Prince Edward Island
It’s been twelve years since our last trip to PEI, which was such a short trip we couldn’t remember much of what we did. This time we had a full week to discover the island and all it has to offer. It’s a long drive from Bangor to PEI so we overnighted in Moncton and spent the next morning visiting Kouchibouguac National Park before driving to Charlottetown. The beautiful sand beaches at the park makes this a popular destination for beach lovers!
Our first day in PEI we wanted to visit Anne of Green Gables Museum which we thought would be super busy because of it’s popularity, but it turns out the original house of LM Montgomery and the setting for Anne of Green Gables isn’t that popular but the Heritage Place is! We discovered this place when we drove up to Prince Edward Island National Park, and appears to be where all the tourists and busses go. The house and farm were a much more enjoyable visit and well worth a stop.
Prince Edward Island National Park is located on the north shore of PEI and is divided into three sections, the Cavendish-North Rustico, Brackley-Davlay and Greenwich areas. We decided to only explore the first two and I think my favorite was the Brackley-Davlay area which has a great walking and biking paved trail along the beach.
On our way back we decided to visit Island Hill Farm which I think was the highlight of the trip! All sorts of farm wildlife to play with and great ice cream!
We had beautiful weather our entire trip except for the day we decided to explore Charlottetown and it poured all morning. Luckily we got a nice walk in around Victoria Park before it started raining. I did manage to get in a little book shopping at The Bookman and The Bookmark, conveniently located almost right across the street from each other.
There are no major highways on the island, so driving places takes a bit longer, but the scenery is breathtaking and makes it well worth it. We were amazed at the amount of farmland! We now know why PEI’s nickname is the Garden of the Gulf. Far up on the northwest tip of the island near Tignish is the North Cape Wind Interpretive Center which is well worth a visit. The exhibits in the museum are great and there is a nice walking trail that takes you near some of the windmills with nice views of the ocean.
On or last day we explored the east side of the island; we started at the Orwell Corner Historic Village. We picked a beautiful day to explore the property and it was very quiet except for a school group that was enjoying running around with the farm animals. We also stopped in Montague and walked along part of the Confederation Trail which runs 435 km from the east to west tip of the island and is perfect for biking and walking. We also visited the Garden of the Gulf, a little museum right in downtown with exhibits on the history of the island. Then we drove to what must be the easternmost point of the island to see the East Point Lighthouse.
On our drive home we decided to stop at Fundy National Park, which we last visited in 2009 and wow has this place changed! When we first went there it was this small park and you could park right near the walk down to the water; now there is a huge parking lot, brand new entrance with trails to the cliffs or shuttle busses. And it was A LOT more crowded!
Brendan & Jen (Summer 2022)