We left the Bay of Fundy and New Brunswick behind and headed to Prince Edward Island. We booked a 5-day stay at the KOA. This was in the middle of the island and a great launching point for all our adventures for the next few days.

Fortunately, the drive over the 9-mile Confederation Bridge was uneventful despite the strong winds. Unfortunately, conditions weren’t the greatest for pictures but you could see the island come into view from the tallest span of the bridge.

Time to Explore – Day 1

Victoria & Borden-Carleton

We took a drive to the quaint fishing town of Victoria for a quick look around. Unfortunately it was cold and windy and we forgot to take any pictures!

We headed back to Borden-Carleton to check out the visitors center and shops. We also had our first taste of Cow’s Ice Cream, a local favorite in the area.

North Cape

The rain finally subsided on Saturday so we drove to the northernmost point of the island to hike along the North Cape. This is home to the Wind Energy Institute of Canada where giant windmills dot the landscape. After trying to hike in the strong winds we could see why this was a great place for that!

We left the North Cape behind and continued on to O’Leary where we had two destinations in mind. First, we found a quilt and fabric shop where I purchased a kit to make an Anne of Green Gables quilt. Second, the Canadian Potato Museum!

The Canadian Potato Museum

Yes, you read that right! Prince Edward Island is a great place to grow potatoes, and as we drove the countryside, we saw the rich soil being prepared for a new crop of potatoes. So, what better place to have a potato museum than here.

The Canadian Potato Museum tells the history of the town of O’Leary, the story of growing potatoes on the island, and is also home to an extensive collection of antique farming equipment. If you’ve even been to the I-80 Truck Stop Museum of trucking in America, this is the Canadian farming equipment equivalent.

Time for Lunch

We drove to Tyne Valley for a delicious lunch at Backwoods Burger. While neither of us had a burger, Mike got beer battered fried haddock and I got a caesar salad. We shared a delicious, and frankly the only reason we came here, plate of “fries with the works”.

Time for Dessert

Our culinary exploration continued as we headed to Summerside and Holman’s Ice Cream Parlour. This family-owned restaurant is housed in an old victorian home.

“At Holman’s, when we say ‘Homemade’, we mean homemade. Handcrafted, small-batch, ultra-premium ice cream, made with Prince Edward Island’s finest, fresh and natural ingredients. We are proud to live and work on Canada’s Food Island!
Everything we serve is homemade. Not just our luscious ice cream flavours, but every ingredient; the sauces, the chunks, the flavours. Even our cones are made with our tried and tested homemade secret recipe and are made fresh, awaiting your arrival, throughout the day. The carnival aroma you get when you walk through our door is the essence those freshly-baked cones.
Even our warm desserts are made directly in-house.” Straight from their website

Portions were a generous size, and in fact, Mike had to finish mine! We could tell you what we had, but since they only have 16 flavors out of 100 each day, your selection may be completely different from ours.

Time to Explore – Day 2

Charlottetown

The weather was a bit dryer and sunnier so we headed east about an hours drive to Charlottetown. This is the major city on the island and home to Confederation Landing Park. This was the site of the Confederation Conference in 1864 and is believed to be the first step toward the creation of Canada.

The harbor is now home to quaint shops, hotels, and beautiful flower gardens. Of course, we had to try a Beavertail. This one had nutella and chocolate chunks. We split it and it was still quite a bit to eat. Good thing we walked over 10,000 steps that day!

St. Dunstan’s Basilica

One item on our list while in Charlottetown was a visit to St. Dunstan’s Basilica. This magnficant structure has spires that can be seen from miles away. While previous versions were destroyed by fire, the current more fire-resistant structure was built in 1919.

Anne of Green Gables

We made our way from Charlottetown to Green Gables, home to Green Gables Heritage Place. This is not to be confused with the The Anne of Green Gables Museum, where Lucy Montgomery’s relatives, The Campbells, lived. Lucy spent time writing at both locations.

Green Gables Heritage Place is run by the Canadian government, and is also the site of the haunted woods that are referred to in Montgomery’s first book, Anne of Green Gables. There is a wonderful walkthrough of Montgomery’s life complete with pages of her personal scrapbooks.

There is a cafe and gift shop on site.

Cavendish National Park

We made the short drive over to Cavendish National Park and Campground. While the campground is not open yet, we were able to walk out to the boardwalk overlook to see the ocean.

Dinnertime

We’d heard a lot about Lobster Suppers on Prince Edward Island, so we chose one close to Green Gables. We chose Fisherman’s Warf Lobster Suppers because it also came with a large all-you-can-eat salad bar with seafood chowder and steamed mussels included. Mike was just happy he got a lobster! I opted for roast chicken with a baked potato. While a little pricey, the food was good.

Conclusion

Our last day on the island had us getting caught up on laundry and getting ready to travel. We enjoyed our time here. One thing we wanted to do, but the weather did not cooperate was ride our bikes on one of the Confederation Rail Trails.

We know we only scratched the surface of what Prince Edward Island has to offer, but we highly recommend adding this to your travel list.

Next week: Cape Breton and The Cabot Trail

We’re Mike & Jennifer Skinnell, and together we are The Rambling Quilter. We travel the country full-time in our 42 ft. fifth-wheel pulled by our F-350. Jennifer writes our blog, travel articles, contemporary romance, cozy mysteries, and “Don’t Wait – Our Full-Time Journey Through Breast Cancer”. Our blog is purely for information and entertainment purposes. However, if you’d like to support Jennifer’s writing career, her author link to her books is below.