A Penny Saved Becomes A Penny Spent

So, we got back from our vacation about a week and a half ago, and we're not home one hour when Dave says, "Let's go look at cars!" You can imagine where this is leading. Let me rewind.
This spring, we decided to say "goodbye" to our beloved 325 since it was starting to have (costly) problems. We pocketed the cash that we got from the sale saying that it would go to the next car. A penny (or two) saved. So, we're left with Dave's X5 and my Mini Cooper. The thing is that David insists that I have 4-wheel drive in the winter, for safety reasons. I was thinking that I'd be fine with the Mini all winter so that we wouldn't have to worry about a car payment. David insisted so I started thinking about what kind of car we "needed" and would be the most beneficial to us. I settled on a pick-up, since I hate that I can't pack dirty gardening things in any of our cars and I'm going to be having tons of garding projects to do really soon. So, back to the future...
Dave and I run out to the local Toyota dealership since that's what we decided we wanted. None of the other trucks appealed to us, based on look and maker. David had called the dealership and had spoken to a very knowledgeable individual about the trucks and so we decided to go speak to this guy. Well, we get there and ask for him and of course he's busy. He pawned us off on some poindexter type who obviously didn't know anything about the product that he was selling. I'm surprised that we didn't end up selling a truck to him!
So, we humor the guy, do a test-drive and sit down with him for a while. It's already obvious to us that we're not going to buy anything from this guy, so after a lot of telling him what options there are on the truck, etc... we leave.
I come back from work the next day and it turns out that David says that he called a dealer up in Bel Air... about 15 minutes away. So, we go up there and talk to a very knowledgeable guy. We end up not getting the truck because we wanted to check out some things first... but not before getting a price of somewhere between 27 and 28 K.
I come back from work the next day and apparently David had been a busy little bee. In his free time, he went up to another dealer and got some rock-bottom prices from them, called another dealer and got some low prices from them too. So we decide to go back to the second dealer in Bel Air.
When we got there, David laid it all out. I was so proud of him... my little negotiator. We ended up paying 25.5K. Then,... we're going over the contract, and there's a $100 processing fee with "not required by law" next to it. Of course, I didn't even see it. Anything with more than 10 consecutive numbers tends to make my head spin. But of course, David did. So he says, "I don't want to pay that." They guy says, "Why?" Dave says, "Because it's not required by law." The guy hesitated for a sec, and then crossed out the 100 bucks. What would I do without Dave?
So, after all that, we settled on a silver Toyota Tacoma with one of those half back seats... because the bed of the truck was more important to us. I'm going to include a picture from the website...it's exactly like our truck, except ours is silver. A penny spent...
Well, not two days later, we went to Lowe's and bought tons of mulch, plants etc... and even got a tiller so that I could start preparing the first of my gardening beds. It was a productive week! Here's our truck... and as Dave put it... "Todd being butch."

There and back again... Erie, PA

After Québec, we were going to go to Toronto since I'd never been there. But, from the sound of it, it was a huge city and we definitely had a time schedule to keep to since we were due to be in Erie for the wedding of Dave's sister, Leanne.
The rehearsal dinner was at a French restaurant and when the waiter came by, Dave ordered a "Kir"... to which the waiter said "a what?" Dave proceeded to tell him what was in a Kir and when the waiter left, he turned to me and said, "it's not a good sign when a waiter at a french restaurant doesn't know what a Kir is." A Kir is a quintessential French aperitif... and very good, especially (in my opinion) if you order a "Kir Royale" which substitutes the white wine for champagne instead. I digress... the rehearsal dinner was great since it allowed us to meet John's (the groom) family, who all flew in from Ireland. I LOVED hearing them talk...when I understood what they were saying, that is. After the dinner, we went to Molly Branigan's, the Irish bar that John owns. We had a good time there, gossiping about the priest who was a little too much into his liquor and Lisa (Dave's sister) even tried to say that her phone was better than mine... WHATEVER!!!
On the next day, the wedding was beautiful, of course. During the reception, there was naturally some drama. The father of our brother-in-law accidentally spilled red wine all over the bride's dress. Fortunately she was 3 sheets to the wind and despite chastising Laurie for what her father-in-law did, she didn't make a scene... as I'm sure most Bridezillas would have. I'm sure it will come out in the wash when she gets it preserved anyway. Fortunately she herself was drinking white wine because she was spilling it all over herself throughout the night anyway. :) Good times. At any rate, we made many promises to the Irish clan that we'd be visiting them soon enough. I'm guessing that might be the next European trip. So many trips, so little time!!!

