Rapher's Log: Stardate July 3/24
Another year, another vacation. *G* Decided to try something a wee bit different this year...
Decided to head in a different direction from our regular PEI excursion this year. We revisited Saint John, New Brunswick, which is 4.5-5 hours away. So a slightly longer drive than PEI. Did the same thing for Coal this year as in previous years - lots of food in the main dish, bowls of dry food, frozen canned food (with water), big ice balls. Got Sandra at 8:00, did the usual McDs in Dartmouth Crossing for breakfast. At least the floor wasn't hazardous this year. I think they've renovated the place too. Anyway, on the road by 8:30. The drive was pretty standard, still didn't have to pay at the Cobequid Pass. Didn't have any extra stops this time, they've finally finished the construction outside of Truro. Got to Amherst around 10:30. One of these days, we're going to spend more than a few minutes there (we did actually venture into the gift shop this time...but bought nothing). There's a nice little garden/park area we might check out one of these years.
Stopped at Moncton sometime after 11:00, wanted to fill up the tank. Had one funny moment on the highway, I was doing a bit over the limit and we got passed by a biker easily doing 140-150. Aaaand a little while later we passed him - as he was stopped on the side of the highway by a nice police person. That'll larn ya. Arrived at Arby's in SJ a little after 1:00. I don't think the place has changed much since we were there last in 2015. It is looking a little long in ye olde tooth. I opted not to have my usual Beef N Cheddar, which was a bit of a mistake. Had the Triple Cheese & Bacon sandwich...it wasn't as good as I would have liked. The Curly Fries were tasty, as always, though.
Since we were a teeny bit early for the 3:00 check in, we looked at our 'to do' list and headed out to knock a few items off the list - Fort Le Tour & The Reversing Falls. Had a pretty good idea of how to get there and, thankfully, the directions I'd written down worked well. Stopped at the Fort first. It's similar to Port Royal, a recreation of the fort that once stood on that site. The original dated back to the 17th century. Parking leaves a bit to be desired, no real lot, just some on street parking around a circular road. In trying to straighten out a bit, and possibly get out of the heat, I was in the process of backing up into a shaded spot when a woman zoomed into the spot. She's lucky I didn't back into her. Anyway, walked over to the fort, paid our $7.50 and went inside the habitation. First, we watched a 4 minute informational film which gave a little overview/history of the place. Then we wandered, which really didn't take long. We were done in about 30 minutes. The sun & heat had started to put in an appearance by this point in time.
Off to the Reversing Falls next, thankfully along the same road. Got there, parked and headed inside the building with the viewing platform & restaurant. A guy greeted us and said it'd be $6 (after discussing this with a coworker a bit). We thought this was for each of us, Sandra didn't want to spend the money, so I said I'd pay for us both. Then he charged $6.90 - $6 + HST. I guess the $6 was for both. We ventured upstairs and went straight outside (skipping the informational video that was in progress). There was one platform over the water with four glass segments that you could see through. Or walk on, if you're brave. The platform itself was a teeny bit shaky, Sandra stayed off. I ventured out, even stepped on the glass section briefly. It was getting harder to avoid the crowds, a tour bus was there and when the main group finished watching the intro video, things started to get packed. We opted to head out at that point. Also about a 30 minute visit.
Headed back to check in at the hotel, with surprisingly little traffic in the city. It really seems like they don't have 'rush hour' traffic, because it was getting close to 3:30 by this point in time. Getting to the hotel was fun. Hadn't bothered with directions, once I got to the big shopping area. Knew where the hotel was. Just wasn't 100% of which turn to take. "It's this one". Nope. "This one". Nope. "Oh, it's this one, I remember that...oh...nope". Finally got it. Hey, it had to happen...
Check in was swift, room 411. Had a fridge with no freezer, but the fridge was quite cold. I had frozen some water in DC bottles and one still had ice when I got home! Got settled in, relaxed for about an hour, then headed out to do a little shopping. As it turned out...very little shopping. Went to Value Village first - neither of us bought anything there. Across the street to the Homesense/Marshalls in McAllister Place. Nope. We did eventually get a drink and snack at Starbucks and came back to the room for the night.
