$17 car reservation for ferry
$24 parking until midnight saturday
$28 two foot passenger ferry tickets
$55 twenty minute cab ride to The taste of Nanaimo food show
$20 cover charge Beben auditorium for gourmet food show
$10 food tickets
A second girls getaway: priceless
A funny thing happened on our way to Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Spa Resort…
I rushed to meet Peggy at the skytrain station after work and from there, we booked it to Tsawwassen ferry terminal as fast and (il)legally as possible to catch the 545pm ferry to Nanaimo. All to no avail it seemed. We were 10 minutes late for the car check-in to board the ferry. Even though a ferry reservation was pre-paid, it didn’t mean squat. Our options? wait for the next ferry at 8pm or park our car, hoof it and go onboard as foot passenger, which we did. Drat curses #1.
The 2 hour ferry ride to Duke Point flew by so quickly, as Peggy and I caught up on all the latest and greatest. I literally have not seen her since saying ‘ta’ to her in San Francisco – that’s how busy we both have been with work and school the past few weeks.
We were one of the first to disembark as we would have to hustle down a cabbie to take us to The taste of Nanaimo food show that Peggy had been jonesing to go all week. Sweet goodness, $55 for a 15 minute cab ride to Beben auditorium where the event was held? Are we literally being taken for a ride? It’s bloody expensive taking a taxi in Nanaimo. Even catching a 40 minute cab from jfk airport to downtown manhattan is a flat $45! Drat curses #2
We arrived at gourmet food show, hungry and expecting a tradeshow with rows of food booths as far as the eye can see. After paying our $10 cover, Peggy and I went inside to what was literally a civic centre, or in layman’s terms, a rec centre, where the locals probably gather every Friday night after work to socialize for lack of anything else to do in this small town.
A town where everyone smiles at the person walking by, where car doors remain unlocked, and where local businesses rally around each other when the chips are down. A place where there’s an actual street called Jingle Pot road. A great down home country feeling town, of which Peggy and I stuck out like fish out of water.
There was no mistaking us; we both looked like we were from “the big city”. We couldn’t stop laughing at our misfortune thinking this was going to be some big tradeshow expo where we would get stuffed going from booth to booth, ‘amuse bouching’ ourselves in gourmet delicacies. Drat curses #3
With other company, the mood may have been a different flavour, but with Peggy, it was just too absurd to be upset or mad at our predicament. We just kept thinking of those Mastercard Priceless commercials. Here we are shelling out hard earned cash for the distinct pleasure in eating perogies, hummous with pita, pulled pork sandwich, mini donuts and fruit and meringue that you can dip in the chocolate fountain. At $1 per bite. This is gourmet apparently here. Seriously, it’s hilarious the situations we get ourselves into and we could not stop giggling.
Sidebar: I almost panicked when I had just finished eating 2 skewers of fruit and meringue drenched in chocolate, and looked at the program describing that booth with the Grand Manier infused chocolate fountain.
Oh crap, I thought. Being allergic to booze, I asked the cook at the table how much booze was infused in there. She said there was very little. I pressed her again, telling her exactly why I was concerned. She leaned over the table and in a hushed whisper, told me there was no booze in the fountain. The reason? They forgot to bring it with them. Absolutely priceless.
Course after that ‘fiasco’, we really needed some real food, so we trekked to the nearby ’50s themed restaurant (with jukebox and wallboxes) called Fast Eddie’s. Yeah, just what I needed. To eat at a place that shared the same nickname as a past ex of mine. The hilarity continues. Drat curses #4.
Don’t get me wrong; this isn’t said with any trace of venom. I actually like that nickname, “Fast Eddie’s” because there used to be a clothing company that manufactured motorcycle/scooter t-shirts that was emblazoned with the name. (and yes, I had such a tanktop, back in the day). I just found it all too ironic. The universe is speaking to me, it seems.
Having eaten at Mel’s 50s themed diner in San Francisco, Fast Eddie’s was definitely the poor man’s/suburban version. It served more as a teen hangout, then focusing on the edibility of the overall menu. Although they offered a wicked $10 for 3 plates special, it was literally food that a babysitter would make for the babysat. Again, it’s small town but our server was super nice and attentive, just like everyone we’ve encountered here.
In fact, when our cabbie, graham had dropped us off at Beben, he sympathized with our shock and surprise at how expensive the cab ride was. Okay, we milked it alittle bit, playing the ‘we’re both students’ card. Well, what does one expect when I asked him if it cost us $55 to get from the ferry terminal to the food show, how much would it cost from the food show to Tigh-Na-Mara resort in nearby Parksville? He estimated $70 for the 20 minute cab ride. I bet anyone else would have played the ‘woe is me’ card too!
But I digress, when Graham dropped us off, he and I got chatting and how expensive this overnight getaway would cost us in the end. So he gave me his business card and told me to ask dispatch for him and he’ll try to see what he can do for us. I called after Fast Eddie’s and he whisked us to Tigh-Na-Mara. The meter hit just over $60 by the time he pulled up to the reception lodge. True to his word, he cut us a break and charged us $45. So very nice of him.
So after hours of misadventures, one right after the other, Peggy and I made it to Tigh-Na-Mara, set in 22 acres of arbutus and fir forest.
From the Tigh-Na-Mara website:
Our suite, one of 192 log constructed units, is all quite civilized but retaining a bit of rustic log cabin charm (with 1 bedroom, plus murphy bed in the living room with mounted plasma tv, fire place, full kitchen, wi-fi and balcony with an ocean view), without actually camping in the woods. Our ocean front suite offers direct access to 3 kilometres of sandy Rathtrevor beach.
Oh and Tigh-Na-Mara has a grotto spa. Yes, grotto as in ‘Hugh Hefner playboy’ grotto. Except of course, this resort is family friendly. And you have to book one of the spa packages to have access to the grotto. Still, I can hardly stifle the giggles when we conjure up a visual of what grotto means to us.
As I said, this sojourn has been packed with shoulder to ear shrugging, wide goofy smiles, chuckles and guffaws and “oh well, if you can’t beat them, join them” laissez-faire attitude.
Resort photos: Tigh-Na-Mara
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