Day 4: Moncton, NB - Summerside, PE

Destination: Summerside, PE
KM Driven: 362.8
Location: The Loyalist Country Inn

I had another late starting day. I tried to get up early, but after I woke up to the alarm clock I just went back to bed for another hour. Only later would I really wish I had that extra hour. Last night I looked into everything that I wanted to do so I wouldn't have to waste time when I got up. I read some reviews for Magnetic Hill and most of them were negative, but for a short trip out of Moncton, and for the fact that it might be a long while until I'm back here I decided to ignore the reviews and I went. It's a $5 entrance fee, but that's nominal for the frigging amazing thing that happens. I don't understand how anyone could ever write negatively about it. You drive down a hill, and then you go into neutral and roll up backwards. YOU ROLL UP THE HILL. I've read it's an optical illusion and "Any idiot can tell why it's happening", but I guess that just means I'm sort of special breed of idiot because I loved it, and I would recommend it to anyone. In the picture I'm at the top of the hill, and in neutral that pick up would roll towards me. Awesome, right?

Then it was back on the road for maybe the most anticipated stop on this entire trip, Hopewell Rocks. I checked the tide schedule and was planning my day to be able to see both the low tides and the high tides. I got there just at about noon when they were at their lowest. Half the time it's low tide at noon and the other half it's high tide. I guess it's depends on which side of bay the moon is on. After just about 45 minutes I pulled into the park, and got my ticket. The lady asked everyone where they were from and how they heard of the park. The couple in front of me was from Hong Kong and they said it's world renowned. When it was my turn I didn't know what to say. When does a Canadian learn about the Bay of Fundy? So I said it's a great Canadian landsite. That's right, landsite. That sounds more like me calling their national treasure a dump. Anyways. I trekked down to the shore and started to take some pictures. Maybe 10 minutes into my stay the skies closed and started to dump rain. I thought maybe I could wait it out, since other rainfalls I've experienced out here have come in intervals. But alas, no such luck. I didn't finally stop raining until about 4pm so I'm glad I left. I was so ready to sit and enjoy the bay and read while watching the tides. *Sniff* Moving on.

I had to pass back through Moncton to get where I was going. I've become much better at taking detailed notes from google maps, and navigating the hwys better. Though I'm still not a really great navigator. I second guess myself a lot, and it's just no good. I still don't understand how all the roadways connect. But I think it's fair to say that traffic circles are alive and well in Acadia. Just a short trip down the road is a small town called Shediac. What drew me to the city was a promise of a giant metal lobster, and they did not disappoint. At first I just sat in my car to wait out the rain. I dropped into Shoppers to pick up some tylenol. And then I stopped into a restro bar for lunch. I figured it was about time to bring on the Eastern cuisine. There weren't really any unusual dishes so I just had the seafood linguine. It was ok, I guess. Soda was $2 a glass and she charged me for my second drink. Where on the face of the planet are refills not free. I hesitated to ask when I ordered but I let it go. After I paid my bill another guy asked if I wanted a top up, so I think that woman just screwed me over. I wasn't in the mood to fight $2. Then it was back on the road for my final stretch of NB.

It was a pretty smooth ride back to the TransCanada, and just as smooth coming up to the bridge. I read just recently that it's a toll bridge. I suppose that makes sense since they have to make the money back from the build and for ongoing maintenance, but $42 bucks, REALLY?? You only pay to leave, so I still have a chance to choose to take the ferry. It's even more expensive than that but I will already be on the East side of the island so it might make sense. The bridge would still be cheaper. I must say the thing I found the most disappointing about the bridge were the concrete barriers that blocked any semblance of a view one might get of the upcoming shoreline. It must be great to drive a truck across, or even a minivan. I let out another little squeal as we went over the raised portion and the island became visible. The first thing I saw were the hardsloped red clay/sand shorelines and I fell in love. As I was driving I wrote down a list of things I loved about the island:

1) The red beaches
2) As soon as we were off the bridge it opened up into two lanes and NO ONE went into the passing lane.
3) 102.1 Spud FM
4) A gigantic fabric store, with a note about weekly quilting gatherings.
5) St. Raphaël - who in Canada has a city with an umlaut? That's right, PEI (though
I can't find reference online, it's on the sign itself)

That's all I have, but that's not too bad for a start. I arrived into Summerside and decided to do my standard drive through to get a feel for the city. It's small and cute, just as you'd expect. But then I saw these roadsigns that had a picture of a lighthouse and some red sands so I started to follow them. They took me out of the city and along some road. I had no idea where I was but I didn't really care. I knew it would probably only take me just over an hour to drive to the edge of the island, worst case scenario. I didn't understand where the signs leading because they would just drop off, and then appear again. There would be arrows pointing ahead as if we were approaching something, but that something never came. Finally I pulled off the road towards the water and came across a small red beach. It was so beautiful. I just wanted to sit and stay and soak it all in. I would have stayed longer but my camera ran out of battery. And with a dead phone and a dead camera I thought it was time to find a place to sleep. I pulled into the Quality Inn just at the edge of town but they were sold out. Summerside full up on a Wednesday after labour day, interesting. They referred me to where I am now, which was genius because I'm sure this room is cheaper and way nicer. I wish I was staying longer and could waste a day just chilling in this room. King sized bed, couch, tv, nice washroom, waterside view, and all for $99.99. I'm pretty sure the lady knocked off at least $30 bucks. I asked the price point at the Quality and she said $129. And at one point the woman here even said $129 was the cheapest, but when I said "I just need the smallest and cheapest room you have.", she was like "$99 is as low as we can go." And I'm thinking - lady I'm not trying to bargain but you have yourself a deal. She also took about 10 minutes of her time to show me on a map of PEI everything I might be interested in doing. I have a looot to do, and I only have tomorrow and the following morning to explore. I do have a moral dilemma. I can stay 2 more days and forgo ending the trip up north but I would potentially miss my great Aunt's 90th birthday. The schedule I mapped out takes me back into Ontario on Thursday so I think it's still possible for me to stretch it out 2 more days and drive into Newmarket just on time. We shall see.

There are things about this trip that I haven't written, that maybe I should try to write more completely. Like on the drive up the Eastern side of Quebec I saw this really cute city that sat right on the St. Lawrence. It reminded me of like a colonial city, with very few buildings and an old single room white church. I spent the rest of that drive trying to find something similar but I couldn't. And the roadsigns, geez. In NB I saw 3 separate instances of "Deaf Child Area". I get it, they can't hear cars coming. But the signs make it sound like they heard up the hearing impaired and make them all live in one neighbourhood. Or the fact that Summerside has a Piping College...as in bagpipers.

I guess that's it for today. I'm going to tour the West and North coast tomorrow, and time permitting the East coast. If I run out of time I'll try to hit the East coast on Friday. And I need to definitely boot it out of here before Sunday because they are shutting the bridge down for the Terry Fox run.

And scene.