In order to get to Prince Edward Island, you have to cross over a Giant Bridge. 

This photo is from the “Seven Wonders of Canada” website (I didn’t look at what the other six were…). 

If you travel at posted speeds it takes 11 minutes to cross Federation Bridge.  The weather was beautiful, and I did get a few peeks, but it is definitely not something the driver gets to fully appreciate.  It is free to go across into PEI, but you pay ~$40 on your return to cover the fees.  There are also ferries, but you can’t take one TO PEI unless you have already taken one FROM PEI.  Clear as mud? 

Once we got to PEI we navigated to the mid-north side of the island to Cavendish.  “What does PEI look like?”  It looks like a chunk of semi-rural NY cut out with a cookie cutter and plopped into the ocean.  In other words – it’s gorgeous.

(Image from here.)

We arrived about 30 minutes later at our destination. 

Normally when we travel we stay in a vacation home rental or an IHG property. A four-night stay on PEI with the intended purpose to visit the Cavendish/Green Gables sites had us looking elsewhere. Using TripAdvisor, in conjunction with other search engines, we decided on Anne Shirley Motel and Cottages. I called the number in April to make reservations and my call was promptly returned. The operator helped me select a one-bedroom apartment which had a bedroom with a queen sized bed and a sofa bed.

We had a little apartment unit. 

So – in no particular order, here are my thoughts.
•Staff on check in was EXTREMELY helpful. Without being asked anything, she provided a map and some very useful information. She saved me a BUNCH of time in understanding features of the area.
•Unit. Clean. They clearly care about their property. Way smaller than I expected. I don’t think there was anything dishonest about representation, I think I just pictured larger.
•Kitchen. Minimally appointed, but not bad. We have rented dozens of vacation rentals and I am used to the element of surprise. This was average in appointment. Everything was clean and in good working order.
•Bathroom. Good water pressure. Nice hot water. Small, but updated.
•Beds. Awful. I had Marie and Tabitha in the bedroom because the bed was slightly bigger than the fold-out couch. They said it was very uncomfortable. I slept on the couch and it was awful. Enough pillows and blankets.
•A/C was window unit in bedroom. Cooled apartment sufficiently. (Daytime highs only mid-70s F.)
•Parking – directly in front of unit. Nice.
•Pool area. Clean. Pool was warm. Hot tub was nice and hot. We used it a few times. Lots of seating and pool towels provided.
•Also had grill and playground we saw other guests using. Nice touches.
•Location. In my opinion, it was hands-down the best location in Cavendish. I’d stay here again if only for that.
•Housekeeping. Very good.
If we visit again, I will go for the largest unit available. The unit was small and I’d need a bed. At 45-years old I don’t think I’d try another sofa-bed. Live and learn.

We went into town for some groceries – a Walmart superstore.  Some prices were similar to home, some much higher, some considerably lower.  We bought a goodly number of treats and/or things we can’t eat at our house because of allergy issues.  The major fail I made was I bought a pound of American bacon. It was costly and later I realized if I cooked bacon in that tiny kitchen everything would REEK of bacon henceforth.  So we ended up leaving that for the housekeeping staff when we left. 

We went home, made ourselves dinner and then sat down to watch a movie.  Only then did we realize our unit did NOT have a DVD player and we had no way to hook up the computer to the television… so we watched our movie on the computer.