Allison's Wonderland

You know how when you go on a vacation or a road trip you have certain things the trip was all about?  Whether it is, "All we did on that trip was fight, or all we did on that trip was sleep."  Vacations just seem to have themes.  Well, my trip to Prince Edward Island with my Gram and Aunt, was all about, #1, THE FOOD, and #2, THE BATHROOM, or as they say in Canada, "The Washroom."  I guess that makes sense since when you eat . . . you know . . . there's always a reaction to every action.

Boldt Castle

Alster Tower - My Favorite building

 After the terrible situation of loosing the wallet, which ironically involved the bathroom, we girls were ready to see some sights.  We got to Alexandria Bay a little later than we had hoped, but we were still able to see the gorgeous Boldt Castle.  It's this beautiful home on Heart Island (even shaped like a heart) in the middle of the St. Lawrence river.  Unfortunately it was abandoned during construction due to the death of Louise Boldt, the wife of

The Power House

George C. Boldt, millionaire proprietor of the Waldorf Astoria, New York who was building the house for Louise.  The house fell in disrepair and has finally been reopened to the public.  The castle is gorgeous but is still unfinished and holds lots of graffitti from people who made their way to the house before falling into the New York Bridge Authority's hands.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day of 80 degrees and me, Gram and Auntie had a blast scoping out the place.

On the Ferry Boat

Once our tour was finished, we took a ferry back to our car.  After all the sight seeing and drama of the earlier morning, we were starved.  We headed into Gananoque, Canada where we were staying for the night.  On the crossing from the U.S. into Canada we had to go through customs.  We pulled up to the little booth where they ask you all these questions and all three of us fell speechless at the absolutely GORGEOUS border patrol agent.  I wanted him to write his number in my passport he was so dreamy.  Once we pulled away Grandma says, "Wow was he handsome!"  He even got a little flirty with the little 82 year old woman in the back seat.  I guess Gram still gots it.  :)

Gananoque Sunset

Gananoque was such a quaint little town.  We settled for some Irish pub fare at this place called Stonewater Pub and Irish Eatery.  I got the fish and chips but wish I would've had the Guinness Beef Stew.  My Aunt's was absolutely wonderful!  That was the beginning to our amazing adventure of food.  We stayed at this little Best Western which was quite cozy.  While my Aunt and I were scoping out the place, as we like to do, we were followed by this middle aged man.  We tried to loose him by going down random hallways and finally traipsing our way back to our room.  I wasn't that scared, but my Aunt freaked me out by the way she was acting.  We didn't want no rapists up in here!  We had a good night sleep even with the thought of a crazed-middle aged man on the loose.  Gram, me and Aunt like to live on the edge.  You know how we do. :)

After eating our continental breakfast from the hotel, a stain on the tablecloth of our trip which was all about food (yes the food sucked that badly), we headed to Quebec City.  Once we left Ontario and entered the province of Quebec everything changed.  There were absolutely NO signs in English.  Everything was in French.  The KFC was even changed to PFK for Poulet Frite Kentucky.  In French they place the adjective after the Noun.  Needless to say we were a little out of place.  Remember how I said our trip was all about the bathroom as well as food?  Well, Grandma was starting to feel breakfast making it's way to, well you know, so we had to stop.  We find this podunk gas station where there are more cows than humans.  I don't know what it is about French speaking people but they seem to hate EVERYONE.  When we stopped at this gas station I felt like I was an alien because everyone was just staring and giving the most hateful looks.  Grandma had run inside to the bathroom while Aunt B. was pumping gas.  I dilly dallied my way into the gas station only to find Grandma NOT in the restroom.  It was a single restroom so I had no idea where Grandma had gone.  I go outside and tell my Aunt B.  When we go back to try and find her we see that someone has occupied the restroom.  Aunt B says, "Mom are you in here?" only to have a very angry Quebec' woman come out and give my Aunt a dirty look.  My Aunt explains, "Oh I thought you were my mother" only to get another dirty scowl from the woman. I guess she didn't know English.  By this time my Aunt and I are getting a little worried as to where the little 82 year old could be.  It's been about 20 minutes since we last saw her.  She's not in the car, not in the restroom, and not in the gas station.  That's when the door to the men's restroom opens and out walks an older gentlemen followed by my Grandmother.  My Aunt and I started dying laughing!  I guess in my Grandmother's race for the bathroom she flew into the closest bathroom, ignored the urinal and did what she came to do.  When you gotta go, you gotta go no matter what gendered bathroom you're in. 

