Rain… Rain… Go AWAY! It was pouring this morning when we headed out to the Green Gables House! It is just literally a 5 minute walk from the Kindred Spirits Cottages and Inn, but we drove due to the downpour. We had to leave extra early to get there before the tour buses began to arrive, so our wonderful hosts at the Kindred Spirits made us a to-go breakfast box, with hot muffins out of the oven. They are such hospitable hosts! When we had to move from the cottage to the Inn yesterday, they told us to leave our bags, enjoy our day, and they would move the bags for us. When we arrived in our room after midnight, there the bags were, and even a piece of jewelry I had forgotten in the cottage.

We met Chantelle, who gave us a tour of the Green Gables house. This home served as Lucy Maud Montgomery’s inspiration for the setting of her Anne of Green Gables books. They have recreated the interior of the house to represent scenes and details from the story of Anne. All of the pieces of furniture, decor, and rugs date from the 1890s, so it a very authentic feel.  We were even treated to some raspberry cordial in the barn, trying to keep in out of the rain. Even though I have never read the books, they sort of came to life for me as we were standing in each room as Chantelle pointed out the details and back stories behind each one.  It was fascinating to see the house, to hear the stories, and to learn about the life of the author. By the time we left the house, the rain had subsided enough for a few god pictures of the famous home’s exterior…and green gables!

Chantelle suggested a visit to the Prince Edward Island National Park at Cavendish for a view of the coast and a walk on the sandy beach. We did just that,  and by the time we arrived there, the rain had gone away! NOw, I must interject a bit of a mishap we encountered. As we drove the road to the beach, we heard a big scraping, crunching sound from under our car. So in the mirror, Courtney observed what made the sound: “That was piece of our car!!! ” Yes, it was true. The front bumper fell off! Fortunately we had reported to the rental car people that that was very loose when we picked up the car. And BOOM- off it fell! So now it is has been enjoying some QT in the back with Technical Assistant Kimber and the camera equipment. Once we finally arrived at the beach bumper in tow,  we enjoyed a quick walk to the water, which was freezing cold, especially compared to the water on the other side of the island on the Evangeline Region’s coast. The sand was a slight reddish tint, and was very deep and squishy; your feet sank down deeper than our SC beaches. It was a lovely view of the giant sand dunes and red cliffs in the distance, and the misty skies made some spectacular scenery. We walked a bit out toward the dunes walk across the floating boardwalk over a lagoon of some sort. This was a perfect spot to film the “outro” footage for the PEI episode – dock, water, giant sand dunes.

After this, we did things a little backward. We went for ice cream BEFORE our lunch. Yeah. We are crazy like that. Gotta mix it up on Two Moms and a Car sometimes. We went to COWS Creamery, which they say has the best ice cream in Canada, and one paper reported it best in the world, SO who doesn;t need to try that??? The ice cream is 16% butterfat, and honestly the first bite seemed like chocolate butter. It was so rich and creamy. There were tons of flavors to choose from, and that made it hard to choose. The tee shirts they sell are a hoot! They are known for using cow vocabulary to recreate current pop culture shows, figures, etc  A couple of examples: Duck Cowmmandor, Justin Beefer, Anne of Green Stables. Some of them were so funny. And of course, the cows are on the shirt posed and dressed like whatever the theme is. Too cute!!

We left there to eat our real lunch. I had found a brochure for a place called Moo Moo Grilled Cheese. Yeah, seems to be a bit of a theme – unintentional, I assure you. It was in Avonlea Village. The village is a replica of the town of Avonlea in teh books, and it so realistic! The streets are unpaved, the “sidewalks” are wooden, and all the buildings are regular size, with some shops, some craft areas, some restaurants. Wish we had n=more time to explore there, but tummies were growling. Moo Moos has gourmet type gilled cheese, but we split the classic and had a bowl of their special homemade mushroom soup, which had a hint of sherry in it. SO good, and just  the right light lunch.

2 hours of free time! What!??  we went back to the Kindred Spirits, where I plopped myself into one of the wicker chairs on our front porch (where I am also sitting right now) to load pictures onto the facebook page. It was so comfortable, since the rain washed the humidity away, and the breezes blew through the trees. Nice to have a bit of downtime. At 7:00, we went to North Rustico to a place called The Pearl, which was a place Larry from Annie’s Table had recommended to us. It was outstanding. The ambiance was so fresh, and all of our meals were superb – nothing left on my plate or Courtney’s.

On the way home we found a road right on the water’s edge back to Cavendish. The views were stunning, but we saw something else we had never seen before. A bunch of foxes! All over the road and along the side of the road. We stopped and tried our best to get some photos. There were probably 6 or 8 of them, frolicking, playing, and one who even kept plunking himself  right down in the middle of the road! It was great! They almost each had their personalities. One of them was curious and kept  walking almost right up to the car! It was such a treat to see so many and to watch them play and interact. We probably say there for 10 minutes enjoying out own little personal fox circus!

After this, we needed a sweet of some sort. All we could find was a Tim Hortons (of course!) so we went in and chose from the “20-minutes-til-closing-time” slim pickings. We each got a 10 pack of Timbits (think Dunkin Donuts munchkins). We had bought a bottle of local PEI strawberry rhubarb dessert wine the first day here to save for our last night. So the pairing was odd, we admit. Tim Hortons donuts and dessert wine. But like I said, Two Moms and a Car has to mix it up a little to keep things interesting!

So now Courtney has suffered another carb coma and has gone to bed early. I need to pack, but I am having too much fun reliving our day today. We have had our share of adventures in Canada, but as we always say, it is the people we have met along the journey, from Vicki and her motorcycle, to Annie and her culinary studio, from Bill and his poutinerie, to Jimmie Le Fresne and his repurposed train station. We could write a book about these and all the others we have met. Each one has taught us something new, helped us to see the world more fully. To everyone we have worked with, and big thank you and merci!!

Enjoying the last night of this journey-

Heather and Courtney