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| The University (my photo) |
Ever since I realized that travel was a thing (thank you, Rick Steves' Europe) PEI jumped to the top of my travel bucket list.
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| Anyone doubting the importance of public television, stop right there. I travel because of this man and PBS. Image found here. |
This was due mainly to L.M. Montgomery's books. In case she sounds familiar, but you can't place her, she is the author of Anne of Green Gables, the quintessential Canadian girls' text, or perhaps Canadian text, period. I won't make that claim here.
What I will say is that Montgomery's love for her Island emanates from her writing. Of her 20 novels, only one wasn't set on the Island. Anne arrives on PEI an outsider, permitting her to introduce the reader to the beautiful landscape surrounding her: the red roads, the blossoming trees, the shimmering lakes. We are introduced to Emily of New Moon as she communes outside with the Wind Woman (the Wind Woman was definitely a presence on the Island yesterday). Jane of Lantern Hill first comes to the Island to find a home - due to her father and arguably, the land on the Island.
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| With beauty like this, can you blame Montgomery? (my photo) |
Place for Montgomery, so it would seem from her journals, is crucial. Her books (almost) all include the additional character of Prince Edward Island.
So, what happens when you travel to a place you know intimately from reading? I won't say that it was like coming to a place I know - that's too cheesy, and I'm not very good at picturing things in my head. But after working on Montgomery throughout graduate school and using Anne during my first year of teaching, it was magical
That an author can write so vividly of a place that tourists from all over the world want to visit - that is magic.
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