Tomorrow...time for some Uptown Funk!
Decided to head in a different direction from our regular PEI excursion this year. We revisited Saint John, New Brunswick, which is 4.5-5 hours away. So a slightly longer drive than PEI. Did the same thing for Coal this year as in previous years - lots of food in the main dish, bowls of dry food, frozen canned food (with water), big ice balls. Got Sandra at 8:00, did the usual McDs in Dartmouth Crossing for breakfast. At least the floor wasn't hazardous this year. I think they've renovated the place too. Anyway, on the road by 8:30. The drive was pretty standard, still didn't have to pay at the Cobequid Pass. Didn't have any extra stops this time, they've finally finished the construction outside of Truro. Got to Amherst around 10:30. One of these days, we're going to spend more than a few minutes there (we did actually venture into the gift shop this time...but bought nothing). There's a nice little garden/park area we might check out one of these years.
Stopped at Moncton sometime after 11:00, wanted to fill up the tank. Had one funny moment on the highway, I was doing a bit over the limit and we got passed by a biker easily doing 140-150. Aaaand a little while later we passed him - as he was stopped on the side of the highway by a nice police person. That'll larn ya. Arrived at Arby's in SJ a little after 1:00. I don't think the place has changed much since we were there last in 2015. It is looking a little long in ye olde tooth. I opted not to have my usual Beef N Cheddar, which was a bit of a mistake. Had the Triple Cheese & Bacon sandwich...it wasn't as good as I would have liked. The Curly Fries were tasty, as always, though.
Since we were a teeny bit early for the 3:00 check in, we looked at our 'to do' list and headed out to knock a few items off the list - Fort Le Tour & The Reversing Falls. Had a pretty good idea of how to get there and, thankfully, the directions I'd written down worked well. Stopped at the Fort first. It's similar to Port Royal, a recreation of the fort that once stood on that site. The original dated back to the 17th century. Parking leaves a bit to be desired, no real lot, just some on street parking around a circular road. In trying to straighten out a bit, and possibly get out of the heat, I was in the process of backing up into a shaded spot when a woman zoomed into the spot. She's lucky I didn't back into her. Anyway, walked over to the fort, paid our $7.50 and went inside the habitation. First, we watched a 4 minute informational film which gave a little overview/history of the place. Then we wandered, which really didn't take long. We were done in about 30 minutes. The sun & heat had started to put in an appearance by this point in time.
Off to the Reversing Falls next, thankfully along the same road. Got there, parked and headed inside the building with the viewing platform & restaurant. A guy greeted us and said it'd be $6 (after discussing this with a coworker a bit). We thought this was for each of us, Sandra didn't want to spend the money, so I said I'd pay for us both. Then he charged $6.90 - $6 + HST. I guess the $6 was for both. We ventured upstairs and went straight outside (skipping the informational video that was in progress). There was one platform over the water with four glass segments that you could see through. Or walk on, if you're brave. The platform itself was a teeny bit shaky, Sandra stayed off. I ventured out, even stepped on the glass section briefly. It was getting harder to avoid the crowds, a tour bus was there and when the main group finished watching the intro video, things started to get packed. We opted to head out at that point. Also about a 30 minute visit.
Headed back to check in at the hotel, with surprisingly little traffic in the city. It really seems like they don't have 'rush hour' traffic, because it was getting close to 3:30 by this point in time. Getting to the hotel was fun. Hadn't bothered with directions, once I got to the big shopping area. Knew where the hotel was. Just wasn't 100% of which turn to take. "It's this one". Nope. "This one". Nope. "Oh, it's this one, I remember that...oh...nope". Finally got it. Hey, it had to happen...
Check in was swift, room 411. Had a fridge with no freezer, but the fridge was quite cold. I had frozen some water in DC bottles and one still had ice when I got home! Got settled in, relaxed for about an hour, then headed out to do a little shopping. As it turned out...very little shopping. Went to Value Village first - neither of us bought anything there. Across the street to the Homesense/Marshalls in McAllister Place. Nope. We did eventually get a drink and snack at Starbucks and came back to the room for the night.
Tomorrow...time for some Uptown Funk!