Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island, commonly referred to as, PEI, is a small island in Canada, north of Nova Scotia. I knew very little about this province before arriving. There are two ways to get to the island, the Confederation Bridge connects it to New Brunswick and a ferry runs from Nova Scotia. Oddly enough, transportation is free TO the island, but you must pay to leave it. Since the ferry would be more expensive, I had planned to arrive via ferry and leave via bridge, with a toll of $55. Upon arrival at the ferry port in Nova Scotia, an employee told us which lane to line up in and then we waited. When loading began, they directed small vehicles to a ramp leading to the upper deck, while RVs and semi trucks filled the bottom of the ship.

Once parked we were instructed to go above deck and enjoy the view while Northern Gannets flew above and seals swam alongside.

 During the summer months, this place is swarming with tourists. Fortunately we managed to arrive just after the summer rush ended, so we were able to get a campsite at the national park, though many places like restaurants and activities were closed for the season.

We had a little visitor to our campsite, a shrew. 

He was very cute and fast, but we were able to watch him for awhile.

Prince Edward Island National Park is a beautiful place; red cliffs, green trees, light sand, and dark waves breaking white.

A great place to practice cartwheels.

 There are many red foxes running around the island. We saw them many times along the roads 

and in parking lots. This particular one was not shy and allowed us to take some photos.  

By far, the most talked about aspect of PEI is its association with the Anne of Green Gables books. The author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, lived here and used her favorite locations in her first book, Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908. It quickly became popular worldwide, selling 50 million copies, and being translated into 36 languages. 

Approximately 125,000 people visit Green Gables Heritage Place annually.

Aerial view (from our friends 2kids8wheels on Instagram)

We began reading the book as a family while here. It was fun to walk the trails 

mentioned in the book, particularly the "Haunted Wood" and "Lover's Lane". 

We visited St. Dunstan's Basilica in Charlottetown, a Roman Catholic Cathedral that has been designated as a National Historic Site, built from stone in 1913.

No visit to PEI is complete without a tour of Cow's Ice Cream Factory. They offer some new combinations that were absolutely delicious! They also sell tons of different T-shirts that spoof pop culture. Those were quite entertaining.

On one of our walks we met another fulltime RVing family, known on Instagram as 2kids8wheels. We ended up joining them for dinner followed by a little dance party in the RV.

The next morning they came to our RV for breakfast before saying goodbye. It was time for us to begin driving south. Luckily we managed to meet up with them in Florida a few months later. They sent us these amazing photos they took with their drone.

Beautiful red rock coastline of PEI

Our campground is at the bottom, ocean to the left, lake to the right.