Day 5: St. John to Charlottetown

I left St. John and drove to Hopewell Cape via Fundy National Park. Although it was another hot summer day, there was a cool breeze coming off the Bay of Fundy.

After driving through the park I arrived at the Hopewell Rocks where at low tide you can walk around on the floor of the Bay and check out the "flowerpots".

In a nutshell, these strange formations are the result of alternating layers of soft and hard rock being thrust upwards at an angle. Wind and rain erode the soft rock from above while water from the tides erodes from below. Once again, this was a hurried visit. I thought I had found a tidal schedule for Hopewell on the internet (I thought low tide was at 9 AM) but when I arrived it was actually 6AM...and I only had 45 minutes before the tide started to return. It was just enough time to make the visit worthwhile...barely.

Next it was on to Moncton. Although I was told that Moncton is a thriving metropolis and it's the place to be if you're looking for big city comforts, there wasn't anything I wanted to do there except for one thing: Magnetic Hill. Now, apparently, there are a number of "Magnetic Hills" in the world which create the illusion of vehicles defying gravity and coasting uphill. I couldn't resist and I decided to check it out. The instructions were simple, drive down to the "bottom" of the hill at the end of the road, shift your car into neutral, release the brakes, and watch your car roll "backwards" and "up" the hill. Basically, the road is on an upward slant but when you look in your review mirror, you see a small rise and what appears to be the "top" of the hill. As you stare in your rear view mirror it appears that you're rolling towards the "top" when in fact you're rolling downhill. (The Theory of Gravity has not been violated.)

This photo shows a car getting into position -- remember it's actually uphill from viewer's vantage point.

This is what you would see if you stepped out of the car in the above picture and looked back. It looks like it's uphill.

After lunch, I drove across Confederation Bridge into PEI. The bridge itself is an impressive engineering feat -- I'll be taking the ferry back across two days from now so I can appreciate the improved convenience.



The most striking thing about PEI is it's distinctive red soil. In fact, most of the highways seem to have an odd reddish tint to them as a result of this soil being everywhere. I can't wait to see the beaches.

Once in PEI I went to the west end. My guide book recommended the Potato Musuem and, as you all know, PEI is a major grower of potatoes in Canada. Although I was suffering from information overload at the end of it, I managed to learn quite a few things about this important crop. (Fact: It is the fourth most produced crop after wheat, rice, and corn and yet it can be grown in more difficult environments, faster. Fact: The blight that caused the Irish Potatoe famine in the 19th century continues to be a problem to this day. Fact: French Fries aren't fattening, rather, it's the big bun made of high calorie carbs and the huge slab of cow meat that's often served with French Fries that's fattening -- it's twue! I saw it in the museum...).

When I arrived at UPEI I wasn't in the mood to spend the last few hours of the day wandering around in town. I'll save that for tomorrow night. Tomorrow I'll be checking out Green Gables and trying to dodge the hordes of Japanese tourists.