Our final day, Malpeque Bay, Indian River and Summerside

8 days sure go fast.  Here it is our last Friday and suprising the boys don't have any golf planned, so they are coming touring with MJ and I.  Jim and Andy have had oysters every night, large Malpeque oysters.  So as we were putting our day together Jim really wanted to go and see where these yummy, slimy, slippy appetizers came from.  I have tried and tried oysters.  Usually swallowed whole, no chance was I chewing them.  MJ tried a couple, but after the 2nd night of watching the guys suck these things into their mouth and chew away even she couldn't have anymore.  Thank goodness for shrimp.

The large oysters went for around $1.50 each.  A bargain.

Malpeque was the first little fishing village we had been in that had literally no colour to it, but in its own way very beautiful.

Down the road from Malpeque Bay is St. Mary's Church in Indian River.  It was built in 1902 and was a Catholic Church until the Indian River Festival purchased it in 2010.  

"St. Mary’s Church, home of the popular Indian River Festival, has been designated a heritage place in recognition of its historical and architectural significance to the Island, says Tourism and Culture Minister Robert Henderson."

“St. Mary’s Church is the true star of the Indian River Festival,” said the minister. “One just needs to hear the acoustics and tour the building to appreciate the details that make this church so architecturally and culturally significant.”

From here we headed to Summerside, PEI where we stopped for breakfast at "Sharky's".  The best lobster roll on the island :).  Summerside has grown since the 1st time we were there.  It has a lovely little boardwalk full of touristy stores and is famous for its live dinner theatre (next time a for sure for us).  

The cheapest oysters the boys could find on the island.  Yes another dozen were picked up for afternoon appetizers.

Next stop Kensington for MJ's jam.  After looking all over the island it ended up just being 15 minutes from the cottage.  LOL.  Home for appetizers and then we were off to Carr's at Stanley Bridge for a final fish dinner and some great entertainment.  

Saturday was packing day and then we headed to Moncton for our flight home.  Being a little bit early we managed to do 9 holes at the Mountain Woods Golf Club.  :)

Beaches of PEI, the island is surrounded by them

Souris, pronounced Surrey, it would have been easier if they had just spelled it that way, is on the east coast of PEI.  Took me forever to find it on the map.  Mapquest definitely works better when you have the correct spelling.  LOL.  The guys had decided to play Crowbush and MJ and I were deteremined to find Chef Michael Smith, world renowned chef residing in beautiful PEI.  Souris is known as having the "friendliest folks around".  MJ and I definitely give them 5 stars in that category.  Starting with the lovely lady working the lighthouse gift store who directed us to Chef Michael Smith's #flavourshack and gave us a wonderful lesson on seaglass which was our 2nd quest on the east and north coast of PEI.  

Needless to say we had driven right by the #flavourshack.  No Michael, but we had the pleasure of meeting Loretta Campbell, a 10th generation PEIer and a wonderful photographer.  And I am thinking Michael's #1 fan.  After telling us all about Michael and his store she took pictures of us wearing his ShackJacket.  I wore the one from the winter olympics and MJ had the one from a world competition.

MJ had one more quest while in PEI and that was to find Neen's Strawberry jam.  When she mentioned it to Loretta, without a pause she pulled out her phone and called Pat the manager at the local grocery store.  Yes he carried the jam and off we went to find the 3rd friendliest person in this small town.  When we got to the store Pat was waiting for us, but unfortunately no strawberry.  So off to his office he went and found the number of this small home jam maker.  Sourisly, oops I mean seriously, how friendly are these people.  

The beach at Souris, tide out

From here we headed up to East Point.  So cool, this is the eastern most point of the Northhumberland Straits and where it meets up with the Gulf of St Lawrence.  The waves were magnificent, the 2 bodies of water's waves were crashing in a diagonal line where the 2 bodies of water meet.  Amazing.  Seals were frolicking in the water, the birds were feeding like crazy and a working lighthouse.  A wonderful spot for a drive.

