Rapher's Log - Stardate 09/24/16 & 10/08/16
Yeah, I don't usually do Rapher's logs for my day trips, but I figured 'what the hell'. Both included doing things a little differently (not always by choice) and I would have written about 'em here anyway, so I might include a bit more detail. Biggest difference is that it's not going to be friends locked, as most of my LJ entries are. That means anyone can read them, if they're so inclined. You may all thank me later. *G*
For a number of years, October has meant a number of things: Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving, buying a lot of chocolate...and the Historic House Tour in Dartmouth, the Scarecrow Festival in Mahone Bay and Pumpkin People in Kentville. The house tour, sadly, seems to have fallen by the wayside. Hasn't been one in a few years (2013). It's a fund raiser for the Dartmouth Heritage Museum, but the main organizer passed away in 2014 and it's not bounced back. I suppose there are only so many historic houses in our city, and getting the owners to agree, etc. probably is a daunting task. So that was off the table.
Now, the Scarecrow Festival has been the first weekend of October for as long as we've been going. This year was the 20th anniversary. So, naturally, it was on the Sept 23-25 weekend. Not sure why the change, possibly so they won't be competing with the start of Kentville's Pumpkin People? Who knows? Anyway, we headed out around 10:00am, after a quick stop for gas, and got to Mahone Bay shortly after 11:00. The place was JAM PACKED. Never have I seen it so busy. Drove past the main parking area, by the Three Churches (where I normally park). No spaces. Nothing across the street by the churches (except for a woman kinda standing out in the road - thought she was directing people where to park at first, but, no...she was just 'there'). I drove into town and tried to find alternate parking. Pulled into the NSLC parking lot to look at the map, which was a good idea, but it neglected to show that the street I wanted to take was closed to traffic. Drove back along Main Street and followed some signs for parking and found a spot near a pond. Since that had taken extra time, and judging by the crowds, we opted to go straight to lunch at the Mug & Anchor.
Good call, we got there a little before 12:00, had many choices for seats. By 12:15 or so, it was much harder to get a seat. (had potato skins & Caesar salad...which, it appears, is the same thing I had when we went in 2013 *G*) From there, we wandered back down Main Street, checking out the scarecrows. There were a few new displays (the one by Amos Pewter, with Red Riding Hood, the Wolf, Three Little Pigs and Hansel & Gretel was amusing - the witch's house had a painting of Witch Hazel (from the Bugs Bunny cartoons) on the wall. Most of the other displays were pretty much the usual stuff. Popped into a few shops, bought some tea at the Tea Brewery, got pumpkin cheesecake at JoAnn's (Yum!), checked out a large yard sale and then...time to leave.
Knew this would be a pain. To get back onto Main Street meant making a left, crossing the traffic & pedestrians. thought I'd try driving around the back streets in the hopes of getting past the main area, where it might be easier to turn. Wasn't able to drive as far as I wanted, ended up going right. Same plan, needed to find a place to turn around. Yeah. Missed what was probably the best bet (Fauxburg Rd), and just ended up following the Lighthouse Route - into Lunenburg. Hell of a long way just to turn around. *G* Pulled into a parking lot to consult a map once we got to Lunenburg (didn't go into the downtown area at least). Oh and the parking lot? NSLC. (if you're reading and don't know, NSLC is the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission) Hey, my Dad could always find a liquor store in any town he visited...guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Hee hee.
Got my bearings and we found our way back to the 103 and headed home. Thankfully, one of the main reasons for visiting the Scarecrow festival is just to go to Mahone Bay. Most of the scarecrows are the same designs, year after year. The biggest surprise is "Where will the Royal Family be this year?". (they were off the beaten path and we would have missed them had we not been forced to park in a different spot) Hoping that next year it won't be quite so busy, though...