There and back again... Québec City, Québec

After our time in Petit Rocher, we decided to take some time to go visit the city of Québec since I had never been there before. I must stay, I was incredibly impressed with the city. It was one of the most European-styled cities that I've been to in North America. The old part of the city was very impressive with it's fortifications and old city charm. Since we hadn't planned that part of the trip, we stayed in a little Inn about a kilometer from the old city walls and started walking around the city. As Dave and I were walking along the old city walls, we realized that it was odd that they didn't have any kind of railing to keep visitors from falling the 30 or so feet down to the ground. Sure, there was grass down below, but that doesn't provide THAT much cushioning! Then as we were walking along, there was a part where the wall made a 90 degree turn... and there was a railing there, complete with warning signs. ?!?!?!?!?! Keep in mind that the fall is the same distance, however, where the railing is, there is actually a tree that somebody could jump over to if they found them selves falling... not so 50 feet down the wall. I'll include a picture of David almost falling. We soon realized that we'd be wanting to stay another night so we booked the second night in a larger hotel closer to the old city. On the second night, we had dinner in a rotating restaurant on the top of the hotel. It was very nice sitting there and looking out on the city lights... but slightly disconcerting since the windows would slowly slide by. This was because of the fact that the floor itself rotated... not the outside of the building. I would highly recommend that anybody visit Québec City... especially if they like that European feel but don't feel like travelling that far. :)

There and back again... Petit Rocher, New Brunswick

After 3,100 miles driven in the car, I don't think that I want to be taking any driving trips in the near future. As some of you may know, David and I took a trip to New Brunswick, Canada to visit with our friend Rae, her friend Erin and see Rae's hometown and parents. After pretty much a two-day trip, stopping off in Boston to pick up Erin, staying over the night in Freeport, Maine and do some shopping, we finally got to our destination. I should mention that it wasn't that easy. We were about 1/2 hour away from our final, final destination in Canada and were travelling on the only highway that cut across that part of the forest. We came up to some stopped cars in the road, which is never good, and realized that an accident had occurred not long previous to our arrival. It was so bad that the road would be closed for a few hours atleast. So, we had to take a detour that was approximately 1 to 2 hours long in order to cut around.
When we arrived in Petit Rocher, we met all of Rae's family and had a nice cookout that they had prepared for us. Long story short... we spent a great week in Petit Rocher walking along the beach, Mackrel fishing, picking blueberries and hazlenuts and even made a sidetrip to Percé, Québec. One of my favorite parts was the Mackrel fishing. We all went out to the wharf and paid the fisherman 20 bucks to take us out where the fishing was. We all threw out our lines and just jigged our lines up and down until a fish bit. It was exciting to catch the fish but I felt bad for them. They were good though... especially the way Rae prepared them in tinfoil packets with onions and mustard, etc. Yumm! Also, we decided to go to an Acadian Village in which they had people who acted as if they were living in that time period. The buildings that were on the property were all brought from various different parts of New Brunswick and were restored. The individuals who were "living" there had a trade that they did. There was the blacksmith, teacher, baker, etc... you get the idea. All in all, it was a very well done museum. Aside from that, I was also fortunate enough to see Rae's brother Marcel put on a concert at the local arena for an Acadian festival they were having. Great music and great dancing all around.