16 June 2015
Charlottetown
As expected, the morning was overcast, so our plan was to go
into Charlottetown for the majority of the day.
We also checked some of the pamphlets and the guidebook to see if there
was anything we wanted to stop at en route.
Supposedly, Santa Land was open this morning, so we went through North Rustico to check it
out. After completely passing it twice,
we finally pulled into what had to be one of the sketchiest looking play lands
ever. Maybe just because it wasn’t
actually open yet for the season, maybe not.
Either way, not a loss.
We then passed a little gouda specialty shop, so we stopped
in. The woman serving us gouda samples
(everything from pesto to red chili to pizza flavored gouda) was wearing a chef
coat from the Culinary Institute of Canada, so I asked her about it. Turns out the CIC is located in
Charlottetown, and is open for dinner reservations at this time of year. Score.
Next stop, a toy store called the Toy Factory. Sort of a ghetto play area outside, lots of
toys (too many fantasy-themed ones) inside.
But they did have a wooden travel trailer toy which was pretty darn
cute. We let the girls play a little
while before finishing the trip into town for the afternoon.
The remainder of the drive was spent Googling and Yelping a
place to eat – apparently it was PEI’s version of Restaurant Week, so several
of the local establishments were featuring a three-course prix-fixe menu. We ended up at one called Peak’s Quay down
near the water. Their special was an
appetizer of steamed mussels, a main dish of St. Louis style ribs, (kind of
strange for a Canadian seaside town nowhere near Missouri, but sure, why not),
and a dessert of flourless chocolate cake… ding ding ding ding! The mussels were the best I’ve ever had. Ever.
And a huge portion for an appetizer included in a prix-fixe menu. The ribs were also surprisingly delicious and
cooked perfectly -- tender meat falling off the bone. And then the cake. I saw a photo of it (surprising, because I’d
say it’s not usually served in places with photos of their desserts), and after
my Yellow Cello find, I was really excited.
This looked nearly identical, and again was a four-chocolate blend. It arrived while I took Sis to the potty, so
Matt (who also got one with his meal) tried it first.
“You’re going to be disappointed.”
“Is it cold? Maybe they can warm it up for me. “
I tried a smidge of it before sending it off for a quick
warming. I’m so glad I sent it. It was like a different cake when it came
back, and everything I’d hoped it would be.
(Again, still not number one, but high on the list for sure). I asked for the recipe, but apparently it’s
ordered and not made in-house. Which
would be even better if I lived in Canada and could also order it from whatever
bakery it was born at, but alas, I do not.
(How many cakes does that put me at for this trip, anyway?)
We walked around town and then through a little mall area,
hoping Eloise would fall asleep after lunch, but she fought the nap. One of the big attractions of the area is Cow’s
Creamery – the ice cream factory for a famous Canadian ice cream chain that
originated in Cavendish with just one flavor option at the time – vanilla. We decided to do the tour, which is now
self-guided and pretty brief, before sampling some of the ice cream. I tried the vanilla, blueberry, strawberry,
and apple crisp. Apple crisp, hands
down. The same for Matt. Sis got strawberry. Eloise mooched off everyone. It was good, but kind of overrated… it was no
Mary Ann’s (Santa Cruz, CA). Mary Ann’s
is the best hard ice cream we’ve ever had, without question. I mean, horchata ice cream. Cow’s please…
Before the ice cream tour, we stopped at MacQueen’s Bike
Shop in Charlottetown; I’d spoken with them last week about getting the bike
trailer hitch part mailed to their store, and they agreed to it, and said they
had a wheel for Matt’s mountain bike in stock.
In the meantime, however, when I finally got a hold of Baby Jogger after
two mornings of Skype-calling while apparently their entire staff was in a
meeting, (according to the message on their end), and a few poor-quality
frustrating Skype calls, and
ultimately finding out I needed to work with a Canadian distributer anyway
because they don’t ship to Canada, I called the Canadian distributor, now on
Friday afternoon. Time was against me at
this point, as it would have now cost $60 to ship it by Wednesday, and $112 by
Tuesday (including the part, which I have a spare of back in NY anyway…). We decided to just rent a bike trailer on PEI
rather than wait on the piece, so for $20 we got a Burley Encore for 24 hours
that had only been used once before, (on top of Matt’s $250 bike wheel. Ugh.).
After Cow’s, we stopped at a few local stores, with a plan
to just got have leftovers at the Casita, do baths and jammies, and then hope
the girls fell asleep en route to Jurassic World at the drive-in theater in
Brakley Beach. Neither napped, however,
and by 6:30pm, I didn’t think Eloise would last the car-ride back to the
campground without passing out, thus ruining the Jurassic World plan shortly
after, so we grabbed some food at Taco Boyz, and got the girls in their jammies
after dinner. Eloise fell asleep on the
way to the theater, but Sis was still awake when we arrived. After one more potty break (in the car), and
some Jewel Lullaby on the car radio, (go-to sleep song for the girls), along
with us telling her she probably should go to sleep because some scary
dinosaurs were coming on, she finally fell asleep during the opening previews.
Before the movie, we’d guessed at what percentage our
success rate would probably be to make it through a drive-in Jurassic World
(not a constant volume) movie with two sleeping girls in their car seats. I estimated probably 30/70, 40/60 at best,
hoping if anyone woke up it would be Eloise who wouldn’t know what was going on
anyway. We actually had 100%
success! Both girls slept the whole
time! Even through the on/off car
engine, battery, and windshield wipers to clear and de-fog the windows (it
rained on and off throughout the movie).
The movie itself was entertaining – obvi nothing will be as good as the
first, but it was light years better than the 2nd and 3rd,
but still could be improved upon in several areas, in our opinions. There were a few things that were a little
ridiculous and unnecessary, but overall definitely worth watching. On a sidenote, it was the first movie wed
been to in years.
Baby Gear Used Today:
Charlottetown: Baby Jogger City Mini GT Double
Taco Boyz: My Little
Seat. Taco Boyz didn’t have any high
chairs, and we didn’t bring the stroller in, so I used what was invaluable to
me in Italy – My Little Seat. It turns
most chairs into a baby-holding device.
It doesn’t have a tray, but it folds super small and fits in my diaper
bag. She then just ate off the plate on
the chair between her legs or at the edge of the table. (In Italy I even used it inside of some of
their high chairs, as they didn’t have a between-the-leg strap, and had a large
slip-through opening where the legs went).
No comments:
Post a Comment