Saturday October 14th
Both Crystal and I got off to a late start on Saturday. It looked like a bit of a rainy morning, and we thought it would be a good day to see our great uncle Preston in Charlottetown.
We set out off to the main highway, keeping an eye out for scenic spots. We stopped at Orwell Cove, about half way there. There were pretty views over fields to the sea.
We turned off again at the town of Stonington, which had another pretty marsh, which looked beautiful with the sun on the yellow grasses. On the other side were more marshes, then the sea beyond, with dark clouds in the background. We walked along a bit, to Kinloch Beach with a small stretch of sand, and enjoyed the dramatic clouds.
A little further along was Stratford, a town just before Charlottetown. We stopped at a place called Phinley’s Diner for lunch, just off the highway. We were expected at Preston’s about 3 or 3.30 I think. He was in a nice looking apartment block about 1km from the centre of Charlottetown. It was lovely to see him after such a long time, and also to meet his wife Mary Alice, whom he’d married just a few years back, while in his 90s. He was 98, and I think not good on his feet – he didn’t get up.
We chatted for quite a while, and got some photos with Crystal, Preston and myself. We left around 5ish, and set out to have a bit of a look around the town. By the waterfront was a park called Confederation Landing, with the fancy looking Convention Centre next door. There was an area right by the water with a number of colourful buildings selling food, and it looked as though there were also clothes and other things for sale, and some of the shops seemed to be on structures that were floating on the water. There didn't look to be much open at that time of the evening on a Saturday.
There was a bit of a marina there too, and on one side a few little huts, which looked to be floating, where you could stay. Out to sea a little way was what looked like a huge oil or gas tanker. At that time there was a scarecrow festival going on, and in quite a few parts of the city, people had made creative scarecrows out of various materials and old clothes.
Here and there were metal sculptures depicting famous people from early in the Island’s history, which were very well done. I think it was in Charlottetown where the federation agreement for Canada was signed, and some some of the figures were probably from that event.
Charlottetown has water around a lot of it, so the sea is never far away. On one side, as it was starting to get dark, we found another lighthouse with the ubiquitous white and red colour scheme. It was very much in need of repair, with a big hole in one side. There was a little beach next to it. It was just perched on the coast in between a couple of houses, in a built up area. A couple of large flocks of birds flew over us, I guess heading for nesting spots somewhere before it got dark. We headed for home as well.
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