Work brought me to the mainland in June and since we were still having such garbage weather, I decided to leave the island for a little longer than work required.

Riding the bus from Halifax's airport, I got off in Sackville New Brunswick to ride their skatepark for the first time.

My third New Brunswick skatepark would rank below the impressive parks in Moncton and Saint John, but Sackville's park was still pretty good for a town of 5300. It had a number of unique ramps to avoid that all too familiar pitfall, where the Canadian Ramp Company sells the same 5 ramps to every town with a $50,000 budget.

I'd give Sackville a 5.5/10.

Back in Corner Brook they were talking about how you can't write off a summer until the cold, miserable weather continues past Canada Day. So you can imagine how the sweet, muggy evening in Sackville was hitting me.

It's crazy the difference a few kilometers over the open Atlantic Ocean will do.

Following Sackville, I rode the bus over to Amherst and then transferred up to Charlottetown to go visit my friend Christian.

As there's a strong possibility he's about to leave this familiar house in current day 2020, I'm more sentimental towards these pictures than those times where I assume my friends are always going to stay in the same place forever.

Christian was excited to try the new Mexican joint for lunch, but it was decidedly mediocre.

It closed about a year later.

I don't know remember why we went out this night, but it ended up at some weird, porch-like room hanging off the back of the bar, with a guy in a trendy cowboy hat.

The next morning we ate at the familiar Hunter's Ale House, where the breakfast poutine special they had deserves mention here. It was just a tad heavy though, haha.

Christian had a surprise after breakfast as he magically learned how to drive since my last visit!

There's something strange about the feeling when someone who drives rarely drives you some place, let alone someone who has never driven you before. And while Christian was a little tight with his bumper-to-bumper distancing from the cars ahead of us, he was otherwise great as he delivered us right to our lighthouse destination.

Almost all the way to the village of Georgetown, after passing turns for Brudenell and Montague, we pulled north on Morrisons Beach Road after a pleasant 45-minute drive through unremarkable scenery from Charlottetown.

This short beach road ended at a brackish pond and riverside beach, with the driveway to a little cottage community to our left. The Cardigan River Lighthouse is the central fixture of this community, and seeing as there weren't the typical 'Private' and 'No Trespassing' signs you often see at cabin communities, we figured we posed no harm and pulled right in.

Gregarious Christian chatted up some fellow who was cutting his grass nearby, who amazingly just so happened to be the guy who rescued this lighthouse. Turning off his riding mower, the man broke down the history and current state for us, while also telling us to check out the inside, much to our pleasant surprise.

Constructed in 1883, the lantern would appear green at sea or white if you were in the harbour (seeing the white light meant that it was safe to anchor). By 1926, another light was installed on the Cardigan River ferry wharf, making this a set of range lights.

I found it funny that I was visiting yet another range light with Christian, wishing that I had a nickel for every time I've had to explain how ships would know they were following the route of safe passage by lining up the front range light and the back range light.

In 1967, the front lighthouse on the wharf was removed and the Cardigan River Range Lighthouse went back to being the Cardigan River Lighthouse. It was only in service for a few more years at most though, before it was also discontinued and then became a hangout for local youths.

Fearing that the lighthouse would eventually meet its demise by way of the flame, Rosemary and Paul Batchilder stepped in to purchase and move the lighthouse down the river to its current location. (A process that involved one bulldozer getting stuck in the thick PEI muck and then having to get a second bulldozer to come and free the lighthouse and the first bulldozer.)

The Batchilders have since gifted the lighthouse to their daughter, who has renovated it into a personal cottage that she may rent out in the future. If I may say so myself, the Batchilders have done some nice, authentic work on the outside, keeping with a traditional lighthouse look.

The downstairs had everything you would need with a mini-fridge and a small gas stove, while the upstairs had a comfy bed where Christian and I laughed at the thought of renting this cabin and our two large selves trying to sort out foot/leg placement in the 90-degree corner.

If you know your Navdawg trivia enough to know I like this lighthouse's namesake band, then yes, know that I did think of that while here. Although I thought of it more during my first trip to PEI, when I was looking for a place to sleep and randomly found myself in the town of Cardigan.

We were only about 5 minutes from Georgetown and having never been there - and Christian saying it was worthwhile - we popped into the small village.

And holy moly. Look at this old Anglican Church!

