North Rustico Prince Edward Island and a day of fishing

The sun was shining so we woke up early and left our boondocking spot.

It was really just the corner of a parking lot for the New London Community Centre. No one answered the door when we tried to ask permission to stay and no one came by during the night. The community centre also offers Free Wifi so we got a bit of internet time while parked there too.

Now it was time to head to the beach. The weather here has been funny. Hot one minute and foggy the next so we wanted to head to the beach while it was sunny :)

We hit the road

And ended up at the PEI National Park. The water was freezing but the sun and the sand was lots of fun and the girls managed to still get wet.

We had to pay $15 to enter the Park. We really love our American the Beautiful National Parks Pass in the States and asked about a similar pass for Canadian parks and found out there is a Discovery Pass for Canadian National Parks and heritage sites. It was $136 for a family but we could use our entrance fee from today still towards it's purchase. We figured we would stop at more Parks and Historic sites in Canada if we had a pass which we otherwise might not go to if we have to pay $15 or more to enter them. Not sure if we will visit enough parks in Canada to recoup the fee or not but I think we will have more fun enjoying the ones we do go to now that we have the pass so we are not caught up on the entrance fee each time.

While we were at this beach a local man stopped and talked to Ian and he suggested we head into town and find a boondocking spot. He said you could basically just stop and park anywhere and no one would say anything. So we packed up and drove through the little town of North Rustico. We ended up parking at the wharf. Ian asked about going fishing in the morning while the girls played at the playground.

Beside the playground was an outdoor gym and washrooms.

 There was also a basketball court in need of a bit of hoop repair!No ladder...just get a picnic table and hope for the best. With luck you won't fall!

There was a camper parked beside us who was leaving. He said they stayed there the night before with no problems at all so we decided to stay.

 We even got lucky and had electric access right beside us.

The electrical pole had seen better days but free power at the beautiful wharf setting was very nice.

We went for a walk on the wharf and got some lobster for supper which we cooked and enjoyed right beside us with the wharf and fishing boats behind us.

 We have created a monster with Aayla. She LOVES Lobster!


Aayla saying cheese for her picture
 with her very own baby lobster



Beside us was a nest.

 And one of the parents flew in with a snack for their little ones.

After spending the night at the wharf with no troubles at all Sierra and Ian went out for their fishing trip.



Somehow Sierra wasn't sad to see the fish
 killed as she was with the lobster thank goodnes.





Cleaning of the catch



Ian found out while on the boat that the Duke and Dutches (Prince William and Kate) were arriving in PEI tomorrow so we drove into Charlottetown to Walmart for the night and will try to get a glimpse of them :)

Happy Birthday Canada

We crossed the Confederation Bridge into Prince Edward Island this morning.



Aayla enjoying her sisters DS on the drive

 We made a quick stop at the Visitors Centre to ask about overnight parking. Sure enough the lady said we can stay at Visitor centers in PEI. So we headed into Charlottetown for the Canada day celebrations. We drove to the waterfront info centre but the parking was blocked off for the celebrations so we had to park down the road for $7 for the day (and yes we were told we could stay there for the night).

 We thought all the celebrations were right here but as it turns out all the kids activities were about a 15-20 minute walk away at Victoria Park but we headed over to join in Canada's Birthday Celebrations!

Sierra running to say hi and thrilled that they ALL talked to her

What??? No fast passes??? I have to wait?

Aayla waiting wit a new friend in line

Yes that wait was for a bouncy castle

But Aayla was afraid of the flaps to climb through
 at the top and was very sad she
couldn't just play at the bottom.

Dancing the line a way for the next bouncy castle

This time she made it :)

 We walked around to the back of the park and found a great little playground and water park.

 Then we headed back to have a wagon ride and see the petting zoo.

I love the iris's against the brick

We decided since our parking spot was right beside the stage we might as well leave as it would probably be a loud, late night. When we left we noticed someone backed into us :(

Crappy!!!

So we went in search of a place to stay for the night. You are apparently allowed to stay at Walmart in Charlottetown but we decided to head towards Cavindish so we would be closer to the beach in the morning.

We stopped at a Passport America place because we need to dump. We found the WORST camp host ever at Harrington RV Campground. Most of the PEI Campgrounds in the Passport America book state discounts are not valid in July and August but this one didn't mention any black out times or restrictions other then having to possible pay $5 per extra guest over and above 2 so we knew we might have to pay extra for the kids. It would still be the cheapest choice.

 We went up the long driveway, passed some falling down buildings to a big open field. I went in to talk to the man at the reception area to register. This is how our conversation went:

Him: "Do you want sewer or just electric and water"?
Me: "sewer please".
Him: "How many night"?
Me: "Just one and  we are Passport America members".
Him: "You can't stay for only one night".
Me: "pardon me, that's not in the Passport America book".
Him: "I don't care, you aren't coming here from Charlottetown with a full tank, staying here, paying only $15 and empting your tanks."

