My wedding season doesn’t begin until May and I didn’t want to just start taking a bunch of shots of my cats to keep the blog busy so I’m going to start posting pictures from past vacations I’ve taken. With the crazy Ohio weather lately, we can all use a virtual vacation right? I’m going to start from when I got my first DSLR until now so over the next month or so you’ll see a lot of changes but some things will stay the same.

The first trip to be posted was my trip to Prince Edward Island in October of 2006. When I was a child, I grew up loving Anne of Green Gables. First the movie, then the books but it was a major love of mine (still is my favorite movie). Therefore, I’ve always wanted to go to Prince Edward Island. It looked so amazingly beautiful in the movie and show (Road to Avonlea) and although I knew most of the shots were not filmed on the island, it was still something I wanted to see first hand. My father died that August and it really set me on an entirely different path than I was on before. I lost both my mother and brother when I was 13 so my father and I were extremely close and loosing him was quite a blow to me. I got the wild hair to go to PEI I think more than anything that I needed to get away, by myself and find myself again.

Another reason I had the travel bug was because I bought my first DSLR – a Nikon D200 – not too long before this trip (late August) and I was eager to put it through its paces. Up until then, I had used – and loved my Canon film SLR. However the digital technology I felt was finally up to par with film and that was what had been holding me back from buying a DSLR. I finally bit the bullet but wow – what a learning curve! So these pics are not technically the greatest but I still love them since they are really one of my first attempts with it. I shot everything JPG and 99% of these shots that will be posted are straight out of camera. Some I added some sharpening and curves to but this is how they turned out when I shot it.

The trip ended up being amazing and just what I needed. I was there for 5 days – and I happened to go the weekend of Canada’s Thanksgiving. The fall colors were simply amazing (as you’ll see) and the weather was perfect. Although cold in the mornings (around 32°F in the morning) it would warm up significantly during the day (usually in the mid 70’s°F!). No rain, just abundant sunshine! I couldn’t have asked for much better weather! The roads are exactly like you read of them – all red (where not paved at least!). The food there is amazing! Every place I stopped to eat was divine. I also am a HUGE lover of Thanksgiving so getting TWO Thanksgiving dinners in a year was a bonus!

The first day of sight seeing (technically my second day in) I did the ‘Anne’ route from Crowbush (where my hotel was located) to Cavendish (where Lucy Maud Montgomery lived) to Silver Bush (where Lucy Maud Montgomery visited often) and back to the hotel. I also am a huge lover of lighthouses so I made it a point to take a picture of every single one along the way! I also made it a point to dip my toes often into the ocean – because I could! Enjoy! If you have any questions about anything – feel free to ask!

The first stop of my day was at Dalvay By the Sea. This old inn was built in 1895 by a rich man from Cincinnati, Ohio. Dalvay has been featured in the Anne of Green Gables and Road to Avonlea series as “The White Sands Hotel.” It had been closed for the season when I was there but the grounds were still open for sight seeing. On the grounds they have a large pond that you can look at from these chairs or do a variety of activities on. Within a small walk is the ocean as well. If I ever go back, I intend to stay here! Ideally, someday I’ll shoot a wedding here!

A shot of Dalvay By the Sea. A smidge dark but again, I was just learning my camera!

The emphasis on the red roads and beaches isn’t an exaggeration about PEI, the beaches and roads ARE red. This is the beach right in front of Dalvay which was featured in Anne of Avonlea for my fellow loves of Anne!

Covehead Harbor Lighthouse along the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

North Rustico Lighthouse located in the small (but cute!) city of North Rustico.

Doyle’s Cove – this is my maiden last name so I HAD to take a shot as I drove by. Yes, as I drove by. I’m one of those. In PEI there is virtually no one on the roads though so you were pretty safe to slow down to take a shot.

This is Green Gables – well the inspiration for it anyways. This is the former home of a relative of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s and it served as the inspiration for Green Gables and was later donated to become a park.

Entrance to the “Haunted Wood” and the path back to Lucy Maud Montgomery’s home from Green Gables.

A shot of the front of Green Gables.

Entrance to Lover’s Lane from Green Gables.

The fall colors were SO bright and vibrant in PEI. I took many, many shots of leaves when there.

Lucy Maud Montgomery was raised by her mother’s parents here. The house was torn down years after she left it, but the gardens she kept are still there as well as one of the barns and this is a picture of the location.

The Haunted Woods between Green Gables and the MacNeill homestead.

I am a squirrel lover… and seeing the ones in PEI made me laugh b/c although similar, they are a much smaller version than the ones in my backyard. He was adorable and followed me through my walk down “The Old Lane” and to the woods and back. He kept running up and chirping at me and running away, it was cute and funny.

The New London Lighthouse which needed a paint job badly when I was there (I’m not sure if it got one or not yet!). It’s also featured in Anne of Green Gables and Road to Avonlea.

A shot of the beach in New London near the lighthouse – still red! The water was pretty warm as well, which was surprising. The waters in PEI (on the south coast especially) are the warmest north of North Carolina in the summer due to the shallow bays surrounding the island.

The joke is that the locals call this lighthouse “Keep Trying” because it is very hard to find. It’s down a dirt road through a potato field and at the edge of a cliff. It’s on no maps because of the accidents that occur here when people aren’t paying attention. However, I found it! I did almost have a heart attack when pulling up to Cape Tyron because there was an immense pothole which my rental car bottomed out in and stalled. I sat for a few minutes wondering how in the world I was going to give directions for a tow truck to even FIND me. Take a left at the second potato field?? Luckily, the car restarted and I got a few shots of the lighthouse before racing off. I wish I’d got better pictures but I decided that one decent picture was enough and I wasn’t tempting fate.

This is the inspiration for Anne’s Lake of Shining Waters which is located at Park Corner (Silver Bush) outside of Cavendish. This is the home of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s favorite relatives where she visited often. It is now a museum to her and Anne of Green Gables.

On the way home I was talking to a friend trying to describe my day and finding it virtually impossible when I drove over a hill and saw this sight in my rear view mirror. I quickly pulled off and snapped a few shots while still talking to my friend. This is the shot as it came out of camera. It’s still one of my favorite travel shots I have ever taken.

Somewhere near Stanhope-by-the-Sea I pulled off to get a few shots of the amazing Harvest Moon over the Gulf of St. Lawrence. I have a ‘thing’ for moon shots over water – especially ocean water. While not perfect and a bit shaky, I still love it. I was also hiding from a fox so I didn’t stick around long. I had a fox following me around when I got out of my car and it took me a minute to remember that foxes have teeth and I wasn’t in a zoo… lol. All ended well but it was an interesting moment!