Canada’s Birthplace

Halfway through our tour of the Acadian Coastal Route in NB, Jules and I realized that we needed to get moving if we wanted to get to the airport in Charlottetown, PEI, in time to pick up Christina. Unfortunately, a gigantic bridge stood between us and PEI. Jules and I both have a bridge phobia, the only thing that makes us not the best road trip buddies, but since she’d driven through moose fog the night before, I was scheduled to drive across the Confederation Bridge. It was terrifying, but I kept my eyes on the gorgeous green island ahead of me and only yelped in fear once, when I drove over the crest of the bridge and felt like I was about to plummet into the Northumberland Strait.

And then we were on Prince Edward Island, Canada’s very own utopia.

It’s hard to describe what it’s like, driving on rolling country highways in PEI for the first time. Pristine farms dotted the scenic landscapes outside the car windows, and the dirt was actually red. I mean, I had this technical knowledge that PEI had red dirt, but when I actually saw it, it still surprised me, somehow.

Since it had been, like, three whole days since we had seen Christina, we had a joyous reunion at the airport, which wasn’t much bigger than Fargo, North Dakota’s, airport, and then went to our hotel, where we viewed people using the pay phone and realized that being on PEI was like going back in time. Fun! I’d never time traveled before. So after a quick freshening up at the hotel, it was off to downtown Charlottetown to explore the provincial’s capital and largest city, which also happens to the be the birthplace of Canada.

It was the night before Canada Day, so preparations were already starting for the next day’s festivities. Some streets were blocked off and they were having a festival at the waterfront, but overall, the historic, picturesque streets were fairly quiet. Everyone was down at the water, we guessed. We had more important things to sightsee, though, like Great George Street and Province House. And once we were there, of course I found a church to photograph!

Gate marking Victoria Row, the entrance to the most historic part of the city

St. Dunstan’s Basilica, one of the most beautiful churches in Canada!

Great George Street, often called Canada’s most important street. It was the site of the Charlottetown Conference of 1864, which led to the establishment of the Confederation of Canada in 1867.

More of Great George, which really is a handsome street

Another shot of St. Dunstan’s, which is also on Great George

Province House, where PEI’s legislature has met since 1847. It’s Canada’s second-oldest house of government and it was one of the original buildings that hosted the Charlottetown Conference. We got there too late to go in, but we had a nice time walking around the outside. On the opposite side is a fountain, a war memorial, and one rock from each Canadian province.

After all of this sightseeing and picture-taking, we had definitely worked up an appetite. And when in PEI, you just have to eat lobster! So we chose a waterfront establishment called Lobster on the Wharf, where they serve lobsters that you can eat outside, on a wharf.

It wasn’t crowded at all, so we got to sit all the way at the end of the wharf. Normally this would skeeve me out, but it was worth it for this view!

Lobster dinner! Christina had eaten a whole lobster before, but Jules hadn’t, so we got a little lesson in how to properly take the lobster meat out of the super red, super hot shell. Unfortunately, this was over halfway through the trip for me, and I was feeling exceptionally poor, so I couldn’t spring for a $30 dinner and I just got the lobster bisque, which was still pretty amazing.

At least our hilarious waiter let me wear a lobster bib, even though I didn’t have to rip apart my dinner.

After dinner, the sun was just about gone, so we headed back to the hotel by way of the only Starbucks on the island. We had to—it was a novelty! But after Starbucks, we had to head back to the hotel and rest up. The next day was a big one, with an entire island to see!