The Surprising East Point Drive of Prince Edward Island (PEI)

Our second day of exploring PEI was very different from exploring the day before.  For one thing, it was a beautiful sunny day.  The other thing that was very different was the shoreline.  Something I never expected to see!

Dunes on PEI

Sand dunes!! I just never thought I’d see sand dunes in far northern Canada!  Take a look – doesn’t it look like we’re much further south?  When we walked up the crest of the grass hill, I was shocked at this view!  These are in the Clarence and Alice McEwen Nature Reserve.

Bloom in the Beach Grass

And hidden in the grass were these lovely blooms.  I have no idea what type of flower this is, but it’s so lovely and delicate looking.

St. Peter’s Island Lighthouse and Old Dock

When we were checking out the dunes at the Nature Reserve, we saw a lighthouse from a distance.  We checked out the maps and managed to find the lighthouse for some closer views.  This first view was a treat, and it was interesting to see the remains of the old dock.  Interestingly, it was a dock that was on a bay, not on the ocean.

St. Peter’s Lighthouse and Shifting Sands

You can’t see it in this image, but if you walked up to the green shrubs in the foreground of this image, you would be looking down at some very basic foundation structure for the lighthouse. It was very open and at first we thought there was still work to be done.  However, we happened to meet a woman who lived there (and taught yoga on the beach) & she explained that the dunes are constantly shifting, and they had to build the foundation to allow the sand to come and go.

Shoreline at St. Peter’s Lighthouse

I was blown away by the shoreline at St. Peter’s Lighthouse.  I truly felt like I should be at some southern beach!

East Point Lighthouse

At the far end of our drive sat the East Point Lighthouse.  There was a lovely little restaurant right next to the lighthouse where we had lunch.  Miki was with us and was a hit with the other tourists, too.

End of the World

This was the furthest east point on PEI.  Obviously someone decided to have some fun with that fact!  It’s not really the furthest east that we were in Canada.  When we were on the Cape Breton Trail, we were further east than this, but it’s a fun little sign anyway!

Shoreline at East Point

This was another lovely shoreline on PEI.  It wasn’t the sand dunes any longer, but it wasn’t exactly craggy cliffs either!

Colors on PEI

As we continued our explorations, we visited another provincial park and saw some lovely lupine blooms.  Their vibrant colors, the water, and the sky made for a great shot.  I didn’t actually lay down on the ground to get this shot, but it was close!

Souris Historic Lighthouse

This was the last scenic stop on our explorations of the east side of PEI.  I really loved the way the low clouds and the fact that I was down on the docks from the lighthouse created this very cool shot! I’m not certain we were supposed to be there, but I’d rather ask forgiveness than permission!

Enjoy!

Early Morning at White Sands

One morning on our most recent camping trip, we visited White Sands early in the morning.  There’s something about the light in the early morning that makes everything softer, yet crisper, if that makes any sense….

Path Thru the Dunes

The first place we walked was in an area called “Dune Life” or something like that.  It’s the place where you see the most natural plant growth in White Sands.  This was a sort of path that took us deeper into the part of the Dunes where we’d see plant life…..

White Sands Fall Color

And, since we were there during the fall, it only makes sense that we’d see some fall color, right?  Somehow, I hadn’t really expected to see actual fall color, but this shrub surprised me!.....

Drifting Dunes

After we left the “Dune Life” path, we drove along the road that took us further into the Dunes.  The plant life became sparser, and the dunes more prominent.  This was the 3^rd or 4^th visit to White Sands, and, altho at first one thinks nothing can really change, because it’s “only” sand dunes, in fact, the wind that carries over the dunes is re-sculpting the dunes all the time…..

Sign of Man

At first glance, all one tends to see are the curves and lines formed by the shifting sands, but when you look a bit closer, you can see the footsteps of another explorer to this ever-changing, but unchanging place….

Sun on the Dunes

In this image, you can see the textures created by the wind across the dunes, and if you look really closely, you can see a small tiny dot just off to the left of where the sun’s rays reach the furthest toward the dunes – it’s another intrepid explorer – who knows how far away…..

Mountain Peeking

And, throughout this posting, you’ve seen some mountains off in the distance.  In this image, you can see just the tops of the San Andres Mountains peeking over the dunes.  But, between those mountains and White Sands National Monument is White Sands Missile Range.  And, check out the texture of the sand that you can see in the foreground of these images….

Amazing Textures

Speaking of texture on the sand, check out this collection of images showing textures that we saw on this morning visit!  Many are driven by the wind across the dunes, but the additional textures you can see in the middle and right images were caused by some small creature traveling across the sand.  Again, another surprise, in a way.  You just don’t think of much living in this environment.  Oh, and by the way, one closing tidbit of information.  I’ve been referring to the sand dunes – but, truly, they aren’t sand, the white “sand” is actually gypsum!  Somehow gypsum dunes doesn’t quite have the ring that sand dunes does!

Enjoy!