Coming to a close

LIVE  LOVE  LAUGH

Our Four Sisters Journey came to a close with David Raymond driving us into Boston to catch our planes. We were glad for the driver who knew where he was going, leaving time for the four of us to enjoy the last bits of conversation before saying good bye.

It was an amazing ten days together and we will always cherish the memories that have been created on this journey.

On that good bye note, we would like to extend a few thank yous..... 

• Thank you to our husbands and children for supporting us in taking this trip and holding down the fort while we were gone.  
• Thank you to our six brothers for supporting us in taking a "sisters only" trip.
• Thank you to Mom for introducing us to Anne.
• Thank you to the people of Prince Edward Island for your hospitality.
• Thank you to Michael Pendegrast for sharing your music with us!
• Thank you to our nieces and nephews that took up a collection at Christmas and made it possible for us to enjoy some fabulous seafood while on Prince Edward Island.
• Thank you to our cousins Kelly and Carol (plus family) for their generous contribution to our journey.  You made it possible for us to stay an extra night in Bar Harbor, Maine.
• Thank you to Mom and Dad for your recommendations of places to visit on Prince Edward Island based on your own visit Twelve years ago.
• Thank you to those of you that have followed along with us on this blog.  We appreciate your interest in our story.
• And a HUGE thank you to Darcy for helping to make this blog possible.  Without you it would have simply stayed a good idea.

And last, (from Marianne) Thank You to my sisters for making this trip a reality.  To Carolyn for realizing we needed to make it happen, to Therese for putting Prince Edward Island on her bucket list, and to Cecilia for organizing us including the flights there and back.  You are all amazing women and we are blessed to call each other sister!  

Clines in Connecticut

What a fabulous time we had in Connecticut.  We were lucky to have two beautiful days while staying at the Raymond's cottage on Long Island Sound.  

Our cousin Cecily spent the first day with us.  We had fun hearing about her first year in New York City.  She is finding all kinds of fun ways to stay busy ..... for free. So much going on, so close, it's very different than home.

We walked along the beach, looking at beautiful, crazy, big homes on the coast. At low tide, we could go out for almost half a mile while picking up oysters, muscles, clams and even a few crabs!

It was sunny with just enough wind to keep us all cool so we could stay out all day talking and walking.



The next day, David took us out on their beautiful sailboat.

Each of us got to swing off the side of the boat in a seat attached to the mast- incredibly fun!!! We all think David had a lot of fun getting us wet, even though he says he didn't have THAT much control. It was great and the water was wonderful-it's warmer in the sound than if you were on the coast.

Strolls along the beach, walks across the sandbars, and s'mores by the fire pit rounded off the days perfectly.

Bar Harbor

July 26

We just finished our two day trip to Bar Harbor, Maine.  What an amazing place!

We watched the sunset and the sunrise on Cadillac Mountain, the highest peak on the Eastern Seaboard (only 1400 feet, maybe the same as little Si in North Bend).  It was kind of unnerving for us West Coasters to watch the sunrise over the ocean- sort of got us off balance.

The coast line of this area was so different from our own.

We needed David Bradburn with us to explain how these smoother, flatter, marbled looking rock formations came to be here.

We took the "Park Loop Road" through Acadia National Park, an incredibly huge park full of  of hiking and biking trails, pristine lakes, and fabulous views of the ocean.

Like the rich and famous of the early 1900's, we had tea and popovers at the Jordan Pond House before our fourteen mile bike ride around Jordan Pond. Therese is definitely the most in shape of the four of us, and has been on a bike way more often, but we were able to keep up and now we are all wondering why we don't do this more often.  The scenery through the entire park was simply breathtaking!

Our first night we enjoyed a glass of wine and some clams on the waterfront.  Our waiter, James, was great and he let us (gave us no choice) hold some of their live lobsters.  Therese was the only one that didn't squeal when he handed it to us.  

The next night we went to the Irish restaurant (the band playing couldn't hold a candle to Michael Pendegrast) for Irish nachos and beer.  Our waitress was a lovely girl from Northern Ireland, with a great accent, that is looking for a way to stay in America.  Anyone know a handsome, single, 23 year old guy????

Tomorrow (Sunday) we head to Connecticut, Therese's home, for the last leg of our trip.  We are excited to see her newly remodeled home and stay in their newly remodeled cottage on the water.

Why It's Easy To Travel With Sisters...

After so many days of being together we have decided that we make really good traveling partners. 

Listed below are some thoughts/reasons from the four of us as to why that might be (remember we've never done this before, just the four of us.)  You can try to figure out who said what....we aren't telling!  

• Traveling with four women is really nice!  
• We are enjoying not worrying about husbands, kids, or brothers :). Sorry guys, we do love you but .....
• It is so nice to be with people who love to talk with strangers - we have met the nicest people!!
• It is so nice to be with people who feed themselves when they are hungry.
• It is so easy to get things done around the cabin without assigning jobs - everyone just sees what needs to be done and does it!
• It is nice to be with people who enjoy having their picture taken, are okay with asking people to take their picture, and willingly agree to take a posed picture.
• It is nice to be with people who are okay with doing the "tourist" things.
• It is good to be with people who are ok with doing the same thing (Avonlea village) three times just to make sure we didn't miss anything.
• It is fun to be with like minded people who believe that Anne is real and want to visit the places where she has been.
• It is nice to be with people who are willing to pull over on the side of the road to take that cool picture.
• It is nice to be with people who are willing to ask directions!!!

That's it for now, thanks for following along!

Anne Fulfilled

Thursday, July 24th  

It was a rainy day today, good opportunity to drive around a little and see some of the beautiful sights along the way.