From Souris we headed to North Lake, and the hunt for "sea glass" began.  What is sea glass you ask. well truthfully it is basically glass that people have tossed into the ocean or off boats or if you are really lucky has been turned up off of some of the many sea wrecks off of PEI.  So yes it is garbage, but quite beautiful and can be made into jewelery and other crafts.  What better way to get our 10,000 steps in than walking the beautiful beach here at North Lake.  Every so often one of would let out a little squeal as we reached down for what we thought was a beautiful piece of purple sea glass only to find out it was a baby jellyfish.  yuck double squeal.  MJ returned with lots of treasures, sea glass, drift wood, rocks.  Now what to do with it :)

Oops, looked at the clock was going to be tight to pick up the boys.  I'm sure they won't mind having a beer if we are late.  On the way home we stopped at the Sou'west Bar & Grill.  I had the best Fish Tacos everrrrrrr, while everyone else had fish and chips.  Some great entertainment, a great view and another great place to go back to.  The first time we were in PEI we stopped here with the kids, who were quite little, Rachel was around 5.  I had to let the waitress know that the kids were going to order "pickeral, swordfish and shark".  She said "we don't have those" and I said I know just write it down and bring everyone fish and chips.  The kids were raving about how great their fish was and only found out recently that we had manipulated their orders  :))))

"Walrus by the Sea" - paradise on PEI

The long and slippy path to paradise.  I know there is a nice glass of red wine waiting for me in a kilometer.  

A beautiful hostess :)

The first few days have been windy and blustery.  The waves have been huge and noisy.  Wonderful walking weather.  We lucked out with the rain showers, our timing for our walks on the first day always seemed to just miss them.  

The entrance to the beach, the set of stairs are hold on for dear life and don't look down.  By the 3rd day we were doing them without a care in the world :))))

The boys favourite appetizers.  The boys insisted on oysters every night.  

The rain coming through the sunset

Every morning started with a 4000 step walk along Seaview Beach.  The wind was made for some great kite flying .

Andy and MJ said they have never seen waves like this and for so long.  You could barely hear each other.  It was great.  Watch out for those rogue waves, MJ and I were standing taking pictures on the sand and next thing we knew the water was above our knees.  Lots of squealing and dashing going on after that.

Quick visit down to Stanley Bridge, lovely craft stores and wonderful seafood.  LOL.  Honestly fresh oysters - large size from 1.25 to 1.55 depending on where you go on the island.  

The boys went off golfing, a little rain, like torrential and they came home sopping like an overcooked lobster.  After a rum and coffeee and a shower we decided to go into Charlottetown for the day.  PEI organized the Charlottetown conference they decided not to join confederation but did a few years later.  So this is the 150th anniversary of PEI joining Canada.  Lots of celebrations going on.  

An absolutely beautiful little town, just love it.  

Wake up to another beautiful morning, with a little sunshine added in this time.  The boys have decided to go golfing ----- againnnnnn.  LOL  MJ and I are off beaching.  First stop down the stairs and a walk along our Seaview Beach.  We met 2 charming men on our walk, the sunshine was bringing people out and about.  

Back to the cottage for showers and off we went to the French River.  An absolutely beautiful little PEI fishing village and beach.  Lots of walking, we have averaged 8 to 12,000 steps every day.  Perfect.

These 2 pictures are a view of Cavendish beach from the French River beach

The 2 charming men we met on Seaview we ran into on the French River Beach.  How funny.  They have been touring Canada for the last 1.5 years with a Rideau Hall museum for the Governor General of Canada.  They have stopped here to celebrate in Charlottetown's 150 anniversary and had the day off, so were trying to see as much of the province as they could.

This is the actual village on the French River.  It must be one of the most photographed little picturesque fishing villages in PEI or the world.

Next stop was another part of Seaview Estates on Pickering Lane.  A lovely little cottage village and more beautiful beaches.

Back to the cottage for another lovely sunset.  

Thanks MJ for a great couple of days.  Looking forward to some more exploring of the beautiful island of PEI.