Prince Edward Island: Brackley Beach - "Watching a movie from your car? What'll they think of next?!"

Having gone as far south this morning as the ocean would let us, and having finally found and settled into our B&B, we decide to head north to see what the water there looks like (and it did look, you know, more northern).

PEI’s horseshoe shape means you can drive from one coast to another in less than an hour at almost any given point. (Not from side to side, obviously. That would take a whole 3 ½ hours.)

Forty-five minutes of pastoral joyriding later, we come upon the gentle community of Brackley Beach. Located in the center of the northern coastline, it boasts a goat's milk soap factory, a beautiful art shop/fine restaurant, at least one cool mailbox (pictured), and the island’s only drive-in movie theater.

The latter is the reason we’ve come tonight, and we are the third car in line when the gate opens. We pass the time writing in our journals and Leighann’s pen ‘splodes all over her fingers. She and Charlie Brown should have been pen pals.

We donate blood to the local mosquito population playing mini-golf while we wait for the movies (it's a double feature!) to start. A broken-down, 40-foot tube slide watches us sadly from the nearby woods, covered in weeds and haunted by the ghosts of long-ago childhoods. The mangled remains of a large swimming pool are further evidence that this was once a multi-faceted summer attraction; now the movie screen and the mini-golf course are all that are left hanging on. (And we use that term loosely about the mini-golf. The course looks like it hasn't felt the reviving touch of a caretaker since Lucy Maude Montgomery played there, if she was, as is safe to assume, a putt-putt enthusiast.)

Running and swatting, we return to the car and tune our radio to the Drive-In station, which plays oldies hits leading up to the films and provides audio during (there are also speakers next to each parking space, but this way the bloodsuckers can't get in). The double feature tonight is Pixar's "Up" (which we've seen before but enjoy as much or more a second time) and the Ryan Reynolds/Sandra Bullock romcom "The Proposal" (decent genre flick, with appropriately rural setting for most of it). Sometime during Up the sky starts to drizzle rain. Watching a movie through light rain seems extremely odd, as does starting our car and driving away during the credits.

Prince Edward Island: Firedance Inn - "A little country drive..."

If you read more than one of our posts you may sense that we have a thing for food. We are not ashamed of our love affair, for it is pure and healthy. Except for with the chocolate. And I guess the fried food too. Oh yes, and beer for Jacob. Actually, there is nothing pure or healthy about it but we are not ashamed.

Picking good restaurants is a very important part of planning any vacation, and can actually be one of the most fun. So when we started looking for Bed & Breakfast options for our trip to Canada, it became a natural extension of our restaurant hunting. Warning: if you are tempted to pick a B&B because its website has mouthwatering pictures and descriptions, stop! Take yourself aside, sit yourself down, and have the following conversation:

You: So you think you've found The One. What do you know about this place?

Yourself: Irish Cream Oven Puffed Pancakes!

You: That may be, but where is it located?

Yourself: Um...Irish Cream Oven Puffed Pancakes?

You: No.

If you let your stomach lead you, it is possible that you will find yourself driving thirty minutes out of the way, coming and going, for two days, in the name of an entree you do not even get served. I'm not saying we regret staying at Firedance Inn. I mean, look at the place.

What we couldn't have known at the time was that the bridge leading to this rural cottage from the north had been closed for repair until August, so there was a fairly sizable fishhook detour forcing us to drive south and then come back up country roads to reach it.

The food was ironically the least memorable of our trip. Not that it was bad, just not detour-worthy.

Some saving grace: our lodgings were extremely comfortable and the view from our room was amazing!

Prince Edward Island: Charlottetown - "I won't believe we're on an island until I see water!"

The alarm goes off too early by default; we had forgotten PEI is on Atlantic time, which is one hour later than Eastern, so getting up at 9:30 felt suspiciously like 7:30. After checking out of Rodd's we head south into Charlottetown to begin a full day on the island.

First things first, breakfast, and more importantly for Jacob, coffee. If you have never heard of a restaurant chain called "Chez Cora," (and if you are not from Canada, you may not have - it only recently began sneaking across the border into some New England states) check out their website. This instantly becomes one of our favorite places to start a day. It is a hopping spot, with a line stretched out the front door. We are amused by a super polite "wait to be seated" sign which reads "Please allow us the pleasure of accompanying you to your table."

The food is fantastic. Jacob orders a "Western Cheddar Crepomelette" which is a crepe wrapped around an omelette with ham, cheese and peppers, topped with hollandaise sauce and served with a fresh fruit cup. Leighann has a "7 of July" - a piece of french toast on a crepe covered by a small mountain of fruit. There is also toast with jellies and peanut butter on the side. In case you are still hungry and need a sandwich?

Fueled to a point near exhaustion, we begin our pedestrian trek through the island's capitol. Leighann wants to verify the "I" in "PEI," so we walk to the harbor to see where the land ends. We get turned around trying to return to our car, and inadvertently purchase some Magic: The Gathering cards and a stack of used books on the way back. Such things seem to happen to us wherever we go.

Our Canadian Adventure: The long sky to PEI.

Hoorjay! We leave for Canada this morning at a refreshingly reasonable hour: 9:30am instead of the ungodly 5am that has been typical of our last few trips. Of course we knew this blessing in advance, which gave us the opportunity to negate it by not sleeping the night before. (Well, a few hours but they were not in a row.)

Another factor that takes the shine off our civilized departure time is the ridiculous length of our journey today. Originally, we carefully researched the cheapest flights that would also get us there the quickest, but an apparent downturn in ticket sales led to an ongoing consolidation of flights until we found ourselves shuffled to the latest possible departure from Detroit to Prince Edward Island, putting us in around midnight instead of our desired 8pm.

We start by puddle-jumping to Dallas, since the Little Rock Airport only actually serves three cities. We grab some grub at TGI Fridays. Very good potato skins and mozzarella sticks, but you should stay away from the boneless chicken wings in a burnt sour sauce. After a quick layover, we are off to Detroit where we will spend several unnecessary hours.

If you have to spend unnecessary hours in an airport, we suggest Detroit. It has the coolest tunnel connecting terminals we've ever seen. The walls are oyster-shell white and they glow with fluid, beautiful colors in time with catchy music. It would be tempting just to lie down in the middle of the tunnel and stare, but getting kicked in the face could detract from the magic.

We pass the time watching episodes of 30 Rock on Jacob's laptop. We barely hear our boarding call for Prince Edward Island over the screams of a half dozen children. Looking around the plane it seems to be mostly kids. Did they leave their adults at home? The screaming continues until we are in the air and then, as if in response to the sudden change in altitude, all the kids slump over unconscious. Works for us!

Finally, we arrive in Charlottetown, PEI. As is customary in 1980 and in Canada, we disembark directly onto the tarmac, sweet-smelling island air wafting over to greet us. A painless customs check and car-rental later, we are on our way into the mysterious darkness.

It takes us a bit of u-turning to find our motel, Rodd's Confederation Inn. When we finally do, Leighann is amused by the desk clerk's thick Canadian accent as he tells us "G'day!" and checks us in. He's a very friendly guy, sipping his coffee and answering our questions about money exchange. We drive several buildings over to find our room, and before turning in try to look up some local geography on the internet, only to be unable to find the advertised wireless connection. Jacob calls the desk clerk and asks, "Is there a trick to getting the wi-fi to work?" to which the man replies, "You can't get the wi-fi from that building. So, that's the trick."

Another episode of 30 Rock ("I want to go to there.") and we call it a day.