We visited the birth place of L.M. Montgomery and the Anne of Green Gables Museum.

The museum is the home of Montgomery's cousins, with whom she was very close.  Very cool history.

Best part was meeting the great granddaughter of her cousin who actually lives in the house. For us, finding an actual relative of the author was a little like meeting royalty. 

We ended the day with a concert by our now favorite Irish Folk Song Musician, Michael Pendegrast. Luckily he was not creeped out by our stalking him, and gave us all a proper goodbye hug at the end of the concert!

Our favorite song of his is "Belly Rubber".  He wrote this song about a women at a concert one time that asked him to sing a Belly Rubber.

Come to find out she wanted a waltz so she could rub bellies with her husband. So he played the waltz and they danced beautifully around the floor. She died a few weeks after that and her husband followed shortly after. The song goes on to say that now they are together forever in heaven "rubbing bellies/waltzing." As he finished this song, we discovered we were all in tears.  It was too hard not to think of Mom and Dad and the two of them waltzing together in heaven.

So far, we have closed down the establishments we have enjoyed at the end of each day:  Blue Mussel Cafe, St. Ann's, and the Stanley Bridge Community Center.  As luck would have it, things close down pretty early here on the island, so we are still home before 11:00 PM. 

Friday, July 25th

Today we said goodbye to Prince Edward Island.

We have had three fun-filled days and are feeling quite "Anne" fulfilled.  The four of us have all met Anne (read her books) at different points in our life. For some, it is pretty recent, for others it has been a long history.  

I (Marianne) have dreamed of visiting the birth place of my beloved "Anne" since I first met her in sixth grade. I am so grateful that I have been able to enjoy this lifelong dream with my fabulous sisters.

An All About Anne Day

Today was an "All About Anne Day"!!!

One block down from where we are staying is the town of "Avonlea" where Anne grew up. Obviously a make believe city set up to depict what it would have been like-but once you are there, it feels so real. 

The day started off with the folks from Avonlea greeting us at the train station.  We met Mr. Phillips, the school teacher who quizzed us on U.S. history...in 1908!  We did not do well.

Next we met Mrs. Lynde who quickly reprimanded us for wearing our bloomers in public.  (We did find a place to dress in more appropriate clothing). 

Anne and her friends greeted us (oh, that Gilbert Blythe IS handsome!) then we followed them to their first day of school.  

We watched Anne break her slate over Gilbert's head and Mr. Phillips get canned by Mrs. Lynde. 

Then off to the fishing shanty to watch the "Avonlea Showband" led by the accordion  player Mike Pendegrast (this is our first show with him-stay tuned).  Square dancing followed the concert and Therese got to dance with Gilbert!  

Then off to Mrs. Lynde's to learn how to make and dye yarn and weave it on a rainbow loom.

We also met Maurice Bernard a fabulous artist and sand sculptor extraordinaire who sketched our picture and sold us some of his amazing paintings. 

Back to the "Avonlea Showband" (our second show - Mike and the two other musicians are really good).  

We got to watch Anne and Diana's tea party where Anne serves mulled wine instead of Raspberry Cordial.  Then back to the "Avonlea Showband" (third show - can you tell we really like them?) 

The Avonlea Fair was next with potato sack races, manure tossing, and a pie eating contest.  And next......the Mike Pendegrast show with Mike by himself.  We missed the pig races because we had to actually introduce ourselves and talk to him after stalking him all day.

Towards the end of the day, we headed back to  the Avonlea School Concert.

We asked for a picture with them all at the end of this concert, not sure they were ready for the hugs we gave each of them as well.  We told them "It's just what we Clines do".  It was truly an amazing day living in the time of Anne!

We ended our day with a lobster feed dinner at St. Ann's, a meal our mom and dad told us was a must on this trip.  The meal was amazing - we North-westerners  did not know much about eating a whole lobster. Luckily we had Therese to give us some pointers.

The ambiance of the place reminded us of spaghetti dinners at St. Louise.  A great meal all around.

Funny thing.... the only two flyers on the bulletin board at St. Anne's were advertising two performances by none other then "our" Mike Pendegrast and one of them is tomorrow.

Guess we know what's on the agenda for Thursday night.

I Got All My Sisters with Me

It has been a fabulous day!!  Best beginning with Cecilia presenting us our "sister shirts".  Cecilia had the idea, our sister-in-law Darcy had the artistic design, and because of the two of them, we have these great shirts that have sparked conversations wherever we go.

We spent most of the day at Green Gables reveling in all it's "Anneness".  As we were leaving, with plans to ride to the beach (which looked really close on the tourist map) one of the bikes had a flat tire. Shifting gears (not on the bike now) we got the car and drove instead. What a wonderful change in plans! That bike's flat tire led to a beautiful beach drive with views of the amazing red sand the water, quaint villages and the smell of the sea which led to the need for seafood.

A local couple stopped to talk to us-asking about our shirts- and they gave us some great tips about a church to go see and the best seafood in town - thank goodness we met them.

We Went to St. Augustine church - beautiful!  Then, on to the Blue Mussel Cafe.  It started out that we were going to just get chowder to go, but we were seduced by the awesome manager, his wife, and his godson Edward and we had to stay.  Blue mussels, smoked mackerel, and chowder were delicious!!!!!

Come to find out that this couple, Steve and Christine, just bought the restaurant in June. Story is that they were tired of the busy city life, quit their jobs, moved in with family on Prince Edward Island, found a restaurant for sale and bought it. We had so much fun talking with them and their other family members we are already trying to see where we will fit them in again.

Best ending to a fun day!