Memories of Prince Edward Island and Anne of Green Gables.
With all of the recent news coverage of the upcoming visit of Prince William and Duchess Catherine to Canada I find myself daydreaming about a return trip to Prince Edward Island. One of the stops on the royal tour will be Prince Edward Island – reportedly because Anne of Green Gables was a childhood favourite of the Duchess. The island is one of Canada's most family-friendly destinations and our family visited there 6 times beginning in the summer of 1998 when my older daughter was not yet 2 years of age. The last time that we visited was the summer of 2006 when my younger daughter was 3. After that we started venturing farther on our travels and PEI didn't enter our thoughts until now when I'm starting to feel a bit nostalgic about returning to such a familiar destination.
Anything related to Anne of Green Gables was very popular with my girls (and me, to tell the truth) so we made repeated visits to the Anne of Green Gables Museum in Cavendish, Cavendish Figurines in Gateway Village, The Village of Avonlea in Cavendish and to Charlottetown to see the annual production of Anne of Green Gables: The Musical at the Confederation Centre of the Arts.
Katie dressed as Anne of Green Gables in August 2000
Emma dressed as Anne of Green Gables in August 2006
Emma with "Anne" at the Village of Avonlea, 2006
Katie and Emma at Green Gables Museum, 2006
Our second most popular activity would be playing on the red sand beaches that Prince Edward Island is known for. The Cavendish beach in the Prince Edward Island National Park is quite close to the cottage that we rented and is a great beach for kids to play in the sand and surf.
Emma on the Cavendish Beach, 2006
No visit to Prince Edward Island would ever be complete without our daily dose of homemade ice cream at COWS. COWS Ice Cream is an island institution that serves up delicious ice cream with clever names like Moo Crunch and Wowie Cowie (two of my personal favourites).
Emma at COWS Ice Cream, 2006
Prince Edward Island is like an old friend that we haven't visited in far too long and today I'm dreaming about reconnecting in the not too distant future.
Related Links
Cavendish, Prince Edward Island with Kids
Prince Edward Island Trip Report
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Jessica
That looks like fun! Alas, with four boys, I’ll probably never get anywhere near anything about dear Anne until they are grown. I just love Anne, she has the greatest quotes.
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I love spunky Anne too – she’s a great role model for girls! My husband could certainly relate to your comment – with a houseful of girls he has to spend more time than he would prefer doing girlie things – but he’s a good sport about it! 🙂
Mara
Anne was such an important part of my childhood that I almost can’t believe I’ve never been to PEI. Thank you for sharing this – I absolutely love the pictures of your daughters dressed up like Anne!
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You really should go to PEI – it is such a wonderful place for a family summer vacation. I could go on and on about how much fun we have had on the island! 🙂
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