Julie & Keenan
Now Married For One Year!


Yes, it is hard to believe! It's been 365 days since that wonderful afternoon and evening at the Kingstone estate in Cumberland. We did not choose any one day to celebrate the occasion, but instead spent a fantastic week together, travelling to and from Prince Edward Island, and spending five days on the surf in our kayaks and eating great food in amazing restaurants. We recorded a diary of the adventure, which we will begin on Friday, August 23.

Friday

We had a nice lunch with mom and dad Wellar at the Siam Bistro on Wellington, which we recently discovered thanks to Sean and Chantale. After lunch we all went back to their house so we could pick up some fresh vegetables from their garden. We got a bunch of tomatoes and cucumbers, and some peaches as well (those came from the grocery store).

Our original intent was to leave for PEI early Saturday morning, be we were ahead of schedule, so we decided to leave Friday evening at about 6:30 pm. We made good time, excepting the usual slowdowns in Montreal. Driving the stretch between Montreal and Quebec in the dark was a good choice, since there isn't much to see. We had a list of towns and motels to consider for stopover, and planned to call it a night around 11:30, so we ended up at St-Jean-Port-Joli. The town is long on name, but short on motels, as the one we wanted was fully booked so we ended up at the dive just off the 20.

We were greeted by a pleasant young woman in spandex jeans and a sweater with tassels that only partially covered her lower torso, a style Keenan found reminiscent of the coat check girls that worked at Roxanne's, a live rock venue in Hull that he frequented in the 80s. Despite appearances, the motel was actually pretty quiet, the room did not smell like an ashtray, and we got some quality sleep.

Saturday

The next morning we awoke to find a note on the windshield from a kind and observant soul who wanted us to know that there was a nail in the front passenger tire. It didn't appear to be losing air, so we figured we would pick up a new set of tires at the next major town, as they were set to be replaced at the next scheduled oil change anyway.

There were Canadian Tire stores in Riviere-du-Loup as well as Edmundston, but in both locations they were on another planet. They either didn't have any tires, or didn't have anyone to put the tires on, or some other strange situation unbefitting a tire store. The tire still wasn't leaking, but we shot some leak-stopper in there anyway, and kept on driving.

The drive along the St. John River through New Brunswick was beautiful. We stopped for gas and an ice cream near Fredericton, which was the only junk food we ate along the way. Julie had made a batch of delicious cheese and tomato sandwiches on egg bread, and when those were gone, we enjoyed tomato and cucumber slices, as well as some juicy peaches.

Before we knew it, we were crossing the Confederation Bridge onto the island. The rather grandiose name of the bridge betrays its actual appearance, which is very plain. But it sure gets the job done, as it is little more than ten minutes to get across.

For those curious to know the length of the drive, it took us five hours from Ottawa to St-Jean-Port-Joli, and seven hours (not counting the Canadian Tire stops) for a total Ottawa to PEI travel time of twelve hours.

We found the Osprey Outlook Bed & Breakfast with relative ease, passing through the town of New Glasgow, which was a busy little place, loaded with popular restaurants. We arrived at the B&B to find Bryon working in the yard. He greeted us with enthusiasm and we chatted on the lawn overlooking the small inlet from Rustico Bay that borders the property. The room was on the second floor, with its own stairs, terrace, and private entrance with french doors and screen. Inside was a large bedroom, a dressing area, and a bathroom complete with shower and jacuzzi tub.

We grabbed a quick shower and head out for dinner, ending up at The Mill. We each had an incredible bowl of chowder, followed by a seafood platter that we shared. It included mussels, shrimp, bruschetta, and grilled vegetables. We got a big kick out of the young server who always said "It's on the way!" after every order.

Sunday

Breakfast was served to us on the terrace at 9:00, and featured sliced peaches fresh from Shirley's father's farm. We ate everything provided (which was quite a lot) and decided we would go kayaking despite greyish skies and a light rain. This was a good choice, because the weather cleared up!

