Posted at 11:10 AM in Summer on PEI Countdown | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: PEI Places to Stay, PEI Rent a cottage, PEI Vacation, PEI Vacation Rental
1. Go to any of the Island's beautiful beaches!! My favorite is right here in Anglo Rustico less than a mile from my cottage and is called "Barachoise Beach". It's a sand Island that stretches from Robinsons Island to North Rustico. It's private so bring the wine or plan for a bonfire. Never busy!! love it!
Other top beaches include Cavendish Beach (7 miles away), Greenwich Beach (Eastern PEI near St. Peters) and Singing Sands or Basin Head (very Eastern PEI 1.5 hours from Rustico)
2. Go see the Anne of Green Gables play and have dinner out at a lovely Ch'town Restaurant such as The Pilot House ($$$) Sim's Oyster Bar ($$$$), Lot 30 ($$$$$), Sirinella($$$) or anywhere on Victoria Row ($$$).
The Anne of Green Gables play is fabulous, and a must see!
3. Go see Anne of Green Gables House in Cavendish, The Lake of Shining Waters and drive from Cavendish to Malepeque. Beautiful scenery as described in the Anne Books.
Start in Cavendish by visiting Anne of Green Gables House National Park, the drive West on Rte. 6 and stop at Lucy Maud Museum and Homestead. Incredible views all the way to Malpeque Bay.
There is a nice restaurant in Darnley in case you get hungry (forget the name) and there are also restaurants in New London in case you get hungry before Darnley!
4. Bike across many of the Confederation Trail's Paths. The most popular is around St. Peter's Bay, but you can bike pretty much anywhere on PEI> Close to Rustico there is a park to get onto the Trail in Hunter River. You can also run the PEI Marathon in October, either the half or the full. But definately get some exercise while on the Island on the Trail or Biking in the country near the ocean!
5. Have a romantic afternoon in Victoria by The Sea. Stroll along some of the tiny shops at Victoria by The SEa. Stop for some Chocolates at PEI Chocolates (they are delicious and well worth the $$) and a nice latte with your paper. Plan to eat dinner there at The Landmark Cafe (yummy! $$) and sit outside, they have a lovely deck. There used to be a few more businesses in VIctoria but many have closed down. It's still worth the trip. You can head over to the Park in Victoria and take a swim at the Beach, walk around the docks, shop, lighthouse go to Mrs. Proffits tea room. Catch a play at the "Victoria Playhouse".
I still love this quaint little town, a unique find on PEI.
6. Go antique-ing/Art Galleries!! yes PEI is great for antique finds. Start off in New Annan, there are a few shops along the New Annan Road on the way to Summerside. Then follow the Trans Canada back to Ch'town, there are a few shops along the way, Tryon, Cornwall and then into Charlottetown. I usually find some treasures and furnished much of my cottage with PEI Antiques. In Charlottetown visit Hardy's used furniture on Allen St. He used to be my dad's partner and sometimes you can find the best antique deals in there! That used to be part of Dad's shop a long time ago. Danny is great and will help you out! Check the paper for flea markets and estate sales.
5. Spend the day in Charlottetown, walk around the Waterfront, have lunch somewhere around there, lots of great places (not Peakes though, yuck, although fun bar at night) Tour province house and see the all the sights on Old Great George St. Walk down the waterfront and over to Victoria Park. Get lots of great exercise along the water. Stop at The Patesserie on Pownal St. for a treat and bring a great book, relax and get romantic with your loved one or just relax with your friends and kids!
6. Eat a Lobster Dinner at New Glasgow Lobstah Suppahs.
7. Go to the Drive- In in Brackley
8. Stroll the gardens and shops at The Dunes, Gallery and Cafe. Great jewelery, pottery, and art. Stay there for drinks and dinner (make reservations)
9. Take a bike, blade or run along the Golfshore Hwy by Brackley/Stanhope Dalvay. Hang out at the Lighthouse in Covehead and get the best fish and Chips at Richards ($12.95 feeds two though!) Take lots of pictures! Enjoy the beach! Stroll along Dalvay Lake.
10. Golf at Brudenell or Crowbush.
11. Stroll around North Rustico Boardwalk, get some Fresh fish from Doirons and cook it up get treats from the bakery!!
12. Go to a show at Harmony House in Hunter River. Eat a lovely dinner at the Pearl Cafe in North Rustico, The Old Glasgow MIll or The Island Preserve Company, then catch a great show at Harmony House. An old church restored by Island artists Chris and Melanie Taylor.
