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travel / great places / cg recommends / pei
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Family Fun on Prince Edward Island
"Pea-dee-eye... can we go there again?" hollers Ethan, our
4-year-old, from the back seat of the car last spring. "Where?"
I shout back with confusion. "You know... Prince Dead-word Island."
I think to myself how great our family vacation to P.E.I. had been,
and with a quick family consultation, it's decided right there and then
that we'll go again.
Our last trip three years ago was an endless ramble along
the red-dirt back roads in search of everything we didn't have
at our home north of Ottawa: endless rolling green fields surrounded
by the sea at every turn. The gentle landscape reminded me of
the prairies except that the horizon line was blue with sea instead
of sky. And what separated that green from blue was what seemed
like endless stretches of beach broken by bays and marshland,
river basins and seaside communities.
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| Fun down by the sea |
P.E.I. has an extensive network of provincial
parks throughout the island, and we camped at three of these during
our two-week stay. They were all excellent: simple camping services
with a mandatory children's playground, warm shallow swimming and seashore
fascination for kids and parents alike. The province has a great tourism
program, and despite the high number of visitors each summer, we had
no problem finding plenty of space to roam and beaches that were surprisingly
uncrowded.
Now, we did have to travel to the Island's extremes to find this: Jacques
Cartier Provincial Park in the northwest end and Campbells Cove Provincial
Park in the northeast. But keep in mind that these extremes are only
4 hours apart. In fact, the entire island is only 224 km from end to
end. We were constantly surprised at how close everything was, and yet
how much room there was for the throngs of island visitors. P.E.I. does
have its crowds -- they just all seemed to gather around the island's
most famous natural attraction: Prince Edward Island National Park,
a stretch of natural sand dunes that fade to the sea along the north
shore from Cavendish to Tracadie Bay. Great for a visit, with kids'
attractions and theme parks nearby. We felt the island had a lot to
offer elsewhere and spent most of our time on the fringe.
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View from the ferry: building
the Confederation Bridge |
Our last trip coincided with
the final season for the ferry that ran between, New Brunswick and Borden,
P.E.I. We watched part of the construction of the Confederation Bridge
and look forward -- with mixed emotions -- to driving on it. It's hard
not to think that it will bring a series of rapid changes to a rather
tranquil place. I recall many islanders feeling uncertain of its impact.
It will be interesting to see during this visit, just how their views
have changed.
Stephen Hanks, Art Director
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