Hay and Spuds

August 14, 2007
Cavendish, PEI

Today we didn’t have much of a plan, but we started out heading toward the western part of the island. We were a little grumpy because we neglected the most important meal of the day (breakfast), but we managed to avoid any big problems from hunger. Since it was pretty cloudy and looked like it could rain at any moment, I left the camera equipment home and we just took Geri’s small Canon. Of course, within an hour or so, the clouds broke and things cleared up quickly.

All through the drive, we saw alternating fields of potatoes and hay, with maybe some wheat mixed in. Strangely, we were ready to understand this better. Luckily, our first stop was the PEI Potato Museum. Now, we’re not exactly museum people, but this one was interesting, even if the exhibits were all circa 1991-1992. We learned about the origins of the spud in South America and the migration through Europe to North America, the impact of the potato famine in Ireland on the migration of people and crops, the significance of crop rotation to potato health (they're very susceptible to disease) and the role of PEI and the Maritimes to today’s potato cultivation. They even have a special island off the coast where they cultivate new seed potatoes in an isolation environment. It’s like “Area 51” for potatoes. Call Agent Mulder!

After the museum, we continued north along the western “arm” of the island, ending up in North Cape, the tip. There’s a wind farm there, with 20-30 windmills generating electricity. It’s nothing like the farms outside Palm Springs or Mojave in California, but impressive for how close you can get. The day turned clear and the site was quite nice, but I was struck by how little wind it was taking to turn those huge turbines. I walked around the North Cape Lighthouse, and got some pictures from the extreme tip of the island. From there, you can see the mainland coast of New Brunswick, less than 10 miles away.

From North Cape, we took the “scenic route” back to Cavendish, making a quick stops to take another “Brooklyn” picture (this one more remote than Nova Scotia), another shot of the “Princess Pat Drive In” (Geri’s older daughter’s named Pat) and at “Jumpin’ Gelato” on the way home for desert. We got back home around 5:30, walked the dogs, and had dinner (pork tenderloin with foil-wrapped potatoes/onions) on the grill by 6:30. Dinner was excellent, and we had a beautiful Longoria (no relation) Fe Ciega Vineyard Pinot Noir to match. The pork was a little spicy for the wine, but both were great on their own. After dinner, we walked the pups, and found that the fog was rolling in quickly. By the time we got back to the coach, we could hardly see the rigs around us. We closed things up and had our gelato, and a nip of Macallan’s as a nightcap.

Here are a couple of pictures from today:
http://picasaweb.google.com/GeorgeandGeri/WesternPEI