Thursday Travels: Ferries and boats and lighthouses, oh my

Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island

Last week when we left off, M and I were getting ready to leave Prince Edward Island.  After a quick visit to say goodbye to the beach, we made our way to  Wood Islands, PEI to take the ferry to Caribou, Nova Scotia.  (Side note:  This must seem like it was the longest trip in the world, especially when you consider that this is only the half way point.  We really did pack in a lot of activities each day.)

We arrived early so that gave me (too much) time to walk around and take photos of the area around the ferry dock.

Not to worry, though.  I won’t be posting all of them.

There are three lighthouses on Wood Islands.  I noticed that I usually managed to capture at least one of them in the background of most of the photos I took (when it wasn’t the main focus, that is).

The weather, as you can see, remained pretty bleak.  Cloudy, windy, chilly.

Fortunately for me, it was not raining while we were on the ferry.  I don’t usually experience motion or sea sickness, but the water was a bit choppy and I ended up having to stay outside for most of the ride.  If I remember correctly, the trip took about an hour and twenty minutes.

Caribou, Nova Scotia is located on the Northumberland Shore.  It’s known as the gateway to Pictou, “the Birthplace of New Scotland.”  I would love to have stopped in Pictou, but we had a long drive to Cape Breton ahead of us and we wanted to arrive at the cabin we rented before dark since it seemed to be in a relatively remote location.  Plus we wanted to be able to see the scenery along the Cabot Trail, the last part of our trip that day.

Other than my occasional nausea, the ferry trip was pretty uneventful.  There were a lot of other people traveling on the ferry and, like a lot of them, we brought lunch with us to eat along the way.  The food was somewhat settling, but I still ended up outside in the fresh air at the front of the boat.  The trip was much less unsettling that way.

In current news…

A few weeks ago, M and I took a trip to a local bowling alley not to bowl, but to shoot some pool.  (Similar to billiards although a pool table has pockets and billiards balls are smaller, and I’m sure there are some other differences but that’s all I can come up with at the moment.  Often “pool” and “billiards” are used interchangeably although it’s not correct.)

When M and I were first married, M was still in college with one semester to go until graduation.  We did the sensible thing and spent our first four months of marriage living in a big old house with his two housemates.  I was already used to living with guys since I have three (younger) brothers so the only real difference (aside from the fact that none of us were related) is that these guys were all a bit older than me.  Anyhow.  In this big old house was a pool table, and during those first four months of marriage, I learned to shoot pool.

My skill at pool is about the same as my skill at bowling.  I’m lousy at it, mostly because I’m inconsistent.  Sometimes I play like a pro, and then the next thing you know, I look as though I’ve never held a cue stick in my life.  I enjoy it, though, and that is the important part.  I enjoy bowling, too, and bowling is where I’m headed with this ramble.

While M and I were at the bowling alley shooting pool, we saw a flyer for a Lousy Bowlers League.  I’m not usually one for joining teams, and I tend to be on the shy side out here in the so-called real world, but the idea of a Lousy Bowlers League sounded too good to pass up.  The bonus is that it gives me another way to step outside of my comfort zone and meet new people.  M and I signed up.

Are you tired of these lighthouses yet?

The season started last night, and will last for 20 weeks.  At the end, we will be the proud of owners of our own bowling balls.  And since we decided to buy our own shoes lat night, it looks like we’ll be bowling regularly.  Unlike the cross-country skiing we took up a couple of years ago, this won’t be weather dependent.

Yeah, me too, so let’s get on the ferry.

The Lousy Bowlers league consists of teams of two, and there were five other teams there last night.  I can’t speak for anyone else, but I had a blast.  We played three games against one other team, and I’m not even sure who won.  That’s how much fun I had.  My game improved over the course of the evening, too.  I started with a 72, moved on to an 84, and finished with 134.  Now THAT’S lousy bowling.  lol!

Nearing Nova Scotia

That’s about it for this week’s edition of Thursday Travels.  Next week’s chapter will have us traveling through Nova Scotia, making our way to the Cape Breton Highlands.

Lighthouse in Caribou

Thanks for traveling through time and distance with me, back to June and the Canadian Maritimes.  Here in the Bogs it’s been sunny and warming up into the mid 40’s.  Rain is on its way for the weekend.

One of our first views of Nova Scotia. Don’t worry. It gets MUCH better.

Wishing you a delightful day, evening, or night… wherever and whenever you are on the spectrum of time.

What I’m listening to:

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