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Published: October 30th 2011
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Manically trying to recall to Brad the details of the first Anne of Green Gables novels, then the subsequent 7 sequels, we headed towards Prince Edward Island over the controversial Confederation Bridge. And what a bridge it is! Twelve kilometres of concrete over the Northumberland Strait, high in the air too; we were left in awe wondering how it is possible to have that kind of bridge operational in the icy cold winter.
Our first introduction to the ‘potato province’ was a trip through agricultural land (ok- really the whole island is a giant potato farm!) from Summerside to the north-west part of the island. We made it as far as West Point and Cedar Dunes Provincial Park. Somehow in the years since reading Anne of Green Gables, I forgot that PEI is also almost completely red sandy soil. It was awesome to see a red sandy beach (proper sand too) and red sand dunes. From there we headed along the Green Gables scenic drive, through Malpeque (think Malpeque oysters), Darnley, French River and Stanley Bridge (think Lobsters) then onto Mayfield ; all the area where L.M Montgomery was born and inspired to wirte her famous novels. It was impressive
to see the thousands of holiday cottages, bed and breakfasts and campground in this area (often with very kitchy names)– many of them closed for the season. We had lovely warm weather and sunny skies – everyone was saying how much nicer the temperatures and weather was in Sept compared to the whole of summer! Luck of the draw I guess.
We briefly stopped at Green Gables National Historic Site, the preserved house of L.M Montgomery’s cousins, the original; house of green gables. Reflecting back on it, the scenery of this area of PEI is captured so well in the Green Gables books, absolutely how I imagined it. Now I sound like somewhat of a Green Gables fanatic; I’m not, but like millions of girls across Canada and the world, I was definitely hooked, reading and re-reading the novels captured in the story of Anne. Thank you to my friend Sarah, who lovingly shared her books with me!
Onto Prince Edward Island National Park, we were again awed by some fantastic scenery – stunning red sand cliffs, vistas all the way up to coast! We interrupted the wedding photography of a young couple to get our own happy
snaps
We spend the next few nights at a new friend’s house – Stephanie is a friend of my friend Heidi – both girls with hearts of gold. Stephanie opened up the doors of the house she’s living in – the house her grandmother was born in – with its lovely rustic wooden interior, wooden stove and lovely countryside views. We cooked (or watched in awe as she cooked!), talked and hung out and went down to her beautiful rambling vegetable garden. Huge silverbeet, broccoli, tomatoes, fennel, peppers....
The Greenwich section of PEI National Park is very interesting, parabolic sand dune (white sand) ecosystems – so similar looking in structure and form to our dune successional ecosystems on Fraser Island and the Sunshine Coast, instead with cypress trees, lichens and mosses growing on the sand instead of pigface. Very cool! A long walk along the beach is a must do there. The delight of the day was the giant patch of raspberries growing along the track! So delicious
We visited Charlottetown one (rainy) afternoon to the farmers market (highly recommended) for the fall flavours festival – local produce and the sort of thing. Brad enjoyed Rib
fest – a spare ribs cook-off event between all the restaurants in town. We explored the architecture in town, had a beer, then, because we hadn’t had enough to eat, we stopped at Cows Creamery (voted the best in the world for ice cream) before heading home.
Our last night we went for a brisk evening stroll along part of the Confederation Trail near St Stephen’s; more raspberries and blackberries along the track; we also collected some wild apples and foliage to create a fall table decoration. As we headed home for the night through the cemetery and farmers fields, we were followed by two curious foxes, who chased each other and played in the grass! A couple of evening earlier I had noticed one on the back deck – such a stunning animal, beautiful facial features and a lovely bushy tail... enough to make you wish you had your own tail!
We left Stephanie’s feeling very happy and lucky to have met such a wonderful and interesting person (and lovely family and boyfriend as well!). Before catching the ferry to Nova Scotia we did a couple of final hurrahs... we headed to Bison Provincial Park to see
the bison donated to PEI from Alberta in exchange for potatoes... and we stopped on the fishing wharf for a lobster roll. When on PEI....
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