jessica leigh

It’s About Time, Eh?

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Hello friends. I’d say it’s about time I get back to blogging. I’ve genuinely missed it!

Now I know this is out of order, but since I’m still waiting for all the Mexico pictures (I only want to bring you the best ;) I’m going to go ahead and share about my trip to Prince Edward Island, Canada.

It began with an early morning. Rewind. Actually, it began with packing. First, let me say that I was one of the lightest packers in Mexico. I was able to take everything I needed, plus some. Leaving integral items behind is just not an option. It simply must fit. And it always does. But I digress.

Because our airline charged to check baggage, we girls were limited to a suitcase that would fit in the overhead bins (which is actually another story for another time). There was much talk about how we would have to pack lightly, but I was determined to take all of my necessities.

According to some, sixteen dresses do not constitute as necessities. But to me, they do. After two weeks of wearing my most grungy, most practical clothes in Mexico, I was quite excited to wear my more romantic, though not always practical, dresses. Although there was much ridicule and little encouragement of the contents of my roll bag, I was able to fit everything I needed, plus some. ;)

Onto more details. After a very long flight (have you ever heard of flight attendants who crack sarcastic jokes about one another over the intercom?), we arrived in Maine. From there, we drove about seven hours to the island. There are two ways onto the island: either you drive over the bridge or you take a ferry. We chose the former, and it was quite the bridge! I tried holding my breath, but after about thirty seconds I gave up. Good thing, too, because it was about ten minutes across!

It was very dark by the time we arrived to our little cabin. So dark, in fact, that we could not see what lay in wait for our blood. (Insert Kelly sound effect: “bloomin’ mosquitos!”) Yes, mosquitos. The were the largest, most vicious mosquitos I’d ever met in my life! (Canada is a very green place, so they don’t spray for mosquitos on the island.) After a few hard knocks, we devised a plan. Well, chaos spontaneously created this plan. Here’s how it went:

1.Girls get completely ready inside the house with the doors closed (mosquitos spying through the windows).
2.Dad unlocks the rental car with the keyless entry.
3.Girls in dresses (this is where impracticality comes in) run to the car flailing and/or swatting at killer mosquitos. (Most of the time, I was trying to hold a hat on, too.)
4.As soon as all five passengers are in the vehicle, the doors are vigorously slammed shut.
5.For the following five minutes, passengers stealthily hunt those mosquitos who were fast enough to hitch a ride in the vehicle.

And every time we arrived home we’d do this all over again, this time making a mad rush for the front door.

Our cabin was located in Blooming Point, which apparently is mosquito haven. Any time we’d talk to a local and mention the location of our lodgings, he’d say, “Ohhhh. There. Yeah. Mosquitos.” Despite the many war wounds we had by the end of our stay in Blooming Point, we all really enjoyed our cabin. After a long day of exploring, it was great to be back at the cabin. We ladies did all the cooking under the guidance of my mom. We made a menu, shopped at Sobey’s (a Canadian Publix), and fixed dinners in the evenings.

One thing I loved about the trip is that we didn’t have a very tightly packed and rigidly planned schedule. Something I really wanted to do was just experience the island, and I feel that we were able to do just that! We asked around for the best places to eat, found a small church to attend on Sunday, biked ten miles one day, and drove around a lot. In fact, my favorite day was when we just drove around (okay, we were slightly lost) and found a huge field at the top of a hill overlooking the island landscape. We ran through the field, felt the wind on our faces, the grass on our legs, and experienced Prince Edward Island.

These pictures highlight some of the best moments of our trip.

This is the Haunted Wood that Anne describes in the books.

As is this photo.

And this is Lover’s Lane. Isn’t it gorgeous? I found both Lover’s Lane and the Haunted Wood to be just what they ought.

And here we are outside of Green Gables, the house described in the books.

Ha ha. Okay, this is at Sobey’s. If I’m remembering correctly, this is a sign for some sort of Little Debbie snack food. Seizing the opportunity for mischief, I had Kelly stand next to the sign. As you can see, she didn’t need much instruction. ;)

We girls had a thing for signs. They were such a novelty up there! I mean, where else do you see signs like these? Naturally, we made my Dad stop at every good sign. He was such a gentleman and always obliged.

He he! This is one of my all-time favorite pictures from the trip!

Here we are making french toast. Don’t the aprons look lovely?

Dad enjoyed eating out. This is when we went to an all-you-can-eat lobster supper. Dad loved the mussels, the clam chowder, and of course the lobster, but we girls stuck to the safe stuff like chicken and beef.

And we also stuck to the ice cream. I have never had so much ice cream in my life! Mmmm, and it was delicious! Here we are standing outside PEI’s Best Ice Cream.

This is the field I just loved. Isn’t it perfect?

See what I mean about random pictures?

This is one of the beaches close by our cottage. (No mosquitos there, though. I’m beginning to believe they only swarmed our cottage.) In case you can’t read it, it says “I LOVE YOU, JENNA!” :

This photo was taken mainly so I could be sure all sixteen of my dress were worn. ;) I bet if you zoom in really closely you can see a swarm of mosquitoes closing in on my helpless arms. At least my hands were safe.

And this beautiful place is Acadia National Park in Maine. We spent the last two days of the trip in Maine, and our visit to the national park was one of my other favorite times. Just look at how blue the water is! See the sand in the distance? That’s a beach. The beaches in Maine and PEI were just wonderful! There were lots of rocks, and they weren’t blazing hot!

Since our return, I’ve had no motivation, whatsoever, to go the beaches here. Not that I ever did.

Mom, Dad, Kelly, Tali, anything I’ve missed that you care to add?

My computer is being shipped off to Apple, so I won’t be able to post again (arrg!) until it’s back. Hopefully by then Josh will have pictures of Mexico.

Until then....