Aug 31st to Sept 2nd - PEI

Aug 31st - Sun - to Harrington (Charlottetown), PEI
Left at 8 under cloudy skies. New friends Doug & Ellie are staying in Nova Scotia for a couple days and then we plan to meet on PEI. Encountered heavy rain on an otherwise uneventful drive to the dock for the ferry to PEI. We had to wait an hour for the 1:00 ferry so we went to a gift shop, tourist info booth and got coffee - just in time for the announcement that people return to their cars in preparation for loading. And then we got to sit while almost everyone else loaded first. The car lanes were really skinny on this ferry but we (and a few other large vehicles) were given 2 lanes.
We had some lunch on the ferry and then Terry found a slot machine (!) while I read a book. Before we knew it, the 75 minute ride was over and Terry had won enough money to pay for lunch. We were front & center on the ferry so we got off first and were in the campground just after 4. It is a PA park and is pretty “basic” - only 3 other RVs and a group of 3 tents.
After setting up (in rain), looking at brochures & maps and chatting a bit with our neighbors, we headed for a grocery store. I had let everything run out and figured I would be doing the “up & down every aisle” shopping trip. We just got started when employees turned off lights in the meat display case and we realized that because it was Sunday the store was closing at 6. We hurriedly grabbed a few essentials, fueled up (diesel down to $1.38 per liter) and headed back. Put away groceries, made dinner and then went to visit our neighbors.

Sept 1st - Mon - Harrington
We had a huge wind & rain storm last night so we did not get much sleep. Still raining this morning so we decided to finish grocery shopping and then go to the casino rather than trying to go sightseeing in limited visibility. Almost all stores were closed because of Labor Day and the casino did not treat us too well - not a great day! We returned to the rig for a late lunch and then went driving. The waves were really crashing on the beach at PEI National Park. We started driving west and soon ran into rain that made it hard to see the road, never mind the scenery. So we turned around and found some clearing skies on the way back to the campground. What else could I do now but bake cookies!
A couple of motor homes were checking in when we came back. One driver asked Terry if the sites were soft (grass sites) where we are parked and Terry said he thought the sites at the very end (bottom of the hill & just a few sites from us) were the most solid. The driver decided to park at the top of the hill and buried his front wheels to the axle. A very large tow truck soon showed up and the 2 motor homes ended up parking on the side of the road where it was solid.
Our neighbors (Lloyd & Cathy) came over for coffee & cookies. Cathy brought Godiva chocolate liqueur and whipped cream so we ended up with 2 desserts - one to drink and one to eat.

Sept 2nd - Tues - PEI
Sunshine!!! Lloyd & Cathy joined us today for a sightseeing trip. We drove east to the lighthouse at East Point, stopping at a few places along the way including a walk to a beach on another section of PEI National Park. We had a light lunch at East Point. Shortly after, we left the scenic route and headed back across the island to Charlottetown to see some sand sculptures that we had seen advertised. First we got some ice cream cones at Cows, which is claimed to be the best ice cream on PEI. The ice cream was better than the sand sculptures. We were very disappointed. Even allowing for rain damage, which was inevitable, the sculptures were so basic - especially compared to the wonderful pieces of art that we saw at Parksville on Vancouver Island last year.
We stopped at a couple of grocery stores on the way back - a couple because the first one did not have an item that we especially wanted. It was still sunny when we got back about 4:30 so Terry got out the lawn chairs. It didn’t stay warm very long however, so we moved inside and Terry just went out to barbeque steaks.
Misc PEI notes:
A lot of homes have HUGE lawns. Acres would not be an exaggeration.
There are lots of mussels farms in bays. Mussels are grown on strings suspended from buoys.
Cemeteries often seem too large for nearby towns. Figure it is because the towns are so old.