Prince Edward Island

Just two days after having surgery, Ken and I boarded a plane to start our journey to our pre-scheduled vacation to Prince Edward Island.  Ken went to Prince Edward Island about four years ago with his biking buddies and biked the island tip to tip.   He promised then he would take me back there.  We scheduled the trip for when the temple was closed for the two-week cleaning, not knowing I would need to have surgery right then.  My surgeon encouraged us to still go and even did the surgery on his on-call day, so we could go.  He was right.  I did fine.  We had such a wonderful time together.

We had to take five flights to get there and it took two days.  On one of the legs we had a whole row of seats each.  I was behind Ken.  He loves to fly and look out the window.  He loves having a window seat.  But usually when we fly together, he sacrifices and sits in the middle seat by me.  I love when he gets his own row and window seat.

We finally arrived on Prince Edward Island after two days of traveling.  We spent Wednesday night in New York, and then flew to Montreal, then Prince Edward Island on Thursday.  We were tired and ready to get to our hotel.

On Friday, we drove downtown Charlottetown to explore.  It is a beautiful and quaint city. 

There are beautiful, old churches everywhere.  

I never did get the significance of the year 2018, but this huge statue was right on the bay.

We toured one of the churches.  It was stunning.

We flew thousands of miles over two days for this chowder.  Ken had it on his first night of his first trip to Prince Edward Island.  He has been dreaming of it since and determined to bring me there so I could try it.  It was absolutely delicious.  The actual restaurant that he ate it in four years ago is gone, but he talked to several people who said that this pub (Hunter's Ale House) had the same recipe.  They were right.  It was as delicious as he remembered.  Since getting home, I've tried to find the recipe online, but to no avail.  One of the best meals we have ever eaten!  We went back several times during our week there for more of this delicious chowder.  

Friday afternoon we toured the COW's Creamery ice cream factory.  Ken found a list of the top 10 ice creams in the world.  We felt lucky that we had visited the factories of three of them:  Cow's Creamery in Canada, Ben and Jerry's in Vermont, and one in San Jiminiano Italy (it wins hands down!)  But this was delicious ice cream.  

They also sold Anne's Raspberry Cordial.  

That evening we went to a popular local restaurant and ordered a popular local dish called Donair.  It is compressed ground meat, cut into squares and fried in a multitude of spices.  It is served on a wrap or pita, topped with lots of onions and tomatoes and a special Donair sauce.  I did find the recipe online and intend to try it.  When I do, I will post it on our recipe blog.  It was delicious.

Donair wrap

Our hotel was in a great location and served us well.

Saturday
On Saturday, we drove to where Lucy Maud Montgomery lived, and the setting for Anne of Green Gables.  It was such a fun and perfect day.

On the way, we saw all of these boats out with what appeared to be fishermen in the bay. I think it was called Oyster Bay. We pulled over and watched them for awhile and discovered they were harvesting oysters.  They had these poles with claws on them like garden rakes.  They would put the claws on the bottom and scoop them together.  Then they would bring them up and put what they collected into the boat, and sort out the oysters from the debris. They would measure each oyster, tossing those that were too small back in for harvesting next year. They would dump the debris back in and then do it again, over and over.  It was fascinating to watch.

Here is a link to a video about it, if you want to learn more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu19TViSF-I  We found it fascinating.

The countryside is absolutely gorgeous on Prince Edward Island.  I was surprised how much of it was agriculture: lots of potatoes and soy beans and corn.

We visited the Anne of Green Gables site.

This is the house that Montgomery based Green Gables on.  It was the home of cousins- a brother and sister who lived there.  Anne actually grew up about a mile away.  But this is the home that she spent a lot of her childhood time in and she imagined Anne coming to live with Matthew and Marilla here.  

The home has been furnished with period pieces from that time.

There was a whole bus load of Japanese people there when we were.  Anne of Green Gables must be well translated into Japanese.  When we were in Japan, we were surprised at how many people said that it was their favorite book.  Many Japanese people longed to travel to PEI because of the book.  Ken enjoyed visiting with these Japanese ladies and taking their picture for them.  They were most surprised by his fluency in their language.

