Stuff From My Journal -- pt. 2
As before, additional and clarifying comments will be in small type in the (edit: ... ) format.
November 20, 2006 -- 10pm AST
Okay. So Saturday dawned beautifully. We had a bunch of running around to do before we went to pick up my frend's "Aunt" from St. John Airport. A Quick stop back at my friend's house before lunch at East Side Mario's and then we checked into the Bed+Breakfast. Please see my picture post for images and related sundry. (edit: Silly me, when asked if I had any cameras with film inside them by the security guy at Moncton Airport on Wednesday morning, said "Nope." Now, the chick scanning the bags had to throw mine around again because I'm certain she saw the cameras in my backpack. I'm praying that the reason for asking is merely because the scan can't see through the cameras and not because of anything bad happening to the film. *headdesks*)
The wedding was at 4pm, with the reception right after. I feel bad that out of the four disposable cameras I had only half of one has pics from the wedding, however, due to the lack an actual dance (reception was just dinner ad dessert) it might be justified. I got the important pics, at least. (At least I think they were important.) (edit: I was so totally intending to snap a pic of my friend's rings, but I forgot. I'm going to have to email her and ask her to send me one.)
Then my mom, myself, the bride and groom and a handful of others went back to the B+B where we hung out and talked before slowly heading to bed.
In bed by 11pm, up at 8:40am, if only to make it for breakfast, which was fabulous. Eggs Benedict, freshly made; muffins, cinnamon rolls, fruit salad, yogurt, orange juice, coffee, tea....MMMM!
Back at my friend's place, they opened gifts and then we headed out to Harbour Station for a crafts show. We hit the evening service at church and then had dinner afterwards at Greco where my friend insisted we have donairs (tasty!).
Today, as mentioned, we walked Uptown St. John. We hit the Reversing Falls, once during high tide and again right before low tide. Had lunch at the Market Place, and tea with scones after traipsing around some more. We hit a used book store, and seriously, leave it to me to find three Star Wars novels in St. John, New Brunswick *eye roll*
We did dinner at the St. John Ale House with a couple that was also in town for the wedding. Crazed me, when asked for my drink order, seriously messed up.
Me: Whatcha got on draught?
Server/Her: Oh gosh. What don't we got? We have, like, 29 of'em. You want the menu? (I kid you not! She totally asked me if I wanted the menu!)
Me: Nah. You got Canadian?
Her: Yep!
Me: I'll have that!
Her: Okie dokie *goes off*
Me: *sees menu's beer recommendation of Keith's Red Ale for a dish* D'OH! *hangs head in shame*
To those that get it, yes. I order a Canadian instead of a Keith's India Pale.
To those that don't get it, being in the Maritimes and not ordering Alexander Keith's is like going to Ireland and not ordering a Guinness.
It just isn't right. Oops. Guess now I'll have to come back so I can order my beer properly.
Hah! I tried to finish the Canadian swiftly so I could fix it then, but by the time the glass was 3/4 empty, I started to notice that moving my head fast was making me spin. So I ordered a glass of water and nursed the rest of the beer, then had a camomile tea with dessert. (Dinner was English-style fish and chips [of the kettle variety] and dessert was cookies and cream cake. Cripes...aside from an itty bitty piece of the fish I ate it ALL...o.O) (edit: that was a rather large piece of haddock, too. I'm impressed that I did as well as I had, seeing as how we shared an appetizer and I ate all the kettle chips on my plate.)
By the end of the evening my head had cleared, but things were still a bit funnier than they had any right to be. So it was still a win-win situation.
Shame about the beer, though.
So now most everything is packed and Im just waiting on some laundry to finish. We're heading out to Fredericton tomorrow for the day before we head back to Moncton for the evening. Can't believe my trip is almost over.
I had the idea to come speand next November down here for NaNo, because the B+B inspired me to do a historical romance. 18th Century St. John, and all. Would require a crash course in nautical terminology and sailing practices and stuff, but hey, I could legally have pirates in it and not be hokey!
Oh! And not just St. John history, but hell, Irish history as well. (edit: Meaning that I would have to research these things since, iirc, New Brunswick was one of the major Canadian landing points for Irish immigrants way back when. I know that the family that had originally owned the two houses that is now the B+B we stayed at built ships that went to England and back, so that's a possibility, too.)
Guess I should start planning, huh?
