Walkin in a winter wonderland

radiostace was writing in her LJ about the wonders of driving and its magical powers to clear the mind. That, combined with the beautiful white blanket outside (I didn't have to go out yesterday while it was storming, so it's still beautiful to me,) reminded me of my days living in PEI.
Sundays were my only real ME days since I had to work every other Saturday. My favourite thing to do on a Sunday afternoon was hop in the car and drive. No particular destination in mind, just hit the highway and go (it's easy to do that in PEI - no matter which direction you go in, you drive for no more than 3 hours, hit the end of the province, and drive back.) My absolute favourite day was in November - one of the first calm days after weeks of snowfall - everything was absolutely gorgeous, just like a calendar. So I packed a lunch, put gas in the car, film in my camera, and headed out. I went up to Cavendish (Green Gables country) taking pictures of snow-covered pastures all the way. I went down this little unplowed road - if I had slowed down even a bit I'd still be there. The snow was up to my windows, there was a semi-path where someone had driven earlier in the day, but that was it. It still amazes me that my little Corolla actually got through. Anyway, I made my way up to the shore. The Gulf wasn't frozen yet, so I sat on a rock and watched the waves pound the shore for about an hour. There was one other girl up there hiking around on snow-shoes, but other than that it was just me, some geese, and the wintery wilderness.
My sister came down to visit me in February (just a few weeks before I moved back home actually) and we did the same drive (minus the unplowed road) - she took some pictures on her digital camera, framed three of them and gave them to me for my birthday that year. I love those pictures - the Gulf was frozen by that time, the water paused mid-wave, snow whipping around a solitary old farm house...funny how pictures of snow and ice can make you feel all warm and fuzzy.