 I couldn't believe it.
Me: "it's none of your business where I came from, where I am going and how long I stay there".
Him: "You an pay full price or leave".

I told him that I was going to call Passport America and tell them what type of business he ran.
Him: "Fine you can stay here in the electric and water but you aren't having sewer".
Me: "I wouldn't stay here for free now"! and left.

I was soooOOOooo mad. He was so rude and he cared so little about it he just smiled and waved goodbye as we drove away.

I am going to start a link of BAD places to go and this one is tops. People need to be warned of all the scam artists out there and not waste there time going. I know passport America saves us money when we find a good place and I am thankful for that but boy I could do without all the scam artists and rude people out there!

We drove on to the Stanhope Campground at the National Park but the available sites were all too small. We tried to dump as we are full but there was a blockage so it wouldn't drain...just our luck today!

Sound asleep after a busy day

We drove on to the Vistors centre near Cavindish Beach to be told we couldn't stay there :(


A fox ran across the road and I just barely
got the camera up in time


We continued driving and found a Community Centre in New London with a large open parking lot. No one answered the door when we tried to ask if we could stay even though there was a car in the driveway and lights were on but it was 8:50pm...surely we will be OK to stay? It will be dark shortly so we are going to risk it and cross our fingers. The community centre has free wifi and we are on with decent service tonight! Since we will have no internet in Canada we will be relying on friends and family in NS and Ont and until then...wifi where we can get it so posts might be a little scrace for a bit but I will catch up as soon as I can. Until then...happy travels everyone :)





An unexpected day at St John New Brunswick

We stayed at the Ellsworth Walmart for part of the day finishing up the solar. (Ian will do a post soon about it) and drove up to the border and crossed in Calais, Maine. I must say this was perhaps the nicest and easiest crossing ever. The Border guard was very friendly, asked us the basic questions and sent us on our way but before letting us go asked if we needed directions to our destination!!!  We said we were fine and continued on towards St John. It was getting late and we found an old weigh station along Hwy 1 in New Brunswick and pulled over for the night. It was a bit off of the highway and was pretty quiet. Traffic went by but it wasn't bad. No trucks pulled in to run their rigs all night to disturb us so that was nice.



This paved area is the old weigh station, the highway is way off to the right.

  We woke and headed straight to St John to take Aayla to the walk in clinic to have the tick head removed and get antibiotics. This was quite the experience!

I will never complain about our healthcare system in BC ever again. I am not sure how anything gets done in New Brunswick. We stopped at the first Medical center we saw and were told they couldn't help us, but we could go into town to this other clinic. So we left and drove into town to the walk in clinic...

However you can not go to a walk in clinic here without an appointment??? In BC we walk in, no appointment, wait sometimes an hour or more, but you see a doctor. Here, you have to call a number, get an appointment and then go to the walk in clinic??? Does that make sense to you? Apparently walk in clinics here are for people who don't have family doctors, you just need to see a doctor. This clinic said our only choice since we were passing through was to go to the emergency room at the hospital...the emergency room for a tick...

So we went to St Joseph's Hospital

and waited ....no can you guess how long???

We waited seven yes that was 7 HOURS to see the doctor. We had decided not to go to a clinic in the States; we have travel insurance but thought it would be easier to go in Canada then to call and find out which clinic our insurance would accept, pay, get reimbursed etc...if we knew it was going to take us a trip to the emergency room and a 7 hour wait we would have just gone in the States! Never will I talk bad about out BC system again. The emergency room took 7 hours because we were in line with colds, flus, people needing perscription refills etc etc... not an emergency to be seen anywhere! to top it off...the tick head was gone! Her body rejected it and pushed it out...but we did get antibiotics so not a total waste of 7 hours!

We finally were able to leave the hospital and after stopping at Costco and Home Depot we decided to just call it a night and stay at the St John Walmart (our parking space closer to Future shop but we were parked at Walmart)

See the two rigs directly behind us? 2 nights ago they were at Ellsworth with us...
small world :)

We were going to continue on to Moncton but I saw a Value Village which might not excite most of you but I am not a big shopper. No closet full of purses and shoes and clothes and jewelry for me. In fact I generally hate shopping now and rarely buy anything but I am a treasure hunter and had to go get my treasure hunting fix. I haven't seen a Value Village in over 2 months. The girls got a couple little new toys, and a couple dresses, I got a sweater (starting to miss that Florida heat now) and we managed to walk around in there for almost 2 hours while Ian walked around Future Shop and he managed not to buy anything! An easy way to pass time for us all! Tomorrow we head to PEI.

Our internet stick is only for US coverage so my posts may be a little sporatic now as we wait for wifi spots to make posts but we turned on the iphone again while in Canada so we can access email and make necesssary phone calls without our internet and magic jack. Tonight we lucked out with the wifi...coming up in the Canada day post :)