Today started off a little weird. We agreed that we'd meet in the lobby at 9:30 a.m. and we were on-time as usual. When we got to the lobby I saw Ian & Wendy outside by our rental SUV, standing at the back of the car.

I thought how the hell could Ian get the SUV from the parking spot to the front covered entrance way, particularly because I have the ONLY key fob that will allow anyone to start the car. When we got outside I asked Ian "how the hell did you get the car here" and he replied - don't know it was out here when we came out. Apparently we arrived the night before, unloaded our luggage, checked in and went to our room - leaving the SUV blocking the front door for the entire night. It seems that Maritimers are nice people, all I had was a sad face with a note saying "this is not a parking space". Whoops.

In any event, we headed towards Moncton and the amazing Magnetic Hill. All my life I'd heard about this magic hill that will make your car go backwards up a hill - finally yet another thing off my bucket list. But now they make you pay for it - $6.00 for the experience. Sure enough, we drove down the hill, parked by the white post - put the SUV in neutral - foot off the brake and off we went - backwards and rather quickly I'd say. Just wonder how many people end up in the ditch because of going backwards so quickly. We all enjoyed the experience.

Back on the road, we headed for Charlottetown and over the Confederation Bridge. Seems they hold you hostage a little - they let you get ON the island FREE - but they charge you to go back to the mainland at the rate of $48.50 per car - I guess someone has to pay for this 12km bridge that cost the Federal government 840 million dollars. Boy it's a long bridge - the longest in the world over a body of water that freezes.

We all agreed that we'd try a B&B just ONE more time. After our night at the Bates Motel, I was reluctant but agreed that we'd try it. We called a bunch of them and settled on the Victoria Inn in Kensington, P.E.I. It's only about 20 minutes from Charlottetown so we thought we might be able to save a few bucks on lodging just a little outside the city. When we pulled up, he immediately showed us to our rooms - what a difference. Well appointed, furnished very smartly with quality antiques and a Queen bed to boot - Heaven - where do I sign. A vast improvement over the Bates Motel in Bar Harbour.

After an extensive drive around the west island portion of P.E.I. and before the sun set we travelled along higway 12 through Miscouche, Birch Hill, Low Point and Freeland - hoping to get some nice shots on the water. We decided that we'd have dinner at the local Railway Station Pub in Kensington and had a fabulous dinner - everything was excellent and I had the opportunity to gorge on some local mussels.

As I said, we're here for two nights so that we can explore the island and we'll head out on Thursday morning towards Woods Islands so that we can catch the ferry to Caribou, Nova Scotia. We seemed to have lucked in a bit because by taking the ferry at $77.00 total we avoid having to pay the $48.50 to get off the island + we save about 300 km's in driving towards Sydney for our Newfoundland ferry the next day. What a deal !

Tomorrow the plan is to head downtown Charlottetown and then take the complete drive around the Central Part of the island that supposedly is about a four (4) hour drive. Stay tuned for some pictures tomorrow and thanks again for following us on our Maritime Adventure.

Bob