The following weekend is when Pumpkin People starts. While the main festivities are that one weekend, the displays tend to stay up for the entire month, so you don't have to go on opening weekend. Now, something we have noticed over the years is that our Pumpkin People Day tends to be rushed. We almost always run out of time. True, it doesn't help that we almost always get stuck in nasty traffic trying to return through Wolfville. This year, we opted for different. We left an hour earlier, 9:00am. Got there around 10:00 and hit Hennigar's first thing. Last year we did this too and it helped. Made all the difference, this year, the place was almost empty. Picked up a few things. I bought some cheese bread - they had been baking bread when we came in and, damn, did it smell good! Got our main goal for this trip, which is their pumpkin pie fudge. Buy one pound of fudge, get half a pound free! What a bah-gain, that is a bah-gain for me! *G* Not so much of a bargain, however, was some purses/handbags. Hennigar's is a farm market, farm goodies, crafts...and designer bags? We thought we'd misread the first price sticker of $159.99 (I think). The second sticker on a larger bag was $269.99. Yeah, much laughter followed that one.
Left there and headed to the main area where the Pumpkin People displays were. Once again, because of being earlier, no trouble finding parking, and not many other people getting in the way of pictures. This year's theme (unlike the scarecrows, the pumpkins change annually) was "At Your Service" - a tribute to those who serve. The first display (unless you count a witch rock) included a military jet & aircraft carrier. With various service-pumpkins standing by. Next up, across from Oak Grove Cemetery, were paramedics. This was followed by very happy Shriners on their bikes, and then firemen.
By now, it was starting to get damn warm. We've had mixed weather whenever we've gone to Pumpkin People, there have been days where it was nice/comfortable, and days that it has been rather chilly. Summer weather has never been an option in the past, it was getting close to 25 degrees and sunny. Weird to really need the AC in the car, in October. Our last stopwas on the other side of Kentville's main business area, near some parks. The display here was another military one, with a tank and some more service pumpkins. And a real police car with its lights flashing. Kinda made us a little hesitant to go in, not sure if something serious was happening or not. Nope, the policeman was letting kids get inside the car, while they got their pictures taken. Funniest moment was when one of the kids was allowed to use the loudspeaker. "STOP! And put your hands up!". A lot of chuckling over that one.
By now it was lunch so we headed back to New Minas to get something to eat. And ran into a little traffic. Nothing major, at least. Went to Jungle Jim's, for the first time in a while. While waiting for our food (Sandra got the artichoke dip, I got the 'triple dipper'), we enjoyed the music. Well, maybe 'enjoy' is a bit strong...I enjoyed at least some of it, having recognized two S-Club-7 songs. Sandra did bounce a little to one of them, too. (she defended herself by saying she'd also bounced to Rihanna, too *G*) After lunch we hit our last planned stop, Michael's. Now we were a little confused. It wasn't even 2:00 yet and we were done. The change of schedule worked amazingly well. Decided to head up to the Look Off in Canning, to check out the fall views.
The views did not disappoint, but it would be even more spectacular once all of the fall leaves have changed. Note to self, though, it is a lengthy drive to get to the Look Off point. Both of us started to wonder if I'd done it again and gotten turned around, it was taking so long to get there. Drove past some familiar spots - Church Rd (a few churches/cemeteries on this street), Jawbone Corner (Hillaton Cemetery's not far from here). Honestly, I did not think these were en route to the Look Off point. That's another reason for this detailed entry - hoping to save some confusion, next year.
Once we finished there, we headed back and decide to do one last thing to save time - bypass Wolfville. We went straight out to the highway. Yep. And came across very very backed up traffic - due to a stop light on the highway. Construction. Once past that, it was smooth sailing and we got back to town earlier than usual.
I'm about to talk a bit about US politics...if you support a specific candidate with bad hair, you might want stop reading now.
You've been warned.
Going to add a bit of a rant here. It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and something I am most thankful for right now is the fact that the f-n US election will be over with soon! I am SO tired of seeing the political posts on Facebook, I cannot hide posts fast enough. I'm going to accidently hide one of my friends sooner or later, I just know it. I don't profess to know a lot of the details related to what each of the candidates has done or will do. But I will say that Donald Trump SCARES me. I honestly think he's going to launch the world into WWIII with his attitude toward everyone else. He's coming across as "I'm me, I can do what I please". It's frightening. I'm sure Hillary Clinton has done things too that scare people, neither candidate is perfect by any stretch, but she doesn't scare me, or pretty much everyone I've heard from on the subject, as much as Trump does.
