Traveling further East

After our stint in PEI we headed back South and further East to Nova Scotia.  Our first journey was to Peggy's Cove.  It is the most visited Fisherman's village in all of Canada.  The village in of itself is cute and quaint, but the stunning part of Peggy's cove is the rock formations all around the lighthouse.

Lobster cages

 This was Christina's heaven because all week she's wanted to climb rocks.  You can see my mom and sister in the distance.  I just enjoyed sitting on a rock and watching everyone around me.  It was relaxing.

After Peggy's Cove we headed to Halifax.  I really liked this city.  We visited the Citadel.

Most of the Citadel is geared toward reenacting the War of 1812.  The most fascinating thing to me was listening to the Canadian army propaganda.   I've grown up listening to American propaganda, so it was fun hearing a different country's view point.  Technically speaking, we were on opposite sides of the war back then.  I will say - they definitely had better uniforms than us.

 The view outside of the citadel is a little more modern now, but still beautiful.



Mom's signing up for the British army. :)









They had a school room in the Citadel for the soldiers.  It was one of the benefits of enlisting - an education-  literacy in one of the most unexpected places.

We also visited the LDS Temple in Halifax.  I love finding the temple wherever we're visiting.  While there a guy working on the temple grounds told us about some good local eats - Donairs.  They're a popular sandwich from Halifax.  Here's a recipe for them.  It was one of my favorite things that I ate the entire trip.  Yum.  I think I'm going to have to try to make them.

Exploring the Island

In case you're wondering where Prince Edward Island is located, here's a map to help you visualize it:

>>>

You drive up through Maine and over through the width of New Brunswick to the Confederation Bridge (the longest bridge I've ever been on by far) across to the Island.  It's an hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time.  One thing I hadn't expected was everything in French and English.  Even a lot of the TV and Radio channels were in French.  I always think of Quebec as the predominantly French province, but all of the Maritime Provinces are noticeably bilingual.

We spent an evening in Charlottetown - the capital of Prince Edward Island.  It's the largest city on the Island and it only has under 35,000 residents.  It's a charming, little "city."

St. Dustin's Basilica in Charlottetown:














We ate right on the docks.  The sea food was yummy.  I had crab cakes with a particularly tasty aioli sauce.  My sister had her first lobster.    

 We went to Cow's creamery - supposedly it's the best Canadian Ice Cream.  It reminds me a lot of Ben & Jerry's.  Stina was most put out by the small serving sizes. 

This sign was outside their bathroom and it may be one of my favorite things I saw all day. :)


We went to 3 of the 4 sides of the Island exploring the beaches.  They were very beautiful.  The first place we traveled to was the Southern side of the island by Charlottetown.  They are famous for their red sand beaches, and the water was actually pretty warm (even if the weather was wet and cold).


You can see Charlottetown in the distance in the photo below.  Even the water looked red because of the red sand.   This was probably my favorite beach, because it's so unique.

 There are little lighthouses all over the island.

Things that were also common all over the island were the famous  "Red Dirt Roads," red farm fields, and Lupins.  I think they are such beautiful flowers.  They were all over in Nova Scotia, too.

 On the East Coast of the Island is Basin Head Beach.  It's famous for its singing sands.  The wind was whipping too hard that day, so it sounded more like a squeak than a song.  

The famous white sand dunes:  They were beautiful against the red cliffs.  The water was freezing though.

We traveled along the North Coast and ate lunch in North Rustico.  It was an adorable fisherman's town.  This particular lighthouse reminds me of the one in Anne of Green Gables.  There were a ton of jellyfish in the bay.

 We spent the afternoon reading on the North beaches of Cavendish.  These are the beaches that L.M. Montgomery describes in her books, and yes, they're gorgeous.  The sand dunes are breathtaking. 

 There were red rocks all along the beach.  I brought a few home for the kids.  Behind Christina is "The Lake of Shining Waters."

  PEI is such a beautiful, idyllic place.  I can totally see the allure of this island.  In some ways it's still the same as when L.M. Montgomery lived here a hundred years ago.  Life moves slowly, and the scenery is incomparable. 

2nd Quarter Finishes

I finished up the binding for this badboy in the car on our way to Maine.  I slipped this finish in right before the end of the month.  I am particularly happy with this one, because I love the fun quilting on it.  This is Skill Builder Quilt #2  (all the blocks are from the Skill Builder Sampler Quilt Along)

Here's the back- I've been waiting for something fun to use this fabric.  It's some of my favorite purple fabric.  The quilt is a little wrinkly from being in my suitcase all week, but it's nothing a good wash can't take care of.

 A close up of some of the quilting on the back:

That means that I completed 3 of my 4 quilts that I set as my goal for the 2nd quarter of the 2012 Finish-A-Long.  Original goals here.  Sadly, I didn't even touch my Christmas blocks, but I remembered that I started and finished 3 other quilts during this time frame, so I'm not feeling too shabby right now.  Now to think about the next quarter goal...I really should work on that Christmas quilt because everybody knows the Holidays will be here before you know it.  Besides, aren't there always things about Christmas in July?