woo newfieland!

headed to gros morne national park to do some hiking and camping. updates later on our trip in the city!

Cape Breton Drum Fest!

Alright, seriously, how lucky is it that my parents just happened to be in cape breton the same weekend as I had planned to? Hotel stay for free? hot showers? indoor pool? Yes, please!

so maybe it wasn't completely happy-go-lucky, you get a bit stir-crazy after being crammed in a windowless hotel room with 4 other people, 2 of which are smokers. I love my family, and I'm so grateful for everything they've done for me, but after 3 or 4 hours of endless taunting the first night, I was ready to leave.

I stuck it through, though, and throughout the weekend we saw some super sick drummers. The guys that worked with Billy Joel, Pink Floyd, Chicago, Santana, Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis, and countless others. It was absolutely crazy. We also won Lukie a cymbal in the door prize, which was pretty killer. Other than that, though, there isn't much to report.

We went to the drive in one night, and I felt horrible for falling asleep on our one year anniversary! oops. The movies were "How to Train your Dragon" and "Iron Man 2", but unfortunately, the only one I stayed awake for was iron man two, when the other one was the one that i had actually wanted to see. Oh well, though, life goes on.

After two days of touring Sydney and watching drummers do their thang, we finally peaced out on monday night. We had nothing to do all day, so we went to the cinema to see the Runaways, then took the ferry to Newfoundland! More on that later, though.

I can't believe how quickly I'm spewing this shit out, I feel like I deserve an award or something.

The Other Two Days of Camping

The next two days were much the same as the first. The air was damp with rain, the ground was the same shade of PEI red, and your two protagonists were just about ready to kill each other.

Seriously, though. The next two days of camping were alright. I was definitely ready for a shower by the end of them, but I'm excited to do some more. The first day, we drove up to the north point, and went into the windmill information centre, where luke bought me a plush lobster as a souvenir, and we learned more than we ever wanted to about windmills. Then, we completed the nature walk at the north cape and learned a little bit about trees and birds and stuff, I guess.

Then, we drove to our next camping point, and successfully cooked pasta over an open fire! props to luke for that, cuz I sure as hell didn't help. Then, after a slightly more assured and rested sleep, we continued on our way the next morning.

After a quest for coffee, we drove through cavendish and brackley beach. The place was a ghost town, absolutely nothing was open yet. I was super disappointed, but luke vowed to make me happy, so we eventually found a gouda farm, where we could watch this old lady make cheese through some viewing windows. It was super sweet, we were allowed to rummage through the barn and pet the dairy cows, and the piggies, and the barn kitties, and we also watched a video on how to make cheese. After that, en route to our new campsite, we decided to drive all the way to wood islands, because there really wasn't much else to do. On our way there, we came across the Great Canadian Soap company, where we decided to learn about soap and the way it is supposed to be made! Then, we went to check on ferry times, and camped out for one more night.

I'm running way behind in my posts, I know, but for the next few days, I'll be camping in newfoundland, so I don't know if i'll be posting. I still have to write all about Cape Breton Drum Fest, and my entire time in St. John's. I'm working on it, don't you worry, i will catch up eventually. That is, if anyone is reading this. ;)

peace, family and friends!

More Details on the Last Few Days.

So.

Camping in PEI for 3 days.

The first day, the first day, what did we do? We left Char's place at around 1 in the afternoon, after spending all morning cleaning up and getting everything ready to camp. After that, we drove through to the west point provincial park. I believe we stopped in Summerside to get a big plate of fries, and then we continued on our way. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. If you're ever in town, I highly recommend Eva's Restaurant and Lounge, if that was what the place was even called. Super cheap, great food, great service. all wonderful things. Afterwards, we made our way to the campground, and walked along the beach for an hour, looking for a place to camp. Once we figured out that the campgrounds were actually set up, and they just weren't open yet, we looked for information on camping in closed campgrounds, found that there was nothing against it, and set up camp in a little clump of trees in the camp ground. :) We heated up our soup over an open fire! We were quite proud of ourselves, and the cookware seems to be holding up quite well. I, of course, am terrified of open fire, and getting caught for doing something illegal, so I was sitting there shaking the entire time that Luke was trying to get shit done. Oops :$. Then we went to bed fairly early, and I spent most of the night cold and shaking, because i couldn't stop thinking about getting attacked by a fox or a bear or a park ranger or a mass murderer or something. I made it out alive, though!! Also, I now know there are no bears in PEI, there hasn't been a murder in 10 years on the island and I am absolutely ridiculous.