I've seen some nasty remarks made by friends about supporters of either candidate, which I'm trying to avoid. But I do wonder what people really see in Trump.
That's all the news that's fit to print here.
For a number of years, October has meant a number of things: Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving, buying a lot of chocolate...and the Historic House Tour in Dartmouth, the Scarecrow Festival in Mahone Bay and Pumpkin People in Kentville. The house tour, sadly, seems to have fallen by the wayside. Hasn't been one in a few years (2013). It's a fund raiser for the Dartmouth Heritage Museum, but the main organizer passed away in 2014 and it's not bounced back. I suppose there are only so many historic houses in our city, and getting the owners to agree, etc. probably is a daunting task. So that was off the table.
Now, the Scarecrow Festival has been the first weekend of October for as long as we've been going. This year was the 20th anniversary. So, naturally, it was on the Sept 23-25 weekend. Not sure why the change, possibly so they won't be competing with the start of Kentville's Pumpkin People? Who knows? Anyway, we headed out around 10:00am, after a quick stop for gas, and got to Mahone Bay shortly after 11:00. The place was JAM PACKED. Never have I seen it so busy. Drove past the main parking area, by the Three Churches (where I normally park). No spaces. Nothing across the street by the churches (except for a woman kinda standing out in the road - thought she was directing people where to park at first, but, no...she was just 'there'). I drove into town and tried to find alternate parking. Pulled into the NSLC parking lot to look at the map, which was a good idea, but it neglected to show that the street I wanted to take was closed to traffic. Drove back along Main Street and followed some signs for parking and found a spot near a pond. Since that had taken extra time, and judging by the crowds, we opted to go straight to lunch at the Mug & Anchor.
Good call, we got there a little before 12:00, had many choices for seats. By 12:15 or so, it was much harder to get a seat. (had potato skins & Caesar salad...which, it appears, is the same thing I had when we went in 2013 *G*) From there, we wandered back down Main Street, checking out the scarecrows. There were a few new displays (the one by Amos Pewter, with Red Riding Hood, the Wolf, Three Little Pigs and Hansel & Gretel was amusing - the witch's house had a painting of Witch Hazel (from the Bugs Bunny cartoons) on the wall. Most of the other displays were pretty much the usual stuff. Popped into a few shops, bought some tea at the Tea Brewery, got pumpkin cheesecake at JoAnn's (Yum!), checked out a large yard sale and then...time to leave.
Knew this would be a pain. To get back onto Main Street meant making a left, crossing the traffic & pedestrians. thought I'd try driving around the back streets in the hopes of getting past the main area, where it might be easier to turn. Wasn't able to drive as far as I wanted, ended up going right. Same plan, needed to find a place to turn around. Yeah. Missed what was probably the best bet (Fauxburg Rd), and just ended up following the Lighthouse Route - into Lunenburg. Hell of a long way just to turn around. *G* Pulled into a parking lot to consult a map once we got to Lunenburg (didn't go into the downtown area at least). Oh and the parking lot? NSLC. (if you're reading and don't know, NSLC is the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission) Hey, my Dad could always find a liquor store in any town he visited...guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Hee hee.
Got my bearings and we found our way back to the 103 and headed home. Thankfully, one of the main reasons for visiting the Scarecrow festival is just to go to Mahone Bay. Most of the scarecrows are the same designs, year after year. The biggest surprise is "Where will the Royal Family be this year?". (they were off the beaten path and we would have missed them had we not been forced to park in a different spot) Hoping that next year it won't be quite so busy, though...
The following weekend is when Pumpkin People starts. While the main festivities are that one weekend, the displays tend to stay up for the entire month, so you don't have to go on opening weekend. Now, something we have noticed over the years is that our Pumpkin People Day tends to be rushed. We almost always run out of time. True, it doesn't help that we almost always get stuck in nasty traffic trying to return through Wolfville. This year, we opted for different. We left an hour earlier, 9:00am. Got there around 10:00 and hit Hennigar's first thing. Last year we did this too and it helped. Made all the difference, this year, the place was almost empty. Picked up a few things. I bought some cheese bread - they had been baking bread when we came in and, damn, did it smell good! Got our main goal for this trip, which is their pumpkin pie fudge. Buy one pound of fudge, get half a pound free! What a bah-gain, that is a bah-gain for me! *G* Not so much of a bargain, however, was some purses/handbags. Hennigar's is a farm market, farm goodies, crafts...and designer bags? We thought we'd misread the first price sticker of $159.99 (I think). The second sticker on a larger bag was $269.99. Yeah, much laughter followed that one.
