To all my Dad-friends that occasional check in – a big Happy Father’s Day to you! I hope that your day was as good as mine! The best part? I didn’t really do anything special. We (the whole fam) packed up the van, sccoped up my Mom and headed to Ikea in Burlington. Mom wanted to pick up a couple extra chairs for the living room. Got down there without any problems or traffic tie-ups, great place to park. Crowds were typical Ikea. We wondered how many people had left kids in the play area/ball room thingy while they shop and completely forgot them there and had to return to pick them up. Got the chairs for my Mom and picked up a few small things for around the house – new dishes and cutlery as well as a new lamp for Alex’s room for reading. A really cool LED fixture that shouldn’t burn out quickly. Alex also picked out a small hand-powered LED flashlight. Turn the crank 30 times and you have 90 seconds of LED goodness. In a true example of irony Nikki joined us to make sure that I didn’t go insane in Ikea and send us to the brink of bankruptcy. The ironic part? We spent more with her there then I would have spent solo! I love it! The only disappointing part of the whole Ikea trip was that I discovered they raised the price of their hot dogs from 50 cents to 75 cents. It didn’t really matter this time because we had already planned on going out somewhere else for lunch after but for the next trip…gotta pack some extra change!
Lunch. During one trip to Ikea with Nikki’s parents we drove down Fairview and found a restaurant called Turtle Jack’s. The atmosphere was very similar to a Montana’s. Supposed to give you that cabin cookhouse flavour. I remember it being good eats and reasonably priced (along the lines of Kelsey’s, Montanas, etc.). It was decided that we’d go there again. To be sure I had the name right I plugged it into Google Maps and it came back telling me it was in a mall. It most definitely was not in a mall last time. So we decide that Google is crazy and strike out down Fairview, keeping an eye on the buildings. I had a rough idea where it was and, sure enough, as we got to that location…it wasn’t there. So I pull a U-turn (all legal like, fret not – actually turned around in a parking lot) and decide to trust what Google is telling me. We head to Mapleview Mall and I run in and check the mall directly. Whaddya know, there it is! On the exact opposite side of the mall and down a level. Hop back in the van and cruise around the perimeter of the mall looking forward to some woodsy, cabin-like atmosphere. Get another good parking spot (praise the gods for mothers who can’t walk very far and are allowed to use disabled parking permits!) and in we go!
What the bloody hell? (As I write this, I realize a pic would have been perfect there. Sorry) Gone was the kitschy cabin like atmosphere. Now it’s all dark wood, low lighting, upscale fixtures. The waitresses have been selected based entirely on their appearance and how well they fit into SHORT black skirts. The easiest way to describe is someone picked up a Moxie’s, plopped it down in this mall and stuck a “Turtle Jack’s” name out front. I don’t know, maybe I was wrong and we went to some other restaurant back then that had a name similar to Turtle Jack’s, but I don’t think so. I just checked Google and it confirms that Turtle Jacks did have a location on Fairview (albeit a little bit further along than I drove today) but they relocated to Mapleview Mall and changed the whole experience. Perhaps the others are still the “Cabin Cozy” that I remember. So unexpected atmosphere aside, the menu was still fairly reasonably priced and the food was absolutely delicious. It all ended up good.
Got home, Nikki & I built Mom’s chairs, went out to visit her folks and brother and his family then came home. Great day!
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