Yet Another Post About PEI!

Okay, so I know Jeni and Sarah already took their turn writing about our fabulous trip so I'll try to keep it short. We were all supposed to write about our favorite part of the vacation, but really the whole thing was great. So I am just posting a few of my favorite pictures (no particular order). 

This is a picture of one of the many lighthouses on the island. I think this is the one at North Rustico. 

This is some broken down walkway (I'm sure there's a real word for it, but I don't know it). It was pretty fun to walk on it with the ocean waves crashing around us. 

This is at the lookout of a non-working lighthouse at Spinnaker's Landing. Spinnaker's was one of my favorite places. Fun shopping, nice people, and a pretty view of the ocean. Did I mention I love shopping? That was one of my favorite things. 

This is my favorite picture of Jeni. She looks like an angel. Her halo is just a bit crooked. 

Another one of my favorite things about the trip was driving. I have decided that my next vehicle is going to be a fully loaded - sun roof and all - Ford Escape. I loved driving it! 

Okay, this is was a really cool walkway through some sand dunes...mostly wetlands. The bridges were awesome. They were built in short segments that are anchored to the ground, but still float on the water. They were so cool to walk on, kind of scary at first. 

Okay, this is another awesome wood plank bridge that we got to drive over. 

The potato fields were so beautiful! They were everywhere and the potatoes there taste amazing! I hate to say it because I am an Idaho girl, but they taste better than Idaho potatoes. 

Allisun, this picture is for you. This is the Lake of Shining Waters. 

PEI has tons of little shops. Sometimes they are just in people's yards, like this sweater shop. I don't have a picture of the best shop we saw, but I am going to attempt to explain it. We were on the beach and there was a small white trailer with turquoise trim with a small shack built around it. They were selling homemade fudge from this interesting building. It seriously was not even as big as a one room apartment. 

Those were some of my favorite things about PEI. One other thing, no one was ever in a hurry to do anything - including getting out of bed. YEAH! Unfortunately it was one of the only times in my life I couldn't sleep past 7:30. 

Crystal

The Land of Anne

I had been looking forward to this vacation for a long time. I started planning it two years ago. This winter we finally said: “This is the summer. We are going to make it happen. The five of us are going to have a girls’ trip to Prince Edward Island.” It turned out to be good timing. This June was the centennial anniversary of the printing of Anne of Green Gables. So, I booked tickets and made lodging reservations to make the plans absolutely final. I spent a lot of time looking at the PEI tourism website and thumbing through vacation planning brochures. As it turns out, we only did a few of the activities available, but the planning was fun.

So with all of that anticipation I am having a difficult time deciding what my “favorite thing” is.
I loved spending time with Mom and Jessica and Jeni and Crystal, of course. I also loved the pastoral feel of the island, the slower pace, and the quaint ambience of an island protecting and preserving the past, particularly the past of Lucy Maud Montgomery.

While Jeni will probably have you believing that we did nothing but pay homage to Lucy Maud Mongtgomery, I really only planned one L.M. Montgomery or Anne of Green Gables activity a day. Actually, one day they decided we could do two.

We had a wonderful tour of L.M. Montgomery’s birthplace home at Clifton Corner. The docent there was excellent and gave us a good introduction to Lucy’s life. I loved seeing many of Lucy’s scrapbooks on display. It was interesting to see her collages of cats, flowers, and fashion plates and to read the stories she liked and had clipped out of magazines. There was one that told a legend of the first kiss. I couldn’t read it, but I wondered how much it had influenced her telling of the first kiss in The Story Girl. I was also intrigued by a video and display we saw later at Green Gables, “Imagining Anne,” that described how the pieces gathered in Lucy’s scrapbooks were later incorporated into the creation of the character Anne.


Later in the week we had a nice walk from the McNeil Cavendish home site, through the Haunted Woods to Green Gables.

“The peace and quiet of this dear old spot is very sweet to me. There is no place on earth I love, or will ever love as I do it.” – L.M. Mongtomery

“I can’t go through the Haunted Wood, Marilla … I would be sure that white things would reach out from behind the trees and grab me.” Anne of Green Gables, Chapter 20, “A Good Imagination Gone Wrong.”

“To the west a dark church spire rose up against a marigold sky. Below was a little valley, and beyond a long, gently-rising slope with snug farmsteads scattered along it. From one to another the child’s eyes darted, eager and wistful. At last they lingered on way away to the left, far back from the road, dimly white with blossoming trees from the surrounding woods.” Anne of Green Gables, Chapter 2, “Matthew Cuthbert Is Surprised.”

What girl wouldn’t have fun on a dream vacation like this? At the end of the day, we did Mom’s favorite thing: we went back to our little yellow cottage overlooking the ocean. The cottage was such a tranquil spot that Mom just wanted to sit on the porch and look around her all day long.

I’ve enjoyed every minute of the time. I don’t see how I am ever to return to common life again.

Sarah

Just us Girls!

It's been awhile now, but all of us girls just went to Prince Edward Island (P.E.I). Talk about fun!  We of course we're the loudest people in the airport and created quite the scene.  It's no wonder the boys didn't want to come.

"I think I would probably come to the conclusion that I'd like it for awhile...but in the end, I'd still prefer the sound of the wind in the firs across the brook than the tinkling of crystal." Anne ShirleyThis picture was taken from a moving vehicle...pretty good huh? But this was the view everywhere you looked.  The scenery was amazing.  I loved it when Sarah let us venture away from the Anne of Green Gable sights and see the ocean, sand dunes and wetlands!

I wish I were rich, and could spend the whole summer at a hotel, eating ice cream and chicken salad." Diana

I'm with Diana.  I love ice cream, and I'm pretty sure they have the best ice cream in the world, and believe me I've tasted a lot of ice cream.  Our favorite treat was Cow's ice cream. They had flavors such as Walnut Moople, Mooie Gooie, Wowy Cowy...this contributed to our 10 lb weight gain, and the fact that my pants no longer fit.  But it was so worth it!

"Ruby Gillis says when she grows up, she want to have a line of beaus on a string and make them crazy for her.  I'd rather have ONE in his rightful mind" Anne

Well, while we're still looking for one in their right mind I'm glad we took the time to be together, it is seriously one of the best places to visit.  And although our airport experience could very well have been "...the most tragical thing that has ever happened to me [us]." Anne (this could be blog all of it's own) It was super FUN!!!!

-Jeni