In a pleasant chain of events, after Georgetown officials told the province that this church needed to be torn down, the province instead promised to preserve this historic structure that's one of the ten oldest churches on the island. Good on 'em!

(Although Georgetown did try to tear down this church, the town itself has enough gorgeous old architectural stock that it's worth a visit. If you're over by Cardigan or Souris, you should pop in. Christian and I enjoyed some ice creams along the main street, lol.)

We'd celebrate a fine day by actually going to a party. And you already know I was loving being in some random backyard in some random provincial capital.

Good ol' King Street right down in the heart of Charlottetown.

Following the weekend in Charlottetown, I flew down to Windsor and checked on the Tigers schedule. Clarkson had recently told me about how he will drive 4 hours down from Barrie to watch the Tigers play in the afternoon, just to turn around and drive 4 hours back to Barrie once the game concludes.

And wouldn't you know it, there was an afternoon Tigers game this week!

Time for outdoor pints in the Windsor heat at the old Wolley Bulleys before catching the tunnel bus. This would definitely do.

It's been about 15 years since I'd visited Comerica, so coming back was strange in that I should know this park, but it was almost like going to a new stadium.

It was actually more like the feeling I had going to Citi Field after a 6 year hiatus, or going back to Wrigley 8 years later.

I had some recollection of watching Dontrelle Willis dominate here while on a date in 2004(?), or the time the Roachs and I won a free slice of pizza, but nowadays places like Oakland or Philadelphia feel more like my home ballpark as I go to them more often than Comerica.

Following the game, we stopped for one last beer before hitting the ol' highway 2 back towards my parents' place. Except I told Clarkman to just keep driving, as I was having too good of a time and didn't want this day to end. I would catch a train back from London.

Clarkman had brought a buddy from work & I was wondering what he thought of such a decision, haha.

Clarkman was a good sport and dropped me off at the train station in London, even after I only made this decision in Puce and made him drive a half dozen kilometers out of the way.

The drive from the Puce exit to London flew by, but at the same time, I was so set on savouring it, that it felt worthwhile and long enough.

At the London train station, I grabbed a ticket and waited around for about an hour before I could board a train back to Windsor, eventually rolling off back to the southwest with a satisfied grin and bleary eyes. Once back in Windsor, I grabbed a cab at 12:30 at night and then headed back in the direction of London, back to Belle River.

They should reintroduce train service in places like BR for times like this. Jeez!

Donnie and I had our customary Taco Bell and the only other picture I have from Windsor is the golden light hitting a building in Walkerville with the reflection showing the old Walkerville Post Office. We parked there and went to the Victoria Tavern, then met up with Steve & Jackie for Dominion House, and also got Frenchy's poutinerie along the way.

The next day I'd head over to Detroit early, even with Nailhed still at work, so that I could walk around and check on some stuff.

Except that it's the New Detroit, where even sad, little Cesar Chavez Academy was sealed as if Mike Duggan was storing the Hope Diamond inside. And by the time I made it to the Franklin School on foot, the suffocating humidity had me doing an about-face back towards Corktown.

Nailhed would pick me up & figured I'd want to see how incredibly Delray had changed in recent months. Pulling up to South & Reid to take some pictures of the sea of cleared lots, I couldn't quite place where we were anymore, but looking at Google StreetView, we were right by the familiar South Rademacher Recreation Center that was a landmark of our days and nights in Delray.

All flattened in the name of the new Gordie Howe Bridge. Damn.

That was a bit sad, but after cutting up a downed tree in a nearby abandoned lot, we now had some firewood for a small bonfire. In this 90-degree heat, the bonfire was mostly for ambiance obviously.

We were also about to imbibe in luxurious 1738 Remi Martin, which may confuse you when I'm normally posting about Steel Reserve 211 or 3-for-$5.99 malt liquor deals. Well as it turns out, Nail came into a bit of money at work and after continually listening to his colleagues carry on about 1738, he decided that some of this new money would be spent on cognac. I just so happened to show up at the perfect time!

I have to admit it's a bit weird that Nailhed now knows things like 1738 and Lil Wayne lyrics, but it's clearly paying dividends.

Seventeeen thirrrrrty eight! And since Steve asked, no it didn't make my eye go lazy.

Ahhh, to sweet summer days!

Ah, crap.

Okay, back to fog and drizzle and such.