A view from the back of the house.  It was in such a gorgeous setting.

We took the walk through the forest that Anne called Lovers Lane.  It was beautiful.  All along the trail were Montgomery quotations about nature and her love for Prince Edward Island.

After a delightful morning in Green Gables country, we went to lunch and had, you guessed it, seafood chowder.

We then drove up the coast.  It was gorgeous!!!  We stopped often and enjoyed it and took pictures.

There is a beautiful quote by Lucy Maude Montgomery about her beloved Prince Edward Island.  I have hunted and hunted for it on the Internet.  It was in a film about her at Green Gables.  Anyway, this picture personifies the quote.  I will slaughter it, but she said her beloved island was a land of sapphires, rubies, and emeralds.  Can you see them?

"There is a great solitude about such a shore. The woods are never solitary- they are full of whispering, beckoning, friendly life. But the sea is a mighty soul, forever moaning of some great, unshareable sorrow, which shuts it up into itself for all eternity. We can never pierce its infinite mystery- we may only wander, awed and spell-bound, on the outer fringe of it. The woods call to us with a hundred voices, but the sea has one only- a mighty voice that drowns our souls in its majestic music. The woods are human, but the sea is of the company of the archangels."

Lucy Maud Montgomery 

"You never know what peace is until you walk on the shores or in the fields or along the winding red roads of Prince Edward Island in a summer twilight when the dew is falling and the old stars are peeping out and the sea keeps its mighty tryst with the little land it loves. You find your soul then. You realize that youth is not a vanished thing but something that dwells forever in the heart."

Lucy Maud Montgomery

This was a common sight: beautiful cottages, and hay rolls.

This is the Kindred Sprit Inn where Ken and the bike crew stayed four years ago.

Anne was from Avonlea which is a fictictious name.  Cavendish is the real name.

We were surprised how many people left their shoes and headed out into the chilly water at the beach.

This is a view of the "Lake of Shining Waters" from the Anne books.  It was absolutely gorgeous.

We didn't get a great shot, but this is the bridge over the "Lake of Shining Waters" where Anne said, "I don't want marble halls, etc, I just want you" and then they FINALLY kiss!

Lake of Shining Waters with my Gilbert

For dinner we went to a lobster supper.  A lobster supper is a local tradition.  It's like a big community dinner.  You pay for your protein.  Most order lobster, but there were many choices.  You can have all the soup, rolls, salads, drink, mussels, and dessert you want.  It was all good, but the best were these blue mussels.  Oh my goodness, they were so delicious and creamy and yummy.  We ate a whole bucket of them.

The lobster was okay, but didn't hold a candle to those mussels.  I dream about those mussels.

After dinner, we drove the hour or so back to Charlottetown.  When we got to the hotel and the Internet, we learned that BYU had beaten Wisconsin (ranked # 6)!!!  It was the perfect ending to an absolutely perfect day.

Sunday
Sunday, we went to church in Charlottetown.  There are three wards on Prince Edward Island, one on each end of the island and the one in the middle- Charlottetown.  The meetings were very good.  I especially enjoyed Relief Society.  The teacher gave a beautiful lesson on trials.  At the time I was awaiting my pathology report from my surgery- not sure what I would be facing.  Her struggles with infertility were so different, and yet so the same.  I was strengthened by that lesson. I left feeling different. I felt lighter. I think the spirit strengthened me through that hour.  She will never know the service she performed for me that day.
 After lunch, we took a short nap, then took a drive out to the east tip of the island where there is a beautiful lighthouse.  It was a beautiful Sunday drive.

Another lighthouse we passed on the way.  There are actually several on the island.

We're not sure why this is the end of the world?  But you are out on a point that jets into the sea.  The other side of the sign said "this is the beginning of the world."

Here's that sapphire, ruby, and emerald again.  Right here, on the point, the Atlantic ocean and the gulf of St. Lawrence waters meet and blend.

An abandoned lobster trap

The lighthouse no longer employs a lighthouse keeper, but a bench was dedicated to each of the lighthouse keepers who had served there.

