Nova Scotia Pillow Fight Fest '06

After reading the timely advice from Gloria Steinem on suggesting that we leave our children with our husbands, it felt like some kind of experiment when I flew away for three whole glorious days. (Yes over a week ago. I feel the need to apologize for putting sleep before blogging. I have an unquenchable desire to spend time unconscious.)

What made me nervous was that Colin was not nervous in the slightest. Personally, I would have been! Having to look after everything, for an extended period of time, with no relief in sight, while your significant other is off gallivanting can be tiresome. However it appears that they are always on their best behavior for Colin. He swears that they start crying and whining the moment that I walk in the door from work. I don't think this reflects well on me. No doubt, I will have to get him a Father of the Year Gold Trophy for the den. (We don't have a den.)

A gallivanting I did go...

I arrived in Halifax to meet my longtime friends. Before I even spotted them, I heard Jade's laughter ring through the airport. We quickly hightailed it to the airport liquor store to buy some red wine. Only after we each picked a bottle could we fetch my luggage. We had to force ourselves to go to sleep that night. Gone are the days where we'd giggle ourselves awake until four A.M. Well not quite. I was sharing a room with Violet and we kept calling off our conversation with a responsible "OK that is it really. We have got to get to sleep. Goodnight." And then we'd find another topic that we clearly had to discuss. We had quite few rounds of this.

(Something Amber, Violet, Ruby and Jade at Hall's Harbour. Yah, that's not there given names but they'll do just fine here!)

Friday I managed to wake up to say hello to Amber's husband and five year old son. I wished them a good day before crawling back into bed for a couple more hours of rest. This was a smart thing because our first full day was filled with Go, Go goodness.

The misty day included a trip to Hall's Harbour, to Huntington Point to see the magical Macdonald Cottages, lunch at a cafe in Kentville, to Acadia University, the Just Us! Café in Wolfville for coffee and chocolate, wine tasting at Domaine de Grand Pré, a quick peek of the Blomidon Inn, a local market to buy Honeycrisp apples and then dinner at Tempest.

(Grapes at Domaine de Grand Pré, The Macdonald Cottage at Huntington Point, Lighthouse at Peggy's Cove, pumpkins on the roof of a market in Mahone Bay)

The next beautiful, sunny autumn day was just as action packed. After the required daily trip to Coldbrook's Tim Horton's we headed to Mahone Bay where we stumbled across their Annual Great Scarecrow Festival. Off we went for a picnic in Lunenburg. I freaked out when a bumblebee got caught in my hair. Thank goodness for Amber who rescued me by detangling my beehive. We admired the colourful stores and houses. We dipped into a coffee shop where we sat on their deck and watched the Bluenose II come to shore. The Swissair Flight 111 Memorial was on the way to Peggy's Cove. I introduced Ruby and Violet to Hoegaarden beer at The Library Pub, where we sang Elton John songs with the Piano man over supper. Back at Amber's we shared some bubbly Blueberry Sparkling Wine from the previous day's venture to the Domaine de Grand Pré.

Sunday we toured around the Halifax harbour buying last minute souvenirs and lobster rolls before heading to the airport. I feel bad that I did not get the opportunity to go visit my relatives in Nova Scotia but I'm hoping to make a road trip as a family vacation back to this beautiful part of the world.

This marked the second girl's getaway. The first was hosted by Ruby in Seattle back in February 2005. Next up the all night pillow fight in California 2007!