Left there and headed to the main area where the Pumpkin People displays were. Once again, because of being earlier, no trouble finding parking, and not many other people getting in the way of pictures. This year's theme (unlike the scarecrows, the pumpkins change annually) was "At Your Service" - a tribute to those who serve. The first display (unless you count a witch rock) included a military jet & aircraft carrier. With various service-pumpkins standing by. Next up, across from Oak Grove Cemetery, were paramedics. This was followed by very happy Shriners on their bikes, and then firemen.
By now, it was starting to get damn warm. We've had mixed weather whenever we've gone to Pumpkin People, there have been days where it was nice/comfortable, and days that it has been rather chilly. Summer weather has never been an option in the past, it was getting close to 25 degrees and sunny. Weird to really need the AC in the car, in October. Our last stopwas on the other side of Kentville's main business area, near some parks. The display here was another military one, with a tank and some more service pumpkins. And a real police car with its lights flashing. Kinda made us a little hesitant to go in, not sure if something serious was happening or not. Nope, the policeman was letting kids get inside the car, while they got their pictures taken. Funniest moment was when one of the kids was allowed to use the loudspeaker. "STOP! And put your hands up!". A lot of chuckling over that one.
By now it was lunch so we headed back to New Minas to get something to eat. And ran into a little traffic. Nothing major, at least. Went to Jungle Jim's, for the first time in a while. While waiting for our food (Sandra got the artichoke dip, I got the 'triple dipper'), we enjoyed the music. Well, maybe 'enjoy' is a bit strong...I enjoyed at least some of it, having recognized two S-Club-7 songs. Sandra did bounce a little to one of them, too. (she defended herself by saying she'd also bounced to Rihanna, too *G*) After lunch we hit our last planned stop, Michael's. Now we were a little confused. It wasn't even 2:00 yet and we were done. The change of schedule worked amazingly well. Decided to head up to the Look Off in Canning, to check out the fall views.
The views did not disappoint, but it would be even more spectacular once all of the fall leaves have changed. Note to self, though, it is a lengthy drive to get to the Look Off point. Both of us started to wonder if I'd done it again and gotten turned around, it was taking so long to get there. Drove past some familiar spots - Church Rd (a few churches/cemeteries on this street), Jawbone Corner (Hillaton Cemetery's not far from here). Honestly, I did not think these were en route to the Look Off point. That's another reason for this detailed entry - hoping to save some confusion, next year.
Once we finished there, we headed back and decide to do one last thing to save time - bypass Wolfville. We went straight out to the highway. Yep. And came across very very backed up traffic - due to a stop light on the highway. Construction. Once past that, it was smooth sailing and we got back to town earlier than usual.
I'm about to talk a bit about US politics...if you support a specific candidate with bad hair, you might want stop reading now.
You've been warned.
Going to add a bit of a rant here. It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and something I am most thankful for right now is the fact that the f-n US election will be over with soon! I am SO tired of seeing the political posts on Facebook, I cannot hide posts fast enough. I'm going to accidently hide one of my friends sooner or later, I just know it. I don't profess to know a lot of the details related to what each of the candidates has done or will do. But I will say that Donald Trump SCARES me. I honestly think he's going to launch the world into WWIII with his attitude toward everyone else. He's coming across as "I'm me, I can do what I please". It's frightening. I'm sure Hillary Clinton has done things too that scare people, neither candidate is perfect by any stretch, but she doesn't scare me, or pretty much everyone I've heard from on the subject, as much as Trump does.
I've seen some nasty remarks made by friends about supporters of either candidate, which I'm trying to avoid. But I do wonder what people really see in Trump.
That's all the news that's fit to print here.