Vacation road trip memories

Because most of my family was born in Prince Edward Island(with the exception of me, who was born, bred and raised in Ontario...My parents moved before they had me), we spent two weeks of our summer each year on the Island....In July or August, depending on when my parents booked their vacation, we packed up the car the night before, and got up around 4am, and hit the road.....In the beginning, it was roughly about 20 hours from Brampton....that was before new highways and shortcuts......We used to stop the night, and then we were on the Island by around 3 the next day....taking into account the time change.....For those of you who don't know, Ontario and PEI are in different time zones, so there is an hour difference...

When I first moved to Moncton, I realised that I really knew nothing about the Hub City....The most familiar sites I saw when travelling past on the Trans Canada are still there including these...They have changed since the many years ago when I first saw them..They can be found on Magnetic Hill.....just take that exit  and you're right there....

I don't know how long the McDonald's and gas station have been there, but it's long enough that I remember when I used to beg my parents to stop for something to eat on our travels....And when we passed that mark on the highway, I always knew we weren't too far from our destination.....Prince Edward Island was ultimately where we wanted to go, but it was the Northumberland Ferry I was shooting for......I sometimes miss the boat....The Confederation Bridge is exciting...but only for the first few times.....whereas on the boat there was always something new....You could sit indoors and have a bite to eat....or you could go out on deck, and look out at the water...When I was younger, I didn't have a problem standing on the rails looking over....Now, many years later, I don't like to look down into the water...fears of falling or something..It's kind of silly..

This is a photo of one of the ferries I found online.....

Mid-summer, depending on the time of day we arrived at the ferry, we sometimes had to wait for hours because of the number of cars lined up to crossover to PEI....The ferry certainly added time to the trip, taking over a hour to cross from Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick to Borden, Prince Edward Island.....but for those who had never made the trip, I imagine it added a little bit more adventure....After a long drive from Ontario to PEI, it gave the driver a bit of a break......

For those who got seasick, I can bet it wasn't that exciting...but I just loved it as a child......

The Confederation Bridge had its 15th year anniversary this year...Hard to believe it has been that long since we started crossing that bridge....

Back to Magnetic Hill....Found the website on the legend, and how it got started....

You can check it out by going to this link, http://www.magnetichill.com/english.htm

"Stories about a strange road where the wagon would run up on the horses heels when going uphill go back to the 1880's. In 1933 stories of cars rolling uphill without power peaked the curiosity of three newspaper reporters from the Saint John Telegraph Journal. In August of 1933 they traveled to Moncton and spent hours trying every hill they came to in hopes of unraveling the mystery. After 5 hours of no success they stopped to stretch their legs on the way home and you guessed it. . . the car started to roll uphill. "   

Tourists are still paying to check it out to this day....

While on our travels, we took some pics from the Hill...What a view....The homeowners up there are VERY lucky! 

I also grabbed a couple of shots of Casino NB on our way back on Mountain Road..