charlottetown

Dates traveled: August 4-7, 2016

Charlottetown (and PEI in general) is one of my favourite spots on the east coast, even though I apparently only took one photo in the city itself. It’s the only place on the east coast after my first trip out there – which didn’t make it to Newfoundland – I could see myself moving.

The downtown is tiny, but there’s a lot going on in a small space. We kept running into the same people at the five or so bars there, which made it feel like a community existed even within the obvious tourist hustle. The houses in the urban area are huge and relatively cheap – you can get some four bedrooms for under $200,000. I’d find it tough to live someplace that wasn’t at least near a vibrant arts community, but that’s good value compared to most of Canada.

There’s a boardwalk by the river (which is also right downtown), but after living right by the ocean for a couple years I’m a bit of a water snob, so it was only ok. There was a surprising amount of theatre but not much else culturally. Lots of restaurants, though, and lots of families and older adults wandering during the day. I bet it’s a very different place in the not-summer, and of course being there on a weekend we got to experience the nightlife, which probably colours my perception more than anything.

One of the days we were there, we asked a hairdresser if anything was going on that night. She mentioned a tractor pull about a half hour drive out of the city. This is of course the exact opposite kind of activity I would normally attend, but I tricked myself into thinking this was an authentic PEI experience, and perhaps it was. In any event we went.

We were in Canada, the only country I’ve ever lived in, but it felt mostly foreign. I love the outdoors and the quiet but I am not ‘country’ by any extent, so even hearing the rural PEI accent, breathing the tractor exhaust, and seeing how people interacted in that space was a bit like being in another culture. But I do love potatoes.

At the hostel, there was literally a giant bag of potatoes that you could take for free. They just give them away there.

The most picturesque part of the island was the red sand beaches. We drove to a random one on our way out and spent a couple hours walking around the cliffs, which is where the majority of my pictures were taken. It looks kind of dirty in a way but also like you’re on Mars.

Since I’m a bit of a beach connoisseur (I’m not), I appreciate not only the most photo-ready views, but also what looks different. The red-green juxtaposition of the algae and sand is one of those things.

Perhaps the nicest thing about Charlottetown was that you could be so close to quiet areas, beaches, etc that dominate the island – it’s really just the one small piece of PEI that’s busy – which makes it feel like you’ve somehow managed to escape real life.

I could see myself back there. It’s closer and cheaper than the west coast, but it lacks the ‘going-on-ness’ of central Canada and isn’t as jaw-dropping as the west coast, so it might feel a bit like settling. But if the timing was right, and things fit into place…maybe. Everywhere needs social workers, right?