Well it finally happened! After a couple years of saying I was going to go out east and being delayed by lack of time/funds etc. I finally headed out for my road trip stopping in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Quebec. I had a blast, and I would like to thank everyone who was involved in any way! I kept a (somewhat incomplete) log of all our stops and visits etc. I will not bore you with all of the details, just some excerpts, below. I took about 9 rolls of film so there will be lots of pictures. I won't have time to scan all of them but hopefully enough to give a general idea of how things went. All times are Ontario time, I didn't reset my watch.
Thursday 7/18/02 7:57 PM - Leaving my parents house. Odometer reads 99991. 10:20 - Stop for gas at Esso pre-Kingston. ~11:55 - Dad 'loses' CD. A quick inspection reveals that rather than having put the CD into the deck, he has somehow managed to slide the CD into the gap between the deck and the dashboard... sigh. :) 1:15 - #40 to Montreal comes to a grinding halt (the first of many construction delays on this trip!) End up on the #20 after a small detour. 6:15AM - Rest stop near Riviere de Loups. 8:40 - Breakfast at McD's in Edmunston (NB). Interesting French guy sits beside us. Starts talking about Pt. Lepreau power plant. As I'm thinking "Maybe I won't mention I work for AECL until I see where this is going.." Dad of course volunteers "He works for Atomic Energy..." No big deal, as the guy didn't go postal or anything but giving out info to total strangers before establishing if they are disgruntled or not can be dangerous! hehe... 10:30 - The one and only bridge to cross a river is closed for some kind of construction. One huge line of traffic, and 15 to 20 minutes later we continue. 12:34 - Arrive at Grandma's House. Nap time! Tasty stir fry for dinner	Riviere de Loups Scott Chase #6
Saturday 7/20/02 5:30 PM - Off to the races in Geary. My uncle Scott Chase is running a stock car at the NBIS. Was pretty cool, got to walk around the pits and see people working on their cars. Scott's niece and nephew, Katie ("Sometimes my Mom says I'm ten going on 20..."), and Tyler were energetic all night but managed to fall asleep later amidst the roar of car engines. Impressive! ~12:30 - "The Rodeo" in Fredericton with Nancy. Westernish bar, played an interesting mix of music from country to celtic to dance. Had my first Alpine here. Not bad.
Sunday 7/21/02 9:14 AM - Leaving Grammie's House. 11:15 PM - Arrived at Pump House Brewery where I had lunch and a beer sampler. Read the reviews here. Lunch was tasty, picked up a t-shirt and a glass as well as a nice stack of coasters. They had a very cool hockey jersey there with their logo on it but I decided $65 was too rich for me. 2:45 - Have brief panic attack when I pass Sackville NB, thinking I have somehow ended up in Sackville NS. Yeah I'm a little slow... be quiet! 1:22 - Arrive @ Confederation Bridge. The drive over is pretty cool. Only takes about 10 to 15 minutes, and you get some pretty good views of the Island on the way over. Stopped in the 'Gateway Village' on the Island side for a quick look around. This wasn't all that entertaining. Some nice shops and what not in there if your looking for gifts and stuff but I didn't find much there for me. There is a liquor store in here if you want to stop and get some local beverages when arriving/departing the island. It was closed when I was there since it was a Sunday. 3:08 - Having registered at Marco Polo Land I arrive at my campsite and begin to set up my tent. For those of you who have not seen it, it is a '6 man' dome tent. It is also not the easiest thing to set up by yourself as I quickly discovered. I did get it set up after a bit of frustration. Relaxed a bit after that and looked over my maps and plans before heading out again for some sightseeing. Quick stop at the PEI Info center. Browsed the Boardwalk in Cavendish. 5:30 - Forest Hills Golf Course driving range. It was a rough day. Put the driver away after a few absolutely awful shots and decided to focus on the irons which went slightly better! :)	Confederation Bridge North Rustico
6:12 - Dow's Market. Great store on the main drag in Cavendish. Picked up some drinks (ADL chocolate milk which would later prove to be a staple food on this trip, and some Vanilla Coke in a glass bottle. Was disappointed to discover that PEI no longer uses the metal crown caps though all pop still comes in reusable glass bottles. Pop in Cans and plastic bottles is not available there.) 7:48 - Leaving North Rustico Beach on the Gulfshore. Ended up there after driving around aimlessly for a bit. I had forgotten how beautiful PEI really is. Stopped to take a picture and got hit up by some guy for change. Thought that was funny. Got back to my campsite and set up a campfire. After about three false starts the guy in the next site came over to offer me some kindling. I felt a little silly but it did the trick. Mental note for next time - bring kindling.
Monday 7/22/02 8:59 AM - Headed out for a day in Summerside. Visited my old elementary school, and drove by my old house at 88 Tupper Drive. I barely recognized it, as it had new siding put on it (most houses in the Maritimes are not brick). The walk from the fountain on Church Street to my old church seemed like a fairly good walk when I was a kid... Its roughly three or four blocks. A lot of stuff seems smaller than it did... mind I have probably grown 2 feet or more since I was last there! ~2:30 PM - Relaxed at Linkletter beach for a bit. It was extremely windy! 3:45 PM - Arrived at Pauptit's farm. Visited for a few hours and was invited for a very tasty meal. They have done major renovations to their house (and won an award for it) since I saw it last. It was impressive! 7:06 PM - Played some pool at Dooly's with David. My new strategy for victory - waiting for the other person to scratch on the eight ball. Had an Alpine or three. ~12:00 - Got back to my campsite to find my tent in a pile on the ground. Opted to sleep in my car rather than try and put it back up at that point. For those of you who have seen my car that should be impressive. I drive a very small Suzuki Swift. Folded the back seat down and opted for the fetal position as my preferred sleeping position. Was a lot more comfortable than I would have thought, but not something I care to repeat!
