Green Gables Shore

On the north center shore (Green Gables Shore) of the island is the Cavendish.  This is where the Green Gables home is that Lucy Maud Montgomery based her book on.

Tidbits: Lucy's mother got Tuberculosis and died when Lucy was 21 months old.  Her father couldn't take care of her, so her grandparents (the MacNeills) did.  Her cousins lived in the "Green Gables" house, and inspired the home in her book.  She loved Cavendish and it broke her heart to eventually leave.  Her Anne book was rejected 4 times, and when she came back to it long after and tried one more time it was published.  She married when she was 31.  Her husband was a pastor.  They lived apart engaged for about 5 years.  Lucy's grandfather had died and he knew she couldn't leave her grandmother alone, so he waited.  They finally married and left the island after her grandmother's death. 

The recreated Green Gables of Lucy's childhood.  I thought it was the same house as the movie, but once I got over the mild disappointment that they were not the same, it was fun to see, and it was more authentic.

This Green Gables also had a "haunted wood" and a "lover's lane".  Here are the kids on the Lover's Lane trail.

I'll spare this post the rest of the pictures, just know I took nearly 1000 pictures on our 8 days trip.

We did not go to Avonlea village.  It's a little village they built that you pay $19 a person to go to and stroll through as if it was Avonlea.  There are actors to play the parts of Anne and everyone in Avonlea. 

None of us were fanatic enough enough to pay the money, so we didn't go, and I don't regret it.

Next we went to Prince Edward Island National Park Cavendish.  Luckily tourist season is over and we didn't have to pay to enter.  Immediately upon entering we were greeted by a family of 4-5 foxes.  Despite the signs not to feed the animals, it was obvious by their beggar behavior that many people do.

This one was right by my window staring at me.  I got nervous that he might jump in my window, so I rolled it up until he left.

Red sand cliffs and beaches of PEI.

 The dunes.

 An old lobster trap.  I wonder if it was planted there.  It kind of looks too perfectly quaint to be coincidence.  But then again, most of the island was perfectly quaint.

 My little Anne.  Just kidding.

Lucy Maud Montgomery's birthplace house.  We snapped a picture and kept driving.

We were headed to a lighthouse on Cape Tryon.  We traveled many of these red roads on the island.

Cape Tryon lighthouse on Green Gables Shore.

The lighthouse overlooks the red cliffs.

Now THIS lighthouse just east of the Cape Tryon lighthouse WAS on the Anne of Green Gables movies.  I was glad we found it! 

Kent was a good sport to indulge my PEI dream.

Colorful fishing wharf off Hoffsteter's viewpoint.

It was a good Anne day.  And I didn't pick up one cheesy Anne souvenir!

The Island

There is a little seal that makes it's way into the harbor early in the morning.  A few of us woke up at 6:30 to catch a glimpse.  We saw it's little head bobbing in the bay, but he must be very shy, because he disappeared when he saw us on the beach.

We walked the beach and watched the sunrise on the island.

The land was covered in long waving beach grass, towering evergreens, with juts of flaming red cliffs.

Walking along the beach line we found sea glass!  It was magical.  We gathered handfulls over the course of our stay.

See the little see glass among the rocks? 

We're going to make little necklaces at home to remember our visit to PEI.

The weather was so peaceful in the early sunrise, but soon the outskirts of hurricanes touched the island and the storminess moved in.  We drove around to a few different places today, instead of playing on the beaches all day.

This light house was on the East Point.

The kids don't love the lighthouses as much as I do, but they were happy to get out of the car and run around on the grass.

The lighthouse at Naufrage

More red cliffs

St. Peter's harbour lighthouse.  It was charmingly rustic and run down.

It's surrounded by the most perfect dunes and sandy beaches.  But it was drizzling and soggy.  I got at least 4 mosquito bites while I was out of the car taking pictures.  It would be a perfect beach on a sunny day.

A soggy day on the island though is still a great day.

Bienvenue!

On Friday we crossed the border to Canada.  Kent bought me some ketchup potato chips.  Yum!  We slept over in a hotel in St. John.  We didn't see much there except fog.

Saturday we drove the rest of the way to Prince Edward Island!

We stayed in a house on Howe Bay which is on the Points East Coast of PEI.

There was a little bay that was just outside our beach house and down the stairs.  It had a lot of shallow sandbars at low tide, and was very calm...perfect for kids! 

The weather was nice, the water was warm, and the kids went straight to the water.

Our crawler wanted to explore things too.

Don't worry it's just the sea grass all washed up on shore that his holding.

There was a canoe and kayak to use at the house too.  Grandpa took the older 3 out on the boat.  I'm sure he had a lot of "help".

When it got dark we hurried in to the nearby town of Souris.  The grocery stores were closed, but we found a local eatery to get some dinner.  Sawyer gobbled some fish and chips, while I ate the native Poutine of Canada.  It was really good.  (Poutine=french fries+cheese curds+gravy)

Acadia National Park

We slept in a little this morning since my parents ended up having to fly into Boston and drive up to Bangor at midnight!  Once they were a little rested we visited Acadia National Park (even though their luggage hadn't come with them).

First stop, Sand Beach.  I didn't think there would be beaches to play on, so the kids didn't have swimsuits again.  They did pretty well this time...no face plants.

We drove on the park loop and got out at the stops we wanted to view. 

We hiked around on rocky shores  

and watched the waves crash.

We squished our toes in the sand

and gazed into the ocean.

It's a beautiful world.

Coastal Maine

Today we  meandered up the coast of Maine on our way to Bangor.

What a lovely coast!

In Cape Neddick we viewed the "Nubble" lighthouse.  It was breathtaking.  I am glad the clouds were so moody in the background.

A little farther up the coast was Wells Beach.  This time the kids were dressed to play!  They love the ocean.  The beach front was a lot smaller than Hampton beach.

We had a hard time persuading Josh not to eat the sand.

The next stop was another beach.  This time Orchard beach.  In the summer there are lots of restaurants, stores, and even a carnival on the boardwalk.  It was pretty empty on the boardwalk when we were there.  The beach was littered with cigarette butts that we had to keep moving away from Josh. 

The waves got pretty decent though.

Time flies when you're at the beach.

Soon we were back on the road.  Next stop, Portland Head light on Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

The rocky coast of Maine was gorgeous!

Soon our meandering was done, and we ended the night in Bangor.



New Hampshire

We headed out on Tuesday to begin our September trip up the coast and on to Prince Edward Island.

Our first stop was in Portsmouth, New Hampshire so we could mark New Hampshire off our list.

We visited Hampton Beach.  It was lovely.  Since we hadn't really unpacked yet, and it was a cloudy, chilly day, I didn't have the kids put their swimsuits on.

My one request was that they don't get their clothes wet.

That didn't work.

In fact, Hayden face planted in the ocean and was soaked from top to bottom.  Grrr.

It was a beautiful sandy beach, and would be a great place to spend a day or two, but we had to return to the hotel and get to sleep so we could be on our way in the morning.

Good-bye New Hampshire!

Orem's Diner

Kent had work off yesterday, so we took advantage of the kid's school time and went out to lunch together with just baby.  It felt nearly relaxing!
Orem's Diner is located in Wilton, CT.  It was on my "to do" list from the beginning, but we just never made it over there with 3-4 kids.  Now that the countdown to move has begun we are ticking things off the list before we leave.  Glad to be able to cross off Orem's Diner now.

I ordered the homestyle cheese blintzes.  They came with homestyle potatoes, eggs, and toast.  Those blintzes were so yummy.  I'm so glad when I choose something new from a menu and it turns out to be good!

We leave on Tuesday to mark more things off of our East Coast list!