Hello Friends!
You know we’re officially into the Holiday Season when American Thanksgiving is here (and gone). I hope all my American friends had a fabulous Thanksgiving! Since our Thanksgiving was over a month ago, I decided to make a Sweet Potato pie…to help you guys celebrate, of course. (See bottom of post for my American Thanksgiving Tribute pie. It’s really ‘corn-y’!)
Now that ya’ll have had your fill of pumpkin or sweet potato pie (is that even possible?) how about something new and different to kick off the holiday season?
I’m thinking this lovely Cranberry Pie with a Cinnamon Gingersnap Crust might do the trick.
Recipe below post.
If this pie doesn’t help make your spirits merry and bright, I don’t know what else will.
The colour is so vibrant and the filling is super creamy and tangy. It’s similar to a lemon curd (aka Lemon Meringue Pie), but with cranberries added for a little extra zip and colour. If you like lemon tart, you’ll love this pie.
With American Thanksgiving just recently, it reminded me that I haven’t even shared my New England trip from last fall with you guys yet. So this post is long overdue.
Note: you might want to go grab yourself a coffee as you could be here awhile (surprise surprise).
Before we commence with the road trip festivities, I just wanted to thank you all for reading my blog. A few people recently told me they enjoy my posts and even look forward to them (!??!). Hearing this totally made my day!! I also really appreciate the comments on my posts as well, thank you guys. I appreciate the feedback, which also reassures me that someone is reading my ramblings. SO now I’m inspired to write more often, I just have to work on slightly shorter posts, I know, I know. (um…maybe next time? haha).
So without further ado, let’s head to the Thanksgiving Capital of the World shall we? Because it’s not every year, I get to celebrate Thanksgiving twice. Boo ya!
Last Fall, Billy and I were on the East Coast visiting family and en route home we took a detour through New England as we still had a few days left of our vacation. We decided to head to Plymouth as we’d been to Boston and Cape Cod before, but neither of us had been to Plymouth. And since it was close to American Thanksgiving, I couldn’t think of a better place to spend it than in the spot where it all began: Plymouth Rock.
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock (hee hee), you probably know that Plymouth Rock is the site of the very first harvest feast (aka Thanksgiving) shared by the Pilgrim settlers & Wampanoag peoples back in 1620. While Historians disagree about a few of the details of what really happened over 400 years ago on the shores of Plymouth & Cape Cod, it’s still pretty amazing to be standing on the same shore where the Mayflower first landed on American soil (although they first arrived in nearby Provincetown, apparently). Since I’m a bit of a history buff, I couldn’t wait to check out the rock in the, er…. flesh.
Let’s hit the Open Road. Hello, New England!
After a wonderful lunch with Billy’s parents in Saint John, NB, we packed up the car, said our goodbyes, and then we were on our way toward the border. After crossing at St. Stephen’s we were finally in beautiful Maine. We stopped several times for obscure roadside attractions and, of course, I had to take plenty of photos.
If you haven’t been to New England in the Fall yet, you need to see what you’re missing. The spectacular show that the trees put on for us at this time of year is beyond stunning. And we do get our fair share of pretty fall colours in Ontario so it takes a lot to impress me (foliage-wise, anyway).
I was speechless–which rarely happens. Let’s just say Billy really enjoyed a quieter drive for a change 🙂
Not too surprisingly, it’s busier here in New England during the Fall than in the summer. So if you’re thinking about coming to check out the leaves sometime, you’ll need to plan your trip a little in advance (we may or may not know this from experience). Hotels and B&B’s are booked solid on weekends from September right through to Christmas, especially in Vermont. I might write a post on my fall New England trip to (hopefully) inspire you to come check it out. If you’ve never been here in the Fall before, you are in for a treat.
As we got closer to Portland, it was starting to rain quite heavily. Since we’d been on the road for almost 8 hours by that point, we decided it was time to stop for dinner. We also wanted to find a hotel for the night as we’d originally planned to camp at the KOA. But neither of us were overly excited about camping in the rain at all.
We parked on Main Street in Downtown Portland and enjoyed a walk along the old cobblestone streets of this beautiful historic town. After wandering around for awhile we found a great little brew pub (Sea Dog Brewery) for dinner. We had a delicious meal and tried a couple of local brews as well. It was so nice to relax after being on the road for most of the day.
Before getting back on the road, we stopped at the Dunkin’ Donuts to grab a coffee. I also wanted to get online briefly to check out hotels. Since we were going to arrive in Plymouth fairly late, I wanted to book a room for that night–especially since we needed one that allows dogs. Traveling with your pooch requires a wee bit more planning than the road trip style that we’re used to (aka ‘winging it’). Camping is often a great option when you’re travelling with your dog, but the weather doesn’t always cooperate at this time of year.
We found a Hampton Inn in Plymouth that not only had great reviews, it was pet-friendly as well. Their pet fee was quite a bit higher ($35 per day) than the usual rate ($20-25) that we’ve paid at other hotels, even within the same chain. You know you’re in Cape Cod when….
We were back on the road and in a few hours we arrived in Plymouth! We checked into our hotel, unpacked the car and then took Mittan for a walk to stretch her legs as she’d been cooped up in the car all day. When we got back to the hotel I decided to do some research online to find out what there is to see and do here in Plymouth (besides the rock, of course) since we hadn’t planned to come here at all.
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