Today we relocated to Prince Edward Island (“PEI” to close friends like us). Our plan for getting there included a 2.5-hour drive, a 1.5-hour ferry, and another 45-minute drive to Charlottetown, the capital of PEI.

To ensure that we didn’t miss the ferry, we packed up and left Mahone Bay early. It was a quiet, misty morning, and looking back across the harbor provided a serene view of three churches for which Mahone Bay is famous.

Despite intermittent rain, we made good time on our way to ferry. Indeed, we were the first car to arrive for the ferry. We had some time to kill. That ramp to the upper deck was awfully tempting. If the gate hadn’t been down, I’d have been sorely tempted to jump the minivan over the Northumberland Straight.

The ferry finally arrived, and we drove down in the hold of the ship. To get a better view of the coast, we went up on deck, only to discover it was just a little bit windy.

We soon headed inside to the passenger lounge where we discovered that a local radio station was passing out warm muscles steamed in broth with slices of bread. The muscles in this part of the world are simply incredible. It’s no exaggeration that the muscles I had on the ferry were better than the muscles I’ve had in restaurants in the US. Lydie kept going to back for more.

We soon docked and disembarked. From there, we drove across southeastern PEI to the city of Charlottetown. We checked into the Charlottetown Inn and Conference Center, which would be our homebase for the next few nights, and then headed out to explore the charming downtown. Along the way, we might a nice local fellow. He was friendly enough, albeit a bit quiet. Cassie slipped him some money to take Lydie off our hands. Lydie was surprisingly happy with the arrangement.

(In actuality, the statue was of William Henry Pope. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that our shenanigans were not somehow offensive to the locals.)

We ended the day with dinner at the Merchantman Oyster Bar, where the adults enjoyed more of the local seafood and the local beer (Ghahan) beverage. Between the ferry and the dinner, we were starting to realize that, rather than being some rugged northern isle, PEI is a bit of an indulgent foodie destination. The kids were happy enough playing cards.

We went to bed excited about the upcoming days exploring PEI!