It’s nearly the end of summer (and if you’re hearing some sort of sound in the background, that’s probably my distant wailing) which means I finally get to go on a much-needed vacation. I guess there is no better way to wave au revoir to the more palatable Canadian season (and I will remain unconvinced Cold, Extreme Cold, or Rain with a Side of Gray is better than summer no matter what you say), than a road trip tour through part of the country I’ve never seen, guided by my very best friend. Please send thoughts and prayers to him so that his sanity may survive the hours upon hours of backseat shenanigans I will no doubt get up to with the third friend of our intrepid traveling troupe.
It is a good thing though that I’ve got someone taking the lead on where to go and what to see because I know basically nothing about our shining East Coast other than Anne of Green Gables, potatoes, endless seafood, and what I learned in grade school. But if you’re like me and you’re making a last-minute summer getaway by car or by plane to the nature-filled landscapes of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, or Prince Edward Island, then let me take a page out of my colleague Adam’s recent posts and scour our library shelves for something that may help you not look like a total Newfie (and East Coast) Newb. I know I need it.
If you don’t have a built-in guide and best friend who has planned everything down to the best foodie spots in (and out of) the major cities, then you’ll probably need some sort of travel book to give you a hand. Internet tends to get spotty around PEI at least, and as it’s dangerous to go alone (take this!), you’ll probably want a backup to your phone. Also, if you know next to nothing about where you’re going and want to sound mildly knowledgeable and impressive, just a browse through one of our many guidebooks will make sure you don’t look and sound as lost as you (you meaning me) probably feel. You can’t go wrong with Lonely Planet’s organized and bite-sized snippets of information on tourist spots (and some of the more interesting, overlooked places), accommodations, and eateries. Just make sure you cross-check operating hours, locations, and the rest with an online listing to avoid disappointment, or worse, looking like a fool. Physical travel guides are notorious for having some outdated information, especially ones published before 2020. In any case, this travel guide has helped me make a growing list of “Other Cool Things to Do” (a walk through Annapolis Historic Gardens so my inner photographer can go wild? Yes please), which I’m sure has far too much overlap with my buddy’s packed itinerary, but hey, at least I tried. If you want even smaller (and maybe a little more up-to-date) travel guide goodies, you can check out Lonely Planet’s website. It’s like having a knowledgeable best friend/tour guide in your pocket.
As I am mostly driving through the East Coast though, I thought it would be handy to have a more specific route guide to both enjoy the views outside the car window as we travel and be able to spout random facts for reasons one, look like I actually know things, and two, be annoying for the driver’s enjoyment (and suffering). Scenic Driving: Atlantic Canada is full of information on the history of the First Nations, the Acadians, and Irish settlers that have shaped and changed the landscape of our Eastern provinces. It gives this guide a more local touch that some of the other more well-known names in travel might miss. Plus, Scenic Driving includes maps of the best meandering paths to get the most out of your road trip and a short and concise grouping of sights (like provincial parks and natural landmarks) and scenes off the road to get a good leg stretch in after a few hours of driving. Plus, the best part is, they’re free (for the most part)!
Speaking of the local touch, one recommendation I can safely make for any sort of road trip or vacation in general is to do a ghost tour. These guided nighttime walks always itch the spookiness scratch in my soul, and you usually get to hear stories that are often never put to print in a book and float around communities as haunting local legends. It was the one thing I made my friend shove into our trip planning, so I was hoping to find something similar floating around our collection. I stumbled across Fire Monster and while this graphic novel is light on the spooks in the first few chapters (minus the ghost of a mother that enjoys sticking around to critique her living family), it has a very intriguing premise set around a real disaster that took place in 1976 in Main-à-Dieu, Nova Scotia’s eastern-most point. Years after an unexplained fire burnt down many of the community’s homes and a century-old church, an oil sands worker returns to Main-à-Dieu, despite many of the people who remain there blaming him for the tragedy that destroyed their small fishing village and their economy. I’ve flipped and skim-read through the back half of Fire Monster (as I am wont to do with my very bad reading habits) and along with the rotoscope-esque drawing style, the book is filled with some unique-to-graphic-novel elements that I’ve never come across before, including poems, shanties with musical scores, and real newspaper articles. I’ll definitely be finishing this one while I’m on the road.
In terms of other East Coast literature, I did mention Anne of Green Gables as quintessentially PEI, but,and I may get flak for saying this, I’m honestly more excited about visiting Kate Beaton’s neck of the woods in Nova Scotia than I am about seeing Green Gables Heritage Place. Maybe it’s just the comedy lover in me, but my younger self always gravitated more to her silly and tongue-in-cheek takes on literary history than what I could find in classic Canadian literature (I know, I know, you can revoke my Canada Club card now). Hark! A Vagrant is always a good read (this comic is my absolute favorite), but for Kate Beaton fun for the whole family The Princess and the Pony is guaranteed to give everyone a good laugh. When there’s a tiny warrior princess, spitball battles for honor, and low-hanging jokes about cross-eyes and horse gas you can’t help it. It’s the trifecta of humor. Plus, the pony. I mean, just look at that pony.
Of course, a trip never ends without some post-vacation blues. My BFF has been a one-man hype crew for East Coast cuisine, and it’s the thing I’ve been most looking forward to. I’m sure I’ll be sighing deep lamenting sighs when I’m back home and need to cook for myself again without some of the incredible local harvests our Eastern provinces have to offer. It’s the reason why when I began researching for this blog post (and this road trip), some PEI cookbooks were the first thing I tried to find.
Surprisingly, our collection is a little short on province-specific cookbooks, but I did manage to pull Farm, Fire & Feast off of our shelves to peruse. The introduction makes the recipes inside seem more intimidating than they actually may be as chef Michael Smith takes readers through a detailed literary tour of his restaurant, the Inn at Bay Fortune, and farm grounds, including a herb garden, several greenhouses, livestock pens, and a smokery. If I’m being honest, all of it reminded me of the smallest bit of The Menu, minus the literal kitchen insanity and critiques of artistic elitism, plus the marshmallows. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know. But Chef Smith briefly lets readers know somewhere in there that though he is a chef and uses complicated techniques, he’s distilled the hardest of them into something a home chef will be able to recreate. I’ll admit, the breakfast options look a little too good to not give it a try myself at some point (the Nutmeg Breakfast Bakes recipe made my stomach growl embarrassingly loud). Still, if you’re not the most comfortable in the kitchen or just feel like some lazy post-trip meals (aka takeout) while you read then there’s no harm in looking at the pretty pictures and wishing you were back on the road again.
That about wraps up everything for this East Coast book list. Now, knowing myself, I should probably get started on a packing list. If all doesn’t go as planned, I may need to find some guides on that too. Who knows, there may be a part two to this blog post. Stay tuned (and wish me luck)!