Posted at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (19) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: beaches, Cavendish, Charlottetown, harmony House Theatre., Lobster Dinners, North Rustico, South Rustico, top things to do on PEI
Trip 2, we spent the ENTIRE day at Barachois Beach, near my cottage (less than a mile) in Anglo Rustico. The weather was fantastic, we brought sand toys, lunches/snacks, and of course I brought my guitar. We traveled light which made the short walk to the beach easier with little ones.
This kids made the most of the fact there were jellyfish. The reconnected and made many memories with their cousins, the type I remember growing up on PEI.
Being bored, inspires creativity for kids of all ages! Warning, don't forget your sunscreen, and lots to eat and drink. This beach is also not a national park, so you can bring dogs or your bottle of wine. You can even have bonfires at night.
This beach is a giant sandbar wedged between Rustico Island and North Rustico Harbor nestled between two national parks.
How to get to Barachois Beach in Rustico. Mostly the locals only know about this beach, but take church road all the way down until it continues into Buntain Road. Continue straight onto the dirt road and park on the right near where the row of cottages starts. Walk down the cliff steps and down to the left as far as you can go until you get to a path that does not go through water (just a few hundred feet down) walkt through the path through the sand dunes onto this 2 mile long sand dune beach! Great for dog walks and nice long private walks. Hardly a soul on the beach ever, even on the hottest July day.
Cost of beach! FREE
Our first day trip this year was to Kings Castle Provincial Park with all seven of our combined kids! It was a great park, but kind of far from the cottage, at least an hour. Considering I grew up on PEI, and come here every summer, it's hard to believe it was my first time going there!
When we got there the kids loved it (ages 2-11). There were paths through the woods with Story Book characters, which the kids climbed all over. There was a huge playground in the middle of the woods, with lots of climbing structures, slides and fun things for the kids to do. The kids all loved the park. We brought a picnic and that was fun! After being there a few minutes about 50 kids came from a camp, and basically crowded the whole park and took over all the slides and structures. The kids were a bit disappointed about that so we tried to avoid the crowd and headed down the the beach. In comparison to the beaches on the ocean this beach was not too exciting to the kids, seaweed and jellyfish galore. They did walk down to a point at the beach and explored shells etc. After exploring the beach the other group of kids left and they enjoyed the park a bit more.
We then headed to Cape Bear where we thought we might see some seals. We went to the lighthouse and the Cape but no luck on the Seals.
We then headed to Montague to eat at Gillis Drive In. Deep fried food and ice cream, delicious but not healthy!! The kids thoroughly enjoyed!
Headed back to Rustico to go to bed!!! If there had not been a crowd at this park and if we had seen seals, I would have rated this trip a 10!! But due to those other factors, I would have to rate this day trip about a 7 out of 10. Plus the drive was long.
Plus sides of trip - drove through Murray River and Murray Harbor, but gorgeous little towns (but totally dead). A few cute little shops to explore if you don't have 7 plus kids with you!
Montague was a bit dead also, and many things seemed closed down...
The provincial park was free, the seal watching (although we never saw seals, perhaps not the best place, will investigate further) was free, Gillis Drive-In about $40 for a family of 5.
BTW, don't drive over the cliffs at Cape Bear or Bear Point. LOL
While on PEI I did not have the chance to eat at the Dayboat, but I realized the chef that was there the last two years, Francois de Melogue, who was wonderful, has left and there is a new chef, John Pritchard
! Would love to hear reviews if you have eaten there!
Posted at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Rates for PEI Cottage Rental are as follows:
| late spring | May 15, 2009 - | Jun 20, 2009 | $850 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| peak | Jun 21, 2009 - | Sep 7, 2009 | $1,450 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 Week |
| Sep 8, 2009 - | Oct 15, 2009 | $850 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 Week |
Posted at 11:08 AM | Permalink
I am counting down the lazy days of summer until I can finally be where I belong, at my cottage on my home of PEI, Prince Edward Island. While I don't envy the winter there, their summers are perfect. Well maybe not weather wise, as we had ALOT Of rain last summer, but just there is perfect, good weather or bad!!!
Posted at 07:12 AM in Summer on PEI Countdown | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)