Tinkerbell's Travels

We rose bright and early to tackle the border into Canada.

We had heard horror stories about RVs getting singled out for thorough (inside every drawer, cabinet, etc.) inspections by border agents.

We were prepared for anything. We had our documentation organized and ready, to include vet records for the pets.

We did have a refrigerator full of fresh fruits and vegetables, which we knew could potentially be confiscated. We didn’t have much liquor, just Jay’s ingredients for his old fashioneds and a few beers. And we didn’t have any weapons (unless you count our attack cat as a weapon…)

The Canadian border agent stepped onto the first step of Tinkerbell, gave us all a good once-over, and asked a few standard questions. Then he asked if we had any alcohol.

Since the tariff situation erupted, local Canadians told us it’s hard for them to buy American bourbon and other spirits. Government-run liquor stores in Canada no longer offer American-made alcohol products. As a result, some people have resorted to going to American border towns, buying American spirits in bulk and surreptitiously transporting them over the border into Canada.

We told the Canadian border agent about our few bottles of bourbon and rye. He asked to see our collection of three half-full bottles, which we store in our tallest cabinet, located directly behind the driver’s seat. The agent asked why we stored our alcohol so close to the driver.

We never thought about that!

Satisfied that Tinkerbell’s driver hadn’t been imbibing (yet), the agent left Tinkerbell to do a short inspection of Leap and our basement storage areas. He then wished us a pleasant Canadian vacation and sent us on our way. The whole process lasted about five minutes.

He never asked to squeeze Jay’s grapefruits…

The first part of our Atlantic Canadian tour took us through New Brunswick and into Prince Edward Island (PEI).

PEI was on Jay’s “bucket list.” Ever since he saw “Anne of Green Gables” back in the 1980s, he’s dreamed of visiting Cavendish (the town in which Green Gables is set). Finally, he would see the place(s) of inspiration for author L.M. Montgomery’s timeless story.

Butt first, we needed to get to PEI. To do that, we had to cross the world’s longest (eight miles!) bridge over ice-covered water: the Confederation Bridge.

Our uneventful trip across the bridge took about 10 minutes. Soon after, we found ourselves driving through field upon field of yellow flowers.

Interspersed between the fields of yellow flowers were rivers of chocolate…

Before heading to our campground, we decided to take a quick detour south to visit the capital of PEI, Charlottetown, Founded in 1765 and named after Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, the city was unceremoniously raided by American privateers during the American Revolution.

We parked by the boardwalk and took the dogs for a quiet stroll along the water.

The boardwalk was so charming that we decided to return with our bicycles the next day. It was getting late, so we hopped back into Tinkerbell and made our way to our campground in Cavendish.

A good night’s sleep was in order after accomplishing a smooth border crossing, driving across the world’s longest ice-water bridge, through fields of mustard and rivers of chocolate, and walking a beautiful boardwalk along Charlottetown Harbour.

We awoke the next day, and I took Ziggy for a long walk around the campground. We started to play in the dog park when he saw a sight he had never seen before. A kite!

Ziggy was captivated with the kite and thought he might be able to catch it. He bolted full speed to catch the kite.

Unfortunately, he forgot he was in a dog park. He also forgot the dog park was enclosed by a fence made of rusty wire.

About halfway through the fence, he stopped.

Cold.

Full stop.

He froze. He couldn’t move one step further and he couldn’t move one step back without inflicting severe bodily harm to a very sensitive part of his anatomy.

I don’t know how we did it, but I managed to wriggle Ziggy out of the precarious situation without a scratch.

Ziggy promptly forgot all about the high-flying kite and terrifying fence ordeal when he spotted goats eating in a nearby pen.

Following Ziggy’s adventures at the campground that morning, Jay and I packed up Leap and headed into Charlottetown, PEI’s capital city. It’s the largest city in PEI and has a population of about 40,000.

A quick bit of history about PEI in general: the native people referred to their home as Abegweit. French colonists arrived in 1603 and called the island St. John’s. After losing the Seven Year War to Great Britain, St. John’s fell under British rule in 1758.

After some back and forth with the Motherland, PEI locals and the leaders across the pond agreed on re-naming the island “Prince Edward Island” in honor of Prince Edward Augustus, fourth son of King George III and Queen Charlotte.

Charlottetown is a charming, lively waterfront city with good bicycling and walking paths.

PEI is a maritime province, surrounded by the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Charlottetown is located on Hillsborough Bay and boasts a deepwater harbor. We figured it would be a great place to enjoy a meal of fresh seafood, especially lobster!

We found our way to a local restaurant on the water.

After lunching on fresh lobster, we craved dessert, of course!

We closed our first full day in PEI with watching a beautiful sunset from our campground in Cavendish.

Coming up: Jay gets to see Green Gables!