Confederation Bridge

We drove over the Confederation Bridge yesterday. It was rainy, foggy, and just a bit windy but quite an exciting journey crossing the expansive bridge. It is about eight-miles long spanning the Abegweit Passage of Northumberland Strait, linking Prince Edward Island with mainland of New Brunswick, Canada. Residents of Prince Edward Island commonly referred to the bridge as the "Fixed Link" before they gave the bridge its official name. Construction took place from the fall of 1993 to the spring of 1997, costing- ($1.3 billion Canadian). The 12.9-kilometre (notice the spelling) long bridge opened on May 31, 1997. Let’s hope they have inspected it several times since then especially in the last few months, eh! (-; ugh!!! It only takes about 12 minutes to cross the toll bridge and you only pay a toll if you leave……..The locals say it costs about $41.00 to cross the bridge with a car. They don’t get any discounts or pass being a citizen of P.E.I.
We had rain most of the day today. It wasn’t too bad until you wanted to take a picture. Other than that it didn’t hamper a thing. We were just a little bulkier than usual – he he he.

The islanders told us they hadn’t had rain in three weeks so they needed it desperately. They grow potatoes on the island and the crops needed irrigation badly. It is so funny to hear that the local radio station here is called "The Spud."

Other than growing and exporting potatoes, the most income would be from tourism. Tourism is way down this year with the price of gas being so high. Some of the people at this little gem of a motel that Kathy found have their children enrolled in a piper camp. They have a college for Bag Piping right here in Somerside. One part of the camp is for girls all over the world to learn to sharpen their traditional Scottish dancing skills. I met a couple, here at the pool, from Illinois. They were here for their daughter to attend this dance camp. I told them I had relatives who did Irish dancing. The mom said that the difference between the Irish and Scottish dance is this: Irish are stiffer, can’t use their arms as much and their shoes are hard type and that makes more noise (on purpose). The Scottish use point shoes and can move their arms a lot more. Both have beautiful costumes that are very costly. It is nice to see families together on a vacation and also preserving their heritage.

We visited the house in the city of Cavendish where the stories were created from the books of Anne of Green Gables. The author who wrote these wonderful books grew up here after her mom died and had to go live with her maternal grandma. Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables, became a famous author at age 15 with her fictitious stories. The grounds where she got her inspiration for the descriptions in the books are impeccably beautiful; the house is well preserved but not flawless and it is owned and operated by the Prince Edward Island National Park.