We drove the yaks through weedy trail down to the water's edge and headed east out into Rustico Bay. There was a decent headwind and some small waves. We decided to cross the bay, heading towards some large red sand dunes in the distance. It took us about an hour, and before we reached the sandy shoreline, Julie spotted a red fox hunting along the shoreline. He took off before we could get a picture, but we decided to stop and do some beachcombing. We had a nice stretch and collected some small rocks and shells.

We were a bit disoriented with our position, but decided to head northwest to try to find the opening to the ocean. We got it right, and were rewarded with a roaring surf along the sandy point directly across from the harbor. The waters were shallow, making for a relatively safe environment for our first experience with surf kayaking. We had been on the ocean in York Harbor in Maine, but the waves were nothing compared to these.

Simply put, it was a thrill ride. The first time we paddled parallel to the beach, we both got washed onto the shore. We got out for another stretch, and bailed out our cockpits (the nylon sprayskirts we own are not really a match for the ocean). We went for another run, moving a bit further northeast, where the waves were even higher. We each had a couple of flirtations with capsizing.

Right after turning around with the intent of heading back to the room, we were crashing through the waves when Keenan suddenly started making excited gestures out into the ocean. There, among the waves, was a single harbor seal, bobbing in the surf with a curious look on his whiskered face. We both got a good look at him, and suddenly he was gone.

We had now been out for almost four hours, and the sun was now out and it was getting warm. The wind kept us cool, but we hadn't brought sunblock or hats, so we headed back, as it had been almost four hours and we were still a bit stiff from the long drive.

When we got back it looked like no one else was around, but that's when we met another of the house residents, a certain Calvin the cat, a gorgeous grey and black tabby. After a brief meet and greet on the lawn, he charged right up the stairs and into our room!

We piled into the jacuzzi with a bottle of Australian red shiraz and Calvin took a nap on the step right in front of us. We relaxed for a while and went into New Glasgow, where we decided to try the Café on the Clyde, which is attached to the PEI Preserve Company outlet. It's a lovely restaurant with shining hardwood floors, a vaulted ceiling, and huge windows overlooking the serenity of the Clyde River. A guitarist playing live at a tasteful volume rounded out the scene.

Our waitress Susan turned out to be originally from Ottawa. She asked about our day and we told her about the seal. She said that a seal on Rustico Bay was very rare, a fact that was also confirmed by Shirley, so we had a pretty neat first day on the water.

We dined on a tangy soup of the day, followed by their famous main course of potato pie, which is encased in bacon and covered in maple sauce. Yes, it is as good as it sounds. This was accompanied by a large salad in raspberry or orange vinaigrette. We finished off with their equally famous raspberry pie for dessert.

Next we headed into Charlottetown and bought tickets for the Monday night performance of the Anne of Green Gables musical. It had been quite a day!

Monday

We were up in time for breakfast at 9:00 as we had requested. Today the meal featured homemade cranberry muffins, which were rather delicious.

We considered kayaking again, but the winds were incredibly strong and we were going to have a late night with our plan to see the Anne of Green Gables musical in Charlottetown after dining at the Inn at the Bay Fortune in Souris, on the northeast end of the island.

We drove in to Charlottetown for some shopping. They actually manufacture Paderno cookware there, so we went to the factory outlet to add a few pieces to the set we already own. We also decided to get a new set of tires for the van, which took a while, but gave us a chance to relax and read the local paper. We poked around downtown Charlottetown, bought the obligatory Cows ice cream cone, and checked out the waterfront and something called the Founders Hall. It is a really innovative one hour multimedia tour that tells the story of Confederation. It was very well done, and it's a pity there is nothing like it in Ottawa. We signed the guest book and headed off to Souris for an early dinner.

The restaurant at the Inn was heralded in our CAA guide as one of the best in Canada, but we had a split decision on that. Julie rated it as "good" while Keenan was emphatically appalled with the size of the portions, which he described on the comment card as "suitable only for small rodents."

