Day 61 - Thursday, July 31 - Green Gables Coastal Drive

Today we set out to drive the Green Gables Coast.  It is overcast today but still warm.  

Just before Kensington are some very big grain elevators and a plant called Cavendish Agri Services.  Grain seems to be as important to PEI as potatoes.  Kensington is a fairly large town and it looks like the old railway station has been turned into a pub.  I notice that in this town, as in many other small towns or villages, that there are two churches side by side.  One always seems to be Roman Catholic and the other one is either Baptist, Protestant or United.  It seems the churches were in competition with each other for congregations.  These are not new churches they were usually built in the 1800's.    

This is the church in the historic town of Malpeque - the Princetown United Church.  A beautiful building - they were advertising a singer coming soon.  Just north of Malpeque is the Cabot Beach Provincial Park.  This is the largest of all the provincial parks in PEI.  There is a day use area here, as well as playground equipment, and life guards on the beach.  We stopped there and took a walk along the red sand beach.  There were almost a dozen kayaks in a group not far from shore.  

The red sand cliffs are amazing.  As we were coming back from the beach Dan found a trail that we took - it took us on top of the cliffs.  

Looking down you can see the different levels of sand cliffs that run along the gulf.

Gidget and I are near the edge with the Gulf of St. Lawrence behind us.

As we drive along smells of flowers are very evident - nice area.  These two homes display the pride that these people have in their province.  This is what I meant when I said it looks like everyone cuts their lawns on the same days.  Most homes have huge lawns.

Dan wanted to take this red dirt side road as he read that the rum runners used to use this very steep road to move their contraband.  This was supposed to be very steep so he thought he might get to the top of a very steep hill and scare me - but it wasn't really steep so I wasn't scared.  This was also supposed to have a "magnetic hill" but we never saw a sign for that. Hmmm a bit of a disappointment.  

On our way to the Green Gables Museum we pass many farms - they do have some nice crops and the smell of fresh cut hay is a very pleasant aroma.  

Green Gables Museum, Park Corner near Cavendish - here Lucy Montgomery spent some of her childhood with her aunt and uncle.   It was the inspiration for many of her stories.  

The parlour where Lucy married. 

The estate is now owned by Liv, a 9th generation Campbell. 

Above is the French River where both the sea and the farm come together and can be seen at a glance.  Beautiful view that is a popular among artists.  

Below is the historic fishing village of North Rustico Harbour.  We didn't find out why it was so historic, other than everything was very old. 

They had some very nice windmills, but very expensive.

Next stop - the Great Canadian Soap company.  They have a herd of about 40 goats but only about 20 are being milked.  They make a lot of soaps and 99% are fragrant.  Wow too many fragrances clashing with each other as you enter the shop.  I tried a sample of one of the soaps - nice lather, but couldn't figure out a scent that I wanted.  I also tried the goat cheese on a cracker, but the smells overwhelmed me and we left.  

As we left the shop we carried on down the road and came across this sign - very small settlement, but of course I had to take a picture as it was of Scottish interest! 

So by now Dan is starving and we are almost to New Glasgow - yes another New Glasgow!!  We read about the Lobster Suppers here and they had a very high rating.  The church lobster or community suppers are a thing of the past apparently.  They still have one at St. Ann's church here but the reviews are not great.  It started out as a fundraiser with volunteers working, but now it still donates some funds to charity but it is more of a commercial run operation.  The one in New Gladgow is huge with the same sort of feel as a community supper - plain and simple, but seats 500.  There were probably 250 people there, we could hardly find a parking spot.  Two huge parking lots full and along the road as well.  But the food. Was delicious and lots of it.  We went there hungry and good thing too.  You start out with a bucket of blue mussels cooked in sea water - delicious!  The you get a small bowl of seafood chowder and warm homemade buns and butter.  You can have as much of that as you want.  We went small - only one round of the appetizers. Then you are served a lobster along with a plate of potato salad, coleslaw and tossed salad.  Wow- was that lobster ever tender!!  Then they come along with dessert and coffee or tea.  So I had apple pie, Dan had blueberry of course. Then the waitress wanted to know if we would like more dessert, it is unlimited like the appetizers!  No thanks we are stuffed.  Good thing we went there hungry and it was only $31 per person.  Now that we are full we are heading back to camp.  What a day!  Awesome!