Our Trip to Canada: Thrift Store Edition

Last summer we spent some time in Oceanside, California. I came home with a t-shirt for a souvenir. I like to wear it, but the shirt is a bit touristy.

This year I thought I see if I could find something more unique on our family trip. As is my habit, I turned to my favorite source for such things: thrift stores.

Since we were three airports away from home, I needed to shop for items that were unbreakable and easily packed into a suitcase. Let's see what I found.

This Tee Fury shirt features Calvin and Hobbes reenacting a scene from The Empire Strikes Back. It doesn't have any specific tie to Canada, but it looked unworn and was too cool to pass up.

Our rental had a washer and a dryer, so I picked up this Toronto Blue Jays tee to wear were while we on the island. Wearing it made me a poser, but sometimes it nice to blend in with your surroundings. (I did check the Blue Jays' record and schedule in case some fan wanted to chat about the team.)

Kent Building Supplies is like Home Depot, and I thought the big "EH!" was funny and very Canadian. They do say, "Eh" a lot up there.

I've never played squash, but this shirt is directly tied to Prince Edward Island, and Daphne commented how nice the colors are. Score!

My favorite shirt find was this vintage Rod Stewart concert tee from 1984.

It was way too small for me, but I didn't buy it for myself. I bought it for Char to wear as a nightshirt. I thought would look way cool on her. When I showed it to Daphne at the store she told me, "I think you appreciate stuff like this more than I do, but I'll trust you."

I think I was right.

I also snagged this Charlottetown Abbies ball cap for Char. The Abbies aren't a hockey team anymore, but Charlotte didn't care. She was excited to see her name in the logo.

This Abbies license plate accompanies the hat well. If Char doesn't want it in her room, then I'll put it up in the basement.

The idea was to not pack beach towels. Instead we'd buy some at a thrift store, wash them, use them, and then just leave them behind at the rental. But this shark towel was too cute to leave in Canada.

I also found a shirt for Daphne. She laughed when I showed it to her, so I knew it was a winner. Besides, we found out that we really do love mussels - more on that later.

I didn't know if this Prince and the New Power Generation cassette would make it back home in one piece, but for 49 cents I was willing to try. 

Does anyone play cassettes anymore? I mean, besides me?

For my money, side one is better than side two. 

The only other thing we picked up was a frisbee, and we picked this up again and again and again at the park near our rental.

Maybe the next time we take a trip I won't pack anything more than underwear, socks, and a nice outfit or two. I could buy the rest of my wardrobe at the thrift store...

I do have to say it was great to have a convenient way to wash our clothes. It lessened the amount of garments to pack, and when we got home all we did was put our clean clothes back in the closet instead of in a pile next to the hamper.

We Had a Fair Time, And That's a Good Thing

It's been pretty hot here in Des Moines, and we've used the Adventureland season passes that Santa gave us three out of the last four days. Man, after awhile Adventureland can beat a guy up. The rides and slides are fun, but lines and stairs can take their toll. It was time to slow things down a bit.

Thank goodness for the Dallas County Fair in Adair. We've been to this fair before, and we were pretty sure we were going to have a good time. We weren't disappointed.

We kicked off Saturday with some breakfast sandwiches. They are a steal at two bucks a piece.

Then we ran around looking for painted boards with holes in them.

This year they added a corn pool.

You have to be careful where you step.

The ponies were back, and they were begging to be ridden. Or, at least someone was begging for a ride.

Brushing the horses is also fun.

Charlotte likes walking through the Livestock Buildings. These two won best mom and calf.

The free entertainment is showcased at the Center Stage. The first show we watched was the Free For All Frenzy. It's a game show that asks the kids in the audience come up and become part of the act. I was really surprised that Charlotte wanted to leave the safety of bleachers and join the other volunteers. She didn't make it past the water balloon round, but she didn't mind. We were so proud she was brave enough to try.

When she returned to her seat, we gave her high fives and told her what a good job she did. Her response was, "Can I choose where we eat dinner? I want to go to the Prairie Meadows buffet!" I guess you can never predict what your kid is going to say... we told her we'd go tomorrow for brunch.

We also really enjoyed the Johnny Peers & The Muttville Comix performance. I don't know how you train ten dogs to line up and wait for their turn to perform. 

I had a tenderloin sandwich for lunch. It was really good. Some little girl stole all my Cheetos, though.  

I do get the irony of posting pictures of cows and then meat, by the way.