The setting and service were quite elegant, without question, and the food was obviously of good quality. But neither of us would rate it a top restaurant in Canada, as we both enjoyed equally elegant settings with better (and bigger!) servings in other local establishments.

After dinner we fired back to Charlottetown for the show. It was sold out every other night of the week, but we managed to get tickets for tonight in the third row. The performance was just excellent. Many of the actors were notable figures on the Canadian scene, many of them having appeared in mainstream films and television.

We found our way back to the room just before midnight, and finished off the shiraz while watching Godfather II on CBC (there were only two channels available and the other one was running infomercials) before calling it a night.

Tuesday

Today was to be our big kayaking day. Breakfast came sharply at 9:00, but we took our time enjoying the morning sun and the strong breeze on the patio.

The plan was to head out of the bay and along the north shore towards Cavendish. We set off about 10:30. Where our little inlet joins the main area of Rustico Bay, there was the usual brigade of blue herons staring at us from the shore, and a couple of osprey flew by. One of the neighbours had told us to be on the lookout for two adult and one infant bald eagles, we did in fact see the two adults soaring overhead. A nice start to the day.

When we hit the bay, the wind was really blowing hard out of the northwest. As we crossed the harbor, there were some pretty big waves, but at this point, the main concern was the headwind, which was slowing our progress. As we started down the coastline along the beautiful eroding red cliffs, we could see some serious swells would be waiting for us at the next point.

We got slammed pretty hard with some whitecaps right in our faces, but made it past the first point. The wind was still in our faces, requiring some pretty hard paddling. When we spotted a small beach area prior to the next point (which turned out to be a stop known as Cape Turner on the PEI National Park scenic highway) we decided to beach there and check out the area on foot.

We removed our gear and laid it out to dry as we headed up a path between the cliffs. We were quite close to the road, so we hiked west until we came to the entrance to the Cape Turner rest area. Keenan chatted up a family visiting from Brampton who were picnicking in the area, and snapped some photos. We also found a park map that gave us our exact location, which was about half-way to East Cavendish beach from out starting point. We decided to make the beach our goal for the day, not forgetting that we would still have to paddle all the way back.

We had a couple of rocky points to clear along the way, and the waves at each of them were pretty massive. The point just before our destination had a wicked surf, and Julie capsized just short of the beach area, but was able to walk in without incident. Keenan played around in the surf for a few minutes, and managed to resurrect himself twice after tipping, but the third time a huge wave sloshed him right in the face as he was attempting to right his kayak, and he found himself in the shallow waters of the ocean.

It was a very interesting area, and there was a man with a horse, harvesting the mosses that grow along the shoaling. The small group of tourists on the beach were equally delighted with the presence of the horse, and our own appearance with the kayaks. Many of them eagerly adjusted their shots in an effort to include us in the background of their photos. They also seemed to enjoy the spectacle of watching us capsize in the surf.

Julie bailed out the kayaks while Keenan climbed up to the road to check out the area. He ran into the same family from Brampton, and they chatted a bit about kayaking. We had hoped that there might be a canteen at the beach to buy some food, but we learned that we would have to go quite a distance to the north beach before there would be any signs of civilization. We had already been out about four hours, so it was time to head back.

The wind and waves were stronger than ever, and we were both a bit worried about just making it out of the immediate area and around the point were Julie had capsized. Paddling into the wind had been tough, but having it behind and a bit to the side was much more difficult.

We made it past the first point OK, but at the next one we both got slammed by huge waves and an odd current (what is known as a "riptide") that caused out kayaks to surge towards shore and then spin quickly back out towards the ocean, and all of that while riding a giant wave! It was amazing that neither of us capsized.

