Our long awaited dream finally came to fruition! And PEI did not disappoint. It's taken me a month to report on our trip because I have had photo downloading issues since I got a new phone - very frustrating! I finally successfully downloaded all my pictures today and figured out (kinda) the problem. Now I have to play catchup before the holidays descend and our next adventure comes up.
We left early, about 5 am on a Monday morning October 10th I have to digress for a second and say that this is the longest, most colorful autumn I have ever experienced here in New England in my 18 years as a resident and we weren't sure what we would get this year because of the severe drought. In early October, when Gabe arrived, we took her up to Vermont and that state was nearing or at peak in the northern half of the state. It's mid November now and the color is still going as are many flowers in my gardens. Then on our road trip to PEI, we experienced peak fall color in Maine and New Brunswick. The nine+ hour drive was made merry by car snacks (hundreds of ounces of diet soda in huge plastic cups from Irving gas stations) and gorgeous, vibrant color the whole way. After several pit stops, we arrived at our hotel in Charlottetown around 5 pm. We drove across the long 9 mile bridge that connects New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island through heavy, heavy rain and fog that began halfway through New Brunswick and prevented us from seeing both the ocean on either side or PEI in the distance - we just followed the lights of the truck in front of us. The first thing I noticed in PEI when we arrived (and the rain had abated a bit) was that the beach sand, dirt roads and farm fields are all rusty red! After a yummy dinner at our hotel (The Rodd Charlottetown right in the heart of downtown - highly recommended), we explored downtown by street lamp and decided where we would eat breakfast the following day. The PEI tourist website did a great job splitting the island in to three parts with driving routes for each so our plans for covering the island were conveniently made for us.
We listened to french speaking radio stations as we drove the next three days to heighten the sense of PEI foreign-ness - I will describe this land as like one huge farm - the farms never end from corner to corner, down to every shore and all the land in between. Flat to rolling farm land broken up with copses of trees and lakes and ponds and tiny villages and you are always very close to the ocean. The economy is mainly farming (potatoes), fishing (mussels) and tourism. I love the red soil, the super tidy farms and towns and will describe the people as extremely friendly, salt of the earth, plain in dress and somewhat plump. We had a blast and feel like we covered the whole island very thoroughly. We toured a family owned (300 years) woolen mill from their own sheep, bought plenty of wool yarn (well Gabe did), many huge and super thick Kit Kat bars, visited Green Gables of course (walked through the haunted woods, Lover's Lane and stood at the shore of the Lake of Shining Waters), sought out artisans and perused their wares (and made a few purchases) and ate seafood every day. I can't wait to return with Dan next time. Here are quite a few photos to show off the island.
The best seafood chowder I have ever eaten in my life - jersey cream, huge chunks of seafood.
Gabe ate fresh caught mussels every day.
One of so many fishing villages.
Farms rolling to the sea.
Every lighthouse is white with red trim (and there are many)
Because the sand is red, the water takes on the hue where it is shallow.
Following Gabe to one of the hundreds of beaches.
We went in to this fabulous bookstore in Charlottetown every night after dinner - it closed at nine and we would sit and read books until closing.
Above and below - we stopped at a man's house where he has built a village in his back yard out of bottles. Here is the outside of one above and what one looks like inside below.
Where the author of the Anne of Green Gables books grew up - adorable yellow house!
The Lake of Shining Waters near "Anne's house".
All the Catholic churches were white with black trim - so beautiful!
Tiny villages interspersed among the hundreds and hundreds of potato farms.
Walking Lovers' Lane at the Anne of Green Gables Heritage Site
Rusty red everywhere!
Green Gables
Green Gables and Gabe. She was stopped several times to be told she looked like Anne. One woman asked to take a picture of her red hair!
Anne's bedroom.
Our favorite bookstore.
We stopped here in Freeport Maine on the way to PEI. The store has no locks on the doors; it is open 24/7/365 - we were shopping at 6:15 am!
I brought home beach sand, 10 lbs of freshly dug potatoes, fresh butter from happy grass grazed and fed PEI jersey cows and a bag of their Kit Kat bars - enormous bars with double or triple the chocolate coverage. Thank you Gabe for sharing in this great adventure and doing most of the driving between home and PEI. (I did all the driving on the Island to be fair).
My wife and 3 girls still talk about the trip they made there years ago.
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