Thursday, September 12, 2019
As we drove into Cavendish, it got more and more touristy with cabins, shops and some very nice golf courses. There is still a lot to be done cleaning up after Hurricane Dorian, so crews continue to work hard.
Our Parks Canada Discovery card got us into the visitor’s center at Green Gables Farm, where Lucy Maud Montgomery spent much of her childhood. She is one of the most notable authors of Canada, writing Anne of Green Gables, 20 other novels and 530 short stories. It is a beautiful spot, a beautiful farm on a beautiful island, very close to the ocean beaches.
It is all very nicely preserved and presented. She wrote all her life from early childhood, and always wanted to be an author. Anne of Green Gables was refused by 5 publishers. After two years, she got it back out and sent it to Page Company of Boston, who accepted it. Mark Twain described the character, Anne, as “the dearest, most lovable child in fiction since the immortal Alice.”
As we left, tour buses kept coming in. I can’t imagine what it’s like in summer. We drove over to PEI National Park along the beach fronting the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It has the classic red cliffs, which lose a meter of land a year, but Dorian may have sped that up a bit. It is surely a popular spot in summer. We walked up a trail and found a young man flying a tiny drone. It was so cool, fast and with no more noise than a big bee. He was having a big time. His wife, probably not. Not far ahead, the path was closed, so we went back to the car and drove along the beach road.
We went into Charlottetown and walked around. Cities don’t do much for me, and this one was no exception. What is exceptional are the farms. A couple of times on the way back, I stopped to take pictures, although it’s hazardous on busy Highway 2. Potatoes account for 20% of the crops, the red, iron-rich soil perfect for potatoes. There is a lot of corn, grains, beans sorghum and cattle. Some fields stretch far into the distance on rolling hills, while others are beautifully divided by trees, separating different crops.
fabulous pics of the shore