November 21, 2006 -- 7:49pm AST
We had our tour of Fredericton today. Drove around the UNB campus, which was very picturesque. After a drive around, we hit the mall for lunch, where we met up with my friend's aunt and parents. I hit HMV and picked up a couple of CDs.
Oh! On the way to Fredericton, my friend drove us the scenic route along the St. John river and through her home town. Got to see the PMQ she lived in as a teen. (edit: Oromocto isn't really her home town, since she moved around a lot, but it is the place she lived during her teens, where her dad was stationed at CFB Gagetown.)
Stuck my hand in the St. John river on the way back from the art gallery we went to, where I bought my grandmother a print for Christmas. Then it was back to my friend's house for a grand total of half-an-hour, before we hit the road for Moncton around 4pm.
Arrived at 5:45pm, checked into the hotel and went for dinner. Got back around 7:45pm and had a nice, hot shower. The receptionist was really nice and allowed us to check in to our flight on the staff computer so we could print our boarding passes and not worry about it at 4:30am. (edit: It was really funny. My mom had gone down while I was in the shower to do this, but the receptionist was having problems getting into the site. Everytime she clicked on the link, it didn't do anything. After thinking on this for a few moments, I asked my mom, "When you did it back home, it opened in a new window, right?" She was all, "Yeah." I snorted. "They have a pop-up blocker on the computer downstairs." Not two seconds after I said this, the phone rang, with the receptionist telling my mom that the comp wasn't letting her do it because it was blocking a pop-up. So I went down with our flight info and coached her on the use of ctrl-click for one-time pop-up allowance. Funny!)
So, this is me, back on the raggedy edge to meet up with Serenity and fly home.
Also? My thighs ache from yesterday's walking. The stairs at the Reversing Falls killed me. Oof.
So, that's my trip in as much of a nutshell as I am capable of. Also in the "Funny, But True" department, on the way to Moncton we had to stop for gas, and at the cash there was this one lady looking for directions to St. John Regional Hospital. The cashiers, after much debate finally told her the most direct route was to go back west and get off at this one road, which just happens to be the exit you take to get to my friend's house. They confessed that they didn't know the exit number, but the road went right by the hospital and you couldn't miss it. Which is when I piped up with "It's exit #128!" They thanked me and I left.
Yes, folks, I was only in St. John for a week, and I was able to help with directions like a native. Almost.
Go figure.
November 20, 2006 -- 10pm AST
Okay. So Saturday dawned beautifully. We had a bunch of running around to do before we went to pick up my frend's "Aunt" from St. John Airport. A Quick stop back at my friend's house before lunch at East Side Mario's and then we checked into the Bed+Breakfast. Please see my picture post for images and related sundry. (edit: Silly me, when asked if I had any cameras with film inside them by the security guy at Moncton Airport on Wednesday morning, said "Nope." Now, the chick scanning the bags had to throw mine around again because I'm certain she saw the cameras in my backpack. I'm praying that the reason for asking is merely because the scan can't see through the cameras and not because of anything bad happening to the film. *headdesks*)
The wedding was at 4pm, with the reception right after. I feel bad that out of the four disposable cameras I had only half of one has pics from the wedding, however, due to the lack an actual dance (reception was just dinner ad dessert) it might be justified. I got the important pics, at least. (At least I think they were important.) (edit: I was so totally intending to snap a pic of my friend's rings, but I forgot. I'm going to have to email her and ask her to send me one.)
Then my mom, myself, the bride and groom and a handful of others went back to the B+B where we hung out and talked before slowly heading to bed.
In bed by 11pm, up at 8:40am, if only to make it for breakfast, which was fabulous. Eggs Benedict, freshly made; muffins, cinnamon rolls, fruit salad, yogurt, orange juice, coffee, tea....MMMM!
Back at my friend's place, they opened gifts and then we headed out to Harbour Station for a crafts show. We hit the evening service at church and then had dinner afterwards at Greco where my friend insisted we have donairs (tasty!).
Today, as mentioned, we walked Uptown St. John. We hit the Reversing Falls, once during high tide and again right before low tide. Had lunch at the Market Place, and tea with scones after traipsing around some more. We hit a used book store, and seriously, leave it to me to find three Star Wars novels in St. John, New Brunswick *eye roll*
We did dinner at the St. John Ale House with a couple that was also in town for the wedding. Crazed me, when asked for my drink order, seriously messed up.
Me: Whatcha got on draught?
Server/Her: Oh gosh. What don't we got? We have, like, 29 of'em. You want the menu? (I kid you not! She totally asked me if I wanted the menu!)
Me: Nah. You got Canadian?
Her: Yep!
Me: I'll have that!
Her: Okie dokie *goes off*
Me: *sees menu's beer recommendation of Keith's Red Ale for a dish* D'OH! *hangs head in shame*
To those that get it, yes. I order a Canadian instead of a Keith's India Pale.
To those that don't get it, being in the Maritimes and not ordering Alexander Keith's is like going to Ireland and not ordering a Guinness.
It just isn't right. Oops. Guess now I'll have to come back so I can order my beer properly.
Hah! I tried to finish the Canadian swiftly so I could fix it then, but by the time the glass was 3/4 empty, I started to notice that moving my head fast was making me spin. So I ordered a glass of water and nursed the rest of the beer, then had a camomile tea with dessert. (Dinner was English-style fish and chips [of the kettle variety] and dessert was cookies and cream cake. Cripes...aside from an itty bitty piece of the fish I ate it ALL...o.O) (edit: that was a rather large piece of haddock, too. I'm impressed that I did as well as I had, seeing as how we shared an appetizer and I ate all the kettle chips on my plate.)
By the end of the evening my head had cleared, but things were still a bit funnier than they had any right to be. So it was still a win-win situation.
Shame about the beer, though.
So now most everything is packed and Im just waiting on some laundry to finish. We're heading out to Fredericton tomorrow for the day before we head back to Moncton for the evening. Can't believe my trip is almost over.
I had the idea to come speand next November down here for NaNo, because the B+B inspired me to do a historical romance. 18th Century St. John, and all. Would require a crash course in nautical terminology and sailing practices and stuff, but hey, I could legally have pirates in it and not be hokey!
Oh! And not just St. John history, but hell, Irish history as well. (edit: Meaning that I would have to research these things since, iirc, New Brunswick was one of the major Canadian landing points for Irish immigrants way back when. I know that the family that had originally owned the two houses that is now the B+B we stayed at built ships that went to England and back, so that's a possibility, too.)
Guess I should start planning, huh?
November 21, 2006 -- 7:49pm AST
We had our tour of Fredericton today. Drove around the UNB campus, which was very picturesque. After a drive around, we hit the mall for lunch, where we met up with my friend's aunt and parents. I hit HMV and picked up a couple of CDs.
Oh! On the way to Fredericton, my friend drove us the scenic route along the St. John river and through her home town. Got to see the PMQ she lived in as a teen. (edit: Oromocto isn't really her home town, since she moved around a lot, but it is the place she lived during her teens, where her dad was stationed at CFB Gagetown.)
Stuck my hand in the St. John river on the way back from the art gallery we went to, where I bought my grandmother a print for Christmas. Then it was back to my friend's house for a grand total of half-an-hour, before we hit the road for Moncton around 4pm.
Arrived at 5:45pm, checked into the hotel and went for dinner. Got back around 7:45pm and had a nice, hot shower. The receptionist was really nice and allowed us to check in to our flight on the staff computer so we could print our boarding passes and not worry about it at 4:30am. (edit: It was really funny. My mom had gone down while I was in the shower to do this, but the receptionist was having problems getting into the site. Everytime she clicked on the link, it didn't do anything. After thinking on this for a few moments, I asked my mom, "When you did it back home, it opened in a new window, right?" She was all, "Yeah." I snorted. "They have a pop-up blocker on the computer downstairs." Not two seconds after I said this, the phone rang, with the receptionist telling my mom that the comp wasn't letting her do it because it was blocking a pop-up. So I went down with our flight info and coached her on the use of ctrl-click for one-time pop-up allowance. Funny!)
So, this is me, back on the raggedy edge to meet up with Serenity and fly home.
Also? My thighs ache from yesterday's walking. The stairs at the Reversing Falls killed me. Oof.
So, that's my trip in as much of a nutshell as I am capable of. Also in the "Funny, But True" department, on the way to Moncton we had to stop for gas, and at the cash there was this one lady looking for directions to St. John Regional Hospital. The cashiers, after much debate finally told her the most direct route was to go back west and get off at this one road, which just happens to be the exit you take to get to my friend's house. They confessed that they didn't know the exit number, but the road went right by the hospital and you couldn't miss it. Which is when I piped up with "It's exit #128!" They thanked me and I left.
Yes, folks, I was only in St. John for a week, and I was able to help with directions like a native. Almost.
Go figure.