Prince Edward Island

Sigh....writing this post is making we wish I was back on vacation! There's something really special about this little island off the southeastern coast of Canada. It's so pastoral...the landscape is really distinct...rolling farmland, beautiful fields of wildflowers, acres and acres of forest, and a gorgeous coast dotted with red cliffs and soil, lovely beaches, and winding coves and inlets.

This is our second year visiting (click here to see pics from our '08 trip) and before we were even invited by our friends to stay with them last year, I had always wanted to visit PEI. And, once I got there, I wasn't disappointed...we love it there!

The 12 hour drive from just south of Boston is worth it (plus when do you ever get that much time with your husband without a tv and other distractions?! Imagine all the great conversations you can have...believe me, I had a list of things going into the road trip that I wanted to ask him since he was pretty much forced to listen to me!!!). You use to only be able to access the island by ferry, but in '97 they built the Confederation Bridge (the longest bridge over ice-covered waters in the world). This thing is long, 8 miles, so make sure you go stop for a bathroom break before starting over it. And the toll is pretty steep - $42 Canadian on the way back over into New Brunswick- but don't let that stop you.

{image courtesy of Wikipedia}

This year we stayed in a rental house in Red Point, a few miles north of Souris in Kings County. Once we crossed over the bridge onto the island, it was a still another 2 hour drive to get there.



Our friends (thanks again for everything, Doug and Dena!) have rented this house before (although last year we were at a different place) and it is a perfect spot. It's a humongous building, divided into 2 pretty much identical halves, connected in the middle (like a duplex). Each side has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, family room and additional play room/sitting room with a futon. So an awesome set-up for lots of friends or family to stay and still hang out together while having their own side to go back to for privacy.



We were supposed to stay with Doug and Dena and their 2 boys in the left side of the house, but at the last minute, their relatives who were going to stay in the right side of the house had to cancel. Score for us! We got the right-hand side all to ourselves:)

To take the above pic, I'm standing at the stairs to the beach! If I were to turn around and face the water, you'd see this. Not a bad front yard and view, huh?

Down the steps and you're on the beach. Wake up at 10am everyday, coffee on the beach at 10:05am:) Note to self: bringing ground Dunkin' Donuts coffee was a good idea this year, Canadian coffee is just not the same - sorry, Tim Horton!!



At the bottom of the stairs:




So, altogether a pretty sweet set-up. Two firepits (one on the lawn up by the house, and one on the beach....I LOVE SMORES!), a big yard for wiffle ball and hackey-sacking, miles(?) of beach for walking and shell-finding, lots of big red rock and cliffs to climb, and 2 tvs for movie nights:)

Here's a couple of shots of the place at dusk/night:




And now for some random pics of the week:


















One afternoon P and I rented bikes and rode along the Confederation Trail which runs from one side of the island to the other and was built along old abandoned railway lines. Yes, I am a dork and wearing the PEI shirt I bought the day before in Charlottetown. Sympathy please, its hard to look good in a bike helmet!!! Here's some of the sites along the way:












Isn't the island beautiful? Thanks for listening and looking! Definitely let me know if you have any questions about PEI. And stay tuned for a post next week with pics from our afternoon trip to Green Gables, the farm and house that author Lucy Maud Montgomery stayed at and that became her inspiration for the setting of Anne of Green Gables.

{above image from Wikipedia}