Friday, July 8, 2016

PEI June 25-July 4...PEI National Park Cavendish & Twin Shores

It's the first week of summer vacation and our annual trip to Prince Edward Island! This year we decided to make it a double long trip and check out PEI national park in Cavendish before heading to our absolute favorite camping spot...Twin Shores.

The National park layout is not what we are used to. It's not one solid piece of land for you to explore but rather several little pockets of park land spread out along the coast. We weren't sure what to expect for scenery and trails but we were definitely pleased by the beach located in our campground a few minute walk from our campsite. The kids practically had the place to themselves as most people flock to the bigger Cavendish beach down the road but we were happy to be where we were.

I had printed a crossword puzzle from the park website that had us exploring to find the answers to the clues. It was kind of a neat way to see the park. I really like when they put out activities like that especially when you don't really have a game plan of where to start your adventure. The game took us around Cavendish and North Rustico but we didn't end up finishing because the rest of the clues were in the far end of the park quite a ways away from us. Regardless we did get to see some nice scenery and explore a few trails.

No trip to Cavendish is complete without a visit to some of the Anne of Green Gables sites. We toured Green Gables historic site and hiked Lovers Lane trails, visited the grave of L.M Montgomery and saw the homestead where she grew up. Madi fell in love with the story of Anne and asked for the book so she's been working away at that and obsessing over all things Anne.

We also walked around the old rainbow valley site and tried to visit Avonlea Village only to discover that the acting of the Anne story is no longer there and the entire village has been turned into a shopping and eatery destination. Such a disappointment!

June 30th we packed up and said goodbye to Cavendish and hello to Twin Shores! This was our 4th year in a row coming to this little slice of heaven and it never disappoints. This campground is more like a resort for campers and you certainly want for nothing. The grounds are beautifully landscaped and nestled between two beaches. Children are everywhere playing at the playground or biking around and taking advantage of the daily activities that range from candy bar bingo to daily crafts to make your own sundaes to bike rodeos and so much more. The campground boasts a fresh fish market with a mussel boil on the beach every Saturday, a fully equipped camper store that has just about everything you could need, a canteen where you can get pizza or ice cream,a cafe that has delicious baked goods and coffee, a movie theatre for rainy day fun, an arcade, pedal car rentals, a dog park (with doggy washing station), a gym, laundry, shuffleboard, basketball, tennis and on and on.

My personal favorite is the beach. 3km of red sand and ocean waves. You just can't beat it. Mom and Marty camp with us and this year they bought the kids boogie boards for passing in school and it was the best thing ever! They had such a blast playing in the waves on those things we could hardly haul them out of the water!

This year we were at Twin Shores for Canada Day so we headed over to the bayside for the fireworks and they certainly did not disappoint. What an amazing show!!!

It was really hard to say goodbye when we left that Monday but we are already all booked back in for next summer for year 5. We just can't get enough!

Adventure is out there!
-The McDonnells


Fundy National Park - June 17-19, 2016

The week before school let out for the summer was our first trip to Fundy of the season. We had a beautiful weekend exploring the park and enjoying the sun and the breeze. The playgrounds were being upgraded so the kids were mostly stuck with us but they didn't mind too much.

We decided to take part in a 100km hiking challenge the park was putting on. The idea is you hike 100km in the national parks in a season with 10km being in Fundy and you are eligible to receive a special pin.

We hiked a few trails we had never hiked before and found more red chairs that we have never found. We checked out Laverty Falls and the hike was a little too challenging for me but I managed to finish. I can't wait for things like that to be easier for me. Love had a fantastic time playing in the water at the base of the falls.

Madi wanted to go into Alma for our tradition of sticky buns from Kelly's bake shop. They're so popular you have to take a number in order to get a box but boy oh boy there's nothing nicer than sinking your teeth into a sweet, sticky still warm from the oven ball of cinnamon goodness!