Not planning my trip day by day ahead of time doesn't mean that I'm not reading about my destination. I've been spending a bit of time perusing the Prince Edward Island Tourism web site. After all, I wouldn't want to miss something interesting in my short time there.
Prince Edward Island is surrounded by the Northumberland Strait, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and hey - the Atlantic Ocean is out there too. As you look at the island along the long side, it pretty much runs west to east. There is a slight tilt to the south east, but that doesn't change the overall west-east orientation.
It's the smallest province in Canada, both in terms of geography and population. But from a population density standpoint, PEI has the highest density of all of the provinces. When you scatter the larger population across the larger provinces, the density appears to get lost in the overall vastness.
I'm hoping for decent weather. Cool is OK but I have to admit that I do prefer dry over wet. I found this description of typical September weather on the PEI weather summary page: "Autumn is clear and bright. September afternoons can be quite warm, evenings cool. Temperatures range from 8 to 22 degrees C (46 to 71 degrees F)". That sounds pretty good to me.
What else do I expect to find there?
White sand beaches along the Atlantic Coast, red sandstone cliffs along the southern edge, red soil, potato crops, lighthouses, wind farms, 500 miles of coastline, roads for riding, friendly people, good places for wandering...
What do you mean, no bicycles allowed?
If the rules of the bridge were different, I'd probably leave my car in New Brunswick and bike across the 13-kilometer long Confederation Bridge. Unfortunately, bikes and pedestrians are not allowed on the bridge. The bridge authority provides a free shuttle to make up for the restriction, but given that I'm driving all the way from Massachusetts I think I'll drive the remaining 9 miles across the bridge. That way I'll be able to choose my starting point for the trip - which may or may not be the end of the bridge in Borden-Carleton. My one regret, even now before I leave home, is that I won't be able to stop on the bridge to take pictures. I'm hoping to be able to find some spots in either New Brunswick or PEI to capture some pictures of the bridge from afar.
There are some pretty amazing photos of the bridge in the Confederation Bridge Photo Gallery. As much as I'd love to see some fabulous pictures in my own camera, I suspect that these images were created with some pretty serious cameras. If you're as fascinated by structures like this bridge as I am, these photos are worth a look!
