The Grand Canadian/
American Adventure
Day Seven Anne of
Green Gables Country, Prince Edward Island
PEI has been blessed in the last couple of weeks to have
been visited by some couples of note. First Will and Kate and now us, mind you
I am a little disappointed that there are still signs up that say “Welcome Will
and Kate” but none that say “Welcome the Nightingales”
Day seven and a change of pace. Today we spent a relaxing
day driving through the rolling hills and along the cost of Prince Edward Island.
PEI as it’s known is Canada’s smallest province being only 224 Km long and
ranging in width between 6 and 64 Km, we restricted ourselves to the central
part of the island and more specifically the North. The reason for this being,
that that is where the books Anne of Green Gables are set. These are favourites
of Michelle’s since childhood, so she was keen to see the area. PEI is very
different form the other provinces we have visited so far, it is a land of red
soil and rolling green fields. Because of the soil it is a great location to
grow vegetables, particularly potatoes. The other staple of PEI is seafood,
lobster and clams; this is in evidence by the many small fishing hamlets that
dot the coast and the smell in downtown Summerside.
We started the morning off by walking along the boardwalk at
Summerside, here we finally got to put Ryan in stocks, but he somehow managed
to escape. Leaving Summerside we ventured North. First stop the Anne of Green Gables Museum.
Here Chelle bought Tash an abridged version of “Anne of Green Gables” which she
was to devour before we made it back to the farm tonight. Then an unusual
sight, for those of you that believe in conspiracy theories and don’t believe
the space shuttle “Columbia” disintegrated on re-entry. I can confirm it is
still intact and that it landed at a secret landing site on Prince Edward
Island and is now the star attraction at an adventure park and I have the
photos to prove it.
Moving along the coast after lunch, we came across the
Village of Green Gables or Avonlea as it is called in the books. This is a collection of buildings, some
preserved and some replica, that bring to life the spirit of the area the
stories are set in. In the village is the original school house that Lucy Maud
Montgomery taught at. Chelle has decided
she wants her room back at St Thomas’s set up the same way mind you I don’t
think her two students would agree. Roaming the village were actors cast as
characters from the book, who at times during the afternoon acted out set pieces
from the stories. At this they were very good, Natasha particularly loved it. We had only pulled over at the last minute to
have a look at this place as, as we have found out on this trip attractions are
not well sign posted in Canada and we nearly drove past it. Anyway we ended up
spending the whole afternoon there even Ryan said he enjoyed himself.
From Green Gables Village we moved further along the coast
to Charlotte town the provincial capital of PEI, we did a quick whirlwind tour
of its downtown before heading back, again it looks an interesting place.
Charlottetown is the birth place of the Confederation. It is the place were
some prominent Canadian statesmen came together in 1864 to debate the proposed
Canadian Federation. Wiki tells me that its population is only about 58,000, slightly
half of the provinces total so as you can see not a very big place.
Anyway tomorrow from rolling hills to the rugged Nova Scotia
coast.
