One of the greatest things about living in the Moncton, New Brunswick area is that we can go for a weekend trip in PEI, Nova Scotia or New Brunswick. With family on vacation in PEI we decided that it was time to return to the island we barely visited and meet up with G and C who were camping at The Borden-Carleton KOA.
PEI is one Maritime province we still have to discover and we had an awesome trip with lots of discoveries and laughter. As if we didn’t have enough books on our to read list, now we just added Anne of Green Gables.. whew another 8 books!
On our tour of the Central Coastal drive we could have stopped many times as we passed lots of photography opportunities and this one looking out over French River was not to be missed.
During our 2 hour of visit at The Ann of Green Gables historical site, we were able to watch the short introductory movie, visit the house and walk the 3 main trails, Balsam Hollow, Lover’s lane and Hunted Woods. At 5 O’clock we almost got kicked out and it was the perfect time to snap those perfect pictures of the house and gardens.
We stayed overnight at the Cavendish Resort motel that was nothing to write home about but it was clean and we were able to get a good night sleep. They have free family passes to the Ann of Gables Site and we took advantage of this perk.
On the next day, we headed towards Charlottetown, still on the scenic drive route, passing through PEI National Park and Cavendish Beach. The sand dunes were like gigantic snowbanks and and few were adventurous enough to swim, even though the sea was calm, it was a little on the chilly side.
Then it was off to the Acadian site of Farmer’s Bank and the Doucet House, after a quick stop in North Rustico at the bay where the hiking trail reminded me of our Riverfront park in Riverview.
The museum at the Farmer’s bank was where the first Caisse Populaire / Credit Union started. Our guide at the Jean Doucet’s house let us pick some fresh herbs and in return I pulled a few weeds. There was a lot of people gathered as it was the annual Acadian Festival in Rustico. Dami had some hot dogs courtesy of the Lions Club.
We stopped in Charlottetown where we had a late picnic lunch in Victoria Park next to a family event with a concert, big inflatable toys for kids, a petting zoo and Police cars. We were lucky enough to find a parking space close to a picnic table and brought our kitchen stuff to make a nice salad from scratch and receive G&C in style!
We ended the day with the 3.4 km Heritage walk that we did counterclockwise starting at the information center. I wish there would have been a descriptive guide available as we had lots of questions with few answers. We were surprised to see a Harbor Hippo! It’s an amphibious bus, and Mama D and I rode one in Halifax, NS and Victoria, BC. Charlottetown, PEI is beautiful and we hope to visit again soon.
We had an awesome walk with G&C chatting with many laughs as usual. Hopefully we’re able to visit the West and East portions of the island this summer. It’s too bad the Province House was closed.
