Meandering to PEI (and home again :)

I love road trips!

Good people, good music, good conversation, good views, fun destinations - what's not to love?

Valerie suggested we should take advantage of our flexible weekday schedules and drive up to Prince Edward Island and enjoy the fall leaves along the way. I was in!

Carrie was also able to free up her schedule and join us - perfect addition.

We chose to take all the scenic routes and take our time along them. A beautiful stream with lovely leaves? Turn around!

Nothing but time to enjoy the beautiful scenery, and little traffic on the byways made that no problem :)

In celebration of fall, I worked on some pumpkins while driving along soaking in the vibrant leaves.

Our first stop was Portland to get some delicious food and enjoy the sunshine and picturesque lighthouse views. Like this one was we came up the path towards the most photographed lighthouse in New England

Our lack of being in a hurry was rewarded by being able to enjoy this lovely gem:

(great work capturing this one Valerie!)

And our back up dinner location (too long a wait for the desired lobster rolls at Eventide Oyster Co.) was delicious - definitely recommend a stop at Duckfat if you are passing through!

Food is always an important part of my life, especially when I travel. I enjoy getting a literal taste of what life is like in different places (plus, I get grumpy when I'm hungry - but at least I know it and take precautions to avoid it, right?!). So when we found out there was a container dock restaurant / shop area in St. John's Bay we pointed ourselves in that direction and enjoyed a late lunch along with a few cruise ship stragglers.

Of course we listened to Anne of Green Gables on and off as we meandered towards PEI. What a beautiful book! And a great way to prepare to more fully enjoy and appreciate our time on the island.

Maybe driving to our Airbnb in the dark wasn't the smartest choice we made, but it wasn't our fault that the place is brand new, so new the road it is on isn't even on the map! After many back and forth messages with our host and getting out of the car to wander around by phone flashlight, we did find it. And the middle of nowhere darkness made for some great star gazing!

Before starting our Anne of Green Gables touring, we had breakfast at C&B, one reviewer had said it was "the best breakfast I ever had" - it did not disappoint! (so much so that we went back the next day and I got the exact same thing :)

Across the street was our first stop - the train station used in the filming of the Anne of Green Gables mini series.

Then we drove over to Cavendish (the real life inspiration for Avonlea!) to see Green Gables. In addition to touring the house we also took a stroll through the haunted woods (which connects over to the house where she lived when she died) and then meandered over to Lovers Lane.

As we approached the tree lined path, I noticed a couple headed towards us - the realized I know them! Elder and Sister Waldron had also come up from Boston for the week and we just happened to run into each other, such a small world!

There were signs along the paths and one of them had an excerpt from L.M. Montgomery's journal where she talked about the way nature soothes her soul. I felt the same way, and the peace I felt was captured pretty well in this red and blue and green captured on film (or whatever the digital equivalent is...)

When we got over to the house L.M. Montgomery was born in we learned that we had gotten very lucky - apparently this was the last week that all these sites would be open for the season. We had talked about going a week later, good thing we didn't! We would have missed out on so many random facts, buying our own copies of Anne of Green Gables (which they stamped at each location we visited) and the magic of seeing a place that has long lived in our imaginations and hearts.

On the recommendation of another friend of ours we checked out a yarn store (heaven!!) and we all left with yarn :)

I enjoyed watching the knitting machines in action - sweaters being made lickity split! I'll be thinking of that as I {much more slowly} knit whatever I make with the yarn I bought, haha!

Our last morning on PEI we ventured to some beaches checking out the red cliffs and the vibrant green moss, magical!

As we drove away we finished listening to Anne of Green Gables as we soaked in the fall foliage and headed to check out the Bay of Fundy. This otherworldly location has 16 meter tides which come in and go out quickly - we were warned to be careful that we didn't end up stranded as we wandered around while the tide was coming in. You can see the water lines on this cool rock formations:

And I can verify - the path I took to check out a couple more rock formations was covered in water when I walked back 5 minutes later! But this picture was worth it!

It did mean we ended up driving through Northern Main mostly in the dark on the way to our stopping spot for the night, which is unfortunate. But we jammed out to 80s songs and made it to our hotel just in time to be told that the only restaurant in town closed in 15 min, so we jumped back in the car and ordered some dinner to go!

To maximize sunshine time we decided to get up early enough to go see the sunrise over the mountains.

Well, the weather did not cooperate. Sigh.

BUT it did allow us to point back to one of our stops on PEI - Cows, an ice cream shop with magnificent marketing / merchandise. There was a movie (made by Cream Works :)

And they showed their shirts all over the world (picture BAD photo shop of people wearing various Cows t-shirts with icons like the Eiffel Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge and The Great Wall of China in the background.

So, here is the sunrise we meant to see :)

And welcome to one of the inside jokes of our trip!

We finished our trip meeting up with some more friends and driving through the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We had excellent cider donuts, saw a lovely waterfall, enjoyed frolicking on a covered bridge, and I staged a photo with a red leaf and a rock - when I hopped up to catch up with my friends I bumped into a gentleman who was waiting to take the same shot I had just set up - totally made my day!

Even in the rain, day time driving home through the beautiful foliage was awesome!

A few final pictures for you to enjoy: