Happy Canada Day!

I sure do love Canada. (And not just because my big sister lives there, either, though that helps.) I figure it is appropriate to write more about our fun trip on a day such as today.

Side note: I know I am a sporadic blogger - please bear with me. I read all these other great blogs in what little spare time I have on Google Reader and then just get overwhelmed at the prospect of being read myself. I don't know why this is. I'll get over it. Besides, I don't have a very big following anyway. Even my mom hardly checks my blog - oh! Busted. Yes I did go there!

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Anyway, just in case any of you readers ever want to recreate our fun adventure (and most likely add to it, if you don't have a baby in tow) here is a daily log of what we did... uh... daily. And the pics are tiny, but click on them if you want to see them bigger.

Day 1 - THE DRIVE.
Holy man! We left NY mid-day on a Thursday to try to avoid some weekend traffic and had planned on being in Ogunquit by at least dinner time. That didn't happen. It rained the entire drive and we had RIDICULOUS traffic, so we just drove pretty much straight through to Acadia National Park and got in at the butt-crack of dawn, like literally. Little Oscar was not pleased. Oh, we did stop briefly in Kittery, ME at the Osh Kosh outlet and got Oz some cool jeans and a little hat. We just had to.

Day 2 - BAD BAD ACADIA
Okay really? Is it going to rain the WHOLE time? (And it pretty much did.) This was the actual date of our anniversary, so I was hoping for sunshine and sparkles, but I got a rainy day, lost in Acadia, and a little boy that was running a temp of 102 degrees cause he was working on popping out some teeth. Sucks. But we made the most of the morning, anyway. We drove around and took snapshots of the beautiful lupines in between rain showers and drove the loopy Loop Road through Acadia. We even stopped for pop-overs at the Jordan Pond Restaurant. We saw Thunder Hole (which really did roar with all the rain) and even had a pleasant rain-free stop at Sand Beach. Cadillac Mountain was a total bomb, though. By the time we drove up to the summit, you could see literally NOTHING. Nice photo finish there. At least the place we stayed had a really nice view of Somes Sound. We drank a bottle of champagne (courtesy of my awesome little brother) while cuddling a feverish 9 month old. Ahh well. Better luck tomorrow!


Day 3 - OFF TO CANADA, OUR NEIGHBOR TO THE NORTH...
But before we headed off (with our now much happier little boy with an additional tooth), we stopped off and spent the morning window shopping in Bar Harbor. We even tried the "Lobster Ice Cream" at Ben & Bill's Chocolate Emporium. I would not like to recommend this. The homemade blueberry is a much better choice. Seriously.
Speaking of blueberries, on the drive up to New Brunswick, we passed through Columbia, ME and saw the biggest blueberry ever. Actually, it looked more like a giant blue igloo. We just HAD to stop at "Wild Blueberry Land" and get some blueberry something. Not stopping at this crazy kitsch mecca would be something like sacrilege for me. After filling our bellies with a delicious slice of pie and taking a picture of the blueberry kings, we got back on the road and drove the rest of the way to Moncton, New Brunswick. The only other thing to note on this day is the glee the border crossing people get out of seeing my husband's passport picture. It really is that funny. They look at it, then look at him, then look back at the picture and smirk. It happens EVERY time. It's worth crossing borders just to see that expression. And if we are really lucky, they'll actually remark on that gem of a photo.

Anther thing worth mentioning is that not all Tim Horton coffee shops are created equal. (For all of you non-Canadians, Tim's is the equivalent of a - usually - classy version of Duncan Donuts. Well, we went to one just past the border that challenged our ideas. I went in hunting a baby changing table while hubby got a cup of joe. What I found was a large girl around my age with less teeth than manners, who was "cleaning" the bathroom, or just checking off that she had. I asked her about the changing table and she suggested that I change Oscar's diaper on a table in the front because that's what she always does. I must have looked horrified at her, because she then suggested that, better yet, why don't I "change him on the bathroom floor." Yeah. Cause that was going to happen. There is more to this story, but that was my favorite part.
When we finally got to our motel in Moncton, it was late and we discovered ants and freshly used cigarettes in our NON-smoking and "clean" room. We promptly got a free upgrade to a room with a hot tub. As I said before, "bonus!"

Day 4 - NEW DAY, NEW BRUNSWICK
Ahh. Ready for a new day? We were! We got up early to catch sight of the daily tidal bore (bore = crest or wave) at Bore Park. The Bay of Fundy has the biggest tides in the world and we were anxious to get to see what all the hype was about. It is actually pretty cool in theory and I suppose it used to be a really dramatic thing to see the tidal bore come in pre-one-kilometer-long causeway. Now the bore is a bit (pardon my pun) boring. We saw it though (because it's something you just have to do). Anyway, it was a muddy bank and within an hour it was a 25 ft. deep river. That sounds pretty cool, huh?


Then we drove to Shediac for more kitsch - a giant 35 ft. long lobster. Freaking AWESOME. (Why am I so in love with these kind of stops? I don't understand my unholy obsession.) Then on to Parlee Beach, which boasts of having the warmest water north of Virginia. Well, let me tell you, they are liars. It was C.O.L.D. At least we didn't have to pay for anything but gas up till this point!
Magnetic Hill was our next destination. This jive was crazy. It is basically an optical illusion played up for suckers like me. It was pretty cool, though. You park at the bottom of a "hill" and put the car in neutral. Then your car coasts up the hill. It is disorienting. But what is even more disorienting is that all the gift shops around it don't even sell magnets. For real! Whoever did the marketing here really missed the boat. No magnets at fraking Magnetic Hill. Can you even believe it? But what they did have was the best "Beaver Tails" in the universe. If you have never had a beaver tail, I suggest you look into fixing that problem.
The last major thing we did this day was trek over to Hopewell Rocks. This was one of my favorite things on our trip. It really was spectacular. We wanted to see it at low tide so we could "walk the ocean floor" among the rocks. This is where the Bay of Fundy gets it's highest tides - up to 45 feet - and it has literally carved out these "flowerpot" rocks. It was stunning, even in the drizzly overcast weather we had.

Day 5 - SUPERNOVA SCOTIA
We packed up shop and popped back in the vehicle, heading toward Nova Scotia (or "New Scotland") early morning. Our first big destination was Oxford, "blueberry capital of Canada." We obviously can't get enough blueberries. We got lots of blueberry stuff and even saw a cute giant blueberry - it was enough to put a spring in my step.

As we continued into Nova Scotia, we made a lot of side trips. We paused in Truro to catch another tidal bore, hoping it would be a bit more dramatic (we actually missed it by 3 minutes - bummer), and we also stopped in Stewiacke, which is "halfway between the equator and the North Pole." There was a cool park with a giant fiberglass Mastodon, a Fred Flintstone cave house, and a giant polar bear, not to mention tons of totem poles. It was roadside heaven for me. So many photo ops (I can already hear Tim groaning...). After spending (probably) too much time there, we drove the rest of the way to Halifax.
One thing I have to say about Nova Scotia is that when this place gets foggy, you cannot see a dad-blooming thing. Not a thing. I know that this is somewhat portrayed in movies, but it is a bit alarming in person. Like, Tim was driving and we literally could not see but 10 feet in front of us. It was like driving off the edge of the world. Creepy.
When we got to Halifax, we went first to Fairview Cemetery to see the gravestones of the Titanic victims. I bet you think that is morbid! Actually, what is REALLY morbid is finding out why some of the graves only have numbers on them. Those numbers correspond to the order in which the bodies were pulled out of the ocean. Hmm. It was a bit haunting to walk through the site. To lighten our moods, we paused briefly at the grave of J. Dawson, who was the inspiration for Leonardo DiCaprio's "Jack" in the movie Titanic. He was number 227. I don't know about you, but "my heart will go on."
Next we visited the Maritime Museum to see the Titanic artifacts they had on display. They have the biggest collection of Titanic stuff. Tim sat on a replica deck lounge chair with Oscar. Also a bit disturbing.
Then we had dinner in the "Jungle Room" at the Economy Shoe Shop. Yes, really.

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On that note, I think I'll stop for the night. This was a stinking long post! Stay tuned for more adventures in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and even good ole Bangor, Maine!

Back Home

We're home! Boy, it was a crazy vacation. Sometimes I think that Tim and I watch too many episodes of "The Amazing Race" and it reflects in the way we travel. It's just that when I go some place, I don't want to regret not seeing something, so I end up dragging us all over the place and never really "frolicking" anywhere for too long. Or maybe I have a short attention span? Whatever the problem is, we usually come home pretty tired.

This trip was no exception to the physical drain. Actually though, being that we had Oz in tow, it made us reevaluate the worth in getting him out of the car seat to stop and see something. That saved some of our energy and time between stops. And the stops we made took longer and we lingered more to be fair to our little one. We also had to call it a night WAY sooner than we usually do. We tried to be at our "resting" destinations by around 8-ish so Oscar could crawl around and get a bath in before bedtime.


Speaking of Oscar, he is a champion traveler. He was really great for the whole trip. We had a scare in Maine, at the beginning of the trip, when he had a temp. of 102 and was pretty miserable for most of the day on the 19th. Turns out that little buddy was cranking out a tooth and it was hurting him something fierce. He was like a little rag doll. We almost decided to spend the rest of the trip there in Bar Harbor. But the next day he was fine and we continued our journey. He got a bit attached to his soother this trip, though. That may prove to be a problem later on. But seriously, you couldn't ask for a better 9 month old than my little monkey. He gave the sweetest toothy grins to everyone we met and had a great time having both momma and daddy all to himself.


So about the trip - we put in over 2,400 miles! (Yes, you read that right...) We drove up through Bar Harbor, Maine and stayed there for two nights, then on to New Brunswick, Canada. We stayed in Moncton for two nights (our motel even had a hot tub! bonus!) and then we drove to Nova Scotia and stayed in Truro for a night. We spent the day in Halifax and then drove to Pictou to catch the late ferry to Prince Edward Island, where we stayed for two nights. After that, we began our trek homeward and drove halfway to Bangor, Maine where we stayed for our last night before driving the rest of the way home. We saw so many things. For the little time we had, plus the rain we got almost every day, we really made the most of our road trip.

I'll get started on some pictures so you can see what an adventure we had, reader! For now, enjoy these...

Yummy!

Holy rusted metal, batman. These are the cutest! This is the sweetest Happy Meal ever. It's cupcake buns, brownie burgers, and freaking sugar cookie fries!!! For real. Too bad we will be out of town and not near an oven on father's day, because I L.O.V.E. these! Bakerella, you have outdone yourself once again. If you haven't visited her blog yet, maybe you should.

Word's Out!

Sweet! Now I don't have to keep it secret anymore. I can yell it at the top of my lungs!!! Rach is PREGNANT! YAY! (I yelled when she told me, too. I'm just being consistent here.)

I am so excited. Rachel has been such a close friend for most of my life - she's practically a sister to me. I'm thrilled about this next stage in her life and her marriage (a big fat 7 years now - congrats!!!). I can't wait to meet the newest Holohan! Leave them love messages here at the newest daddy's blog...

A Decade of True Love

Well, next weekend Timmy and I (plus the munchkin) are headed out on an anniversary vacation/road trip/adventure. We have to be uber thrifty, but I am stoked about it! What better way to celebrate a whole decade of our love than to take a long drive through someplace insanely gorgeous (and relatively untouched) and to explore it in our "Tim and Suzy" way. Our plan is to drive up to Acadia in Maine, then meander our way up New Brunswick and the Bay of Fundy area, then head over to Nova Scotia and see Halifax and Cape Breton. If there is time and sufficient funds, we would also like to pop over to Prince Edward Island. I think it is going to be heaven!

So I'm all researched up and getting our picnicking gear together. (I hear there is even a way to cook food off of your car engine! That may be an adventure in itself...) We're still looking for the cheapest accommodations humanly possible - unfortunately we don't have a tent big enough for a pack'n'play. But I've squirreled away a little bit of cushion cash for this monumental occasion and I'm hoping it goes farther than I think it will. It's time to break open the loose change jar!

But you know, it's fitting to be traveling this way. We've always had JUST enough. I think it makes us appreciate what we have more so than the folks who stay in fancy hotels and eat with silver dessert forks. Half the fun is in the journey, right? I love to research and find out just how far we can stretch. That's the stuff memories are made from.

So wish us bon voyage! I hope to have memories and picture to share (and time to post all of them)!

Happy Graduation Beck

Graduation chocolate pops. Cause I am the best sister EVER.
And yes, those are white candy tassels - white for an English masters degree.

Thanks as always for the inspiration, Bakerella! (If you have never seen her blog, you totally should. I LOVE it. It makes me actually like being in the kitchen. And for me, that is certainly saying something.

Coming Soon...

Oh yeah! I'm 'bout to have a house full! First these folks - my big sis and her sweet daughter and hubby all the way from Canada. (Isn't this a fabulous photo?!? Seriously my new favorite.)








And then these folks - little brother and my parents. (Ha - Andy is going to be SO mad that I used this picture... muhaahaa.)



We have LOTS to celebrate (especially my sister's brand new master's degree! Yay!) and so we'll be keeping pretty busy the next few weeks. I foresee lots of photos, baby kisses, family tourism, hugs, hair-pulling, pizza, "Dora the Explorer", cooking and fire alarms, interesting discussions, and maybe even some double dates with Beck and Jerry (if we're lucky and Diva and Poppa "volunteer" to watch the little ones). Should be fun!

My "Mom" Jeans

I've had a certain pair of jeans ever since Oz was born (I'm even wearing them now) that I may choose to abandon very soon... thanks RookieMoms.com and SNL for helping me to realize my fashion faux pas! I think I'll go change my clothes RIGHT NOW.