Morning to Night tranquility.

Early each morning we have this fantastic stretch of sky that just opens up. You'll find this almost everywhere on PEI because of the pastoral layout and absence of tall buildings.

In the evening, nothing beats a walk on the beach before heading home, or like us, a great after supper walk. Since you are almost always near a sandy beach, this is a fairly common thing to do.

I'll send more photos and an Islander's set of directions to get to them in another post. This of course means "heading west until you get to the turnoff by the blue church, and then go down the road until you hit the dirt lane" type of directions. LOL Actually, I'm trying to figure out how to get a GPS method of directions into this blog to help reduce the "lost" moments.

If anyone has similar photos and stories of thier favorite beach on PEI, by all means, post them.

PEI Dirt lanes

I strongly recommend that the one thing you must do when you get to PEI, is to experience any of our many shady unpaved lanes. Some are well marked and while others require directions to find, but all are a wonderful way to become more familiar with the peace and tranquility of the Island.

I suggest you plan ahead by looking on the map at the official government Tourism site. These roads are all across PEI so you can work it into almost any other day's activity. I prefer to take my bicycle and spend a bit of time travelling the back lanes in Queen's county when possible. If you can take a picnic lunch, you will have ample opportunity for a perfect spot to relax with the vista view of open fields and valleys.

This lane in the photo goes on for about 3 miles "back country" as they say, and take you out in another community.

Things I love about PEI

For all who are reading this entry, then you have somehow stumbled across my blog while searching gay travel or PEI. Either way, welcome to my own little world.

If you have any questions about PEI or possible vacation highlights, just leave a note and I'll do my best to provide an answer, or I'll find someone who can.

It's time I honestly started to promote what it is I love about PEI. It isn't just the fact that we are indeed overly friendly, and yes, Gay-Friendly destination. Nor is it just that we love to meet friends , or make new friends while sitting at one of the great sidewalk Cafes on Victoria Row. It is that, for the most part, we are an important part of PEI's fabric of life. We just need to get our act together and somehow find a way to reach out to everyone!

As Islanders (Yeah.. I know I'm still from AWAY since I wasn't born here) we can also enjoy the same things that the tourists enjoy. By that I mean that events and activities are affordable and available to everyone.

As a result, I tend to put together itineraries for our many Island house guests each summer. When possible, I will actually tag along. If you've ever tried to take in all of the Islands theatre productions during the summer you'll know what I mean when I say, you just don't have enough time to do everything. That's where we Islanders are great people to know. If you don't know any when you arrive, you will soon after landing. There is no way to avoid it. Don't feel shy about stopping people and asking questions, we love to chat and show off our Island.

The ARC website http://arcofpei.com/ is a great way to find out where and when a Gay related activity is taking place, and the regular Island Tourist Information site is great for all general activities you may want to take in. It's links are posted to the side of this blog page.

We now have an active group of interested people who have taken it upon themselves to start the daunting task of somehow advertising to the GLBT tourist market. My thanks goes out to them because we are lagging behind in this area and everyone needs to jump on that bandwagon or at least support it.

That is enough for now but as I said, if you're a tourist and want to leave a comment, please do. If you're an Islander and want to offer an opinion or suggestion, by all means. Fill your boots as they say!

Evolving pains..

It's been a few days now and I've been spending far too much of my free time on this pet project according to my partner... and yes, he's still my partner. What started out as a fun exercise, has begun to take on a life of it's own, as I was warned it would.

I've been asking friends for input, organizations for support and feedback, and strangers for forgiveness! After years of volunteering with gay and non-gay organizations, this would seem a great way to exercise all of those acquired training skills in the non-profit market.

It is obvious that we, the GLBT community, lack visual recognition when it comes to vacation information on-line and at tourist establishments. Being a mild mannered person, this has always been something I accepted as part of the "Island" lifestyle. Unfortunately, it makes for lousy Branding! We need something to show that we exist on PEI and that it is a great place to vacation, and well worth your hard earned dollar.

My contacts so far have responded with a resounding "PUT SOMETHING OUT THERE WE CAN FIND" and then there was a secondary theme of "but how do we know you're gay friendly". Neither of these were unexpected and I'm glad to see that the obvious has presented itself.

This research exercise is step one. Step two will be to start reviewing what Island based information I can find. The "review" is going to be fair and based on points. This point system is now being constructed from feedback I gather from those who do not live on PEI. Instead, it will be from the view points submitted, via e-mail, blog feedback, and chat notes.

Just be patient and grow with me.

Doug