Going to P.E.I. July 10

The odometer rolled over 10,000 km today. The original itinerary covered 7,600 km without any dilly dallying. We're still 1450 km away from completing this  route, without any sidetrips. At the very least, it means we sure drive around a lot. We are THE major proponents of global warming. 
As usual, we were on the road again just after 9 am. And as usual, it took us all day to get to our next location .
Our first stop was at the Springhill mine. We had intended to visit here at the beginning of the trip, but their opening was delayed because some of the shafts needed shoring up.
The shafts are among the deepest in North America. One of them went down about 10,000 ft. We only went about 250 ft. down. The young man giving us a tour was suitably morose because this was never a pleasant environment and he was able to convey the difficulties that the men lived through.
The disasters are well documented. At one point in a tunnel, he turned off the lights to help us to begin to imagine what it was like for miners who had been trapped for 8 days in the dark, when there had been a tunnel collapse, because batteries in the lamps only lasted 8-10 hours. They routinely carried over 50 lbs of equipment.
Finally, the mine was closed in 1969.
(some men chewed on chewing tobacco; others, maybe non smokers, would chew on tree sap, the pieces that look like amber, to keep their mouths from getting dry).
There were times, that even I, had to crouch.
.  (bottle caps were thrown down to walk     on for better traction)
More pics from mine:https://photos.app.goo.gl/KQ7GFWYN22vGAEni6
And because we were right there, had to visit the Anne Murray center.
This place had room after room of Anne Murray memorabilia: clothes, gold records, awards etc 
When having lunch later, across the street, I asked the waitress how often she'd  seen Anne, thinking that she was a frequent customer, but no... the waitress had only seen her once, a couple of years ago.
Finally, we got to the bridge which I had stupidly assumed was in Nova Scotia, because that's where the ferry is, but is it actually across the border in New Brunswick. It takes 10 minutes to cross.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4MksmGdDHpyYaaaC8
All of a sudden, Michael got the urge to stop at antique stores, and we hit 3 before we finally completed the trip to our BnB, in the middle of downtown.
We settled in and then went across the street for supper, where, maybe to reinforce that PEI's main crop is potatoes, I was given TWO baked potatoes as a side.
We walked a little after supper, and the light was beginning to dim:
But it just takes 10 minutes to walk to the waterfront.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/oZULaLcGXXv8nyUCA
.    (note the huge solar panel)
And tomorrow, hopefully we will explore more of the countryside. We are here for 5 nights.

Popular posts from this blog

Short News Day, but Long Drive June 8

Image
Didn't meet anybody today, that we're haven't seen before. We didn't even see any moose. So instead, revisiting one of yesterday's moose (video previously unseen). https://photos.app.goo.gl/ DzXcyVVjjo345u9w6 .  Thank you for the indulgence. Not our quickest start in the morning but we finally pushed off at 9:30. Headed back south via the west coast and was keeping a keen eye open for whale spouts, but instead, only saw one small lost iceberg (not usually found outside iceberg alley).  At some point, also saw a boat in the distance, sticking up behind some trees. Knew that it was neither a fishing point nor a cruise ship, and had to get a closer look. And of course, it was the ferry, leaving for Labrador.  We had stopped at the ferry dock, during our north bound trip, but the ferry wasn't  there at the time. This time we caught it just as it was closing up and leaving. https://photos.app.goo.gl/ xUSKR4UgCJD48km8A Later on, we took a side ...
Read more

Tokyo april12

Image
Left on time . We arrived at the airport with loads of time to spare. I like when there's no pressure to get through security. No long line ups . Security was suspicious of my ankles (are they becoming too thick?) And made me giggle as they tickled them and then made me hop and skip (at my age!) to check my heels . Plane started to roll at 1:20. The safety talk was incorporated into Canadian travel videos (very cute). Oh, shit we fly over Russia! TMI? First bathroom run at 3Pm. Happy to report bathroom was still clean. In fact, the bathrooms never came close to reaching the disgusting levels we had encountered on other flights. How come I became less sleepy after a bottle of wine than before drinking? Wolfed down lunch. Either it was good or I was THAT ravenous. I picked the beef dish because it was supposed to come with potatoes, but I got rice. No matter....I was so hungry that later on, when they delivered a tuna fish roll for a snack, I ate that too (...
Read more

May 19 LAST of 7 in a row Sea Days

Image
And this is where we finished sailing to by bedtime (right past Mecca).  Watch one of my favorite waiters: https://photos.app.goo.gl/XqvKzQJHwGx8Lmeu7 (he's Philippino). Ok, I'm a little short on material. But I did get snagged by the magician to go on stage last night. I HATED it. Very hot under the lights. But at least, I didn't embarrass myself . Or at least, I don't think that I did . Much. Over night, we crossed into Egyptian waters. Pre-dinner entertainment tonight, was made up of a few intrepid passengers who had practiced their Bollywood dance moves over the last week. I took videos , but it'll take forever to upload, so cannot include in today's blog, but we enjoyed it. Tomorrow morning, dock at Safaga and take a LONG ride to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. Have a wake up call .for 5am. And yes, it will be hot. And actually, this is possibly the worst way to see any of the ancient world in Egypt. We won...
Read more