K-Fry's Follies: We’re number 104! We’re number 104!

DAY 2: Prince Edward Island…In the Daylight

Today I fell in love…with the beautiful, gorgeous, and just like I pictured it, Prince Edward Island. The island is simply stunning and totally worth a visit. It made the 1001 Things to do book and it most definitely makes my list!

Following my handy dandy and recently purchased Fodor’s Canada Guide's (IT HAS A MOOSE ON THE COVER!!!) advice I spent my day driving along the center part of the island, it was known as the Blue Heron Drive. It was an easy drive that took me through Anne country and the capital of the island Charlottetown. On my next trip here I will need to see the other parts of the island, but I think I am hooked... so Fodor’s…nice work! Prince Edward Island reminds me a lot of what we saw in Sweden with small farms and hamlets spread through a rolling countryside with white washed houses, beautiful countryside, and super easy driving, and NO MOOSES!

I began my morning with a trip to the Green Gables home. I have always wanted to visit the island since I first read Anne of Green Gable when I was ten. I fell in love with the books and I must confess saw a little of myself in her very vivid imagination and propensity for truthful colorization! When I was 13 my grandparents took our family on a trip through Canada and I thought for sure this would be my moment, only to discover, horrified we would be going to Halifax, Nova Scotia and Quebec but completely missing the island. Walking onto the homestead was a thrill. The house looks EXACTLY like it was described and as in the movies. I visited the inspiration for the Haunted Wood, and Lover’s Lane. I also drove past the Lake of Shining Waters and Ingleside! It was sooooo cool! (I think for the gentlemen who might be reading and wondering what the hell I was talking about, it would be like getting to visit Castle Grayskull and hold He-Man’s sword!)

From there I began my five hour trek around the island, accompanied by my map and the only local radio station that played anything decent – a smattering of rock from the 60s till now. Just imagine driving past a small hamlet with white washed houses, large barns, rolling fields, birch tree groves and listening to Ozzie scream “All Aboard” and cackle hysterically! For my friend Anne I took lots of pictures as promised just for you! I also want you to know Anne that I stood on the beach and recited "The Lady of Shallot" just feet from the White Sands (Thank you once again iPhone for the text!) The best part of the station wasn’t that Ozzie was followed by Sister Christian, but that the DJ, Intern Dave, kept bragging how awesome the island is because it is the 104th largest island in the world! I wonder when sports teams travel to the mainland to plan do they chant “We’re number 104, we’re number 104!!!”

As I was in the midst of a full blown Annetastic day I checked into the hotel used for the White Sands resort in the Anne of Green Gables movies. Dalvay-By-The-Sea was a private home built by a Standard Oil bigwhig named MacDonald. He couldn’t handle all of the vertical integration going on and the fact he was squeezing all of the mom and pop oil people out of business and needed a place to go to rest, and he choose the island. In fact he picked out the best beach in Cavendish and set up housekeeping. Being the good Gilded Age fellow that he was and the fact he had a fortune of over $15 million in 1890 he married his two daughters off to poor Italian princes, who had no money but titles and very healthy libidos that didn’t pertain to their wives, and entertained all of his rich friends at the house he only used for two weeks a year. Unfortunately these marriages, like so many of their class (Just ask Consuelo Vanderbilt – Churchill’s favorite American aunt – how much she just adored Blenimum Palace and the Duke of Marlbourgh) ended in a death, divorce and a loss of the entire fortune. The mansion was sold off and eventually became a summer hotel. It is gorgeous and I felt seriously like a robber baron myself, especially when I was enjoying a beverage and a novel in the wooden lounge chairs overlooking the lake at sunset!

I also took a long walk on a gorgeous red sand beach – unfortunately there was no tall, dark and handsome walking toward or with me – but it was amazing to walk in the warm water and imagine Anne of Green Gables while reading "The Lady of Shallot". It has also been very peaceful as no electronics are allowed – I am hiding under the covers with a flashlight as I type this!

But a few odds and ends…

1. I think that maybe I talk too fast as everyone keeps giving me weird looks when I speak and then saying “Eh?” Is this a Canadian thing or universal? Hmmmm…

2. Canadian money is pretty but the Queen is looking a bit worn out!

3. I visited a town with only 65 people in in!!! Seriously I teach more students than there were people in an entire town that was written in a pretty big font on the map! Winter time must be a bear!

4. I tried the “World’s Best Ice Cream” at Cows Ice Cream in Charlottetown. Now the reason why it is considered the best is that it has 16% butterfat in the ice cream. BUT it tasted like light ice cream. Hell if I am going to eat that much fat I want to taste that fat!!!! Again like I’ve said before I am not sure there really is such a thing as a bad ice cream (just bad flavors) so it was good, but I think my favorite ice cream of the summer remains the “Best F*&%#*^ Ice Cream Ever” in Essex, Mass.

5. The Hotel is great but there is a little “Shining” to it I’m not going to lie.

Off to Quebec…

Best sign: Didn't see any signs just a lot of lighthouses.

Miles traveled: Who the hell knows everything is in kilometers!!! But I think 120 miles

Movies: Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, and I blocked the horrible “Anne the Continuing Story” from my mind.