The drive home at sunset was just glorious.  I couldn't stop taking pictures.  I didn't include but a few here, but I think I took over 100.

We found the bed and breakfast where Ken and friends stayed four years ago.

When we got back to Charlottetown, we went to our favorite pub for that delicious chowder. Oh, how I wish I had the recipe.

Monday
We got up on Monday and had breakfast at the hotel, then did laundry at the hotel.  We left around noon for our Monday adventures.  We headed to the north tip of the island.

We stopped on the way to have a scallop burger.  I wish I had a better picture of it.  It was delicious.

We stopped at the Canadian Potato Museum.  It was a whole museum dedicated to Prince Edward Island's chief export- potatoes.  This Idaho girl learned a lot about potatoes.

I loved that they had this Idaho potato poster on the wall in the women's rest room.

Part of this museum was dedicated to famous Prince Edward people.  The inventor of the iron lung was from there.  I had heard about the iron lung when I was a child.  I remember trying to imagine what it was and what it looked like.  Here is one.  It kept people alive during the polio epidemic.  Ken and I agreed it might be better to die than to have to live in one of these.

There are a lot of wind mills on Prince Edward Island.

It was while we were right here that I finally got the text from Dr. Lewis about my pathology report on breast cancer.  He couldn't call because I was in Canada and the call wouldn't go through, so he texted. Here is the text:  "This is Dr. Lewis.  Your pathology report is back and shows just DCIS- no evidence of invasive cancer!!!  Down side is that there are still a couple of margins that are positive.  We need to do a little more surgery to clear the margin when you get home.  I will be in clinic on Wednesday and you can call me anytime that day so we can talk.  Talk with you soon!  Dr. Lewis"

I sat on a bench and stared out at this scene while I thanked my Heavenly Father that it was pre-cancer and not spread.

A beautiful lighthouse

We drove by so many beautiful homes like this with beautiful flower boxes or hanging flower pots with lacey window curtains.  PEI is just so beautiful.

This is how we vacation.  Ken still uses old-fashioned maps to navigate.

For dinner, we decided to do another lobster supper at a different restaurant.  But this time, we didn't have the lobster or any protein, we just did all of the other stuff.  It was about 1/2 the price.  And those mussels were what we really wanted.  Just looking at this picture gets my heart pumping and my mouth drooling.

Here is the longest salad bar on Prince Edward Island.  We could get anything we wanted on there, including all the mussels we could eat.

Tuesday
We spent Tuesday looking and shopping around Charlottetown.  I love this beautiful city.

This is the place Ken's crew stayed on his first trip here.  He said it was a really nice place.

We parked and shopped in this town square.  It was a fun place.

These hats with the red "Anne" braids were for sale all over the island.  This one was a bit disheveled, but I finally took a picture of one.  I texted it to Michelle and asked if I should get one for Gabbi so she could be Anne for Halloween.  The answer was no.  Gabbi wants to be a potato!  She is a funny little girl.

In this town square were many of these colorful tables with checker boards painted on and a bucket of checkers provided so you could play checkers.  Such a cute idea.

Again, this is the only picture I took, but there were these little Anne scenes all over, too.  This one is the beautiful tree, her suitcase,  and bench to reenact the train arrival scene.

We went back to our favorite pub for lunch.  Ken had his chowder again.  But I just couldn't leave without trying poutine.  Poutine is a favorite Canadian dish: French fries, cheese curd, some kind of protein and gravy.  I chose to try this turkey, stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce one.  I am glad I tried it, but I didn't really care for it. 

That evening, we went back to the local restaurant where we tried donair.  This time I ordered donair pizza.  I LOVED it!!!!  It was absolutely delicious.  It had the donair meat, tomatoes, onions and cheese on a delicious pizza with the donair sauce on the side.  Wow!  It was good.  I can't remember what Ken had.  Probably seafood chowder!

What a wonderful trip we had to Prince Edward Island.  We have been to a lot of amazing places and had a lot of wonderful vacations.  Ken often asks me which was my favorite.  I now will add Prince Edward Island to my list of favorites.  And it is right near the top.  It was just the perfect vacation!!