It’s been such fun chronicling our trip to Eastern Canada. I leave you today with a taste of our time on and around Prince Edward Island’s north shore, where sweeping dunes and untouched beaches were undiminished by an overcast sky.

Our one last “must do” was a visit to Vesey Seed Company in York and the connection from long ago that gave us the first impetus to visit PEI. Vesey develops seeds for northern climates, in Canada and the US. We had a grand time strolling through the trial garden, seeing our old friend, and making a few end-of-season purchases in the shop.

If your preference is a fancier, perfectly manicured garden, the Brackley Beach grounds of The Dunes Studio, Gallery, and Cafe punctuated with sculpture and quite beautiful. The gallery features work by Canadian artists and artisans and products from the island. There are working potters in the studio as well.

According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, in 1534 Jacques Cartier described Prince Edward Island as “the fairest land that may possibly be seen.” We can see why. There were tears in my eyes (a vacation’s end habit that dates to my childhood) as we left that entrancing island of red earth and rolling green pastures, of lighthouse and tiny fishing village and breathtaking beaches, of warm-hearted, welcoming people who literally stopped you on the street to say hello. There is, of course, much that we did not see, just as in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. But if ever a place called out, “Return!” to us, it was PEI.