Special Feature PEI - Points East Coastal Drive
The plane touched down at precisely midnight on the 22nd of May. It lurched and jarred as the brakes were engaged and it came to a stop in front of the little building at the Charlottetown Airport. Even after a grueling 12 hours in airports and aboard planes, there would not be much sleep after the trip to the East Coast.
My mom and I flew to P.E.I. to see my girlfriend Abby, who is doing her practicum in Charlottetown and my mom wasn’t staying as long as I, so there was work to be done. The morning after we arrived, my mom rented a car and we headed to explore the east side of this amazing little Island. Since Charlottetown is kind of in the middle of P.E.I, the plan of attack was to explore the east coast of the Island in one day and then move to the west the following day.
Our first stop on the map was to be Greenwich. There’s an incredible beach and sand dunes to run around on, even if you are not a kid anymore, I suggest running full out down the face of some of the dunes. The walk to the beach is an easy one. The trail is wide and flat with a couple boardwalks to get over marshy areas. A person could easily spend a full day here if not longer. Make sure to dip your feet in the Atlantic Ocean for sentimental reasons.
After a quick lunch break in the parking lot, the car was placed in drive and the crew headed for shipwreck point. Shipwreck Point ended up being a, classic looking, small fishing town along the coastline. Instead of boring you with posts of every spot we stopped, I’ll summarize what I thought of the Points East Coastal Drive.
It really is the P.E.I. on the postcards. Amazing looking homes with lobster traps and hay bails on the ground. The properties are huge with dandelions covering the landscape. One thing I noticed, which is very different from B.C, was the houses are wide open and what I mean by this is, they stick out like sore thumbs. No trees around the houses, even though there are trees all over, and no driveways disappearing into the woods leaving one to wonder what is at the end. Each house can be seen for miles, no secrets, with very manicured yards. I think lawn mowing here is a hobby.
We continued to rack up the kilometers as the day flew by. The sun began to go down and we knew it was time to head back to Charlottetown. Our last stop would be Wood Islands. This is where the ferry comes in from Nova Scotia. The last picture I took that day was of these little houses on the shore. I’m not sure what they are used for but they look pretty neat any ways.
Our first day on the East Coast came to close just as the sun disappeared behind the Charlottetown backdrop. The crazy number of churches, deserted homesteads and fields of dandelions left an impression to last a lifetime. To be continued….
By Greg Miller
Points East Coastal Drive Must See:
Greenwich
North Lake Harbour
East Point
Red Point
Souris
Montague
Beach Point
Wood Islands
