The Adventures of Sunsette -- PTFCo Grand Tour hits PEI! (June 12)

[Alliecat]

"The accounting office threw up its hands and said Whateverz.  Smoke em while ya got em.  Yes, they do have a lot of erosion.  And on the north shore the dunes change all the time."

"Mum says, she would love to ride along with the Grand Tour guys and share their adventures, and that simultaneously she would not want to be anywhere near the predicaments they get into.
"The picnic parts would be fun though."


"Mum forgot to make a sandwich before we set off this morning.  This is why you should always have cutlery in your glovebox."



"Cape Bear light, at the southeast tip of PEI.  We did not stay long because the blackflies were atrocious!!!"



"Beach Point light is at the other side of that southeast tip, and it was not buggy.  So we had a walk on the beach and looked at all the red rocks.  This spot has a few grey ones."





June 11
"We've had one more day of driving all over.  We have covered much of PEI by now.  Today Mum could only find a couple of properties to drive by, so we kinda slacked off and went to PEI National Park's Greenwich dunes ."


"It's been very windy all week, but it's warm, so it's actually nice!"



"Wow, Mum -- we almost have the beach to ourselves!"



"We'll have some more pictures off the camera.  Mum didn't let us pose on the marsh boardwalk because it was windy and she was afraid we might fall in the water.  But after the boardwalk is this steep hill and steps down over the dune."



"Lookit this enormous wall of sand!  Greenwich's parabolic dunes are rare.  It's a special wildlife habitat too."



"Whoaaa.... Willya LOOK at all this SPACE?!?  There's, like, nobody here!!"



"We could be happy here, Mum... couldn't we."
...Yes... yes I think we could.



"The Mi'kmaq people have a very long ancestral history here.  It's neat to see some of the road signs including native place names.  The nearby interpretive center has a lot of information about their history."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-ed...-1.5708332



"This is where our latest accommodation is.  ...this has gotta be some kind of good omen, doesn't it??"

"Thanks for reading!
"Love, Sunsette "

[davidd]

There used to be vast tracts of unrestricted dunes in Oregon where I grew up. Over the years, the areas surrounding "where the sand dunes are" has been increasingly developed, with efforts made to control and restrict natural dune movement. Now, areas where I used to slide down dunes on a plastic saucer when I was a kid are overgrown with beach grass and imported gorse. The dunes aren't allowed to drift like they once did. As a result, the dunes are gradually disappearing.

Of course, plenty of dune space is maintained for ATVs.

Has gorse from Europe been imported in to Canada? I've never seen thorns on anything like the thorns on gorse.

There's an inland dune area here in Utah, about an hour south, Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. It's pretty impressive, altho' like many dune areas, it is mostly maintained for off-road vehicle enthusiasts.

I remember person-less beaches like that in Oregon when I was a kid. I even remember certain person-less stretches of beach like that on the North Shore of Oahu when I first moved there. Things were getting pretty crowded by the time I left, with always more ocean-front development.

[Alliecat]

It's amusing (not really) that whoever's managing that land thinks keeping dunes for ATV use is "maintaining" them.  PEI National Park's effort to protect the dune system and allow it to behave naturally means you are Absolutely NOT allowed to walk on them.  The marram grass and other plants that hold them together are fragile.  I have no idea whether there is gorse in Canada.

.......................................................


"Goodbye PEI.  We promise... we'll be back.  Mum has vowed to bring the sand back to that beach when we find a home..."



"Two tired and sad travellers back on the ferry.  Mum never speeds... but thanks to losing half an hour going 2 km in Charlottetown traffic, she had to, to make the ferry.  We missed the reservation cutoff time but fortunately the boat was barely half full.  You just never know.  We made it with 15 minutes to spare, and we are so Over It."

"Mum took a lot more pictures with the Optio so we'll have some more -- we hope soon."

"Love, Sunsette "

[davidd]

Absolutely no walking on the dunes? Seems like "protecting" a place is always one extreme or another.

Mum never speeds, huh? Of course, in Canada speeding probably means ten years in the slammer. Seems like everybody speeds here in the wild west, but you kind of get used to it after a while. The posted freeway speed limit on the I-15 of 80mph (that's a lot in kph) sometimes seems like it's a "minimum" rather than a "maximum."

Gonna take the sand back to the PEI dunes so you don't get busted for disturbing the ecosystem?

How many times does the ferry run each day?

[Alliecat]

No walking, because tromping all over the grasses holding the dunes together would totally smush them and destroy the roots and wreck the fragile system.
People speed here all the time. I'm the one who's always pulling over to avoid having someone end up in my trunk.
The ferry runs 4 round trips a day, with the 2nd boat on in the summer for 3 more. Except for right now because it's broken, and there are No Trips At All, with a bunch of people stranded on both sides, and no information as to what is wrong with it, and the backup boat is still away for maintenance in NS, apparently started home & then went back because according to the Facebook rumour mill it "blew up an engine".
I hear a couple of people are going over in fishing boats to pick up stranded passengers.
...did I mention I'm Overrrr Ittt with the ferry??????

[davidd]

So you can't even walk on the sand part of the dunes? Of course, your average moron out there can't tell the difference between "sand" and "grass" so... yeah, I get it.

I pull over to let faster traffic pass as well, especially when I know I have a turn-off in to a driveway or something coming up. Seriously, if I can see 'em in the mirror, no matter how far back they are, they're gonna be hugging the bumper within 30 seconds. It's really getting crazy.

Sounds like you need to get yourself a boat of your own! Of course, moorage fees etcetera etcetera. Maybe an airplane, since you're halfway to your pilot's license already! And airplane in which you can haul a motorcycle so you can go places after you land.

[Alliecat]

OK.  So if you look at the pictures of the beach & dune... there is grass growing on the dune.... so you don't walk on the dune beyond where the grass starts.  Because if you walk between the grass clumps you might be damaging the root system even if there isn't any grass Right On That Spot.
There is tons of beach to enjoy without scrambling over the dunes.  A lil respect for Mother Nature.

And airplane in which you can haul a motorcycle so you can go places after you land.

I mean, sure, OK, I guess something like that could work...

[davidd]

Ha! "It's a good thing this runway is 26 miles long!"

That would have been easier to manage with front-wheel drive cars.

I thought those Chevrolet SSR pickup trucks were pretty cool back in the day. I still think they're cool.