Prince Edward Island

Anne of Green Gables – the books and the films by Kevin Sullivan

Go to the lobster dinners!! Eat the mussels, they are to me, the best in the world.

I never thought of it before last year. My parents went and their descriptions, combined with the thought of the amazing fresh shellfish is tantalizing.

to go see all of Anne and Emily’s haunts…

take a walk with the Wind Woman…

and maybe see a red road?

That’s really the only word for PEI…lovely and CHARMING…filled with charismatic gabled houses, beautiful red sand beaches and lush farmland…loved the Charlottetown waterfront – if you’re even in Charlottetown, have the corn and lobster chowder at the Merchantman’s Pub.

All that said, however, it was also incongruently modern…I met two of the creepiest panhandlers I’ve ever encountered while wandering through Charlottetown!

Is there anyone who wants to go here that hasn’t at least heard of Anne of Green Gables? Because I kind of just want to travel to Anne-of-Green-Gables-Land.

I’ve wanted to go to PEI for a long time. My Mom talks about it in the same glowing terms as my Dad talks about St. Andrews. It’s a place that my Mom has dreamed about since she first layed eyes on “Anne of Green Gables”, and her desire to go there has only grown throughout the years. I’m a terrible son if I can’t get her there…

Simply put, I want to fulfill a goal my Mom has had since she was a child.

My family all call this place new ireland, because it’s on the same line as the emerald isle, and the flora is about the same. That and the population is almost 100% irish!

Imagine endless fields of flowers called lupins, little old irish shopkeep lady, wild strawberry fields, lobster at a thousandth of the cost in the states, and beautiful beaches, and about 85 degrees in the summer heat.

I was 13 and had my first kiss there. Since then, it has held a magical place in my heart because it is so beautiful and peaceful.

Y’know, I recommend the island to anyone. I was born there, put up with the tourists (the population during the summer swells as big as 4 times that of the winter), dealt with the snow (I remember snowdrifts ten feet high in the middle of the road and weeks of no school), and handled the lack of “outside” influence. I moved across the country to British Columbia about six years ago and I’ve been kicking myself ever since.

Prince Edward Island is all about the laid back. It’s the kind of place where people stop in the middle of a highway to let you cross. Doors aren’t always locked at night. There is nothing natural that could or would kill you (short of a tree falling on you, of course). In short, the pace of life is much slower, much easier, and much more relaxed.

But I’m no tourist trap. Just telling it like it is.

One last thing: the notion of a unified nation north of the Colonies was first conceived in PEI - birthplace of Confederation. There would be no Canada without Prince Edward Island.