The rest of the trip back was not particularly relaxing, although we shared a certain sense of accomplishment with the achievement of paddling one of the more dramatic areas of the north shore. Once we got across the harbor and into the shallow waters around the bay we were able to relax, because the waters were sandy and shallow, even if the waves were still quite something. Just before the entrance to the bay, a huge wave picked Keenan up from behind and he surged forward for what seemed like about ten seconds. There was also a bit of a riptide effect here (so much water is crashing on shore that it pushed back out towards the ocean, making it hard to paddle towards shore) so we had to work hard just to get into Rustico Bay.

We mostly rode the wind slowly towards our inlet, which was at this time completely overtaken by about sixteen blue herons, who were out for an afternoon fish. We did our best to pass by without disturbing them. After reaching the landing area, we wasted little time ripping of our gear and getting into the jacuzzi. It felt great. We sipped a little wine and ate the last of the Wellar tomatoes, which we ate like apples. They were ripe and delicious, and our appetites were in an uproar, which was perfect, given our plan to eat at the New Glasgow Lobster Suppers (featuring all you can eat chowder, mussels, and salad).

There was a short lineup and a wait of about fifteen minutes to get a table. We each order 1.5 pound lobsters, and went to town on the chowder and mussels, bread, salad, and non-alcoholic beverages, which were all included, as well as dessert.

The lobster was delicious, as well as pre-cracked, making consumption rather efficient. We were somewhat re-energized by the massive dosage of protein, so we drove in to Charlottetown and picked up a few gift items in the shops. We tried staying up to watch some TV and catch up on this journal, but our eyelids grew heavier than the high tide surf, and we were both asleep by midnight.

Wednesday

As with yesterday, Shirley and Bryon were elsewhere in the morning, so breakfast was served by their neighbour (the same one who told us about the eagles). We also got a nice visit from Calvin the cat, who spent about an hour with us as we got ready for our day.

There were severe winds (from the deck we could actually see the whitecaps on the ocean on the other side of the peninsula protecting the bay) so we decided on a drive out to North Cape, one of the more remote areas of the province. We had been leafing through numerous photography books, and became intrigued by the rock formations in that area, particularly one known as Elephant Rock.

On the way there we cruised south through Summerside, but found it a bit too commercial and spent little time there, so resumed our journey northward. Like the rest of our experiences along the north shore, the North Cape featured the raw elements as the main attraction, with little manmade fanfare to get in the way. It was a fascinating area, which included a wind energy research centre and many giant modern windmills, as well as an incredible surf that featured colliding waves meeting in a line extending northward from the point.

There were seals frolicking in the surf all around the cape, which also featured many interesting rock formations. The helpful staff member in the small information booth was able to direct us to Elephant Rock. She gave us interesting instructions ("you will come to a private road with lots of warning signs, that's where you need to go") and warned us that the road was suffering from serious erosion along the cliffs! However, it was not that bad, and led us to a beautiful remote area with lots of seals playing in the waves. The rock formation we came to see had changed rather dramatically since it became known as Elephant Rock. The cliffs erode at a rate of one metre or more per year, with the result that the "trunk" portion was now gone! But the raw beauty of the area was quite incredible, so we stayed for a while and took some pictures.

From there we went to Cavendish beach and set up two chairs near the water to enjoy the late day sun and watch a trio of surfers try their luck. The surf was so strong that beach had been closed to swimmers due to the threat of riptides. We weren't sure why surfing was allowed while swimming was not, but after not too long they emerged from the waters alive and well.

We drove from Cavendish to New Glasgow for another great meal at the Café on the Clyde. We got an amazing table next to one of the huge windows overlooking the river. We watched the herons fishing for their own late supper, as we dined on potato puree soup, Julie had the potato pie (again!), Keenan enjoyed the baked seafood plate, and we both finished up with (what else!) the raspberry pie.

We stopped in at the local store from some cheese and crackers to go with our last bottle of wine. Arriving back at the room we were once again greeted by Calvin, who came in for a visit. We were both feeling a bit sad that we would be leaving tomorrow. PEI is not the "small" place that we had expected it to be. Sure, it is only about 250km if you measure it end to end through the middle, but it is not like it is shaped like a ruler! There are some 800km of beaches alone, not to mention hundreds of paved roads going everywhere all through the interior. If you have never been to PEI, you can discard the notion that you can "see it all" in a few days. One could easily spend a month to hit just the well-known points of interest.

