Jacquie Severs

I realized today I've neglected to blog about two recent road trips! For shame...

In April, I drove to Halifax. Not to worry, I wasn't alone. It was two happy couples in one big rental car, and it was quite an adventure! Some highlights:

Garrison Brewing, photo from my instagram

Garrison Brewery
Garrison is located at Halifax harbour. We visited and were able to try a number of their delicious beers. Needless to say starting to "taste" beers at 1pm leads to 4pm naps, but that's ok when you're on vacation. I really enjoyed something they called the PB&J, which was their Nut Brown Ale mixed with a Blackberry Wheat variety. It definitely had a peanut butter and jelly taste happening, but it wasn't overly sweet.


Here's Jordan tapping a cask:

I loved the art by Chris Hanson and Hendrika Sonnenberg.

Photo from my instagram

Chris and Hendrika are graduates of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, but now live and work out of Brooklyn NY. The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in planning a mid-career retrospective for the duo, however the date is TBA on account of their recent closure due to unexpected renovations.

MadLibs
What does one do to pass the time on a more than 12 hour drive? MadLibs! We obsessively played this fun word game 'till our ribs hurt from laughing. At one point, when trying to read our resulting story, tears in my eyes and unable to breathe, my boyfriend, who was driving at the time said to me, "You can do it. You can finish it, please finish it!" through is own heaving laughter. Good times.

Other places in Halifax I enjoyed:

Tom's Little Havana - dark and velvety, perfect for a rainy spring evening. They were very friendly and had a decent beer selection.

Halifax Seaport Farmers' Market - beautiful building and interesting vendors. Had possibly the best smoothy of life there.

Phil's Seafood - 4Square suggested I try fish and salad instead of fish and chips for a change...the menu suspiciously said the same. I took this to mean I should really try the salad. I wasn't disappointed.

from my instagram

Eastern Passage -
This is my second time in Halifax. The first time Rosie and I went to Lunenburg and Peggy's Cove. This time, we picked up Rosie and took her (the local!...well, sorta) somewhere she'd never been, the Eastern Passage.

I can't say it better than Wikipedia:
Located at the southeastern edge of Halifax Harbour, fronting the Atlantic Ocean, Eastern Passage derives its name from the narrow strait separating the mainland from McNabs Island and Lawlor Island, both of which lie several hundred metres west of the community. 

This "Eastern Passage" into the harbour is not the main shipping channel due to its shallow depths; the main shipping channel lies west of McNabs Island. The Eastern Passage is largely used by small recreational boats and fishing vessels during inclement weather as the island affords shelter from prevailing winds.

Personally I'd recommend going here when it isn't cold and rainy, but we still had a great time.

check out my other blog signaftersign.tumblr.com

A hotel I snapped for my sign blog in Saint Louis du Ha! Ha! which is the only city in the world with two exclamation marks in its name, and also is not named for the Just for Laughs festival as you might expect.

















Last weekend I went on another road trip, this time a much shorter one. Sharbot Lake is located about an hour north of Kingston.

The area is known for great fishing but we went to go to the Day of the Pig food festival at Seed to Sausage. 

Eddy at Seed to Sausage

Seed to Sausage is a small artisan salami, sausage, smoked meat, and pancetta maker located at the entrance to Sharbot Lake, and they hold a yearly festival celebrating their success, and giving a fun time back to their community. We were able to drink beer, soak up the long-weekend sun, eat raw oysters, steak tacos with chimichurri, pulled pork, and more, listen to live music, and meet the owner of this totally hands-on company. What a perfect day!

We spent the night in Sharbot Lake at an inn that I suspect does big business with the fishermen type. It was charming, the lilacs were blooming, and we had this view from bed. (Seriously, I took this photo laying down, in bed)

Sharbot Lake Country Inn

We spent the morning eating pancakes and driving back to Kingston for another evening of the weekend to be spent by the side of Lake Ontario.

Kingston has become special place for me, as it is halfway between home and where my boyfriend lives. We've gotten to know the town well and meet halfway for a night once in a while.

We ate dinner at the famous Chez Piggy, on their wonderful courtyard patio. Following, we  had gelato and walked along the waterfront, trying to work off some of the duck confit poutine appetizer we'd started the evening with. Though delicious, Chez Piggy wasn't the most memorable meal of this trip to Kingston, instead it was lunch at Atomica Pizza.

Though I like to start most weekend mornings with eggs and bacon, we slept in extra late and wandered around the downtown, stopping in at an open air antique market. So it was decided to skip ahead to lunch, and Atomica was our choice. Sitting outside on a sunny patio, we tried their deep fried gnocchi (zomg) and oven fired namesake Atomica pizza, which was super spicy! The Atomica pizza even featured Seed to Sausage calabrese salami.

We wrapped up the weekend with The Great Gatsby in 3D.