Tag Archives: Pelee Island

This is our last day in Canada for a few days. Tomorrow, we are hoping to go to Cleveland and then we will move up the Lake Erie coast on the American side for a couple of nights (Geneva and Erie) because the distances are shorter. So, my turbo hub and phone will be shut off until I find wifi.

The first picture today was taken at the elementary school.

I wondered about that – seemed pretty radical to have to post a sign like that!

My second picture is of the pheasant farm:

Inside the big cage, are hundreds of pheasants. The cage is huge but is covered with netting. In the fall, all the pheasants are let go and hunted. Apparently, this is quite an event on Pelee Island. I wouldn’t want to be doing yard duty at the school while the hunt was on!

This morning, I went for another bike ride and found some neat things. The next picture is of a giant pile of old grape vines. I am not sure what will be done to them.

I drove around in the centre of the island and found acres and acres of grapes. The winery has over 600 acres. I also found a lot of soya beans being farmed. Pelee Island has a unique climate – it is on the same latitude as northern California and because Lake Erie is so warm, the island is ideal for farming things that are difficult to farm elsewhere in Canada.
As I was driving around, I found an honesty stall of produce (the produce is laid out on a table with a cash box and you are expected to be honest and pay up). Here’s a picture of what I bought (and yes – I was honest!).

We are anchored out on the east side of the island – it was getting too warm at the marina. It is nice here. Cool breeze and good swimming! Tomorrow – Cleveland and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!

Dennis wanted to leave the anchorage bright and early this morning but I slept in until 7:30! I am on holidays after all, so I didn’t feel too guilty. We left as soon as I got up and were tied up at Scudder Marine by 10:00. Dennis got my bike out for me immediately and I drove around the entire island (30 km – very flat and pretty) and did some sightseeing.

The school has nine children from K to 8 (five of the kids are in kindergarten!) and three teachers. The high school kids have to go to the mainland unless they do some distance education and two students are actually getting their high school diploma on-line.

I had to take a picture of the shoe tree – modern art on Pelee Island!

After lunch and a swim at the beach (the water is really warm), we ventured off to the Pelee Island Winery and had the tour! It was very interesting and we sampled five different types of wine. We had to ride our bikes back (another 9 km) and Dennis was a bit whiny because his bike is so small (the wheels are about the size of dinner plates) so I volunteered to drive it back. Huge mistake! I can see why he is so slow getting anywhere – you have to pedal like a crazy person to get anywhere! Needless to say, I won’t be volunteering to do that again. 🙂

As you can see, “Old Pink” has made an appearance…
Anyway, we had lots of fun and I will tour the island again tomorrow before we go back to the anchorage and do some real swimming before we head out to Cleveland early Friday morning.