This morning my Mom and I met up early to go on a day trip down the South Shore.  We had a volunteer related lunch mid-afternoon but the rest of the day was spent checking out the sights.

The day started off right when we found a lucky penny in the gas station parking lot!

We took the Hubbards exit off the 103 and made our way along the coast. I stopped SO many times for random pics, thankfully Mom was quite understanding! 🙂

Quick drive up to Grave’s Island Provincial Park – it was the the first campground that my parents took me to.

Next up was the picturesque Chester.  This place was like something straight out of the Gilmore Girls.  Seriously, the cutest little community ever.  No wonder so many movies are filmed here.

As recommended, we attempted to go to the Kiwi Café but it was actually closed today for painting.  

We took our time driving around…

 

Random Scotiabank shot for hubby. 😉 Came home and told him we should move to Chester, lol.

Beautiful shoreline…

We were in need of more coffee so we headed further down the coast and stopped in at Oak Island Resort.  Random Fact – This is where my parents went for their honeymoon!

Oak Island is rumoured to be full of buried treasure!

 
We arrived mid-morning and the dining room was practically empty.  Chairs were comfy and the views were gorgeous!

 
Wonderful coffee.

And homemade muffins.  Mmm mmm!  I’m looking forward to coming back here with hubby sometime.

Back on the road, we headed straight for Lunenburg.

Ultimate destination – Ironworks Distillery. 

Ironworks is a micro-distillery located in the old port of Lunenburg on Nova Scotia’s historic South Shore. We take our name from the 1893 heritage building we call home: a marine blacksmith’s shop that once produced ironworks for the shipbuilding trade. We craft our spirits with the same love of traditional methods and attention to detail.

The distillery had a few cute dogs hanging out. 🙂

Apple Brandy

Cranberry Liqueur

  
Mom had a little tour of the place while I looked around on my own.

 

Let the tasting begin! 

 
The very friendly Deb poured us samples.  I tried the apple brandy, cranberry liqueur & the blueberry liqueur.  The cranberry was really tart and the blueberry tasted just like pie!  I didn’t care for the apple brandy though.  Mom enjoyed the vodka.

I really liked both liqueurs but ended up bringing home a bottle of the Cranberry Liqueur. Can’t wait to pour a bit over vanilla ice cream! 😉

Back to Mahone Bay for our lunch meeting.  The conversation was great but, unfortunately, the choice of restaurant bombed, BIG TIME.

I’ll never go back to The Gazebo Cafe.

Normally I try to be nice when I blog about my restaurant experiences … but I’m always honest too, so here’s how it is. My tiny little sandwich was good and the views were nice.  That’s it.

The place was fairly busy, which was to be expected as it’s the last holiday weekend of the summer and the town was full of tourists.  Fairly busy but not completely packed.

Our group of 5 was given a table out on the patio, which overlooked the gorgeous bay.  There were 4 chairs around the table, we had to find a 5th ourselves.  Okay, not really a big deal but…then we waited 45 minutes for lunch. 

It was almost 2pm and I was hungry. Super hungry and looking forward to the Lobster Roll that I ordered.  I had visions of a big crusty roll full of lobster meat (like this one – from The Cider Press Café) with side of some sort of salad/fries, I really didn’t care.

Instead this is what arrived.   Yes, this was my $13.50 + tax meal.  WTF? Where is the REST of it?

Made on a tiny hot dog bun accompanied by one pathetic strawberry.

It was good but I left the restaurant still hungry. 🙁 

I would’ve asked our server for something else, HAD SHE CAME BACK.  Yeah, no drink re-fills or inquires as to how our meal was.  Nice, eh?

Once we were finished, a random server came by to get our plates.  She came up from behind me, didn’t say “excuse me or do you mind if I take your plate.” Just rudely stuck her hands in my face, took the plate and left.

One bill was brought to the table before we even had a chance to say separate cheques.  Usually that is done before the bill is made, it’s to the point that at most restaurants hubby and I will have to say ONE cheque because no one assumes anymore.

Okay, end rant.

Before leaving town we stopped by the LaHave Bakery where I picked up a loaf of cheesey herby bread and some treats for hubby.

And our final stop was The Tea Brewery.

Such a cute little shop – this is all tea!!!

Lovely pots & cups.  I wanted to buy A LOT but managed to restrain myself and just got the most amazing Iced Chai Tea Latte EVER!

After that we hit the road and headed for home!   I had such a fun time today and can’t wait to make plans for hubby and I to spend a few days checking out the sights/shops in more detail.

Thanks for a great day Mom! 🙂

PS.  Gonna check in tomorrow with my food/exercise thoughts.