Cavendish KOA, PEI
To me, Prince Edward Island means “Anne of Green Gables” but there’s so much more to it. First, one needs to cross the Confederation Bridge, (8 miles) to get onto the island or you’ll have to take the ferry. The bridge goes across the Northumberland Strait and it’s the longest bridge over ice-covered waters. We were nervous about driving the camper across it but it was pretty straight forward.
Once we got across, we enjoyed driving across the island with its small towns and farms. Our campground was on the north shore, close to Green Gables Heritage Place and close to Lucy M. Montgomery’s birthplace. Cavendish KOA was good, we had site with patio, fire pit, grill and deck furniture, and best of all, it backed into a think line of woods with fields behind them.
Our neighbors were from Rochester, NY with big class A motorhome that have been RV’ing for 7 years. Sold the house, bought a summer cottage in Thousand Islands and hit the road!
I spent part of our first day there at the Green Gable Heritage Place. I had reservations about it since I saw some commercial places near by, for example, a water park called “Shining Waters”. For all of you Anne (with an “e”) aficionados, you’ll recognize that name, I’m sure, it made me cringe a bit. Still, the Green Gables experience was not too bad. They had a comprehensive display about the life of Lucy M. Montgomery, including excerpts from her journal and letters to friends. She clearly based Anne’s character on her early life, she was orphaned at young age and brought up by her grandparents. She loved the outdoors, writing about it in her journals.
I walked through “Haunted Woods” and “Lover’s Lane” , explored the “Green Gables” house and enjoyed the gardens. Signs placed along the trails had excerpts from Lucy M. Montgomery’s writings and details of local Acadian Forest ecology. My favorite quote from her is below, it captures my feelings well.
There’s a great bike trail along the north shore (Cavendish-North Rustico) with couple of pull ins for beach access. We biked in the fog and the reward was a great lunch (dinner?) at the Blue Mussel Cafe in North Rustico.
Interestingly, the folks that own Stonehurst campground, have a house in Rustico and were happy to hear about our visit there, on our return stay. I really enjoyed the seafood chowder poutine and mussels. It’s a working harbor there so the seafood is very fresh.
The beaches are red colored sand and PEI National Park has plenty of trails through the dunes and beach access. Walking along the shore, with its red sandstone cliffs and green forest above is quite dramatic. I was lucky that the sun came out and made that color contrast even greater.
Tom was busy playing golf at Eagles Glenn, where he met very nice group from Nova Scotia. They do annual visit to PEI to play golf. The course was beautiful and challenging and I know I’m usually his driver, but the beach walk was just more fun for me.
We barely explored the island, it’s certainly a place I would like to return to (in shoulder season).
