Sunlit Pages: A Dream Vacation to Prince Edward Island: Days 5, 6, and 7

During the weeks leading up to the trip, I had this fear that it would never actually happen. I worried that something would come between me and it, and that it would forever stay a dream. But it didn't. These photos and words are the proof of it. As our trip wound down with these final days, I tried so hard to live in the present, to pay attention to how I felt as I was living out my dream in reality.

(A little side note about the photography. Throughout these posts, I have used my own or Mike's photos, except for the instances where I am obviously in the picture. James is an excellent photographer, and I didn't want to be passing off his work as mine without acknowledgement. That said, in this post, I am going to use a few of his photos to tell a more complete story, and I will make note of those when they come up.)

Day 5 (Monday)

Another morning. Another walk down to the beach. Would this simple morning ritual ever become mundane? I can't imagine taking it for granted.

When we got back, Mike went to Robin's (a Canadian chain) to get donuts for breakfast. They weren't anything special, in my opinion, but Mike got enough of them to feed a crowd.

After breakfast and getting ready, we headed to Green Gables Alpacas in Tyne Valley. We had a reservation for a tour. Even though I had no idea what to expect, I felt slightly hesitant; I was afraid it might feel a bit hokey or touristy.

Upon arrival, the owner, Janet, was out on the step to greet us and welcome us into the shop. With a no-nonsense attitude, she instructed us to slather on the bug repellent and take off any hats while also expressing disappointment that some of us were wearing black since that is what the bugs were most attracted to. In an instant, my hesitancy vanished. I could tell there was going to be nothing hokey about this experience. This was a real, working alpaca farm, and we were just along for the ride for the next hour.

One of the employees took us out to "meet the girls." She shared interesting and candid facts with no attempt to sugarcoat the reality of things. One of the alpacas was pregnant, due any day (and I saw on Instagram that she was born just a couple days later). We fed the girls some carrots and saw evidence of their different personalities.

We walked through the barn and also made a stop at the shed with all the shorn fleeces (the spring shearing had happened just a couple weeks before).

Then we went back to the shop where Janet gave a spinning demonstration. This was so fascinating. I've watched people spin before and been around a lot of spinning talk since it's a complementary craft to knitting, but this was the first time I've ever had it broken down and thoroughly explained. It's definitely something I hope to learn how to do someday.

But my favorite part of the tour was afterwards when we asked Janet about how she got started as an alpaca farmer. I had seen on the website that she used to be in the corporate world, and so this seemed like quite the change of pace and lifestyle. I won't get into details since it's Janet's story and I didn't get the sense that she shares it with all visitors, but it was raw and vulnerable and had a happy ending that we were witnesses to.

There were many things about PEI that I was excitedly anticipating, but this alpaca farm was not one of them. I didn't even know it existed until a few days before our trip, and even then, it wasn't something I was particularly looking forward to. But it ended up being a highlight (there were many highlights though, if you couldn't already tell, haha).

Backwoods Burger was on our list of potential places to eat, and luckily, it was very close to the alpaca farm, so we went there for lunch. It had a casual vibe with very eclectic decorations. Mike had been waiting to get poutine this whole trip and finally ate it here.

We made a quick stop at the Bideford Parsonage, which was a home that L.M. Montgomery lived in for a year while she was teaching school. We didn't have time for the tour, just a photo on the outside.

We had seen a few lighthouses so far, but I really wanted to go inside one. A lighthouse features prominently in Anne's House of Dreams, and I wanted to see what Captain Jim's quarters might have looked like. So we went to West Point Lighthouse, where you can explore every level including the one housing the light at the very top.

"Explore" might be the wrong word since each level is quite small and only gets smaller as you go up. The bottom level was set up to look like a parlor from the nineteenth century (the four of us sang "Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy" around the organ). The other levels displayed various equipment and supplies that were used over the years to keep the light burning. The lighthouse was built in 1875 and only had two lighthouse keepers during the nearly ninety years before it began to be operated electrically: William Anderson MacDonald and Benjamin MacIsaac. It was a bit of a steep climb to get all the way to the top, but so cool to be right next to the light and imagine the nightly vigil of the keepers.

If you look at any lists of things to do on Prince Edward Island, the Potato Museum is always mentioned. None of us had a burning desire to go there, but it was basically on the way, so we decided to give it a try. And . . . I think the overwhelming consensus was that, out of everything we did over the course of the week, we could have skipped this one. It's not that it wasn't well done or extremely thorough; it was! But that was kind of the problem: I didn't actually want to spend hours learning the whole history of the potato. To be fair, most people say that one of the best parts of the museum is the food, and we were not hungry enough at that point to eat anything, so maybe our opinion would have been different if we had. I will say that the most entertaining and unique part of the museum was a display of potatoes in tiny coffins showing various ways a potato can die. Yes, really.

