So Much to Do...

Seriously, this island is tiny. I mean, compared to Ontario? Or Quebec? Or even Michigan. It's minute. It's small. It's...full of stuff to do. Even now, in COVID-time, there's lots to do, if you know where to go.

We went to Slemon Park near Summerside yesterday; there's a little outdoor aircraft museum honoring the old military base. There are three planes parked there: A Voodoo, an Argus, and a Tracker. The Voodoo was the RCAF's interceptor; it's the plane I remember my father flying when he was in the Air Force. The Argus was an anti-submarine patrol plane, carrying 15 crew and enough fuel to fly for a thousand miles and stay on station for eight hours before returning. That's a lot of diesel. The Tracker was a mini-Argus, basically, with only four crew that flew off aircraft carriers. Here's a Voodoo; I thought it was the coolest plane in existence when I was a kid.

Well, we spoke with Dad while we were there, and it turns out that my father actually flew in the Voodoo and the Argus that are parked here in Summerside. Those actual planes! He recognized their ID numbers on the fuselage; that's quite the pile of awesome right there. My son was giddy about it while he was talking with Grandpa, asking him all sorts of questions.

We also went to Jacques Cartier Provincial Park, which it turns out is a campground. It's closed for the season (and for COVID, most likely), but we went in anyway. We had to walk, since the driveway was chained off. But it was worth it. We stood where Cartier stood 486 years ago when he first set foot on the island, the first European to ever do so. I mean, that's historical. Literally. There's a statue commemorating the landing; here's Tanner standing beside it.

I bought a map at a bookstore in Charlottetown last weekend; we're highlighting the places we visit while we're here. And there are a LOT of places to visit. Seriously, there's enough to do here that we could spend the rest of our lives on this island and not run out of things to do and places to visit. It's crazy. But, it's going to be awesome.

There's one other thing to mention about our stop at the park: This picture.

If you look closely, you'll see that this is a man-made structure. Or at least, what's left of one. It's not very big; as you can see in the first one, it's probably not more than eight feet in length, and three or four feet wide. I have no clue what it might have been, but I'm sure there's a fascinating story there. And if there isn't, I'll make one up.