Did some shopping at Celtic Mist and the PEI liquor store (hey, we do have our priorities!) and got some lunch at Classic Burger. The food wasn't too bad but I swear their fries never cool down. I had fries with chicken fingers. The fries were still piping hot, even when I got to the end of the meal.
Left there, didn't get gas as I normally do, because it was too busy (this might not be a good decision...) and off we went to Cavendish, via alternate routes. Sandra tried to track our progress on a map, while I went from memory for my route (what, get my meticulously typed up directions out of my purse? That's crazy talk!). It actually went well, remembered all of the steps that I'd typed up. Just didn't factor in a bridge being missing. That caused a detour from Hwy 9, ended up on 13, but eventually got myself back to the #8 where I needed to be. Sandra's map reading skills are improving (which was a good thing) and we did eventually get to Cavendish where we readied ourselves for bad traffic and huge crowds...
...that weren't there. Traffic was no worse than any other time we've been to the area, the Boardwalk wan't nearly as busy as it usually get and there were only a few people playing mini golf at the River of Adventure. Got our clubs & balls and off we went. They spruced the place up a bit, done some repainting and rearranged some holes. I'm sure the potato patch, which we've both managed to get a hole in one at, was around the 6th hole, now it was #18, the very end. No holes in one again, and one of us seemed to be playing croquet as much as mini golf (trust me, it wasn't intentional...there's no way I can aim well enough to intentionally hit Sandra's ball *G*) In the end, I won the par 51 course with a score of 58. Sandra got 60.
When we left there, we decided to risk driving through Cavendish (and past the festival) rather than doubling back. It worked out fine, had a teeny slowdown while some vehicles went in/out of the festival site but nothing even close to what we both were expecting. Decided to to check out the Dunes Gallery in Brackley Beach. (last year, Sandra, Amelia & Lisa went to the Island for a few days and had gone there) A very cool place, the gallery/shops were interesting, but it was the gardens in the back that were really cool, lots of items that were for sale in the gallery, statues, benches, table/chairs, fountains... We took a break in the shade to avoid the overwhelming heat/humidity, which might not have been a great idea. We both provided much food for several mosquitos, I counted 11 bites when we got to the room.
After that, we went into Charlottetown and got checked into the hotel. The hotel is on the site where the gallows once stood (found this out the last time we stayed there, years ago). After settling in and relaxing a bit, we headed out for supper at Swiss Chalet. Their homemade lemonade is really good & refreshing. And they have parmesan french fries - they've finally managed to make their fries edible! It was a good meal. Popped into Indigo books then returned to the room for the usual evening relaxing. Oh, and coolers.
And I wanted to have a shower, not so much due to the heat as due to my hair which I'd coloured teal the day before. Wanted to wash some more of the colour out to try and stop my neck from turning blue.
Up tomorrow: Bottle, lighthouses and gardens. And instructions that need some serious tweaking...
This PEI trip probably was better planned than most due to the festival. One of the main things we always like to do is play a round of mini-golf at the River of Adventure...which is probably less than a 2 kilometres from the festival site. Way too close for comfort. Didn't want to pass on going, though, so we rearranged our usual schedule to do the mini golf at the start.
Enough on planning, you're here for the fun stuff, aren't you? Well, aren't you?? ;-)
Left at the usual PEI time, 9:00am, stopped for McD's for breakfast, hit the road before 9:30. Stopped in at the Amherst Tourist Bureau before noon. Wasn't as crowded as we thought it might be, figuring a lot of people weren't headed to the music festival until Friday. Traffic through New Brunswick wasn't as bad as expected either, we were only slowed down due to a truck that was painting lines on the road. (well, not while we were there, they were just driving very slowly) Once past that truck, traffic moved fine. We got to Gateway Village around 12:45. Another surprise, thought the place would be packed but it really wasn't. Sadly, one of the biggest stores that we normally visit was closed - the Emporium. Did some shopping at Celtic Mist and the PEI liquor store (hey, we do have our priorities!) and got some lunch at Classic Burger. The food wasn't too bad but I swear their fries never cool down. I had fries with chicken fingers. The fries were still piping hot, even when I got to the end of the meal.
Left there, didn't get gas as I normally do, because it was too busy (this might not be a good decision...) and off we went to Cavendish, via alternate routes. Sandra tried to track our progress on a map, while I went from memory for my route (what, get my meticulously typed up directions out of my purse? That's crazy talk!). It actually went well, remembered all of the steps that I'd typed up. Just didn't factor in a bridge being missing. That caused a detour from Hwy 9, ended up on 13, but eventually got myself back to the #8 where I needed to be. Sandra's map reading skills are improving (which was a good thing) and we did eventually get to Cavendish where we readied ourselves for bad traffic and huge crowds...
...that weren't there. Traffic was no worse than any other time we've been to the area, the Boardwalk wan't nearly as busy as it usually get and there were only a few people playing mini golf at the River of Adventure. Got our clubs & balls and off we went. They spruced the place up a bit, done some repainting and rearranged some holes. I'm sure the potato patch, which we've both managed to get a hole in one at, was around the 6th hole, now it was #18, the very end. No holes in one again, and one of us seemed to be playing croquet as much as mini golf (trust me, it wasn't intentional...there's no way I can aim well enough to intentionally hit Sandra's ball *G*) In the end, I won the par 51 course with a score of 58. Sandra got 60.
When we left there, we decided to risk driving through Cavendish (and past the festival) rather than doubling back. It worked out fine, had a teeny slowdown while some vehicles went in/out of the festival site but nothing even close to what we both were expecting. Decided to to check out the Dunes Gallery in Brackley Beach. (last year, Sandra, Amelia & Lisa went to the Island for a few days and had gone there) A very cool place, the gallery/shops were interesting, but it was the gardens in the back that were really cool, lots of items that were for sale in the gallery, statues, benches, table/chairs, fountains... We took a break in the shade to avoid the overwhelming heat/humidity, which might not have been a great idea. We both provided much food for several mosquitos, I counted 11 bites when we got to the room.
After that, we went into Charlottetown and got checked into the hotel. The hotel is on the site where the gallows once stood (found this out the last time we stayed there, years ago). After settling in and relaxing a bit, we headed out for supper at Swiss Chalet. Their homemade lemonade is really good & refreshing. And they have parmesan french fries - they've finally managed to make their fries edible! It was a good meal. Popped into Indigo books then returned to the room for the usual evening relaxing. Oh, and coolers.
And I wanted to have a shower, not so much due to the heat as due to my hair which I'd coloured teal the day before. Wanted to wash some more of the colour out to try and stop my neck from turning blue.
Up tomorrow: Bottle, lighthouses and gardens. And instructions that need some serious tweaking...