Trip to Prince Edward Island

With promise of another sunny weekend, Wendy felt the need to hit the road again. We’d heard that Stan Rogers – A Matter of Heart was a terrific show. At least it wasn’t Anne of Green Gables. Wendy phoned and ordered the tickets and we took off. This time, along with the bread we remembered cheese and other lunchables.

With Comet navigating from the back seat we made it to Confederation Bridge in just over two hours. Rather than make a beeline for Charlottetown, we took a trip along the Northeast shore. It was a pretty drive, marred only by the lack of open restaurants and far too much tourist attention focused upon a certain red haired orphan. There was much mention of ‘green gables’, ‘shining waters’ and ‘kindred spirits’, and even a gaggle of Japanese tourists to complete the cliché. We managed to find The Cheese Lady and sampled some lovely Gouda cheese. It made a great lunch with bread and veggies, and of course we brought some home with us.

Unable to make contact with the Bed and Breakfast that claimed to accept pets, we took our chances and found a nice spot on the north side of Charlottetown with lots of lawn to throw the Frisbee for Comet. Note: PEI residents seem inordinately fond of maintaining vast expanses of eye-blasting green lawn. You can only imagine my horror.

We had an early dinner and made it to the Confederation Centre in plenty of time. The show was presented “Cabaret” fashion in The Mack, a small theatre across the street from the Legislature, just a block from the Centre. We shared our table with a couple from Quispamsis and a couple from Calgary. The two women were sisters with family connections in PEI. I sometimes forget how open and friendly Maritimers can be. We were laughing and talking like old friends after introductions.

The show is a dramatization of Stan’s songs by four singer/actors accompanied by keyboard, guitar and fiddle (but the player was definitely a violinist of the highest training). While I remembered most of the songs (I declined to sing along mostly) I had forgotten just how good a poet Stan Rogers was. And his songs are timeless and relevant – surprising to think that Tiny Fishes for Japan was written almost thirty years ago.

We enjoyed our evening a great deal. They managed to make us laugh, cry, feel sad and joyful, sometimes all at the same time.

And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.
Rise again, rise again - though your heart it be broken
And life about to end
No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend.
Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.


In the morning, coffeeless and feeling mildly grumpy, we headed out for breakfast at Smitty’s. Fortified with lots of coffee and a rather leaden helping of French toast we set off to find shopping opportunities. We went downtown and explored a bit, mostly browsed through two used bookstores. Wendy treated us to ice cream cones from Cows before setting off to further adventures.

Our next goal was PEI’s only winery. Travelling along the south eastern coast we had a lovely drive through forest and agricultural land. It’s potato harvesting time, and more than once we smelled the scent of hot oil and cooking potatoes as we passed a large industrial building with the name “Cavendish Farms” or “McCain’s” on the outside.

Rossignol Winery has a really nice selection of whites and reds as well as some fruit based and one maple syrup based wine. They make a very nice Marechal Foch as well as some other reds blended with a Baco Noir and Chardonnay. We ended up with nine bottles including a white that will go nicely with seafood. Looking forward to sharing our wine finds with friends.

Before leaving the winery we let Comet chase the Frisbee for a while. He hasn’t lost his touch at all. Back on the highway we followed the shore up to Montague before heading west and back to the bridge.

This was a very successful trip. We recommend the Stan Rogers show and if you can put together a group, all the better. It runs until September 26. Charlottetown is a great little city with lots of history and several good used book stores. And if you have some time, the countryside is scenic and there’s lots of history there.

Harvey