Beavertail and Ceilidh Make It Right

The blog stalled a couple of days, thanks to the erratic Wifi connection, but I think we're back again.

For those who took Donald's Canada Day Quiz, you may remember that a beavertail is a Canadian confectionary, something we got to try on Monday. Sunday was ok--we enjoyed a sabbath of rest in the tent, listening to live video messages on sermonaudio.com. Knowing that it would be raining all day Monday, we decided to check out all the Green Gables shopping at the tourist traps all around our campground at Cavendish.

At the Boardwalk, we finally laid eyes on some real Canadian beavertails.


First, you fry the flat-shaped dough to a golden brown.


Then you butter it, holding it in yonder unwashed hand. If it's cinnamon-flavoured, dunk it into the pan of cinnamon powder, and you're done. That's for about $4 each. But we wanted peanut butter, chocolate, and Reese flavour, which costs almost $6.


So we get that fancy treatment. More squirt-squirt of this potion and that on beavertail on unwashed hand.


And, ta-da! Hey, that's M&Ms, not Reese as advertised! But it was soon all devoured--before we had time to go back for a refund. O well, another Canadian experience, I guess!

That evening, last night, we headed for the Murray Centre--as usual, by GPS--for a ceilidh. A ceilidh, pronounced "Kay-lee," is a traditional Scottish musical event, and it was historically celebrated by the Scottish settlers in PEI and the rest of the Maritimes in the midst of the brutal conditions of their new homeland. We picked this one out of many because it costs less ($7 per adult, $3 per kid) and had a more authentic ring to it than those in more professional settings. What do you know, but when we arrived, "Murray Centre" was the multipurpose hall of a United Church.



The performers, including a guest step dancer, are all amateurs from PEI's Long River area and include a college professor and her husband, a doctor's assistant, and a business manager. They entertained a crowd of about 100 with foot-stomping tunes, about half of them Americans who were on an Elderhostel educational trip through the Maritimes.



When asked to pin their places of origin on a world map during Intermission, we saw representation from all over North America, parts of Northern Europe, South Africa, Japan, and Singapore. The refreshments, ice cream (sandwich or fudgesicle $1) or home-baked cookies ($.50), were good and affordable. So everyone in the family got something, and we didn't need to share the ice cream or anything!



Well, a very Canadian, if somewhat Scottish (or maybe Chinese!), experience.

What was he sinking/thinking? A lesson on the Θ vs the S sound

The title says:
"That sinking feeling: Tourist watches as 4x4 disappears after getting stuck in mud on beach"



Both are hissing sounds. To make the Θ/th sound, you need to stick your tongue between your upper and lower front teeth and blow. Look in the mirror to check that the tip of your tongue is visible. You don't need to stick out your tongue for the s sound, which is louder and sharper. Sometimes there's a big difference between the two sounds--e.g. sink vs think.



So, waddaya think/sink? Was this a sinking/thinking man's car? Was he thick/sick in his mind?



A mere difference of a few thousand dollars, a wiser person might have sought/thought?

It's one thing to walk like an Egyptian, but this takes the cake!

How about driving like an Egyptian? Picturesque speechless:



And while the GTA got ripped by a violent storm, we got tricked by the weather report--instead of starting at 8 a.m. as scheduled, the rain started at 2 a.m.

What a Blast ... the morning after

Right after signing off last night, the multimedia show started up. Lightning, thunder, and unremitting buckets of rain, all 19.8 mm of it, thrashed our little site hour after hour. Gone were the cutesy animal sounds, not a chirp, a peep, or a chipmunk chatter, nor noisy neighbours yakking past quiet hour. We had to yell in the tent to be heard. And then there were periods where you thought it's finally blown over. The sweet welcome hush, nothing except the distant hum of the shore, not unlike the 401 nights. And then the percussion would start back up again, light and slow, gradually picking up and crescendoing into a crazed concert on canvas.

And then it stopped again, this time with the faint glow of dawn, and I waited long enough to step out onto the soggy ground. The deed was done--puddles everywhere, minivan still unlocked (there was only enough time to switch off the camp light!), tents waterlogged--but our little bivouac had made it. The kids had done a good job of layering an extra tarp over the tents!

So here's thanking God for the rain and for surviving it. A doxology for the morning after:



And compare the video with yesterday's (below). What a difference 24 hours makes!

10 p.m. update
Bit of a bummer tonight--after nicely checking back into Marco Polo Land, drying out and waterproofing the tents, and doing research on places to go, we hightailed to the provincial capital and birthplace of the nation, Charlottetown. We always try to kill two birds with a stone, and this trip was to get a spare inner tube for a bike, load up on groceries, take a peek at PEI's raceway for stock cars, and take in the Festival of Lights: The PEI Sound and Light Show.

At $15 for adults (x 3), $7 for youth, and no charge for kids under 12, the speedway was no go. I was amazed on the way out to see a constant stream of cars arriving to watch the event. We raided our usual--Dollarama, Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire, Superstore, and McDonalds--and got what we wanted and more. Then we hit Charlottetown in the dark, found free parking, and booked over to Province House.


Only a handful of stragglers were there. Plus a sound crew packing up. We found out that the guy supposed to open Province House so that the crew could get a power supply didn't show up tonight. We'll just have to go again. At least it's on nightly; so maybe next week.

Yay, Another Soggy Day

Waking up to the raspy chatter of chipmunks, I took a walk around Twin Shores' beach and rec areas. Enjoy this clip of the calm before the downpour.