Tuesday 7/23/02 ~7:00 AM - Woke up and proceeded to reassemble my tent. Got some more rope and tent pegs from the store and anchored it down nice and sturdy. Breakfast was baby carrots and peanut butter sandwiches. All I had was a crappy plastic knife though so I think i got more peanut butter on my knuckles than on the bread! 9:00 - Mailed some post cards at Green Gables post office. 10:07 - Parked in Charlottetown. Walked around the shops and stuff for a while. Got some nice picture cards from Island Posters. They had some very nice posters/paintings of the island but they were not in my budget. I recommend checking them out if your there. 10:45 - Lunch at Gahan House, the Islands only brewpub. Had some excellent thin crust pizza, and a sampler tray. See the reviews here. 12:20 - Wandered the waterfront. It was really hot, I think about 36 degrees. It felt like Toronto weather! I was pretty tired because of that. Got an ice cream cone at Cow's on the wharf ("Cow Pie" flavour). 12:53 - Have officially given up on outdoors and seek air conditioned bliss at the Merchantman Pub where I enjoyed a Clancy's and a lobster roll. 2:10 - Visited with aunt Melody and Jim, went for dinner at Schawarma House (Spelling?). Excellent tzatziki and pita. Spent the evening playing 'Chickenfoot' (Dominoes game, rather fun as it turns out) with them, Dad, and Grammie.	Linkletter Beach Gahan House
Wednesday 7/24/02 6:47 - Friggin crows would not shut up! Aargh! :) 8:24 - Breakfast at Burger King in Charlottetown. Hit the spot, but not as good as the ones I make at home. 10:07 - Rossignol Winery. Enjoyed a couple samples and wandered around the estate. The wines I sampled were Sylvan Blanc (nice dry white wine. One of two white wines that I have tried that I would actually buy, the other was at Chateaux de Charmes in Niagara.), Blueberry (very nice, sweet without being cloying), Strawberry (nice but not as good as the blueberry) and a Blackberry Mead. (Very good, exceptionally sweet. Meant to be served in small portions as a dessert wine.) I bought bottles of the Sylvan Blanc, Blueberry and Blackberry Mead to bring home with me. 2:48 - After relaxing in the tent for a bit, I headed over to Cavendish beach. It's beautiful there, the dunes are contrasted with the red cliffs on one end. Wandered the beach taking pictures for a while. ~6:30 - Played the front nine at Green Gables. This was my first time on a real golf course and I was looking forward to playing this course. I joined three guys I met at the first tee Cory Larice (sp?), Tim Dunn, and Chris. As it turns out, Cory is married to a girl who went to our church when I lived in Summerside, Robin McLean. Small world... 8:35 - Wolfed down a sandwich and some more ADL chocolate milk in front of a somewhat more successful campfire. was pretty tired and slept like a rock.	Rossignol Cavendish Beach Random kid on Cavendish Beach
Thursday 7/25/02 7:00 AM - Woke up pretty early again and headed out. While crossing the bridge back to NB I saw a 'suicide' bird. It just kind of hopped off the road, up and over the barrier of the bridge. It was sort of funny to watch... (I was tired... Small things were amusing...) 10:50 - Arrived at Grammie's house. No one's there! 11:25 - Arrived at Grammie's house Part 2. Had a tasty BBQ and took it easy for the evening. Plans to check out some real estate with Scott had to be postponed for another trip.
Friday 7/26/02 ~7:15 AM - Hit the road again. Odometer 102693. 5:12 PM - Arrive at L'Air du Temps (bed and breakfast)in Chambly Quebec after a slight detour north. The map I got from the web was not quite detailed enough. 6:55 - Dinner at La Fourquet Fourchette. Fantastic! Atmosphere was almost like the old Labatt commercial with the trapper guy in the canoe, in and old Quebec pub. (If you know the commercial you know what I mean). The menu was excellent with many dishes being cooked with Unibroue beers, or using the same spices as the beers. They also offered a selection of native Canadian dishes. I did not try it, but was tempted by the pemmican. I had caribou pot pie, and my father had the fish stew. We both tried L'Ephemere on tap. (The very concept of Unibroue on tap nearly had me salivating! hehe :) ) It was very good, with a hint of fruit taste too it. Also had an Eau Benite in the bottle and another L'Ephemere. I picked up many bottles, some glassware and a t-shirt from the gift shop portion of the restaurant, and got directions to the local SAQ where I picked up two new Unibroue products. (Terrible and Fringante) which are apparently exclusives to the SAQ. Saturday 7/27/02 8:00 AM - Breakfast at L'Air Du Temps. Excellent! The best quiche I have ever had. I would recommend Lucie and her B&B to anyone planning to stay in Chambly! 9:17 - Stopped for a quick picture at Unibroue brewery. ~10:30 AM - Took a ... ahem... small detour through downtown Montreal after missing a turn off. 4:56 PM - Arrived back in Mississauga to my parents place.

These pages look best at 1024x768 resolution.