From our own limited experience, the Cavendish area offers the finest of natural scenery and quality casual fine dining, as well as lots of Green Gables activities. Charlottetown is rich with cultural opportunities, including a surprisingly rich theatre district.

Thursday

We were not anxious to leave, so we didn't! It was a gorgeous day and the wind was light, so we decided to go kayaking all morning, leave in the afternoon, and spend the night in a motel about halfway back to Ottawa, with the plan being to arrive back home on Friday afternoon in time to eat and get ready for the Renegades game.

We had the usual 9:00 breakfast, and chatted with Shirley who shared the exciting news that she had been hired for a teaching position in a nearby school. Naturally, we ended up chatting about the grand mess that is public education in Ottawa. Compared to the sordid story of our own education system, Shirley's job in a rural PEI school sounds like true paradise.

We had everything packed in the van by about 10:00 and we headed out into the bay in search of surf to play with. Although the wind was down, the waves were still pretty exciting just off the point near the harbor. Keenan was into taking the waves from the side, and tipped over twice but threw himself back upright by pushing off the bottom with his paddle, once when his head was under the water.

Julie was still a bit sore from Tuesday's wild adventure, so she went out a bit deeper and rode the waves in like a surfer. We both had fun taking the waves head on as well. It's a real blast watching the wave rolling toward you and sometimes crashing right over your head.

We headed back around noon, to find the house deserted. We grabbed a quick shower, made reservations at a motel in St Honore, and said goodbye to the Osprey Outlook. Suitably, one of our last memories will be of the giant osprey that was presiding over the beach where we rode the surf.

We stopped in at the Café on the Clyde for a strawberry-rhubarb ice cream and a chicken sandwich to go, and headed for the bridge. The drive was largely uneventful until about 7:30 pm when we were less than 50km from the motel. Along with the big truck we were preparing to pass, we were suddenly routed off the highway by detour signs warning of "congestion" ahead. We rolled through the town and then came to a dead stop behind a long line of cars and trucks. After sitting patiently for about 15 minutes, Keenan cut the ignition and walked up the road to see what was happening. There were emergency vehicles everywhere, and hundreds of people walking around on the highway, so we had feared a horrible accident had taken place.

Even though he went right down to the highway to see for himself, Keenan could not figure out what was going on, and was a bit shy to ask the Frenchspeaking locals, who were assembled in little cliques engaged in intense discussions. What he saw was a huge transport truck in a position perpendicular to the highway. It didn't look like an accident, but something strange was going on.

Julie fared better, getting the scoop from a local woman passing by the van. To make a long story short, we found ourselves in the middle of a protest action! The townspeople were angry that they had lost a bit to host the construction of a new slaughterhouse operation (400 jobs) and they had blocked off the highway in protest.

We listened to the story on French radio, and Keenan chatted with some English truck drivers who had quite a few details of the situation. The whole town took on a bit of a carnival atmosphere. It all broke up within an hour or so and we were checked into our motel by 9:00, and finished a hearty dinner at a chain restaurant called "Mike's" in nearby Cabano by about 10:30.

Friday

We were up and underway by 9:00 the next morning and had a nice drive all the way along. The usual madness of downtown Montreal was pretty tame, and were made it home for about 2:30. We hauled in some of the gear, got the kayaks off the van, grabbed a shower, barbecued up some hamburgers, and waited for David to meet us at our place and then we were off to the Renegades game. Another disappointing loss, but as usual it was lots of fun.

It was quite an amazing week! The highlights were kayaking in the surf, the amazing local scenery and wildlife, the fabulous meals, and of course the joy of experiencing it all together.

It has also been quite a year writing our weekly journals, so we are going to keep it up! Drop by our 2002-2003 journal if you want to keep up.