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Jul. 23rd, 2006 04:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teddogSo, Palmrya trip was yesterday. If you've been once, you know the drill. Did have some pleasent "finds" though. No photos, because we forgot the camera.
The trip over was fine. The American border was tight, as it was last weekend. They did a head count and quick interior search (opened the sliding door and went through the birth certificates). This is also the first time I've seen border guard with a sense of humour and he joked with us because he guessed we were LDS coming down for pageant. Yay.
Nothing really interesting on the ride down. Mighty Taco ads and a discussion about the Barnes Firm. That was it.
While we didn't have the grandmother with us, we a teenaged couple that are mutual friends of my sister and her boyfriend. We had to tweak our "not really interested in historical sites" plan for them. We... correction, I led the couples to the log home and frame home tours and the grove while Terry, Janet, mom and Katie rested in the car. Lazy bums.
The teens wanted food, so we made a pit stop at the Palmrya Stake Centre. I don't know if really built up Stake Centres are common (the ones in Southwestern Ontario aren't), but this one had a baseball diamond and a picnic shelter. The rain had been on and off all day, so we used the shlter for lunch. The rain died down right before we left, so there was some tossing of footballs and running through the Stake Centre's backyard. It's big and there's a hill you can get a nice view off of.
Some blip in the universe decided that should go visit Chill and Grill next. Chill and Grill is a odd little place where the burgers come in 1/2 pound and pound sizes. Those wanting a 1/4 pound must be 12 or under. The ice cream servings are likewised proportioned. A small is slightly bigger than a tub of Ben and Jerry's. They just get bigger after that. I ended up getting a small that was half Chocolate Almond and half "Adirondack High Peaks" (vanilla, chocolate fudge and peanut butter cups). The first was okay, but the second was amazing.
Popped into some bookstores next, one used and one church. I bought a copy of "From the Twilight Zone" from the used store, which appears to be a collection of short stories based on the series. Very odd. Church bookstores of any faith tend to be more than a little flaky at times, but it's about the same as any "popular fiction" or even "chick lit" section of a book store. I picked up a collection of travelogues by David O. McKay and George Q. Cannon, since it seemed more interesting than 99% of the rest of the store.
And then... more shopping. I finally managed to find a Special Edition box for Pirates, and it was only $9.99 so I grabbed it. My Special Edition ship was the Pirate ship Fool's Gold. The rest of the loot was mostly lots and lots of American snack treats, which I'll go through later.
The Hill was the last stop. The protesters are getting worse this year, trying to forcefully make physical contact with visitors. Doesn't that break the legal loophole they're sitting in right now? The protests themselves break several Canadian hate crime laws. I know that section 1 of this section is broken every year. However, I don't know if there's any protection of Canadian citizens aboard or if it's only for on Canadian soil.
In the past I've been letting them just yell, but I've been bad and bitten back lately. It was fine when they were only at the cross walk, but now they're running into the crowds, running up and down the side of the parking lot and blocking the car exits. So, now a few of us have turned it into the game of "Let's Mess the Protesters!", which is what we do when they try to bait. Yes, it's bad and giving them attention, but it's FUN.
Baiting is what protestors do when they say you're running away or being blind. They want you to come over so they can talk to you. Now, most people like to fire scripture quotes back, but that sends them into a rant. Nope, I suggest the following:
"Cheer up, emo protester!"
or
"Buy salt potatoes! They support charity!"
Pisses them off SO bad, because that's not the reaction they want. The guy running up and down the parking lot started calling me a bunch of nasty phrases I can't repeat here, to which Terry said "Stop swearing in front of the kids, like that one over there" and then pointed at the guy. Truth was there were kids right near us, but that family found us hilarious. I know it's not good to pick on the protestors is a bad thing, but if we can make someone subjected to so much hate in one evening laugh, like that poor family, I said it's worth it.
American Snack Treat Round Up
Yet to be sampled:
Trix Yogurt (I think you can't get this in Canada)
Hershey's Kisses Mini Cookies
Pirates of the Caribbean Chocolate Foil Coins (they look like the coins from the first movie)
Mint Chocolate Chip Pop Tarts (What the HECK?)
Hot Fudge Sundae Pop Tarts
E.L.Fudge Double Stuff cookies.
I also bought Oreo cookie that were shaped for dunking, but those were a present for Mike and Lisa. I got Keebler Grasshoppers too, but I already know that I like those a lot.
Mighty Taco: Okay, it's really fast food. I really like it, though. Fast food usually makes me sick, with a few exceptions. Harveys sits well with me. Wendy's is fine too, but I never order burgers there. Mighty Taco is now on the list. It tastes miles better than Taco Bell, but that's not saying much. For American, fast food Mexican, Mighty Taco is quite good.
White Chocolate M&Ms: Really too sweet to eat a whole bag in one sitting. Okay in small amounts, but I wonder if that's because they're "different"
Dark chocolate M&Ms: Again, alright. Nothing too amazing. My sister took a liking to them.
Sierra Mist: I'm confused. In Canada, 7-Up is Pepsi's lemon-lime pop. In the states, Sierra Mist is everywhere! Now, I like 7-Up over Sprite, mostly because I get sick of Sprite, but I heard that 7-Up was changed in the States. ANYWAY, Sierra Mist tastes a lot like Canadian 7-Up and therefore gets a pass.
Milky Way: Hrm? An American Milky Way tastes exactly like a Canadian Mars bar. It IS a Canadian Mars bar. Wild. I don't care for Mars bars, so I don't like Milky Way either.
Milky Way Midnight: Different coating and different flavor of filling. My dislike of Mars/Milky Way is due to the texture of the bar, so the different flavours didn't impress me. Katie seemed to like them, so it won't suprise me if I see Mars Dark wrappers floating around.
Big Multi-Flavoured Bag of Twix: A "fun size" bag full of normal Twix, Triple Chocolate and Dark Chocolate. I like Twix and this was neat, but nothing really super impressive. However....
Peanut Butter Twix: For all that is holy, WHY DON'T WE HAVE THESE IN CANADA?!? I loved this bar, even though I had to get it half melted from a vending machine. It's basically a Twix bar with peanut butter instead of caramel and I know we had these once in Canada. Can't find them now.
100 Grand: I think it's a piece of caramel rolled in crispy rice and dipped in chocolate. Just okay. Mom really likes them, though.
Vitamin Water: I had the Defense/Raspberry-Apple flavour. It taste good, but I can't see myself wasting a lot of money on this kind of magical fruit drink.
Golden Oreo Chocolate Creme/"Uh-Oh!" Oreos: There's a lot of text on this package. The cookies are chocolate filling with "golden" cookies. The American packages seem bigger than the Canadian, but we have so many house guests that the cookie level is slowly dropping. It's a real crowd pleaser.
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The trip over was fine. The American border was tight, as it was last weekend. They did a head count and quick interior search (opened the sliding door and went through the birth certificates). This is also the first time I've seen border guard with a sense of humour and he joked with us because he guessed we were LDS coming down for pageant. Yay.
Nothing really interesting on the ride down. Mighty Taco ads and a discussion about the Barnes Firm. That was it.
While we didn't have the grandmother with us, we a teenaged couple that are mutual friends of my sister and her boyfriend. We had to tweak our "not really interested in historical sites" plan for them. We... correction, I led the couples to the log home and frame home tours and the grove while Terry, Janet, mom and Katie rested in the car. Lazy bums.
The teens wanted food, so we made a pit stop at the Palmrya Stake Centre. I don't know if really built up Stake Centres are common (the ones in Southwestern Ontario aren't), but this one had a baseball diamond and a picnic shelter. The rain had been on and off all day, so we used the shlter for lunch. The rain died down right before we left, so there was some tossing of footballs and running through the Stake Centre's backyard. It's big and there's a hill you can get a nice view off of.
Some blip in the universe decided that should go visit Chill and Grill next. Chill and Grill is a odd little place where the burgers come in 1/2 pound and pound sizes. Those wanting a 1/4 pound must be 12 or under. The ice cream servings are likewised proportioned. A small is slightly bigger than a tub of Ben and Jerry's. They just get bigger after that. I ended up getting a small that was half Chocolate Almond and half "Adirondack High Peaks" (vanilla, chocolate fudge and peanut butter cups). The first was okay, but the second was amazing.
Popped into some bookstores next, one used and one church. I bought a copy of "From the Twilight Zone" from the used store, which appears to be a collection of short stories based on the series. Very odd. Church bookstores of any faith tend to be more than a little flaky at times, but it's about the same as any "popular fiction" or even "chick lit" section of a book store. I picked up a collection of travelogues by David O. McKay and George Q. Cannon, since it seemed more interesting than 99% of the rest of the store.
And then... more shopping. I finally managed to find a Special Edition box for Pirates, and it was only $9.99 so I grabbed it. My Special Edition ship was the Pirate ship Fool's Gold. The rest of the loot was mostly lots and lots of American snack treats, which I'll go through later.
The Hill was the last stop. The protesters are getting worse this year, trying to forcefully make physical contact with visitors. Doesn't that break the legal loophole they're sitting in right now? The protests themselves break several Canadian hate crime laws. I know that section 1 of this section is broken every year. However, I don't know if there's any protection of Canadian citizens aboard or if it's only for on Canadian soil.
In the past I've been letting them just yell, but I've been bad and bitten back lately. It was fine when they were only at the cross walk, but now they're running into the crowds, running up and down the side of the parking lot and blocking the car exits. So, now a few of us have turned it into the game of "Let's Mess the Protesters!", which is what we do when they try to bait. Yes, it's bad and giving them attention, but it's FUN.
Baiting is what protestors do when they say you're running away or being blind. They want you to come over so they can talk to you. Now, most people like to fire scripture quotes back, but that sends them into a rant. Nope, I suggest the following:
"Cheer up, emo protester!"
or
"Buy salt potatoes! They support charity!"
Pisses them off SO bad, because that's not the reaction they want. The guy running up and down the parking lot started calling me a bunch of nasty phrases I can't repeat here, to which Terry said "Stop swearing in front of the kids, like that one over there" and then pointed at the guy. Truth was there were kids right near us, but that family found us hilarious. I know it's not good to pick on the protestors is a bad thing, but if we can make someone subjected to so much hate in one evening laugh, like that poor family, I said it's worth it.
American Snack Treat Round Up
Yet to be sampled:
Trix Yogurt (I think you can't get this in Canada)
Hershey's Kisses Mini Cookies
Pirates of the Caribbean Chocolate Foil Coins (they look like the coins from the first movie)
Mint Chocolate Chip Pop Tarts (What the HECK?)
Hot Fudge Sundae Pop Tarts
E.L.Fudge Double Stuff cookies.
I also bought Oreo cookie that were shaped for dunking, but those were a present for Mike and Lisa. I got Keebler Grasshoppers too, but I already know that I like those a lot.
Mighty Taco: Okay, it's really fast food. I really like it, though. Fast food usually makes me sick, with a few exceptions. Harveys sits well with me. Wendy's is fine too, but I never order burgers there. Mighty Taco is now on the list. It tastes miles better than Taco Bell, but that's not saying much. For American, fast food Mexican, Mighty Taco is quite good.
White Chocolate M&Ms: Really too sweet to eat a whole bag in one sitting. Okay in small amounts, but I wonder if that's because they're "different"
Dark chocolate M&Ms: Again, alright. Nothing too amazing. My sister took a liking to them.
Sierra Mist: I'm confused. In Canada, 7-Up is Pepsi's lemon-lime pop. In the states, Sierra Mist is everywhere! Now, I like 7-Up over Sprite, mostly because I get sick of Sprite, but I heard that 7-Up was changed in the States. ANYWAY, Sierra Mist tastes a lot like Canadian 7-Up and therefore gets a pass.
Milky Way: Hrm? An American Milky Way tastes exactly like a Canadian Mars bar. It IS a Canadian Mars bar. Wild. I don't care for Mars bars, so I don't like Milky Way either.
Milky Way Midnight: Different coating and different flavor of filling. My dislike of Mars/Milky Way is due to the texture of the bar, so the different flavours didn't impress me. Katie seemed to like them, so it won't suprise me if I see Mars Dark wrappers floating around.
Big Multi-Flavoured Bag of Twix: A "fun size" bag full of normal Twix, Triple Chocolate and Dark Chocolate. I like Twix and this was neat, but nothing really super impressive. However....
Peanut Butter Twix: For all that is holy, WHY DON'T WE HAVE THESE IN CANADA?!? I loved this bar, even though I had to get it half melted from a vending machine. It's basically a Twix bar with peanut butter instead of caramel and I know we had these once in Canada. Can't find them now.
100 Grand: I think it's a piece of caramel rolled in crispy rice and dipped in chocolate. Just okay. Mom really likes them, though.
Vitamin Water: I had the Defense/Raspberry-Apple flavour. It taste good, but I can't see myself wasting a lot of money on this kind of magical fruit drink.
Golden Oreo Chocolate Creme/"Uh-Oh!" Oreos: There's a lot of text on this package. The cookies are chocolate filling with "golden" cookies. The American packages seem bigger than the Canadian, but we have so many house guests that the cookie level is slowly dropping. It's a real crowd pleaser.
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no subject
Date: 2006-07-23 09:42 pm (UTC)"Cheer up, emo protester!" has to be one of the best bite-backs I've heard in awhile. I'll ask around if they can get slapped with Canadian hate laws, though I have a feeling it's a no.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 10:09 pm (UTC)Ah well. And, Peanut Butter Twix rock!