June 8 - It's been awhile. We've had very spotty wifi the last few days, so it's been hit and miss with messages, blogs, and general updates on the world. Good thing, as sometimes we don't want to get updates on the world. Maybe you don't want updates on our little world. If so, hit 'escape'. If you're okay with a little dull narrative, stay with us.

We did some tourin' in PEI, and have to say, as we did many times, "It's a pretty province." Most of you have been here at least once, so suffice it to say, we enjoyed tootling around, looking at seashores and redscapes. We spent time touring over to the west, stopping in at Summerside, to try to find where our tax dollars go, to no avail. We went down to the waterfront, expecting to find lots of action, and everything was closed up. Summer season doesn't start here until the middle of June, at the earliest. But it's a nice town, bigger than we thought.

We found a very nice restaurant in North Rustico, the Blue Mussel, which we would stronly recommend. Had a fine dinner there...lobster mac and cheese for me, if you can believe it. Good comfort food. Cavendish was a nice place to stay for a couple of days, although the weather was spotty. Gail and I went for a walk down the road from our r.v. park, and stumbled across the place where Lucy Maude Montgomery grew up. It's got a little museum, which was closed but we enjoyed walking the property, as the places like Lovers Lane and the Haunted Woods rang many bells for Gail, who read Anne of Green Gables 13 times when she was a girl.

After two nights in Cavendish, we moved on to a site near the Wood Islands ferry terminal. It was a lucky find, thanks to the Forsyths research, as it had a very fine nine hole golf course, right on the Strait. Lo and behold, the weather changed. We actually played 18 holes, Dave and I, and Gail and Evie played 9. Yesterday was an even finer day, so the Forsyths played 18, and I played 9 so that Gail and I could do a bike ride in the afternoon. The golf course is unusual, by the way, as it has 4 par 5s and 3 par 3s. But a lovely lay-out, wooded in part, and blessed with fine views of the Strait.

The bike trip: the toughest 25 kilometers I've done for ever. Gail had found out how to get to the Centennial Bike trail, which is a Rails to Trail track. But to get there, we had to go down country roads, which went up and down like a roller coaster, for several k's. The hills were brutal. But we made it, and did about 9 kms. on the actual trail, which was quite flat, a welcome relief. Not paved, but hard-packed, hopefully to the same quality as is being contemplated for our own Millenium Trail in the County.

On the trail, we met two very nice guys, probably in their late 50s, who were doing a cross Canada trip. They'd started in St. John's, and were targeting Vancouver, as a Canada 150 project. Full gear for camping strapped to their bikes, but confident, and having a great time. We wished them well, doing a dream trip I used to conjure up in my mind in weak moments.

Once we got off the trail to return to the r.v. park, guess what? We were back on another country road that insisted on going down a hill, and then up, followed by another and another and another. By the time we got back to the Trans Canada, we were done. Fortunately, there was a neat little general store that had a wonderful big beer cooler, so carting a couple of tall boys home in a plastic bag gave us enough motivation to do the last couple of k's. Slept well last night.

Today, we caught the ferry from Wood Islands to the Pictou area, and drove on to New Glasgow. Forsyths have friends there, so had arranged for us to do a shopping at the local (dare I confess) Walmart, following which Peter, the friend, picked us up and delivered us to a neat pub, where his wife Bonnie was waiting to enjoy lunch with us. A pleasant time of catch-up for long-time friends.

I forgot to mention that we also did Charlottetown on the way to Wood Islands. Toured the Confederation Centre of the Arts, where we saw a neat film about the meetings that resulted in the formation of Canada, and toured the Art Gallery upstairs. The old Government House, where the meeting of the 25 Fathers of Confederation took place, is now being renovated, a 5 to 10 year project, so the exhibit is 'temporarily' housed in the Arts complex. We had a great lunch down the street, one of the best mussel meals ever for me.

The drive from New Glasgow to where we are now was very pretty, especially once we were motoring along the Bras D'or. We're in the Arm of Gold r.v. park, where Gail and I stayed three years ago. And having remembered a neat little pub not far away, we four trundled down to enjoy some fine local fiddlin' music, as Thursdays are Open House for local musicians. We were the only foreigners, and were well treated...loved the music.

That's enough. More later. Stay tuned, as next time won't be so wordy.