The bridge that connects New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to Prince Edward Island is called the Confederation Bridge. It is 8 miles long and sits high above the water. It is a toll bridge, however, you only pay the toll when you leave the island. If you came by car and left the island by airplane or boat, you would not have to pay the bridge toll.
The toll for a 2 axle vehicle (car, pick-up truck, RV, etc.) is $45.50. Plus $7.50 is charged for each additional axle. Our toll for the RV plus towing our car ended up being $60.50. They let you know well ahead of time in case you don't want to pay all those $ to get off the island!
The view as you approach the bridge.
Yep! Put away those cell phones on this bridge. I wouldn't want to meet a distracted driver crossing this!
Another hump near the end of the bridge. It's taller than it looks.
Prince Edward Island Coastal Scenic Drives
PEI scenic drives are divided into three sections. The scenic drive for the central part of the island is called "Red Sands Shores" on the south end and "Green Gables Shore" on the north end, Points East Coastal Drive on the eastern side of the island, and the North Cape Coastal Drive on the western side. We spent three days driving all three of the scenic drives.
It was foggy the first morning we set out for the central drive, but we were able to take the picture below of the many, many potato farms.
The fields of bright yellow flowers turned out to be Canola fields. Canola oil is made at a processing facility by slightly heating and then crushing the seed and then refined into edible oil.
As we continued around the bottom coast of the central section , we began to see more large farm houses and farmland. We were truly amazed at the vast amount of farmland in the central and eastern parts of the island. PEI is famous for it's potatoes. Below are a few of the farms we saw along the way.
Most of the farms were potato farms, however, some were dairy farms and some were hay or wheat.
And large farm equipment to go with it....
As we drove around, we kept seeing these beautiful churches. We saw a lot more than I took pictures of, but here are a few of them taken during our visit on the island.
The details on some of the churches were extraordinary!
Some of the older churches had a cemeteries completely surrounding the church.
The houses were very decorative as well. Lots of gingerbread trim on houses in most neighborhoods throughout PEI.
We stopped at several lighthouses along the way. I have posted a few that we saw along the way.
This lighthouse is on the PEI side of the Confederation Bridge. You can barely make out the bridge in the picture due to the fog on this particular morning.
There are more than 50 of these structures dotting the ragged coastline. More than 38 still function as navigational aids, and nine are open to the public. We were only able to visit a few of the many lighthouses.
Charlottetown is both the largest city on and the provincial capital of PEI, and the capital seat of Queens County. On our way toward Charlottetown, we stopped at the historic, Port-la-Joye - Fort Amherst to view the harbor across the way.
Originally established by the French in 1720, Port-la-Joye - Fort Amherst commemorates the first permanent settlement on Ile Saint-Jean (today Prince Edward Island). The forts grassy ruins are still visible, and interpretive panels explore its rich history. The grounds also offer superb views of Charlottetown Harbour.
Charlottetown, PEI
Charlottetown Harbour in the distance. Cruise ship was in port that day.
We drove into downtown and the port. As with any tourist port town, there were many people and many cars. We had planned to eat lunch there, but with no place to park and too many people (the cruise ship had unloaded for the day) we decided to move on. We did end up in Charlottetown later in the week for dinner.
I think the best part of the scenic drives for me were the little fishing villages and working harbours. There were many!
The structures in the background are used by the fisherman/lobstermen to house their supplies. Many of them were full to the brim with lobster traps.
We were told that the lobster season begins and ends at different times depending on the area.
As we drove to the upper part of the central island, known as the "Green Gables Shore", we started seeing information about "Anne of Green Gables", which is a 1908 novel by Canadian author, Lucy Maud Montgomery. It was written for all ages, but has been considered a children's novel since the mid-twentieth century. It recounts the adventures of Anne Shirley, an 11 year old orphan girl who is mistakenly sent to Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, a middle-aged brother and sister who had intended to adopt a boy to help them on their farm in Prince Edward Island. The novel recounts how Anne makes her way with the Cuthberts, in school and within town.
Anne of Green Gables has sold more than 50 million copies and has been translated into 20 languages. It has been adapted as film, made-for-television movies, and animated and live-action television series. Plays and musicals have been created. The Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown has featured the wildly successful Anne of Green Gables musical for the past 50 years.
The Green Gables farmhouse, which is the setting for the book, is located in Cavendish, PEI. This has become a very popular area as those who love the books or the mini-series make their way to Green Gables Shore in pilgrimage-like fashion to visit the sites that pay tribute to their favorite red-haired heroine and her creator, Lucy Maud Montgomery. It is operated by the Parks system.
We had many miles yet to travel that day, so we only were able to drive by the entrance.
Further down the road we saw the house where the author was born.
My curiosity is peaked.....I will now have to read the book.
We really enjoyed the scenery and history on the Central Coastal Drive. We stopped all along the way to see the harbours and take pictures. Many of the boat pictures were taken for me to paint later.
Below is the French River Harbour. There was a marker posted at the site where we stopped to take pictures of this area that read..."Where Farm meets Tide". It is one of PEI's most picturesque fishing villages.
Points East Coastal Drive
We started out the next morning to drive the Points East Coastal Drive. There is a lot more coastline on this drive, therefore, there were a lot of harbours and lighthouses to see!
These white Hydrangea bushes were in full bloom everywhere, as well as a tree that looked just like the bush.
Shed full of lobstah pots!
Dinghy's with wheels....
Another little fishing village and harbor.....
This one had a narrow wooden bridge you had to cross.
More miscellaneous pictures.
We thought this guy was collecting his mail, however, as we passed him, we realized that it was not really a man, but instead it was a mailbox stand. It looked so real! We had to go back for this photo.
I just loved these small boats......!
The North Cape Coastal Scenic Drive
Our last excursion on the island was the North Cape Coastal Drive. I think I had mentioned earlier that PEI is famous for it's potatoes. We had heard about the Canadian Potato Museum that was along this drive so we had to stop and check it out. They have a "country kitchen" at the museum where they make potato fudge, chocolate covered potato chips, and my favorite......fresh hot French fries!
It just happened to be lunchtime when we arrived at the museum, so we ordered our huge plate of fries and enjoyed them immensely!
As we drove on through the farmland, we began to see a lot of wind turbines.
The natural phenomena of North Cape - its age old patterns of winds and tides are what actually caused the formation of PEI's famed north shore beaches over the millennia.
You see the presence of towering, churning turbines in this area and at the Wind Energy Institute.
There were parts of the wind turbines on display at the institute. I had Alan stand in front to give you an idea of just how big these machines are.
Below is the blade....the round end of the blade goes in the round hole in the piece in the top picture.
This was taken out in the country. There was actually a "farm" of these turbines, but we took a close-up of just this one.
The Wind Energy Interpretive Center was also a visitor information center as well as a gift shop.
As we were driving back toward the campground, we spotted the Confederation Bridge in the distance.
