Taking a Road Trip to My Dream Writing Retreat

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic:

Describe your dream writing retreat.  Where would you go?  Who and what would you bring?

Oh, this is EASY. 

When I was ten years old, a friend of the family gave me a box set of books about this ten year old girl named Emily, written after WWI by a woman named Lucy Maud Montgomery (and set at the turn of the century).  Emily, like me, wanted to be a writer... and she lived on the most beautiful island on the planet, this amazingly magical place called Prince Edward Island.

Visiting PEI became a dream of mine and, in 2009, I realized that dream.  I wasn't disappointed.

Cavendish beach, PEI (2009)

Cavendish Beach, PEI (2009)

Now, since this is my dream writing retreat, I think I would like to have that retreat in the old Montgomery homestead at Fox Point (Malpeque)... supposedly the original "New Moon.":

Image courtesy of lmm-anne.nethttp://www.lmm-anne.net/

 She saw a big house peering whitely through a veil of tall old trees–no mushroom growth of yesterday’s birches but trees that had loved and been loved by three generations–a glimpse of silver water glistening through the dark spruces–that was the Blair Water itself, she knew–and a tall, golden-white church spire shooting up above the maple woods in the valley below. But it was none of these that brought her the flash–that came with the sudden glimpse of the dear, friendly, little dormer window peeping through vines on the roof–and right over it, in the opalescent sky, a real new moon, golden and slender.
— Lucy Maud Montgomery, Emily of New Moon

Image courtesy of lmm-anne.nethttp://www.lmm-anne.net/

 ... or, perhaps the Mongomery Homestead (which, sadly, I think went up for sale *sniffle* and is no longer a museum)?  You can't see in this photo, but the hills behind the house slope down, down, down soooo green, towards the bluest water that you will ever see.

Montgomery Homestead, PEI (2009)

Even just driving about PEI is like being in a picture book, or maybe OZ, with all of its COLOUR (Yes, Canadian spelling.  Because how could I NOT while up there?!?!?):

“Much of the beauty of the island is due to the vivid colour contrasts – the rich red of the winding roads, the brilliant emerald of the uplands and meadows, the glowing sapphire of the encircling sea.”
“I had forgotten that the ponds and rivers of Prince Edward Island were so brilliantly, so unbelievably blue. I walked and prowled by night and day amidst all the old beauty, as I had not done for years.” – L.M. Montgomery

On the road, PEI (2009)

I would set myself up in the lookout of one of those houses, with an old-fashioned desk overlooking the sea... or an orchard.  My cat, Phoebe, would be given free-reign of the house.  Of course, practicality would mean that I would bring my laptop, some cozy clothes, and my entire library of LMM books.  And, right beside me would be a crock full of "Aunt Laura's" famous doughnuts.

This is where I dream of writing.  Now, tell me: where is YOUR dream retreat?