We arrived in Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island yesterday and the weather was sunny and pleasant. A visit to the wharf area was very interesting. We knew that Canada is going to celebrate 150 years of Confederation in 2017, but discovered that in September 1864 a Conference called in Charlottetown to discuss a union of the Maritime provinces led to the eventual confederation of all the Canadian provinces. The Charlottetown Confernce was the forerunner to the Quebec Conference later in 1864 which ultimately led to the formation of the Dominion of Canada. It appears that much of the decision making at the Conferences occurred at banquets and balls, so you have to wonder how much the excess of alcoholic beverages led to the comaradrie needed for such a union. It seems that Quebec has since rued their decision. Coincidentally, there was a circus in Charlottetown during the first conference, which seemed much more interesting to the majority of the town's population.

Charlottetown is gearing up for next years celebrations with a countdown to the event on the wharf.

 

Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada and the weather is nothing to be thankful for. It is raining and the winds are 70km/hr gusting to 90km/hr. One of the locals said this is typical of PEI's weather, so we have been lucky until now with the sunny conditions. Somewhat foolishly, we ventured out to the north of the island and viewed the waters in the Gulf of St Lawrence near Prince Edward Island National Park. After a heroic attempt to leave the car failed because of the wind, I took this picture from inside the vehicle.

 

Since almost everything was closed due to the holiday and/or end of season we finally found a coffee at a little village called North Rustico. The village has a safe harbour for fishing vessels and a lighthouse at the entrance to the bay.

 

By this time, we had had enough as driving in high winds with water over the roads was becoming hazardous so we headed back to Charlottetown. We enjoyed lunch in a downtown cafe, drying out and warming ourselves. By now, the wind was so bad that our car was rocking and we decided to return to our motel. Hopefully, things will improve before we venture out tonight in search of a turkey dinner with all of the fixins and a piece of pumpkin pie.

UPDATE: The weather has only gotten worse. The local who said this was typical weather was bullsh*^ing us. It appears that the remnants of Hurricane Matthew joined up with a cold front to ravage the Maritimes. The ferries to Prince Edward Island were cancelled and there were major restrictions on the bridge that only allowed cars to travel across. While the weather here was atrocious, it was even worse on Cape Breton Island where there was major flooding and road damage. Cheticamp, which we had left the day before, had over 200mm of rain and winds over 110km/hr. We managed to find a downtown Irish pub that did a Thanksgiving supper: pumpkin soup, turkey with mashed potatoe, gravy, veggies, gravy and cranberry sauce, followed by pumpkin pie. The wind and rain continued unabated overnight, the wind and rain hammering at our window like a pair of banshees seeking access!