Road Tripping

Trip Itinerary

After all the events of England, I was thinking it was time for a vacation.  What would be better than a road trip with my Grandma G and Auntie B?  Nothing is what I say. :)  I drove the 9 1/2 hours up to New York State to leave the next day for Thousand Islands, New York.  My Aunt, GMA and I planned a trip that took us from NY to Quebec up to Prince Edward Island, down through Maine, ending with Cape Cod, and Newport, RI.  Needless to say, I was very excited.

My Grandmother is a nut in every way shape and form.  I love her to absolute death because she is sincerely one of the kindest most generous giving women I have ever known.  Her and my Aunt however, have some of the tinniest bladders known to mankind.  After an hour on the road both of them needed to stop to pee.  I guess if I'm honest, I had to go as well, but that is only due to the fact, I had a huge cup of terrible Wal-Mart coffee back at Grandma's House before we left.  It wasn't really worth the calories, but what can you do?  We stopped at a nice travel plaza just off of the I-90 at 9:30 in the morning.  Grandma made sure to bring in her wallet as they have a Tim Horton's inside where donuts and coffee could be purchased.  Mistake #1.  After we left we decided not to indulge in Tim's and to head back on the road.  Mistake #2.  After being on the road for quite sometime my Aunt Kay calls up at about 11:00 all in a panic. By this time we're about an hour 1/2 from our previous rest stop and were about to head onto I-81 North to the border of Canada and New York.  Let me just preface the situation by saying we were headed into Canada.  In order to get into Canada you need either a passport or an enhanced Driver's License.  If you are have neither one of these things you will not be allowed into the country. 

Tim Horton's at the Travel Plaza

My Aunt Beverly answers the phone call from my other frantic Aunt.  While we were gone, My Aunt Kay was suppose to be looking after my Grandma Genie's house, watering plants, making sure no burglaries happen, you know that kind of thing.  Well, the only thing my Grandma and I could decipher from their short phone conversation was something terrible had happened since my Aunt Beverly was all in a panic and said, "Oh well we have to turn around.  We have to go back.  There's no question.  Mom turn around!"  Well Grandma and I got all in a tizzy at that moment because we had no idea what was happening.  I thought someone had died back in Niagara Falls.  After my Aunt Beverly got off the phone she tells us that Grandma Genie's wallet was left in the bathroom stall on the back of the toilet an hour 1/2 away.  We all started to panic because not only did my Grandma have 1,000 dollars worth of cash in the wallet (500 Canadian, 500 American) she also had her enhanced driver's license.  If we didn't get that wallet back, our entire vacation would be ruined.  Grandma wouldn't be able to go into Canada, and even if she were able to, she'd have no money, no credit cards, and no form of identification.  It was a complete disaster! 

First thing my Grandma did was start to cry.  I was very upset so I wasn't the best comforter at the moment.  We were all on edge because like I said our entire vacation was going to be completely ruined.  My Grandma was driving at the time and her nerves were completely shot she almost took us right through a red light!  My Aunt made her switch to the passenger seat, because she was seriously unfit to drive.  Well, as we were turning around I got on my cell phone and called the lady who had Grandma's wallet.  My Aunt Kay had given us the number as Gene Hershey ( the wallet finding lady) had called the house and left a message.  My heart was pounding so hard as I called.  When she answered I told her my name and who I was.  She responded by telling me she had the wallet and once she got to Massachusetts where she was headed for a funeral she would mail it.  Oh dear dear dear!  That wouldn't work I told her.  She informed me that she did not want to leave the wallet at the travel plaza because she didn't trust the people that worked there.  I mean she is a very smart woman as the people who worked there were a tad bit sketchy looking.  They also probably only made minimum wage and what person wouldn't want a free $1000 in their pocket. 

Sad little Walletless Grandma

After speaking with her for awhile we decided to meet up at a McDonald's off of the I-90.  As we waited our nerves were raw, we were cranky, hungry and I was very annoyed.  I wanted to be really mad at Grandma, but she's just too sweet to get angry with.  So I did what any normal person would do; I ate.  I got me some McDonald's comfort food which consisted of a double cheeseburger, and a medium fry.  It was a little piece of heaven in our walletless world.  After finishing my lovely fattening meal, Gene Hershey pulls up in her chariot and halo (A red Dodge Ram, and a little hat on her head) and handed us the wallet.  She seriously was an angel!  Angels do exists and they are located on the I-90 in Western New York!  My Grandma hugged and kissed her.  When she tried to hand Mrs. Hershey a wad of money she wouldn't take it.  She just said, "I hope someone will do the same for me if I'm ever in that situation," and that was that.  We had the wallet, we had our dignity, and we had the open road ahead of us.  It was off to find the next adventure, and we had only been on the road for 3 hours.  It doesn't take long for the three of us biddies to get ourselves in trouble. :)