Originally published 15 July 2015.
Greetings from the Canadian Isles! My mom, younger brother Joel, and I are having the time of our lives! This trip has been a year in the making, and a dream of mom’s and mine since we were each little girls! The ladies are here for Anne of Green Gables, Joel is here for the ships.
Mom and Joel got their passports for the first time just for this trip, and though they were a bit nervous about going through customs on their own, they made it just fine! We only had once miscommunication snafu after we met up in Toronto for our connection to Halifax, but we survived it!

Upon landing in Nova Scotia, we picked up our rental car and headed out on our way! Our first stop was Pictou (pronounced “pick-tow”), in northeastern Nova Scotia, close to the Northumberland ferry that would take us to Prince Edward Island (PEI) the next morning.
Being quite far north, the days here are pretty long, which is good since we had about an hour and a half drive between the airport and our accommodation for the night. We arrived at the Braeside Inn just after 9:00pm, when the sun was just setting. The owner was there waiting for us, and he was friendly and helpful, just what you’d expect from a Canadian!
Nova Scotia and PEI are on Atlantic Time, one hour ahead of DC and two hours ahead of where my family lives in TN, so we weren’t particularly tired by the time we arrived and got settled, but we knew morning would come early, so we tried our best to fall asleep quickly!
I woke up early to make sure I could do my run through the cute little town of Pictou along the waterfront. It was awesome! I saw the great ship Hector and some adorable old buildings, and I ran along a lovely path by the water. Mom took a little walking excursion as well, and the three of us met up for breakfast around 7:30. Breakfast was basic continental fare, but service was friendly, which made for a lovely experience!
We finished up breakfast and left with plenty of time for the 9:30 ferry. It’s free to get onto PEI, so the ferry is simply first-come, first-served! It’ll be about $70 Canadian to get out by ferry on the eastern side of the island, or $50 Canadian if we were to take the Confederation Bridge on the western side. If you ever go to PEI, be prepared for the fee getting out!
The ride started a bit late, but it was a lovely day and our only commitment wasn’t till 1:00, so we didn’t mind. The breez was nice, and the temperature, even on the water, were in the mid- to high-70s! The ride was about 75 minutes, which gave us time to relax, take pictures, and get the highly-recommended “Cows” ice cream. It was pretty great!


And then we made a trip to the Anne of Green Gables store across the street. Because, how could we miss that?


More to come! Including a trip to Green Gables and some home-grown preserves!
Leave a Reply