Prince Edward Island National Park
Victoria Beyer
Eastern Canada Road Trip 2019
The next stop on our trip was the idyllic Prince Edward Island. We drove the long Confederation Bridge from New Brunswick to PEI, and as soon as we had crossed we found a place to buy some lobster for another over-the-fire lobster boil. The landscape is pastoral, with pretty farmland in every direction. We even got a bit turned around as we headed to Prince Edward Island National Park. Once we hit a dirt road we knew our navigation system had failed us. But we figured it out and eventually made it to the campground at Prince Edward Island National Park.
We walked some very nice gravel paths from our campground to the beach a few miles away, passing through some forest and along uncultivated fields. I had been reading the Anne of Green Gables series, which takes place on PEI, leading up to our trip and it was easy to imagine being a character in the book, enjoying the fresh air while walking between neighboring farms.
We kept walking until we got the the real-life Lake of the Shining Waters, a setting in the books. There is a boardwalk you can take over the lake, and we kept walking until we made it to the ocean shore, passing dunes and wildflowers, while a raven watched our progress and my daughter tried her best to walk Lyle, our dog.
We were staying at the Cavendish Campground, which was near the house that was the inspiration for the Anne of Green Gables home, but it was not accessible by trail so we drove there. It was far more bustling that we imagined, with ample parking, and a large new Visitor’s Center. The house is a short walk away, and you can go in and see the rooms decorated like they were described in the book, and you might even spot a little red-haired girl walking the grounds. You can walk the trail that was the inspiration for the ‘Haunted Wood,’ though, it was not so evocative when it crossed a golf course. Still, it was a delightful stop, even if I was the only one in our group to really appreciate it.
The Anne of Green Gables house.