More on the next few days to follow in a few. :)

Days 8 to... i don't know what day it is anymore.

I'm still alive!

We spent 3 days touring PEI, camping in closed campsites.

then we took the wood islands ferry to pictou, NS, and drove up to sydney where we met up wit my rents and spent 2 days at the cape breton drum festival.

now we're headed to newfoundland!!!! i'm so excited

details on the former to follow, i don't have much time right now.

Days 7+

Off around PEI camping and stuff!

We're already over-budget. oops.

looks like we're going to Newfie-land after all!

Should be exciting!

look, here's a pic of me at the giant lobster in shediac!

Days 5 and 6? I think? I'm already starting to lose count of days.

Day 5:

Char took us for a drive around the southeastern part of PEI. we went to Georgetown, got lunch in Montague, and then went to Cape Bear and Point Prim to see some lighthouses! The lighthouses were pretty cool, the one at cape bear was the lighthouse where they first heard the titanic's distress signal. That was a fun and exciting time! We also went to Buffaloland provincial park, where we got to see the buffalo graze! I was really really excited about that! I have no idea why there are buffalo on PEI, but it was pretty rad to see them!

After that, we went to Frank's relative's 85th birthday party, which was a potluck with a bunch of country people I've never met. I have never felt so out of place, all i could do was wait for it to end. But end it finally did, and I met some cool people, i guess.

then, we drove into charlottetown, and went to the City Cinema to watch an aussie movie about an adulterous couple who jack a big bag of cash. It was called the Square. it was intense. Also, nothing is open. not even coffee shops. or anything. it was ridiculous, trying to find something to do for the 45 minutes before the movie started. ANYWAY then we went home and went back to sleep. :)

Day 6:

we basically spent the day prepping for the next 4 days, where we'll be driving around the coast and camping at the national parks. get ready for pictures of sweaty dirty jeri and luke without a shower and with only the bare minimum of food! so there won't be any blog posts for a while.

we went shopping for groceries, bought stuff like freezedried milk and stuff! yum.

updates to follow in about a week or so, so long for now, peoples!

Days 3, 4, etc.

Day 3:

went into Charlottetown, investigated the beauty of the downtown historic area, decided that it would be a cute little city to live in, but apparently in the winter there's really not much to do. It's tiny! I had no idea that there were only 40,000 people in that little city. :) That doesn't even classify as urban under American standards!

Anyway, we went to province house where we saw where the legislature sits, and watched a cute little video about it. Aaand... we had coffee at Beanz, aaaand... we went into St. Dunstan's basilica, spent like 5 seconds in there admiring the architecture, then deciding that it was awkward just standing in a house of prayer. We also went to the Confederation Centre Art Gallery, which was kind of cool, we saw a bunch of old photos by this dude who went across Canada. Sound familiar?

Then we got bored and went home, and later we went back in for dinner at Hunter's with Char and Frank, then we all went to Baba's lounge for a few drinks and to see the Idlers. :) Then, tired as anything, we rested our heads on our pillows and passed out.

Day 4:

Wooo twenty-something kilometre hike through the crazy PEI wilderness! I saw bears and foxes and moose and barracudas!

No, I didn't.

But i did see a couple blue heron and two squirrels! they were super cute and cuddly.

I'd forgotten how much I liked hiking, it's getting me really excited to do the dobson! I can't wait, it should be so much fun to do something I've ever done before.

aaand that's about it for now! updates to follow for the like 1 person that's reading this.

Days 1,2, and the beginning of 3

Day 1:

- drive to Riverview, visit with grandparents, run errands, listen to endless stories about how the cat, Mariah, is, in fact, a male. oh yes. Eat pizza from Sobeys, listen to Nanny discuss for 10 mins with the cashier the fact that she got a free pizza. Sympathize silently with the cashier.

- spend the night at Vanessas, watching AI, gossiping, the usual.

Day 2:

- leave Vaya's, head to PEI, do shit, get lost, etc.

- eat lunch in Charlottetown

-head to Char's, plan our week, visit.

Day 3:

wake up?

updates to come, loves!

Jeri

Trip time!

Ahh, I can't wait!

Soon, I embark upon my voyage across Canada, to live, laugh, learn, etc. I can't wait to see what the future brings. I'll try to update regularly, but they'll probably be few and far-between.

good luck in the summer, everyone!

Love Jeri