Sunday, June 13, 2010
After over 1,400 miles of driving, driving, driving, Mom and I have arrived safely on Prince Edward Island. We are settled into my basement room with an almost view of the water. I keep telling Mom how surprised I am that we didn’t feel like driving the car off the road. We also didn’t begin to resent my car, your car, every other car, the road, New England as a whole, the silly mile markers in Pennsylvania (ever tenth of a mile!), or each other. I am so thankful that we got to spend those three days together, listening to “Eat, Pray, Love” on CD and watching the scenery as we passed. It was a blessing to take this road trip at this point in our relationship–spending time together before I finish another chapter in my life, the end of my undergraduate years (and also before Danny starts college and my family moves to Kansas, phew!). All in all, the road trip was a great experience (neither of us had ever been to the east coast before) full of crooked hotel rooms, delicious food, and many kind-hearted people.
So, now we are here in PEI, red dirt and all. It’s really beautiful here. Driving through New England I longed for the plains of the Midwest–and on this little island I have them back. I also have the water, a really long bridge, my basement room, and Anne of Green Gables. Everywhere is Anne of Green Gables. I only started reading it a couple weeks ago (I am on book 3 of 8), but it was a perfect introduction to this quaint little island. Tomorrow I meet Professor Annabel Cohen, with whom I will be working for the next two months as I study Music Cognition. Can’t wait.
I must also mention that we did stop at Magnetic Hill (thanks to the Radcliffes for the suggestion). It is difficult to describe Magnetic Hill, but basically you drive DOWN a hill to a white post, put your car in neutral and then gravity takes you back UP. It’s incredibly confusing and somewhat frustrating, but it caused uncontrollable and somewhat embarrassing giggling. If you ever drive through New Brunswick, it is certainly worth the $5.00.
Ruth E Reveal 
[…] 3) Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada (Summer 2010): I lived in the most beautiful place doing music cognition research. Anne of Green Gables is set in PEI, so what could be better? If you dare, enter into the archives to read posts of my time in PEI starting here. […]