Prince Edward Island

Price Edward Island!! An adorable island full of friendly people, amazing views, and a healthy mosquito population. Break out the bug spray, the sunscreen, and your grade school reading list, ladies and gents... we're going to skip on over to Anne's house... Anne of Green Gables, that is. 

We were still in the parking lot when Andrew started asking questions. 

Andrew: "When was Anne of Green Gables written?"

April: "The late 1900s?"

Andrew: "You mean the early 1900s."

April: "Right, yes... sorry... the early 1900s."

Andrew: "Yea, because if it was the late 1900s, like 1992 or something, it would be called Anne of Green Computers."

Truth bomb dropped and detonated.  

Mark wistfully recalled his childhood reading of Anne of Green Gables..

Here's a fun and little-known Prince Edward Island factoid: The National Park Service has sprinkled pairs of delightful red Adirondack chairs all across the Island. Visitors are encouraged to seek out these chairs, sit in them, and soak up the Prince Edwardness of it all! It's basically Canadian Chair Pokeman. 

As we left Anne's place and pulled into a nearby parking lot, we finally spied our first Mountie of the trip!! 

"Mountie! Mountie!" Mark loudly exclaimed as he pulled the kids out of the truck to meet the Mounted Policeman.

PEI was having a bit of a heat wave (81 degrees), so we worked up quite an appetite by the time we'd finished exploring the house and adjoining Haunted Woods.  No worries, our neighbor back at the Vacationland RV Park and Family Campground, realtor Wayne Ellis,  told us exactly where to go for dinner: Richard's. 

Richard's was nothing shy of amazing.  Our family gobbled down pounds of fresh Lobster, Haddock, and Scallops, as well as several arugula and radish side salads with mind-blowing mint vinaigrette. We washed it all down with some local beers and a round of high-fives. First lobster shack of the summer in the books! Sweet! 

After dinner, we walked to the Covehead Harbour Lighthouse and beach.  We made sure to keep our shoes on... as the beach was covered with Artic Red Jellyfish blobs.  Many dead, some alive. Realtor Wayne tried to tell us that they were just thick on shore, and that if we were to wade 40 feet out or so, we wouldn't see a single Jelly.  

Wayne, we love you but we don't believe you - about the Jellies that is. We are content to stay on the beach, thank you very much.  

Jellfish = No bueno. 

Great Eating Spots = Muchos Gracias. 

Maybe we should use French? This is, after-all, Canada.

Great Eating Spots =  Merci!

Finally back at the campground, we enjoyed or seaside campsite and a bonfire, slicing up some of the fresh strawberries and cinnamon rolls we'd picked up just hours before at the bakery attached to Richard's.  

Day two found us at the Point Prim Lighthouse and its neighbor, The Point Prim Chowder House. 

The food at the Point Prim Chowder house was outstanding. We weren't too surprised, as Realtor Wayne had recommended this place too! The clam chowder was, obvi, on point, as was the lobster roll.  With a nice beer selection and such a wonderful view of the water, we contemplated staying forever, but then reminded ourselves that we had a 1pm clam digging excursion with Happy Clammers.  

The wonderful folks at Happy Clammers, John and Jackie Gillis, are kind enough to invite hungry strangers on to their private beach and supply them with everything they need to dig clams out of the sand.  Boots, shovels and buckets... as well as brawn for pulling kids out of the mud who have become "Stuck, Mama. Stuck!" 

Not only was the digging super fun... and quite muddy... but afterward they invited us back to their house for some fresh clams, oysters, and bread. And donuts... which made Max's day.  So fun and so educational! We loved it! 

We ate like kings. Andrew tried an oyster and promptly went into the bushes to spit it out.  Mark tried and oyster and promptly ate a dozen more oysters. Yummy. 

As we sat on their beautiful back porch, John and Jackie told us about how they supply many of the clams and oysters to The Chowder House, and also how John's family had run the Point Prim Lighthouse many years ago. The story was familiar, as we'd just read it on the wall of the lighthouse museum a few hours before. Small world! 

On the way home, we made sure to follow Realtor Wayne's advice once again and buy a bag of  PEI New Potatoes from a farm stand. After putting our $5 in the honor box and posing with our potatoes, we drove over to Cows Creamery in search of sour cream. 

Cows Creamery doesn't sell sour cream, but they do sell ice cream. Apparently, their ice cream was voted "Canada's Best Ice Cream" by Reader's Digest and named the "World's Top Place to Get Ice Cream" by Tauck World Discovery.  Clearly Tauck World Discovery has never been to Ben and Jerry's... but that is neither here nor there.  We enjoyed our delicious ice cream on a sunny picnic table outside the creamery, our boys adding a coating of sugar to their already sea-salt-covered bodies.  

Time for a shower and an early bedtime! Digging for clams is hard work!  We said our goodbyes to PEI and set our alarms for 3am.  

Early Thursday morning we packed up the camper, put our sleepy babies into their car seats, and drove across the Island to catch the 6:30 am mv Holiday Island ferry to Nova Scotia, and then Newfoundland.  Our 62 feet of camper/truck fit perfectly among semi trucks, logging trucks, and concrete mixers... all needing a lift to Nova Scotia.  

April boarded the vessel armed with her seasickness patch. The rest of the family boarded armed simply with stubbornness, stating that "they do not get sea sick." We are eager to see how this goes! Here we come, Newfoundland!