Summer week-ends - 4th week-end

Friday July 17... since it was nice even though the weather folks were wrong again. Geez, every day this week they said it would rain. Well, it's been yucky with clouds, on the cold side as well, but not as much rain as they said. Since the weather was nice, I suggested a trip on St-Laurent blvd. We found a great free spot across from Santropol Cafe. Then headed for St-Laurence for a lunch at Schwartz. The take-out place was closed, but we got to share a table in the resto. Shared a large plate of lean meat, one fry, a coleslaw, 2 pickles and 2 pops. It still cost us $30 with tip and taxes. Afterwards, we went to Libreria Español (3811 St-Laurent) and got me some tomatillos, fresh tortillas, lots of cookies and a can of dulche de leche. I would have liked to go to the Tortilleria Maya (5274 Boul Saint-Laurent), but it wasn't in the same area.

Across the street for the Libreria Espanol was a new cool spot... Yeh is a self serve soft frozen yogort place with toppings to boost!!! It is an awesome spot!!! Cute and yummy.

Went back home, the kids played on the pc - Club Pingouin... argh...

Saturday July 18. No plans, the weather folks are calling for rain... but then I find out about a Fete des Mascottes in Granby... So I woke up Mr. Man and we were on our way. We left a bit late (11h am), but it was fine. We got their just before lunch time, a lot of the Mascottes were going for lunch, but we soon found out it wasn't all of them. Sadly, it cost $10 to use the inflatable games... hum... nope. Their were shows, the one we sat for was 2 clowns. Of course Mr. Man wanted to see it, but to be honest, it was not up to par. So after 15 minutes of time under in the shade under the tent (sitting on the asphalt - the locals brought their own chairs) we left. Miss C rode a miniature horse ($3, but she loved it).

The biggest down point. Their was no map of the site on the flyer or anywhere. Their was a show of the main stage, but you had to be a local to find it (fact confirmed by Mrs. S who also happened to visit the Fete on the previous Wednesday). Another bad point. The Fete runs from Wednesday to Saturday... what about visitors... no Sunday??? oh well... We were there for a whole 2 hours and managed to eat healthy! Vegie burger and vegie dogs.

After leaving the downtown area, we headed our of town. It would have been the PERFECT day to visit the zoo. Something to keep in mind... rainy forecast = empty zoo. But we drove on. I then saw a sign for Parc de la Yamaska. I didn't recall ever having been there, honestly, I did I have been, but some 20 years ago. Sadly the water is contaminated with blue-green algae being present, the beach was closed. Miss C. played in the park for a while and then we headed to the forest. We went 1.6 km in to a sort of look-out-point (link to map). It was a nice walk in the woods, but we didn't see much wildlife. The $7 admission fee for a family was well worth it. The place was empty except for the few cyclists and the campers. Once again, the weather warnings of rain kept people away from outdoor activities. Before leaving, we had an ice cream in the small restaurant and it was sooooooo good. Creamy soft serve ice cream, love it!

After 2 hours in the park, we decided to head home, but no map and avoiding the highway allowed us to get lost... In Valcourt we stopped at a grocery store to get instructions on how to get back to the highway, boy we were off our way... we were more south then I had ever imagined!!! Oh well, we couldn't even find the restaurant we wanted to stop at. Good thing, I wasn't really hungry. We got home past 8:00 pm.

Sundy July 19, I managed to sleep in 8'oclock!!! The plans are to go to St-Gabriel-de-Brandon to see the car expo.