East Canada trip, Post 2: Prince Edward Island

Our drive from Bar Harbor to PEI took about 8 hours, via very picturesque countryside. I thought Maine was a really pretty state and would love to go back and spend more time exploring New England someday. I particularly liked the cute houses, which I think were Georgian Colonial style.

Our border crossing into Canada at St Stephen, New Brunswick, was the first time we have ever had our car searched. It was a tiny border crossing quite close to the one that everyone else was using (judging by the line-up of cars we saw when we drove past the other one a few minutes later), so I think the staff at ours just wanted something to do!

We crossed from New Brunswick to PEI via the 12.9 km (8 mile) Confederation Bridge: "the world's longest bridge over ice-covered water". The bridge opened in 1997 (click here if you'd like to read about its construction) - before that, ferries were the main option - and you only need to pay the toll ($42.50 per car) when you leave the island. It was dark when we crossed it, but a few days later we would cross it again in daylight, so we did get to enjoy it properly then.

On PEI we stayed with Bayfield and Roma, whose son Garth we met when he was travelling in Australia in 2005. We arrived sometime after 10pm, but had intended to be an hour earlier - we only realised 20 minutes away from their place that we had changed timezones!! We had had quite the experience trying to find somewhere to eat dinner before getting to their home, too - we tried THREE small towns with no success (at 9pm on a Saturday night?!) before we found civilisation again (aka Tim Horton's) in Cornwall.

On Sunday morning we woke up to this view from our bedroom window...





And got to know some of the friendly locals over lunch and dinner around Bayfield and Roma's table. (Note: Bayfield is in the centre of the first photo below, and Roma is wearing red.)





It was a lovely Sunday full of fellowship, food, music, laughter, and new friends!

On Monday we started with a hour or two of wandering around Charlottetown, the capital of PEI. On the way into town, we saw the following roadside stand selling pumpkins and gourds - a frequent sight on our trip since it was pumpkin season!







In Charlottetown, a significant part of Ben's and my time was spent in bookstores. It was such a small town centre that, despite splitting up into our respective couples, we ran into David and Kela about three times!







Square red lights - the green ones were still circular, and the amber ones were either circles or diamonds!



Posters advertising the two Anne of Green Gables musicals (unfortunately the timing wasn't right to see either one during our visit)...





To fill you in on the Anne of Green Gables connection... PEI is where Lucy Maud Montgomery grew up, and it is where she wrote and set the Anne novels. AOGG tourism is huge on PEI - there are the musicals, Green Gables, Lucy Maud's childhood house, the Avonlea village, etc etc! And that brings me to our next destination...

Green Gables! This is not the house where Lucy Maud grew up, but it belonged to her cousins and was walking distance from the home where she was raised by her grandparents in Cavendish. Lucy Maud spent many happy hours there, and it was the inspiration for the Green Gables in her novels. These days it is a National Historic Site, and the house is decorated in the late Victorian style with the various rooms named after the rooms in the books (Anne's room, Matthew's room, Marilla's room, etc).

So here it is - Green Gables!











I got quite wrapped up in watching a spider spin a web on the outside of this window... it was fascinating!







Then we went for a walk down "Lovers Lane"...













Next we drove the short distance to the house where Lucy Maud was raised by her grandparents. Actually, there's no house there - just a hole where it used to be (second photo below). This is where a few of her books, including the first AOGG, were written (she actually wrote about 20 novels, not just the Anne series).

Before we walked to the house site, we listened to a talk by an elderly lady in the bookshop on the grounds. This was especially interesting due to the fact that this lady, Jennie, is married to Lucy Maud's uncle's great-grandson, John Macneill. (Confusing, I know... To put it in different words, Lucy Maud was raised by her grandparents, and in another line of their descendants, John is their great-great-grandson. Or something like that. :P) John and Jennie are the current owners of the site, and it was they who excavated it and turned it into a tourism destination. Jennie actually remembers being at Lucy Maud's funeral, which was in 1942!







The fields Lucy Maud saw from her home...




The nearby house where John and Jennie live...




And the path along which Lucy Maud walked to Green Gables...




Next we drove to North Rustico, where we were to meet Bayfield and Roma for dinner. However, we were quite early, so we drove out along a semi-deserted promontory and saw some PEI red soil, lobster traps, dilapidated buildings, and a cute lighthouse...

























We were still too early for dinner, so we drove around a bit more and came across a goat farm that is home to the Great Canadian Soap Company. Here we met some friendly goats, including three absolutely adorable baby ones who tried to eat my hat and coat (see photos below). SO CUTE - I want goats!! I also bought some "Chocolate Lovers" Moisturising Whipped Shea Butter. It smells so good I could eat it!
















Finally I managed to tear myself away from the baby goats, and it was time to head back to North Rustico for our... lobster supper!! This is a PEI/ Maritimes/ New England tradition that we had all been really looking forward to, and it didn't disappoint! We went to Fishermans Wharf Lobster Supper, which has a 60-foot salad bar, and we each ordered a 1-pound lobster (except Roma, who ordered chicken). It was delicious! It was Bayfield's birthday, too, so the staff sang "Happy Birthday" to him. It was a great night and a fun way to thank Bayfield and Roma for their warm hospitality during the wonderful days we spent with them.







On our way home, we stopped in Charlottetown to watch a PEI-themed audiovisual show that was projected on to the back of Province House ("the birthplace of Confederation"). It was very well done, and a bonus that we could watch it from the warmth and comfort of our car!

Towards the start of the show...

Most of the national anthem at the end of the show (in alternating English and French)...

And that brings me to the end of our 3 nights and 2 days on PEI! The next day we drove all the way across New Brunswick and into Quebec. But I'll save that for the next entry. I hope you enjoyed the blue skies and sunshine in the above photos, because it's the last we saw of them for a week and a half!!

PS. More photos are in our East Canada road trip Picasa album.