PEI Trip Day 1: Nova Scotia to Summerside

While my husband was away on the west coast I spent a lot of time researching a place for us to go when he came back for our 10 year wedding anniversary. He wanted to take me far, far away to some place I have always dreamed of because he is the most awesome husband on the planet but my health has been struggling so much, I had to say no. I had to pick a place that was not too far, that did not require a plane (flying is too tough on me right now) but was not Nova Scotia. I choose an island adventure: Prince Edward Island. I also tested out my new Canon PowerShot that I got the day before we left. This trip was going to be its initiation.

Above you will see the Cobequid Pass. I hear all about it when I listen to the radio, all the accidents that happen there. What I didn't know was it cost $4 to leave Nova Scotia! I considered it a bargain. We were off! From just outside of Halifax, it took us only three hours to get to Confederation Bridge:



If this is not a human-made wonder of the world, it should be. My heart skipped when I saw it, I had no idea that we would have to go up and up and up to drive along it! And it kept going up and was so long... it seemed to go on forever!



When we finally reached the other side I could see the dark, rich, red soil PEI is known for, the tide was out and the beach seemed infinite.



I choose for us to stay in Summerside and look at the autumn welcome we got when we came into the town! We did not go to the scarecrow fest but the entire town did, we drove by it and the turnout was amazing! Summerside is on the western part of the island whereas the big city Charlottetown is to the east. I did not want to be in the downtown core so I choose a town that was out of the high traffic but still had many conveniences nearby. I think I chose well.



PEI loves its weird signs and its rotaries! Summerside is a difficult area to describe. On one hand you have lots of farm land, then you have areas that are very suburban and then you have a strip that is all big box stores with McDonald's and a Superstore...

Then you go downtown along Water Street and there is a real gentrification going on. It looks so much like it is getting a makeover I told my husband it did not look real, it looked like a movie set. That was also the case because I am not used to being in a downtown with so little traffic!

We wanted to check out the boardwalk just outside the downtown area and walk along the water. I was exhausted and spent the next four days completely windblown but happy.



If you love lighthouses (and churches actually), PEI is the place to be. Across the boardwalk you could see this lighthouse keeping our sailors safe.



Then there was this lighthouse on the other side of the water by the boardwalk. Was it ever beautiful already and we were in what felt like the suburbs by the ocean! Unfortunately this was the moment I realized I had forgotten to change into my hiking boots and my feet were hurting.



I sat down to get a bit of a rest and my husband wanted to take a photo of me sitting on this giant over-sized bench which made me feel like a hobbit.



This is as far as I could go without damaging my feet so we walked around the lighthouse and made our way back towards downtown.



Summerside in general is very suburban in a lot of ways but I have a feeling that once they are finished the work downtown, this is going to be a fabulous little area to live in.



That was it. That was all I could handle on our first day so we went to our inn for the rest of the night so I could recover for our big adventure on the North Cape Coastal Drive along the western part of the island the next day.



I just had to include this sign that we discovered along the boardwalk. It was just too cute!

For those interested in the food world on PEI, make sure to check out my foodie blog for restaurant reviews!