Part of the reason why we didn't want to eat at the Potato Museum was because we planned to stop at Holman's Ice Cream in Summerside. We had met the family who owns it at church the day before. It is in a historic house with a bed and breakfast attached to it. The ice cream flavors change daily and you can order a sampler with five different kinds, which we did, and then we went back for another scoop of the chocolate because it was so good.

(Photo by James)

We then made a quick stop at Spinnakers' Landing, also in Summerside, to walk along the dock and look at the cute little shops.

When we got back to Cavendish, we went back over to Avonlea Village to pick up a couple of prints we had ordered from the gallery there. Then we went to Montgomery Park to see the bronze statue of L.M. Montgomery. It's close to the other Montgomery sites in Cavendish and a beautiful little spot.

We went to Inn at the Pier for dinner. We ate on the patio outside. The temperature was at the perfect sweet spot, the view was immaculate, and it felt like such a serene ending to our fun, busy day. I basically forced the others to get oysters for an appetizer because I couldn't remember if I had ever tried them before. Mike said we cheated because we got them baked. I thought they were delicious but probably not worth the price.

And finally, to close out the day, we went back to Cavendish Beach to do the same walk we had done the night before. This time, it was not raining, and there were significantly more people. It was pretty in a different way, and I was glad I got to see it in both settings.

(Photo by James)

(We did not build this)

Day 6 (Tuesday)

This was our last full day on PEI, and I actually slept in rather than going for a walk. That was nice, too.

We hadn't gone out for breakfast this whole trip, but we had plans to do so this morning. We went to a darling restaurant/bookstore called Tides and Tales. The scent of new books mingled with coffee and pastries as we stepped inside. We were seated on the patio in the sun. It was not too hot yet, but we could tell it was going to warm up fast. I was torn between the eggs benedict and french toast but ultimately decided I was in the mood for something sweet. We perused the books a bit before we left.

We went back to PEI Preserve Company (Not going to lie, I purchased quite a few souvenirs on this trip--lots of justification by saying, "But it's Canadian dollars!"), and then we went across the street to The Toy Factory. It was packed with fun and unique toys, some of them handmade there in the shop. The husband and wife owners (and their cat) chatted with us and demonstrated some of the games, and we didn't come away empty handed.

There was still one Montgomery site we wanted to visit: the MacNeil Homestead where L.M. Montgomery grew up. It is very close to Green Gables (the Haunted Woods connects the two) as well as Montgomery Park, but everything closes at 5:00 so we just didn't time our visits right until this morning.

I'm so glad we didn't skip it because even though the home is no longer there (just the foundation), it was one of my favorite places. You can walk through an old apple orchard and look across the way to Green Gables. It is easy to picture Maud living there, and of this place, she said, "The peace and quiet of this dear old place is very sweet to me. There is no other place on earth I love, or ever will love, as I do it." Maybe I was just romanticizing it, but I sensed this love as we walked over the grounds.

This might also have had something to do with the fact that the MacNeil family still owns and cares for this homestead. As we walked back to the gift shop, we saw a man watering the trees. He wasn't wearing shoes and by all accounts looked very much at home there. We asked one of the employees about the MacNeil family and she asked us if we had seen a man puttering around outside. We said we had, and she said, "That's Dave. He is a descendant of L.M. Montgomery, and he cares for this property all on his own." I thought that was the sweetest thing, and it was obvious just by walking around that he must love the place as much as Maud did.

Next on the day's itinerary: the big city. PEI's biggest city is the capitol, Charlottetown, and we hadn't been there yet. With a population of only 40,000, it is still not a booming metropolis, and this suited me just fine--the crush and clamor of cities can often make me feel overwhelmed and claustrophobic, and Charlottetown had none of that.

James had planned a walking food tour, and it was next level. It included 10 different food stops with some historical breaks mixed in to give us a little rest. At each place, we ordered one item to share between the four of us. It was expertly thought through: James specifically chose places where we could either order from a counter or online ahead of time. That way, we didn't spend a lot of time sitting, ordering, and waiting for food.

Mike and I have tried to do food tours before, but the most we've ever been able to manage, time or stomach-wise, was four places. By the end of this one, we still felt totally fine. It was professionally planned and executed, that's for sure.

