SATURDAY 16 July addendum
The barn/workshop project is moving along (photo by B. A. Fay).
Bonus content, courtesy of our son. He took his daughters with him to check on our house and sent a photo of the progress on the barn/workshop project. Posts and headers are up for the two side walls.
SUNDAY 17 July
We had four main objectives for today: 1) Check out a better route to get back to the Confederation Bridge when we leave on Tuesday morning; 2) Visit the Canadian Potato Museum & PEI Potato Country Kitchen in O’Leary, Prince Edward Island and have lunch there; 3) Mail several post cards, and; 4) Get out our WeberQ grill for the first time on this trip and grill some hamburgers. As part of 4), Nancy made potato salad in the morning before we left, and Linda bought corn-on-the-cob at the store the other day.
O’Leary is on the far western end of Prince Edward Island, so we checked out our possible exit route first, which was slightly west and mostly south, and then back-tracked to the west. The eastern and western thirds of PEI are almost islands unto themselves, and we wanted at least get a sense of them.
Our best route back to the bridge will be Hwy 6 W to New London — Hwy 8 S to Ross Corner — Hwy 1A through Central Bedeque, Middleton, and Albany to Borden-Carleton and the entrance to the bridge. These are major roads on PEI and generally in good condition without sharp turns. There are a few round-abouts, and the turning radii tend to be small for long wheelbase vehicles, but they lack real curbs so you can drive over the edge.
We back-tracked up Hwy 1A to Route 2 near New Annan and headed west. The western third of PEI is much flatter than the central section. We have yet to visit the eastern third.
When we finally arrived at the Potato Museum, the parking lot was almost full. We planned our arrival for lunchtime and were looking forward to eating at the PEI Potato Country Kitchen as the menu focused on potato dishes, including fresh cut French fries. In anticipation of this, Linda and I skipped breakfast. To our great disappointment, the restaurant was closed on Sundays and Mondays “due to a staffing shortage.” We had also planned to tour the museum, so we paid the entrance fee and went in.
Linda and Nancy holding up the giant potato at the Canadian Potato Museum in O’Leary, PEI.
The museum was in two sections: 1) Informational exhibits with smaller artifacts, and 2) an adjoined building with larger farm and processing equipment. The exhibits were well enough done, but the lighting was dim in some areas, making it hard to read. The exhibits explained the history of potatoes as a food, their varieties, cultivation, harvesting, and processing, as well as the large number of diseases and pests that affect them and what the modern potato industry does to control them. The equipment building had limited information displayed about each item.
We then spent some time researching whether there was any place else to eat, in town or on the way back to camp, and concluded that there was not. Before leaving, Linda bought a bag of potato chips. They were made in New Brunswick, and we didn’t know if the potatoes even came from PEI. We all had a few as a snack to hold us until dinner, which we agreed we would prepare and eat earlier than usual.
We have a tree on the west side of our site at the KOA, which afforded better shade than Paul and Nancy had at their rig, so dinner this afternoon was at our place. The weather was very nice and the menu included grilled items, so that meant cooking and eating outside. And that in turn, meant we finally got to get the gas grill out of the truck and use it for the burgers and corn (finally justifying my insistence that we bring it along). Everything was very yummy; a perfect summer picnic meal. Paul and Nancy returned to their rig after dinner and we went down later for the campfire.
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