Buddy Holly in Charlottetown in July

Wow! We just came back from the East coast and the trip was all good. From Oshawa's Parkview, the home of Sam McLaughlin of General Motors fame, to walking along the water in downtown Kingston, the trip was great. We spent a glorious three hours in Quebec City reliving past trips there as we walked the old town section and watched the horse and carriage drivers ply their trade. This time we enjoyed the boardwalk along the St. Lawrence where we stood and looked down to the dug-out sections of history opened up for all to see.




My husband and I love a car trip. We make homemade bits 'n' bites and pack our Koolatron with pop, water bottles, a veggie tray, La Vache Qui Rit cheese, a paring knife and some fruit, which we replenish as we go along. Two kinds of crackers, some healthy bars, a couple of packages of dark chocolate covered blueberries and we're set to go for hours. Along the way we visit grocery stores and replenish as needed. And we eat at least one meal out every day. It's all good.

When we reached Prince Edward Island we found our hotel near Cavendish and the relaxed part of the trip started. It was nestled in the beautifully green countryside, a large acreage with the main hotel and individual cottages and lawns which crept down to the shore of a large lake.

After settling in we made the half hour trek to Charlottetown, picked up our tickets at the box office and settled into our great seats. The Buddy Holly Story started with a ranting preacher decrying rock and roll music from his elevated perch almost in the rafters. He was great and we chuckled, all the more so as he was played by my brother-in-law, Rick Hughes.

Soon after, my sister, Donna Garner, waltzed across the stage, immediately grabbing laughs as Vi Petty. Both Rick and Donna play several parts in the show as do other characters.
Well we loved the whole thing. Jeff Giles as Buddy was a powerhouse and really brought Buddy to life. On stage so much of the time this might not have been difficult but all the other characters did the same thing. The audience totally related to this cast.

When the show was over we got to see Donna and Rick and relive the event with them. Awesome. Really. No, really, the whole night was amazing. We talked about it all the way back to our hotel. Theatre isn't always so rewarding. I remember a certain production of Othello at Stratford whose second act we didn't go back to see as the first was so bad. But this show was a lot of fun created by extremely talented actors.

The next day we lounged on the deck at our country inn with Donna and Rick, barbecued at their place that evening with John and Susan added to the group and then went to Cirque du Soleil. We sat on the grass out in the park on a lovely summer's night and watched the huge screen and stage in the dark. Very cool. I mean neat, not cold. Except for sitting on the ground for two hours. That was painful and my joints complained for one hour and fifty minutes of the time.

So the next day we took the ferry over to Nova Scotia and drove to Cape Breton. Rita McNeil's tea room was a hit--we met her son--and the food was scrumptious. The day following we toured the fortress at Louisburg, finally, after missing it on our previous trips to Nova Scotia. The little restaurant in Louisburg served up some fine clam chowder and a delicious lobster-on-a-bun which satisfied my need for Atlantic seafood. Ron had fish and chips and said it was superb. He is ever ready to let me have my crab legs or lobster tails as long as he can just have fish and chips. A keeper, that one.

At Glace Bay Marconi's four towers were intriguing to us, enough that we detoured and walked where he had walked as we learned more about his stunning achievement.

We visited my nephew and his wife, expecting their first child, at Oromocto where they live, another wonderful mix of family catch-up and tourist tripping down east. A long day's drive through Quebec and we stayed at a favorite hotel in Cornwall before heading home to Ontario. We managed to mix stops and goes pretty well, with only one day which was mostly driving. This is a marvelous country we live in and the five thousand kilometers we added to our car's odometer allowed us to see it again. O Canada! My home and native land.