Prince Edward Island - III

On the way to Charlottetown yesterday, we drove by the Confederation Bridge, which connects Prince Edward Island to New Brunswick. It is quite a marvel to see, but I was glad not to drive over it!


Charlottetown is a delightful place, small, picturesque. We walked through the streets, browsing in some of the shops, admiring the flowers. We went into St. Dunstan's Basilica, a large and beautiful Catholic church. Our friend and guide, a native of PEI, pointed out the Confederation Building and other historic sites.


There was a shellfish festival going on, and we considered going into the large tent set up near the harbor. We stopped by, but there was loud music playing, we weren't sure what foods were available for lunch, and there was an admission fee. By then it had begun to rain and the wind kicked up. We decided to have lunch instead at a little restaurant called Flex Mussels. After some more browsing we returned to Summerside.

A large group of us went out for dinner. The conference was formally over, but traditionally, this group enjoys a final evening together. We returned to the Shipwright where a few of us had eaten lunch on Friday.
There were kettles of mussels and raw oysters for appetizers, fresh oat bread and bottles of wine. The special was grilled salmon with herbs, a delicious vegetable medley and roasted potatoes. Larry had scallops. Others had halibut. There were jokes and laughter and reminiscing. It has become a tradition to finish off the evening with toasts and port. It was 11:00 before we left to return to Summerside.

This morning we checked out at 6:15 and returned to the airport at Charlottetown. We had kind of a crazy flight out of PEI. It's a small airport, so checking in and passing through security was no problem. In the gate area, we waited and waited, then the captain came into the waiting area and said that there wasn't enough fuel on the plane to get to Detroit, and more fuel couldn't be added until a mechanic got there at noon. (We were to leave at 8:30). The alternative was to make a stop in Bangor Maine for fuel. After a bit more waiting, he said that was the plan, but we had TOO MUCH fuel to land safely in Bangor, so we would be sitting at the end of the runway to burn off some excess fuel before take off. That took another 20 minutes so we were about an hour and twenty minutes late leaving, plus the extra time fueling in Bangor. We were thankful our schedule had included a three hour layover . . . with the time it took to get through immigration and customs and security, we had about ten minutes before we boarded! Did you ever hear of such a crazy thing? It's not like they've never done that flight before!! But the flights were smooth and uneventful, and we are grateful to be home.