Before Shawn and I leave on our big trip, I was lucky enough to get to take a vacation with my mom to Prince Edward Island, Canada. I've spent the last week seeing sights, learning about Canadian history, and just generally enjoying life at a slower pace.

Our main reason for visiting the island was our love of Anne of Green Gables. Lucy Maud Montgomery grew up on PEI and wrote several of the Anne books there. Almost everyone on the island can tell you about Maud's life and we were actually quite surprised by how much the islanders embrace her. It seems like it could easily become one of those things that you're known for, but wish that all the tourists didn't come along with it. (We found out that during the high tourist season, there are 10 tourists on the island for every one inhabitant. Luckily, we chose to take our trip before the high season began.)

We spent about half of our week tracking down all of the places of interest for Anne fans. Although that felt a little too touristy for me, at least we managed to avoid going to any of the Anne amusement parks or wax museums. The ferris wheels and neon lights seemed out of place on this island that still feels like it belongs at the turn of the century. We found that you can't completely escape Anne anywhere on the island, but you can choose how far you let her engulf you.

We spent the rest of our week exploring the island. We spent a good amount of time in Charlottetown learning about the history of PEI and Canada. The city is small enough that we could walk nearly everywhere and never got lost...even without a map. It has narrow streets, several large churches, and an atmosphere that reminded me of London, although on a much smaller scale.

While we were there, we wanted to be sure to take in some of the local cuisine, which is a mix of France, England, and the Island itself. We indulged in some great crepes one evening in Charlottetown. We also made sure that we had a lobster dinner, one of the things that the north shore of the island is known for. Our waitress at Fisherman's Wharf in North Rustico thought we were very daring to be trying our first lobster, and she was extremely helpful in explaining exactly how it's done. I think we left without making too much of a mess of ourselves. At least none of the bits of lobster were thrown any farther than the edges of our table. I think that our favorite stop was at Tea by the Sea in Victoria. Most of the town was closed, so it was just us and one other patron having tea that day. The owners came out and sat at a table near us and we had great conversation with a wonderful view of the harbor.

The atmosphere and people of PEI were what made the trip really memorable. I found myself thinking that it was somewhat like stepping back into the time when Lucy Maud Montgomery would have traveled the island. Everywhere we went people took an interest in where we were from and what brought us to the island. Conversation always flowed like we were meeting people after an absence, rather than meeting them for the first time. Life there just seems to run at a slower pace. As we were driving around, we noticed that the speed limit was never above 50 mph, even on open country roads. And when crossing the street on foot, cars stop to let you pass even where there are no crosswalks.

-Jennifer