We don't spend money on the carnival rides because we have those Adventureland passes, but we let Char spend some time with the inflatables.

I still do not understand the purpose of this inflatable cow/bull.

Charlotte wanted a balloon hat made by Mr. Nick again. She went with the fishin' pole hat this year.

Then it was time to go home and make dinner. I think someone looks hungry.

This is my third time to blog about county fairs. Last year was pretty much like this year, but boy does Char look young in 2012.

Here are the links if you are curious:
2015
2012

I gotta go. It's time to take Char to that buffet.

Our Trip To Canada: Ridin' and Flyin'

What was Charlotte's favorite thing to do in Montreal? She would tell you (today, anyway) it was riding the Metro trains.

It was sheer luck that our B&B was located about 50 meters yards from the Metro station, and using the trains to get around the city was a breeze. I thought Char might be intimidated by the subway system, but she adapted to it in about two minutes.

One thing I noticed was how clean the Metro buildings and trains were. There wasn't any debris in any of the thousands of corners that I looked at. I don't think a cleaning crew could this whole train system in such fine condition; the public has to help.  Maybe it's ingrained into the Canadian culture to keep things clean. Impressive.

The flight from Montreal to Prince Edward Island utilized a prop plane. 

I surprised Char with a mini Etch A Sketch before we boarded the plane.

I don't like flying, and this plane sure scared me a couple of times during the first 15 minutes of the flight. Twice the turbulence put air between our bottoms and the seat cushions (flotation devices), and twice I thought we were going down like a lawn dart, but we made it to PEI in one piece. 

And we were greeted by a cow.

More on him later.

We Hope You Had a Fun 4th of July

I don't know if our cat Earl a great time. He was in a forced celebratory mode. Check out the "ear rings" Char gave him.

Boy he looks happy.

Our Canada Trip: Poutine Edition

Daphne and I love to eat, but neither of us require a fancy meal to enjoy ourselves. I suppose you could call us "lowbrow foodies." Case in point: poutine. It might sound fancy, but here's the definition:



Yup. It's just fries, gravy, and cheese curds. Three things that shouldn't go well together, but they just do... and then some.

You can get poutine here in town, but I was excited to try the dish where it originated. Here's the first one we had in Montreal. It was the classic version.

Char was not impressed.

Later that day we tried a "smoked meat" version of poutine.

We didn't know it at the time, but Montreal-style smoked meat is unique to the city. It reminded us of pastrami or corned beef, but according to wikipedia, it is "a type of kosher-style deli meat product made by salting and curing beef brisket with spices. The brisket is allowed to absorb the flavors over a week, and is then hot smoked to cook through, and finally steamed to completion."

I don't know much else about Montreal smoked meat, but I do know that it was a very good idea to mix it into the poutine.

The next poutine we tried was at the Montreal airport while waiting for our flight. This one had sausages and mustard gravy. Daphne said, "Look at what's in this. How could this ever be bad?"

We were advised that The Chip Shack in Charlottetown had the best chips on Prince Edward Island.

We made that our destination to try lobster poutine.

Honestly, we didn't have a poutine we didn't like. But I did see some that I didn't want to try. Daphne spotted this at the grocery store. We shook our heads and slowly walked away.

UPDATE

Daphne and I were jonesin' for poutine a few days after landing on American soil. We thought we could try our take on the dish. I had grilled some huge pork chops for my birthday dinner, so we stopped by HyVee for supplies. Some baked French fries, Wisconsin cheese curds, and chicken gravy from a jar was mixed with the pork leftovers cut in strips.

You know what? It was pretty good! And we didn't have to use our passports to eat it.

A few days later we stopped by the Royal Mile to see how Iowa/British people prepare poutine. The chips fries were good, and the pot roast was a nice twist.

I think the Monsons have found their go-to comfort appetizer.

Birthday Wishes

I turned 47 today. How did that happen?

Anyway, listen to what was waiting for me on the answering machine when we got back from the Farmers' Market. Grandma Monson is 90.

What a great gift!

Our Canada Trip: "Life Imitates Art" Edition

And you may find yourself
In another part of the world
And you may find yourself
Behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house
With a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself
Well, how did I get here?
"Once in a Lifetime" - Talking Heads

And you may find yourself in another part of the world 

And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile (our rental)

And you may find yourself in a beautiful house (B&B in Montreal)

With a beautiful wife

And you may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"

I still don't know. 

Link