{"id":4333,"date":"2010-07-19T07:45:44","date_gmt":"2010-07-19T12:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/?p=4333"},"modified":"2010-07-19T07:47:48","modified_gmt":"2010-07-19T12:47:48","slug":"the-playdate-that-redeemed-new-brunswick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/2010\/07\/19\/the-playdate-that-redeemed-new-brunswick\/","title":{"rendered":"The playdate that redeemed New Brunswick"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span> still have a couple of last posts to write about our Nova Scotia road trip a few weeks ago. It must be a good vacation when I can’t quite leave it behind, eh?<\/p>\n

As I mentioned <\/a>in an earlier post, my first impressions of New Brunswick in general and Fredericton in particular were not favourable. The day we spent driving through New Brunswick was miserable with rain pouring down so hard that the car hydroplaned regularly — an intimidating experience on the best of days, augmented considerably by the rolling hills and 110 km\/h speed limit. And then, this happened:<\/p>\n

Near Fredericton, we accidentally took an off ramp we weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t supposed to take, and then took the same off ramp back into Fredericton again when trying to get back on the Trans Canada. Then we needed to turn off anyway when the low-fuel light came on and I was about to burst my own tank for need of a bathroom. We turned down a country road in search of a promised gas station that was no-where to be found. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when Simon gacked all over himself. It was the lowlight of an otherwise spectacular trip.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It would take some serious rehabilitation to redeem my (albeit brief) impression of Fredericton after that. Lucky for Fredericton, Sue <\/a>was on the job. Sue, the blogger formerly known as MadHatterMommy, is one of my oldest and bestest bloggy friends. She’s witty, smart and kind; one of those people whose writing makes you a better writer and better thinker, too. I’ve admired her for years, and one of the first things I did when planning out our road trip to the east coast was to touch base with her and see if we could arrange a meet-up.<\/p>\n

She hosted us for a delightful Sunday brunch on her picturesque back porch, where Lucas ate his body weight in the fresh berries she put out.<\/p>\n

\"Brunch<\/a><\/p>\n

Doesn’t that look like an advertisement for a perfect Sunday morning? The boys were instantly charmed by Miss M, and as soon as we were done eating Miss M brought the big boys inside to show them around and share her toys. They held an impromptu costume party, where my boys came dressed as dufuses.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Lucas engaged himself watering Sue’s flowers. Isn’t the light gorgeous here? I swear, if I lived in that house I would never leave. It’s like a little island of serenity!<\/p>\n

\"499:1000<\/a><\/p>\n

We popped over to the park across the street for a bit to shake out a few of the sillies before we piled back into the car for the long afternoon’s drive to Rivi\u00c3\u00a8re-du-Loup. Simon and Miss M discussed the mysteries of the universe with deep contemplation.<\/p>\n

\"Simon<\/a><\/p>\n

And, far too soon, we loaded ourselves rather resignedly back into the car. Not before one last photo op, though.<\/p>\n

\"Mad<\/a><\/p>\n

I have to admit, even though Sue and I long ago passed that threshold from Internet acquaintance to friend, I was shy about invading her place early on a tranquil Sunday morning. When you admire someone as much as I admire Sue, it’s nerve wracking to actually meet face to face. By the time we left, though, it felt like we’d been friends for years (well, I suppose in fact we have!) and we all agreed we wished Ottawa and Fredericton were a little closer together, to facilitate a few more playdates.<\/p>\n

\"Mad<\/a><\/p>\n

Thanks again Sue, for a wonderful morning and for redeeming the entire province of New Brunswick for us. Any time you’re near Ottawa… \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

There’s one last post pending in the blog series that lasted three times as long as the vacation… our adventures in treasure hunting. I’ll put that one up soon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I still have a couple of last posts to write about our Nova Scotia road trip a few weeks ago. It must be a good vacation when I can’t quite leave it behind, eh? As I mentioned in an earlier post, my first impressions of New Brunswick in general and Fredericton in particular were not … Continue reading “The playdate that redeemed New Brunswick”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ottawa-to-nova-scotia-2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4333"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4336,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4333\/revisions\/4336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}