Prince Edward Island (known as PEI) is the smallest of Canada’s ten provinces. This island off of New Brunswick is only reachable by ferry or the Confederation Bridge. With my arrival time up in the air, I decided it would be easiest to take the bridge. This 8 mile bridge was certainly an interesting way to get onto this adorable island. One of the more smoothly thought-out plans to bring people in, the bridge is actually free to use to enter the island…and $47.75 to exit, whoa!!

I enjoyed the island for two days and one night. I swear that the entire island is one big wind gust. My night there, I camped out on the coast as you can see in this picture. That night, there was a storm that I thought was going to blow me off the cliff! It poured all night and blew so hard I was tempted to move just to avoid this fate and because I feared the dirt road I had driven in on might be too much for my little Veloster the next morning…but she’s a trooper and safely got us out of there the next day.

With the small size of the island, I drove around the entire eastern coast. The island is a mixture of what looks much like the United States Midwest in the country and completely over-the-top tourism. To drive home this point, I was going through the center of the island, and passed Cow’s Creamery. This local ice cream shop had a gigantic sign with the provocative statement: “Canada’s Best Ice Cream”…I obviously had to turn around and see for myself. The ice cream was delicious, but if I count gelato against this, it wasn’t even the best on my trip and the other place wasn’t making anything resembling this ridiculous claim!

The most famous resident of PEI was the fictional Anne of Green Gables. Knowing that I may well never be back, I decided to unhappily spend – more like waste – my $6.30 to walk through the house. I was astounded marching through as all of the other people seemed enthralled with this old house. I continually was thinking how many houses we had passed that looked very similar and possibly even better. Apparently I was the only sane one there. All I know is that PEI is making a killing off of this tourist trap…

Overall, I enjoyed PEI. It is definitely a gorgeous place. But this island has been ruined by too much tourism – something that even as a complete tourist there I could ascertain. If you avoid the tourist traps and just enjoy the rest of the island, it is easy to understand the allure, and certainly worth a visit at least once in your life!