I’ve dreamt about PEI since I was a little girl. It is, after all, the setting of Road to Avonlea, a show I grew up on and continue to adore. While Anne of Green Gables was also a favourite, Avonlea really stuck to my heart.

Every Sunday evening, my mom would put the show on for my sister and me, and put sponge rollers in our hair so we’d have curls on Monday. Yes, an activity more wholesome the show itself. I even named my doll Felicity, though as an adult I strongly questioned this choice, considering Felicity was often the snarkiest character on the show….

All of this is to say I felt genuinely thrilled the first time we saw the shores of PEI, and thought to myself “It looks just like the beach beyond the White Sands Hotel.”

The soil is indeed a legendary red, and the grasses do bend inland, affronted by the always-windy, dark blue Atlantic. It’s just a lovely place to be.

We visited in the fall, when many restaurants have closed but the crowds have fallen off. We felt like the only visitors on the island, and spent most of our first day driving around and exploring.

We came across Mont Carmel Church and graveyard on a stretch of green, grassy coast. It reminded me of Ireland.

While we didn’t attempt any of the Anne of Green Gables touring, we did visit the house where L.M. Montgomery was born. It’s a modest little place in a quiet village – exactly what you’d expect, really. I think it’s just amazing, the impact a woman born on a rural island in the 19th century had on the world.

We started our stay on PEI in Summerside, at the Summerside Inn B&B. Ken and Jenny Meister bought and renovated an incredible heritage home after Ken retired from years as an airforce pilot. It holds over a century of stories within its walls, and we loved sitting in the grand old dining room for a hot breakfast in the morning.

Before we left for the day, Ken generously gave us each a honeycrisp apple, the variety of choice in the area apparently, and one that’s nearly impossible to get! Every u-pick orchard had been plucked clean, and we felt very privileged to have a taste.

Plenty to come from PEI, including oyster boats, chocolate-covered potato chips, black garlic, and of course, red soil.

-LA