Island Hopping: P.E.I.

This past summer we took an Island adventure.  After kayaking and whale watching in Grand Manan, New Brunswick we crossed the nearly 13 kilometre (!!) Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island. 

The middle of the Island’s busy summer can be a tricky time to find nightly cottage accommodations as opposed to weekly.  After perusing the old Google box, I came across Green Gables Cottages. 

They booked nightly, were right in Cavendish and the rate was very reasonable.  They were not beachfront but they did have a salt water pool.  I called them ASAP and booked.

The cottages are only a 45 minute drive from the bridge.  My GPS, however, took us on a wild goose chase straight to someone’s driveway so instead it took us 90.  We booked a “Type A- Efficiency Cottage”.  It was crazy adorable.  The cottage opened to a living room/bedroom with a bed, pullout couch, chair and television.  Off of the main room was a small, well-appointed full kitchen. Another door led to the bathroom.  The floors were a little crooked but that seemed to be a theme throughout this getaway.

After inhaling our breakfast, the next morning went just like this:

Them: POOL!!  MOM! MOM! CAN WE GO SWIMMING RIGHT NOW??!!
Me: As soon as I get a coffee.
Them: LOOK AT THAT CLIMBER!!!  CAN WE GO?!!
Me:  We can, just as soon as I get a cup of coffee.
Them: OOOOH!  THERE’S WASHERS HERE!  CAN WE GO GET OUR CLOTHES?! (seriously.)
Me: Definitely.  I’d like a quick cup of coffee first.
Them: THERE’S EVEN MONKEY BARS, MOM!  MOM! MOM! MOM! MOM!
Me: We can do all of this as soon as we find coffee.
Them: MOM…
Me:  COFFEE! COFFEE! COFFEE! COFFEE! COFFEE!

My point is that just a couple hundred metres up the road is Avonlea Village. Along with a bunch of other restaurants, there is a breakfast joint called “Samuel’s”.  They make coffee.  Divine coffee and lattes.  And some yummy breakfast to get everyone fed, jolly and ready to take on the day. They will be your friends.

Shining Waters Family Fun Park was our first adventure.  Isaac had been saving his nickels and dimes for months to this waterpark.  He handed over his hard earned cash and strolled on in.  It turned out to be a local company’s Family Day so it was a zoo.  I adore that so many companies still do this so won’t grumble about it. If you are planning to go, maybe shoot them a message first to see if there is an event going on that day.  We still had a great time.  The kids ran through the Mirror Maze on repeat.  Storybook Land had a bunch of puzzles to be solved which was a lot of fun.  There was also a very “swingy” swing bridge that hilariously freaked out a lot of people.  It was certainly a wobbly challenge to cross.  The rides were all fun and the line-ups weren’t too long at all.  The sideways house was pretty bananas and we all loved spinning around in the pumpkins.  The waterpark was super packed but we were able to enjoy the kiddie slide area for a long time as well as the pool.  The big slides had long lineups but my kids were too small for them anyway.  The food was fine and there was nice green space to eat it.  Adding more shade areas would be nice as it was hot, hot, hot in the sun.

The next day we made use of the laundry facilities at the cottages.  They were inexpensive and clean.  The kids played on the climber and, as kids manage to do, made new friends immediately.  The warm pool was calling our name, so we played there for a couple of hours.  We had planned on hitting “Sandspit Amusement Park” but after the busy day at the waterpark, this relaxation was just was we needed.

My mom surprised us with tickets to see “Anne of Green Gables: The Musical” in Charlottetown that evening.  I love all things Anne but taking us all to see the show was out of the budget for this trip so this was a fantastic surprise.

We got to Charlottetown about 90 minutes before show time. The street beside the theatre suddenly sprang to life with patios and live music and dancing.  We ate and danced until the very last second and then raced into the theatre to find our seats.  The show is long and I wasn’t sure how well the kids would handle that.  While the oldest became squirmy towards the end, my youngest was wide-eyed and laser-focused throughout.  She’s been hooked on musicals ever since.

The next day was our last and we were excited to get some seafood and beaching in.

Isaac had promised to eat a new food everywhere we went this summer.  In PEI we’d agreed on oysters.  After some research we landed on The Blue Mussel Café in North Rustico.  It’s a busy spot so we were sure to be there when they opened.  The restaurant was bright and airy and surprisingly had some of my favourite song lyrics framed and hung by the bar.  We ordered up 3 oysters.  Isaac gathered all of his nerve, squirted some lemon on the gelatinous shellfish and down the hatch it went.  According to him it tasted bad like the ocean, and he’s never eating one again. Ha!  I was super impressed that he tried it to start with.

Our last PEI adventure was the Greenwich Beach area which is part of the PEI National Park System. It was a bit of a drive, but well worth it.  We grabbed our water bottles and hit the trails. There is no access to running water so be sure to bring enough.  We could’ve used another bottle.  The well maintained trails lead to a boardwalk that crisscrossed through different ponds then to the ladder-style stairs at the dunes.  The dunes on every coast are eroding so stick to the designated trails and stairs to get over them.  Greenwich Beach is actually home to rare, Parabolic Dunes which was interesting to learn about.  The view from the top was breathtaking.  Even on this beautiful day, there weren’t crowds of people.  The water is shallow for a long ways out and there weren’t any big waves so it was super kid friendly.  We spent hours walking the beach, writing notes in the sand, finding treasure, breathing in that sweet salt air and just taking in the beauty around us.  If we get back to PEI this will certainly be a spot to while away a day.

We had so much fun on PEI and could’ve stayed a lot longer, but the time had come to ship out and we needed to board the exciting ferry back to Nova Scotia.

A couple things that weren’t able to sneak in were Sea Kayaking and Tuna fishing.  Luckily, this gives us even more to look forward to next time around.  Hopefully we can catch up again in 2019!