Tip-to-Tip

There's a certain kind of thrill when you can say you've been to the furthest east or the furthest west, or north when you're anywhere, and I did it on Prince Edward Island. When I left home I had no idea that I would even consider doing this, but hey, challenge accepted.

I got up this day and headed west, in search of the West Point Lighthouse. I did know that this lighthouse was the most different of the lighthouses I'd seen so far. It was well worth the extra drive.

The West Point Lighthouse is also an inn! There are two rooms right in the lighthouse itself, and then some other rooms in the adjoining building. The lighthouse was built in 1875 and is the tallest lighthouse on PEI at 67 feet, 8 inches tall. It was a cold and windy day, but the lighthouse against the gray clouds and on the red sand made for some beautiful scenery.

Red ocean waters

West Point Lighthouse

 I did a tiny bit of beachcombing on this beautiful red sandy beach, and found a sweet heart rock. Not a lot of shells and it was too cold to stay out there too long.

The dunes are fragile so you are only allowed to walk on the pavement or the boardwalk, but not on the dunes or the grass around the dunes.

After the refreshing walk on the beach, I decided to have lunch before deciding what to do next. I thought Tip-to-Tip meant the East Point Light to the West Point Light, but I was informed here that the west side of the island's tip is North Cape. I felt a warm meal was in order if I was going to trek further up the coast. I ate at The Catch and I will have to say it was my favorite meal so far. I was the only one in the restaurant for most of my meal, which was nice because I could eat in silence while I looked out the bank of windows onto the harbor.

Grilled shrimp and toast - grilled in garlic and butter

Bacon wrapped scallops and fries. All products are directly from PEI, including the

maple bacon. PEI is known for it's potatoes.

Blueberry cheesecake with caramel and whipped cream.

A perfect meal!

Here's a good map showing the shape of the island. On the right, at the top tip, is the East Point Lighthouse. On the left, at the top tip, is the North Cape Lighthouse. Look directly south of the North Cape Lighthouse, along the coast, to the next yellow dot. That's West Point Lighthouse. You can see the drive I had ahead of me. It's also a good map to show the water . . . and more water, and more water.

Google Maps GPS on my phone has been the absolute best navigator, but even sometimes it gets confused, as is the case in finding the North Cape Light. There are several wind farms on the island and my GPS drove me right to this one. When I figured that I had to try a different route, I did a U-turn around this wind machine and I'll have to say, when I got out to take this picture I was a little freaked out. I could hear the whoosh every time a blade came around. I didn't stay here long!

I finally found the North Cape Lighthouse, which is, as you can see, not open to the public. But the beach around this lighthouse was awesome.

North Cape Lighthouse

All kinds of stacked red rocks along the beach.

Still loving the rugged coastline.

It's always cool to get the picture when the light comes around.

As I was talking to the girl at the North Cape Lighthouse, and getting my ribbon and certificate for achieving the Tip-to-Tip challenge, and getting the final stamp on my lighthouse brochure, she mentioned that her town's lighthouse didn't make the brochure. She's from Tignish, which is about 10 minutes down the road, so I told her I would go there anyway.

Tignish Lighthouse

When I finally got back to Charlottetown, it was beginning to get dark and I wanted to get some pictures of the cool Victorian houses in Old Charlottetown before I left for the mainland.

This on is for sale, right on the water. Wish I could buy it!