Michelle's Travel Adventures

My birthday presents this year rocked! Stephen got me tickets to see Pitbull in Toronto (see previous post). And Makena and Macy planned a Mother Daughter wine trip to Annapolis Valley! How lucky am I?!

The girls planned it for the last weekend of Macy’s reading week. So Macy and I drove to Wolfville together and Makena drove from Halifax and met us there.

Friday:

We arrived at lunchtime and decided to try The Noodle Guy in Port Williams. Makena ordered the tagliatelle (which she liked) I had a stir fry (which was really good ) and Macy had the soba noodles (which we all agreed was not great). Overall I’d definitely go back and would recommend.

After lunch we took some photos and then headed to Lightfoot & Wolfville for a private tasting. It was our first time there, we were very impressed with the winery and looked like a nice spot to have lunch too . We started with a lovely tour of the vineyard grounds and then a tasting in their private tasting room. I purchased some of their sparkling wines, a Chardonnay and a Riesling.

After the tasting we checked in to our AirBnB. We stayed at the Nestle Inn Gaspereau on White Rock Road, across the road from Benjamin Bridge. The owners had a Happy Birthday welcome sign along with balloons and a bottle of Tidal Bay for us. It was a really nice spot for us and we really enjoyed our stay there.

We decided to taxi to our dinner reservation Friday night. We reserved a table at Le Caveau, which is the restaurant on site at Grand Pre Wines. The taxi cost $25 one way (so $50 round trip plus tip). Stephen and I had lunch on the outdoor terrace there a few years ago and we both loved it so I was excited to go again with the girls. But this time the vibe was NOT vibing. We obviously were dining indoors this time, and the ambiance was just really lacking. The lights seemed to be set on ultra bright. There were only a few dinners there, and it just felt….dated. Our server was the highlight of the night. He was amazing and very entertaining. He even sat down and chatted with us for a bit! We decide on having girl dinner, which was basically one of all the appetizers on the menu. The charcuterie board was not to our tastes. We like more of a cheese, pickle and salami/ prosciutto type of charcuterie. This one is very fois gras and pate, smooshy meat kind of board. The caramelized parsnip soup was the star of the show! We definitely recommend the parsnip soup. The charred brassicas was not how we expected, we thought it would be a warm dish, but it is served cold like an antipasto style. The pumpkin gnocchi was also very good.

Saturday

We drove in to Wolfville and explored the farmers market. I bought us matching sterling silver stud earrings from Sterling Coast Designs as a memento of our trip. After the market we walked up to the cenotaph for the Remembrance Day memorial ceremony. And then we had brunch at Naked Crepe Bistro. Macy and I had the Parisian Crepe which was delicious! And Makena ordered the hangover sure which she really enjoyed too. After brunch we strolled the shops. We really like the Valley Girl shop, I got a candle Macy got a mug and Makena got some nail polish. We also stopped into the Harvest Gallery and I fell in love with local artist Arnaud Beghin’s paintings.

We drove out to Luckett and got pictures with the iconic red phone booth and strolled the gift shop which is really nice. It was very bust with bus tours, but it truly has a beautiful view overlooking the valley.

Our wine tasting for today was at Benjamin Bridge. We had a wine and food pairing tasting in their private room. Our tasting guide was a lot of fun, we really enjoyed it…so much so that I actually signed up for their membership!

For dinner that night we went back in to Wolfville and ate at Troy, which is a Mediterranean style restaurant. We love Mediterranean food so we really enjoyed it here. We had the trio of dips to share. Macy had a lamb burger which she loved. Makena and I both ordered a kebab and salad which we both enjoyed.

Sunday

It was a beautiful fall day when we woke up on Sunday morning. We had originally planned to go to Bent Ridge for lunch and wine tasting on the way home. But we all agreed that we’d rather just head home and get back at a decent time. So we decided we would do Bent Ridge another time, packed up and said our tearful good byes (Ok I was the only one who was tearful!)