Driving through PEI to visit my 2nd and 3rd favourite red heads

---

Woke up that morning and my roommates were still sleeping so I slipped out of the room quietly. Reception recommended a small diner nearby for breakfast. The food was not really that good and I believe they gave me old eggs as well 😞. I quickly packed a day pack with what I would need for my day in PEI.

I went to Budget rent a car to get my small car which turned out to be a Fiat 500. I have never driven a 2 door car before so it took some getting use to but I made it out of Halifax without any problems. On the highway the Fiat didn't have a great deal of acceleration so I will have to remember that. To make sure I wouldn't get lost I brought my GPS from home. Drive to PEI came with a good view and the traffic was light so I made good time.

The confederation bridge connects New Brunswick to PEI and is the longest over water that gets covered in ice. The cost to drive across the bridge is $44 and is payable when you leave the island. Once I reached PEI I stopped at the visitor center because my GPS got me to the island but could not find Cavendish which is where Anne of Green Gables house was. After getting some advise and directions from the nice people at the visitor center I was off to see my first red head, Anne of Green Gable.

PEI has some interesting animal farms including one that seemed to have Donkeys, Llamas, Cows and goats all in the same field. Cavendish is a small town but the route to Anne of Green Gables is well marked out. Takes about 40 minutes once you reached the island to get to Anne of Green Gables house and some of the roads are fairly winding.

I pulled into the parking lot of the Anne of Green Gables and it was crowded with a mixture of families, tourist groups and individuals. The Anne of Green Gables house is a park so you pay $7.80 to Parks Canada when you enter. I went first to the gift shop because I promised my friend Christine to try and find a commemorative coin and poster. I went around but couldn't find it and I found out that what she wanted was actually from the movie so was only available through the movie companies and online. The gift shop has basically everything else you can want concerning the story. There was even trademark hats with Anne's trademark hair as well. I ended buying a Canadian coin celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the story.

I had read Anne of Green Gables and only the 1st book many years ago so when I planned my trip to the east coast I was definitely going to see the house. I wished I had reread the books though so I would have everything fresh in my mind. There was a farm with some plastic animals and basically all the farm equipment from Cavendish for that era. I was hungry so I got some ice cream from the café. I wandered through the lawn and gardens around the house before heading inside. Parks Canada had a person inside who gave you directions and answered any question you wanted in both French and English.

The house is authentic and a good representation of the story. You couldn't really touch anything because it was all roped off so I took pictures and just stared at everything. I went outside after that and I saw there was a hiking trail so I went on it and I actually passed over the bridge that is important in the story and the movie but since I had reread the story I completely forgotten the significance of it and did not take pictures of it.

Hiking paths was enjoyable and I made good time on the 1 and some odd kilometer path. Got back in my car after that and drove towards Charlottetown. I hadn't done a lot of research into Charlottetown so I was not sure what I was going to see. I had forgotten to input the address for the visitor center but luckily once I got into town there were clear signs to the visitor center. Once I got into parking I saw it was right on the waterfront which was the one place I had look into. It was fairly stormy that day so a boat cruise was out of the question. I had considered doing a lobster boat ride to get my own lobster but the size of the waves precluded that. There wasn't a lot to do in Charlottetown actually and I ended up wandering around the shops and eating a lobster that afternoon. Lobster was tasty and it was nice of them to crack it open for me as I always trouble with opening up lobsters. After that I sat back and wondered what else to do but I couldn't come up with anything so I headed back towards Nova Scotia.

Nicest view I had of whole this trip was going over the Confederation bridge on the way back. It was a clear view of the Northumberland strait. I made it back to Nova Scotia and dropped off my car back at the Budget Rental location. A few days later I would find out there had been a $500 charge applied to the rental because the person who checked in my car had put in the wrong location code. A quick call to budget got that corrected.

I had no plans for that evening so I went back to the hostel and ate some mussels with Sharyn (Australia, Toronto) and an English couple Lee, Gina (England). It was tasty and even had wine in it. A Spanish woman whose name I have forgotten ate with us as well. She was very interesting and told us some interesting stories about Catalonia and travelling. Lee and Gina were two of my roommates and had been travelling around for some time. I always admired people like that who can just pack up everything and travel the world. After finishing off the mussels we went into the TV room and watched the movie Hook on VHS tape. 2 guys from Hamilton joined us for movie watching. I have watched Hook before but I had forgotten that it had so many stars in it. We spent a lot of the movie just trying to figure out the stars who were in it and where we had seen them before. I was surprised the actress who played Wendy was actually the same woman who played Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter. After the movie and before I went to sleep we spoke with another woman who can I only describe as an old hippie lady. She had to be in her late 50's or 60's and was from Calgary. She looked like an old traveler as well and I hope to be like that someday graying and full of stories. Meeting new people is the reason I stay in hostels and travel around so it was a good day.

Tomorrow would be my last day in Halifax and I had a walking tour and Alexander Keith's along with watching Shakespeare by sea with Lee, Gina, and Sharyn.

2 Red Heads = Anne of Green Gables, Lobster

---

Photos

Fiat 500
Ok to drive when you rent but I wouldn't buy one.

Charlottetown Lobster
Served cold but still good

Good People
I wanted to meet these people and hear their story