Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Florida, Maine, and Beyond Continued

So back to the week in Canada...
The bed and breakfast we stayed in on Prince Edward Island is called the Kindred Spirits Country Inn and is in Cavendish. This is the town where the character, Anne of Green Gables, lives in the books that Lucy Montgomery wrote. Lucy lived in Cavendish, and used her neighbors house and the surrounding paths, farms and woods as the setting for her stories. I have always loved the Anne movies and the whole reason we made PEI one of our stops on this trip was to see this area.
Our B&B was very nice and quaint. They served tea and cookies in the living room every evening and all the rooms were decorated modestly, but comfortably. My mom and I borrowed Anne of Green Gables to watch our first night there so we were in the mood to go visit the sights of the movie the following day.



Wednesday, we finally got to see what the town looked like (since we arrived in the dark the night before). It was pretty much a ghost town. There were water parks and mini golf courses that were not operating and they looked very out of place in that beautiful area. Now, granted, this is the beginning of the off-season, but I was still surprised by how few cars and people I saw there. Until... you get to the Green Gables house. Then, there were 7 tour buses, and tons of people walking around. Apparently, for many people, this was the only reason they came to PEI as well. We looked around, toured the house, walked through the "haunted woods" and on "lovers lane", and I drank a bottle of raspberry cordial. It was pretty and the house was really cute, but I was a little disappointed at how the feel of the place was not preserved really well considering there was a golf course surrounding it. I mean, come on, we go for a walk through the haaaaunted woooods... and then found ourselves in the middle of the back nine. It's just not right.





Once we finished looking around Green Gables we drove to Charlottetown and saw all the sites. There were pretty churches, horse drawn carriages, and cute touristy shops. Then, as we drove along one of the scenic routes to get back to the B&B we saw a really cool little lighthouse, and a gardening/feed store that was all decorated for Halloween.





Thursday, consisted of a bunch of driving. We drove from PEI to a little town along the Cabot Trail. Since this trip required many hours of driving time, my mom and I listened to a few of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia books on CD. It was really nice and a very appropriate selection for our drive.
Friday, we drove the Cabot Trail. This is the road that encircles the northern part of the island of Nova Scotia. It had everything... breath-taking views, winding roads, steep rocky cliffs, and high mountain lookouts. Actually, it could have been pretty scary if you were driving fast, but we just took our time and enjoyed the view since we only met a few other cars on the road the whole 4 hour drive.






And, of course, we found a house we want to buy. I swear I don't go looking for these houses. They just pop up! :)
However, this one was much more reasonably priced then the last one I blogged about. Especially, considering it has a million dollar view, it's waterfront property and it is on the Cabot Trail (probably one of the prettiest places on earth.) I wish you could see the interior. Beautifully furnished with an elegant country style and an antique looking stove in the kitchen.

peeking in the window :)

That evening we attended the first concert in a week-long festival of concerts called The Celtic Colors International Festival. The opening ceremonies were interesting. A Nova Scotian official was marched down the aisle lead by a procession of bag pipers while everyone in the audience stood at their seats. Strange, but cool. The concert was amazing! Lots of different acts performed a few songs each, but there was one couple in particular that blew my socks off! Chris Stout and Catriona McKay are from Scotland. Chris played the fiddle and Catriona played the harp and together they were impressive! It was one of those moments where you are completely fascinated and enveloped by the music and you don't dare to even breathe for fear of missing one note.  http://www.catrionamckay.co.uk/
Saturday we found ourselves driving again. This time back to Maine. We saw tons of really pretty trees on the way that are hitting the peak of their fall colors right now and picked up many leaves for our scrapbooks.


That night we stayed in my cottage in Newport and then on Sunday, before my mom had to catch her flight back to FL, we visited the Portland Head Lighthouse. I have posted pictures of it before, and would love to post pictures again, but they are all on my moms camera. (You gotta send me those, ma.)  :)
We both had a great time on the trip and it was good quailty time to spend with each other.
I would definitely recommend driving the Cabot Trail, but you could forgo seeing PEI (and get to keep the $42 toll they charge you to get off the island, which is ridiculous.) However, everyone better come and visit when we own the little yellow house!

2 comments:

  1. You did a great job detailing our trip. It has helped me layout my future scrapbook pages. I love the little yellow house. Wouldn't it be heavenly to sit on that porch and look out over the water.

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  2. PS everyone.... You have to know the back story of the pics with Ivy & I together. I was using the timer on the camera, proping it up running to get in the shot. It was crazy and is why we (well maybe just me) look so silly.

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