Monday, September 20, 2021

Celebrating our 30th Anniversary in Charlottetown, PEI

By March of this year, it didn't appear we would be doing any long distance travel with the COVID situation, so we booked a week in Charlottetown to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. I am always amazed by the Confederation Bridge and usually manage to take an unfocused picture or two.



The red soil of PEI in the distance...

You needed a PEI travel pass to visit the island, which included showing proof of vaccination. It was smooth sailing as they checked our documents and we were on our way.

 Charlottetown...here we come!

We've arrived...the birthplace of Confederation.

The condo building where we would be spending the next week. We loved the location--right on the waterfront and close to restaurants. 

Ooh pretty...what a lovely view.


Very modern and very bright...

Guest bedroom...

Master bedroom...

Lots of space in the closet...

Love the beautiful walk-in shower...

Wine and chocolates from our hosts...

Spacious balcony...it used to have a propane BBQ before they were banned.

And the lovely marina...spoiler alert!! There will be many photos to follow, probably most of them exactly the same.

Jim already in his favourite place...

Happy almost anniversary to us!

This restaurant was very close by, although we didn't end up going there. There were plenty of restaurants to choose from.

The sun setting on a lovely day...



Sunrise...I did warn you, right?

We moseyed over to Peakes Quay...many of the shops and restaurants were already closed for the season.

This is William Henry Pope, one of PEI's Fathers of Confederation.

These "floating" restaurants were mostly closed...

The Chip Shack was open...another place we didn't make it to.

Another marina here with the Convention Centre on the right.

This is 40 Great George Street built in 1867-1868. It was originally the Bank of Prince Edward Island, but has also been a customs house and government offices. 

Next door, the beautiful St. Dunstan's Basilica built in 1916 after a fire destroyed the original church in 1913.

Across the street are the two John Hamilton Grays...


I did try to eavesdrop, but they weren't saying much!

I noticed many bees on these sedums...it was really amazing and nice to see

Next door to our condo was the amazing Founders Food Hall & Market. We were there pretty much every day. It also housed the information centre, which was a helpful stop on our first day.

This salad at Lil' Darlings brought us back pretty much every day for lunch. It got to the point where the server knew what dressing we wanted before I asked. On the one day that we changed and ordered the taco salad, she did a doubletake and said "not the house salad?" Great people and great food.

We did a few lighthouse trips...this one at Wood Island where the ferry from Nova Scotia arrives.


And one at Point Prim...

And back to our favourite view...this is also where cruise ships would dock (if there were any with COVID).


Our host had mentioned that there is a rooftop patio...I went up to check it up. There was a BBQ and it would be great for social gatherings.

We checked out the area around Victoria Park and saw this cool bottle sculpture.

And guess who has arrived!! Me Sissy and her hubby! They were with us the day we got married, and we were so happy to have them visit us and celebrate our 30th anniversary.

There is no doubt we revert to childhood behaviour! 

A beautiful full moon...

September 20...happy anniversary to us!

We look sooo young!

Pam and Trevor and their two girls, Heather and Megan, on our wedding day in Victoria, BC in 1991.

And 30 years later...so happy they could be with us!

A hand-painted anniversary card from my sister...it was a great visit.

We drove to North Rustico where we had a happy family reunion in 2015. I had seen this revolving house on Airbnb...it would be a fun location for another reunion. 

We finally made it to the local Water Prince Corner Shop on our last night for an amazing lobster roll.

And haddock burger...

There was always lots to see from the balcony, including this guy getting the hang of a surfboard hydrofoil.

One last sunrise...and it was time to head for home.

Gotta love that bridge!

We enjoyed our time in Charlottetown so much that we might make it annual anniversary tradition!