Here is a full rundown of where we went and what we ate:

Leonhard's: pistachio cheesecake
Receiver: ginger/molasses cookie

Historical break: St. Dunstan's Basilica

Gahan House: mac and cheese (possibly Mike's favorite)

Historical break: walking loop through the nearby neighborhood to see the historical homes

Kettle Black: salmon bagel (possibly my favorite)
Dave's Lobster: lobster roll (we cheated and also got a bar cookie to eat later) (oh, and the air conditioning was the best)
The Chip Shack: lobster roll (for comparison--I thought Dave's was better, but maybe that was due to the air conditioning)
Founder's Food Hall

Oh Hey: Lime coconut drink (we were so hot, this really hit the spot)
Whenever Pastry: chocolate cream puff
Oh Fudge: potato peanut butter fudge
Datcha: bokit (Mike was most excited about this since he hasn't had bokit since his mission)

All told, it took us about two-and-a-half hours from first to last bite, and we enjoyed them all. Such a fun way to explore the city.

Before leaving Charlottetown, we went to a bookstore and, as if we needed to eat again, Cows Creamery. We specifically wanted to go to this one though because it's their headquarters and also where they make their eclectic t-shirts which you can watch being printed. I guess we didn't have to get ice cream, but come on.

It had been the hottest day of our trip, and so, when we got back to Cavendish, we went to our beach. Mike, James, and Kathy all got in the water. I only put my feet in, which was enough for me since the water was pretty chilly. The water was so still, it almost felt like a lake instead of an ocean. You could see straight through the glassy water, and Mike and James spent a good while catching crabs and trying to catch a lobster.

(Photo by Kathy)

(Photo by James)

Before we knew it, nearly two hours had passed. It didn't feel like that long, but it was so relaxing after a full, hot day of walking and eating. We just soaked it in: the sunshine and gentle lapping of the water and sand between our toes and the view we had grown to love so much.

(Photo by James)

It was nearly 8:00pm by that point, and we were finally hungry again. We went to Lost Anchor for dinner, and I was finally feeling tired of going out to eat. We had had nothing but pleasant dining experiences, but I just didn't know if I had it in me to look at one more menu and make a decision. We mostly got appetizers, and the crab cakes and risotto balls were quite good. I probably would have appreciated them more if I hadn't spent the past week indulging in such good food.

As the sun began to set, the sky filled with spectacular colors and the sun turned a bright flamboyant red. It looked like it was going to be our best sunset yet, and we were desperate to get to the water to watch it. We signaled our waiter for the check and then rushed to the car. We drove back to Cavendish Beach and went to the end of the boardwalk to watch nature put on her show. It was a stunning sendoff.

Day 7 (Wednesday)

The next morning, I woke up early to take a few photos of my (unfinished) knitted top on our beach. I had spent the trip trying to finish it, but still had the ribbing on one sleeve and the button band up the back to do. However, I had enough of it done that I could fake a few photos of it on the red sandstone cliffs with the ocean in the background, which is what I had envisioned when I first decided to make it.

We went back to the house where we packed up the car. All of the rocks I had collected over the past week were on the patio. I sorted through them and decided which ones to keep and then took the rest back to the beach. I tossed them back where they had come from and said a final farewell to a place that had very much stolen my heart.

I had anticipated this trip for so long, it was hard to believe we were on the other side of it. It was finished. Complete. Check this one off the bucket list.

Or . . .

Maybe it just got added back onto the bucket list. But this time, ten-fold. Because now I just want to go back again and again and again.

I knew I would like Prince Edward Island, but what I didn't expect was this instant connection. It spoke to my soul in a way that, up to this point, only places I've lived ever have. I felt possessive of it right from the start, and this feeling only grew as the days went by.

I was going home no longer imagining what it would feel like to walk along the beach, the water on one side and the sandstone cliffs on the other. Now I knew. I could close my eyes and put myself right back there, letting the memory of the breeze enliven my skin and the sweet scent of the ocean fill my lungs.

I realize I'm really romanticizing this place. We saw it at what is arguably the prettiest time of the year (although I bet October could give it a run for its money), so would I still love it in the same way in, say, January? I don't know, but I'm willing to take on the challenge to find out.

But maybe, more than anything, being in this place that Maud Montgomery loved so much and reading her words and seeing what she saw made me realize that beauty can be found anywhere. It's in our attitude and the way we approach each new day with wonder and awe. Even though I want to go back and hope it happens someday, I know I can find that same joy in my beloved Mt. Olympus that I see from my window every day and in the air tinted with the scent of lilacs and olive trees in the spring and in the rainbow of colors that will spread out across the valley in the fall.

And I just have to think that it's wonderful to get to live in this beautiful world at all.