The plan was to drive to town--Summerside--for lunch and shopping. When we hopped into the minivan at 11:30, the thing wouldn't start. Thankfully, we could call the auto club toll free and get a truck out to the campsite! Although I was pretty sure it wasn't the battery--it couldn't be; it'd never failed us! plus the weird clicking didn't sound like a flat battery--the guy eventually hooked my vehicle to his big old tow truck and my engine cranked right up! He said to keep it running for 25 minutes; so, of course, we gratefully took the opportunity to hit Summerside!

In succession, we raided Wal-Mart, Dollarama, and Canadian Tire, before grabbing some Canadianised "Chinese" food at China Star Restaurant. A good thing, too, as the rain poured heavily outside. Then we drove by a couple of lobster and seafood retail places--there were lobsters available for $7.45/lb, but those suckers were humongous, and being the sole lobster fan in the family, I decided to give it a pass.

Back at the resort now, in my favourite spot--on the sofa of the laundromat, underneath the non-stop CNN broadcast on TV and surrounded with warm Wifi signals--I'm glad to sign off for now as more rain looms for the night and the kids watch High School Musical 3 in the next building for the second night in a row.

Bouncing at Marco Polo Land, PEI

4:15 P.M. Update:



Twin Shores Campground, on the northern shores of PEI, probably earned its top rating from its beach. Here are a couple of foreigners from the mainland acting weird on its sandbank:

From Ce7eBr8 wAt3vR!

Morning's Post:
Yay, there's Wifi again; so the blog continues, from Marco Polo Land's campground on Prince Edward Island. Hang on for the pix ... the bandwidth, for some reason, is tiny.

From Ce7eBr8 wAt3vR!

The intent was to camp at Shediac, NB, touted as the world's lobster capital, but with a 40% chance of thunderstorms (which never happened) and campgrounds mostly full, we decided to take a chance at PEI a day early. But not before I'd stopped at the lobster stop right across the river from the great Shediac Lobster at the town entrance. Advertised price was $7.99/lb. The guy there weighed the sucker and said $8.00, and I said, "Great, one pound!" He swipes my VISA and I sign it, then I see it's for $10.00. When I asked, he said, "Yeah, $10." O well, so I paid another $2 for an education, which you guys get for free; caveat emptor!

From Ce7eBr8 wAt3vR!

But I did return to the shop and he shows me how to break up the lobster by hand--claws, shell, the works--which made me feel a bit better about the extra $2. But the lobster meat was, well, well worth it! Yummy!

From Ce7eBr8 wAt3vR!

So over the Confederation Bridge we go and, after an hour at the huge Gateway visitor centre-cum-tourist trap on the PEI side, we check in at the northern end of the island-province, at Marco Polo Land's campground. Its spacious, well-maintained grounds promised a nice, civilised stay. Number One advantage: no mosquitoes! O yeah, there are flies here, lots. But we'll trade them for them itchy, scratchy mozzies any day!

What's more, our neighbours are from Cambridge, Ontario, a really nice family with an 11-year-old boy looking to shoot paintball with my boys.

From Ce7eBr8 wAt3vR!

Nor did the rain come. So we had a time around their campfire before hitting the sack. But not before using the large, clean, modern shower-washrooms--the best so far! That's the Number Two plus. There's free Wifi, as mentioned, but it's dead s-l-o-w.

So here we are again this morning, packing up for another campground! This place is one busy place--and we're not even into next week yet, when the Canada Games are supposed to be held here. At least the boys packed in a little Ping Pong, Jumping Pillow, and swimming.



If at first you don't succeed ...


Keep jumpin'! (Or blame the Observer's Paradox)


As we move on, I'm reminded that all this tenting and de-tenting is a little like the nomadic earthly life of Abraham:

Hebrews 11:9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Or, as one well-known gospel song goes, "This world is not my home; I'm just a-passin' through. If heaven's not my home, O Lord, what will I do? The angels beckon me from heaven's open door, and I can't feel at home in this world anymore."

Still Kicking: Two Nights in Car, Two in Camp

leaving Wednesday morning ... latest clip:



Starting out Friday night, we joined the slow column of cars heading east out of Toronto on the 401. Arriving in Quebec City the next morning, we pulled in to Domaine de la Chute, one of a few recommended campsites on the Internet.


The only visible minority there, we also discovered how little French we knew, combined! But we had nice neighbours who shared their firewood, citronella oil, and extra tarp and tent pegs.


To keep up with the Joneses, and to stave off the mosquitoes, we got ourselves a screenhouse. Well, it rained buckets all night the second night, and we found out--it keeps neither rain nor bugs out.


So we continued east, past the beautiful Riviere du Loup and into New Brunswick. At the Visitor Centre at the provincial border, we found out we'd arrived on New Brunswick Day. We got our pins, flags, and brochures and headed to the capital, Fredericton. After watching the sunset on St. John River, we hunted in vain for a Chinese restaurant and wound up at McDonalds, where we were able to watch the fireworks lighting up over a strip mall. Tired of the mosquitoes there, we drove on to Moncton by night and arrived at 3:30 a.m.


View Larger Map
At 110 km/h, the Transcanadian Highway through New Brunswick is the first place I've driven in Canada with a speed limit of over 100 km/h. Our fully loaded and then some minivan, air-conditioning at full blast, got a serious workout on a few steep hills.


Another night in the car--we "camped out" at the Superstore in Moncton and hit Ponderosa Pines campground this afternoon. Finally, some Wifi access, a shaded lot, and English--with French (New Brunswick is the only bilingual province). It was nice seeing the Hopewell "Flowerpot" Rocks, home of the world's biggest tides, just 1 km from the campsite.


So here we are, wondering if we should stay another day or head on up to Shediac or PEI. Hope you guys have been having a great time.