"Prince Edward Island Is Heaven To Me"

"You never know what peace is until you walk on the shores or in the fields or along the winding red roads of Prince Edward Island in a summer twilight when the dew is falling and the old stars are peeping out and the sea keeps its mighty tryst with the little land it loves."
~ Lucy Maud Montgomery

Prince Edward Island.
Home.
It's not quite perfect....but Heaven is only a local phone call away...

Photo courtesy of @juliannejollymore

I was born on Prince Edward Island in 1983. I don't think I understood how utterly blessed I was to be able to say that. At least not until I became an adult.

In 1994, I moved with my mother and sister to the big city of Toronto (or just outside of Toronto for those that are familiar with it, in Pickering).

We left pretty much my entire family behind to start a new chapter and I have to be honest, at 10 years old....I hated it. I hated every second of it. I lived each year with the purpose of counting down the days until my next trip "home" arrived.

I moved back to Prince Edward Island in 2007 with my husband (who was my boyfriend at the time) to start a family and live a quieter lifestyle and we've been here ever since. Now we have 2 beautiful daughters who hopefully can understand how lucky they are to call PEI their home.

I'm not sure I can translate just what makes this place so special. It's deep rooted with a kind of amazing that can only be experienced by being here and when you get to feel it first hand, it's the kind of awesome that doesn't ever leave you no matter where you go.

After working in the hospitality industry for 12 years, I have met countless amounts of people who over the years have told me that very story. It's either "I'll never forget this place!" or "I was here x amount of years ago and I just had to come back!"

There's a sort of magic about this place.

Prince Edward Island will always be home.

Photo courtesy of @amyconrad88

With a total population somewhere around 158,000, we are the smallest province in Canada. You can get here by ferry from Nova Scotia or by bridge from New Brunswick. Of course you can fly in to our major airport.....just kidding - it literally has 2 gates. Incoming flights...and outgoing flights.

The Prince Edward Island provincial flag.

The Confederation bridge was established in 1993 but took until 1997 to complete the construction. It's 12.9 kilometres and Canada's longest bridge and the world's longest bridge over ice covered water. It's beautiful to see in person but it also scares the crap out of me to drive over!

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

I spent the last couple of days going through photo's and reminiscing a bit as I spent some time with my family. I thought a lot about what it means to be an Islander here. I am so very proud of this place. I am proud to be raising my girls here. We're a diverse little province, enriched with many cultures in 2020 and it only makes us stronger.

I wanted to share a bit of my home with you. I hope when this pandemic ends and people are able to travel freely again that you will come and see Prince Edward Island for yourself.

It truly is a beautiful place.

Photo courtesy of @alexbrucephotography Check out this Instagram for BREATHTAKING photography!