[By now I'm somewhere in Amsterdam with Cokebaby enjoying the first few days of a two week vacation. This next guest post comes from someone who recently vacationed on the East Coast, in one of my fave spots in this province: Cheticamp. Enjoy!]

(Photo credit: Lauren Anderson)

By Lauren Anderson

For some reason or another –  a simple love of the beach or some sort of primal yearning – my husband and I tend to gravitate toward coastal areas when we vacation. We’ve been to Maui twice, and once to Australia, and spent a lovely few days a couple of years ago in Victoria, where we walked everywhere and fed bits of fish and chips to a more or less domesticated seal that lived near the wharf for just that very reason. Each time, we breathe the salt air and enjoy the calmer pace of life and ask ourselves why, really, anyone would ever want to live in Ontario.

We both grew up here, and are likely here for the long haul, and there are a great many things to recommend it, but scenery is not among them, at least not in the flat, fairly urban part of the province we live in. It’s a little dull, and full of WalMarts, humid in the summer and fairly miserable in the winter, and we’re what feels like a zillion miles away from any body of water you could actually take seriously. But our family and friends are all here, and our careers, and that place on the other side of town that makes the best blueberry pancakes, the stationary store downtown that I love, the Christmas tree farm with the tallest trees and the free cider, so it’s a little difficult to imagine home being anywhere else.

So, we get our scenic fix the same way most landlocked people do, through regular vacations. The plan this summer was two weeks on the East coast, where my husband had visited as a small child several decades ago, and where I had read about enough during my obsessive consumption of Anne of Green Gables as a pre-teen that I had pre-emptively fallen in love. Through a series of very fortunate events, we managed to find a cottage rental on Cape Breton Island for a very reasonable price, and planned to spend the last few days of our trip in Halifax.

Our cottage, a few minutes outside of Cheticamp, was secluded and quiet, with a tremendous view of the highlands. We swam in the ocean, which was…invigorating. (A little girl, splashing around at the edge of the water, greeted me heartily in French as I dashed back to my chair and something about that interaction managed to warm me more than my towel.) We hiked up in the mountains, standing breathlessly on the trail as a moose partook of elevensies about ten feet from where we were standing.  We ate a lot of seafood

When I hurt my foot, the local pharmacy gave me an ice pack and wouldn’t let me pay for it. My dad’s colleague, who I hadn’t seen in ten years or so, insisted we come for dinner with his family. The staff at Tim Hortons took their time and no one honked at us when Samantha, our GPS system, couldn’t figure out a way to clearly communicate where we should turn. I can’t figure out how to express what it all felt like to someone from Ontario. It was at once expansive and cozy. Seductive and plain.

On our third day in Nova Scotia, my husband started looking at real estate online. There are so many good reasons why it is never going to happen, but it is, for so many other reasons, very nice to feel so at home somewhere – even briefly – that the very idea of disrupting your life and relocating to another province doesn’t seem like such a disruption at all, and you start half-heartedly contemplating laying down a fistful of bills for that overpriced box of lobsters at the airport in a vain attempt to make it all last a little longer.

Lauren is a freelance copywriter and blogger living in Southwestern Ontario with her husband, cats, and a dog that welcomed her enthusiastically enough that it took most of the sting out of coming home from vacation.

It’s been kind of a lazy summer for me on the blog. Mostly because the rest of my life has been so busy. But I do promise to pick things back up…after vacation! That’s right, I’m going to Amsterdam and Bruges for two weeks. I’ve got at least one guest post lined up for while I’m away though. After I get back I’ll talk about the trip and then it’ll be back to business as usual.

If you’ve missed my writing (thanks, you’re sweet!) you can check out the CBC Book Club where I’ve been a contributing blogger since the beginning of the month. Here are my fave posts for movie adaptation month so far:

When love falls apart: Literary crushes who are heartbreakers on the silver screen

Infographic: 10 things that make for epically bad movie adaptations

An interview with a vampire (sympathizer): Becca Wilcott, author of the unofficial True Blood guide

See you (virtually) soon!

So, what did I decide to do with $100 on my Big Day Downtown? If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you probably guessed right. I blew it all on one of my fave addictions: food and beverage.

First, big ups to the Downtown Halifax Business Commission for inviting me to “Go To Town.” The launch party at Pipa‘s new Atrium was a fabulous venue to showcase what our lovely downtown core has to offer: wonderful atmosphere, delicious food and divine mixed drinks. While I stuck to the sangria (offered in both the white and red variety), I highly recommend the caipirinhas. Need help pronouncing that? Check out the audio link on Merriam-Webster. According to Wikipedia it’s Brazil’s national cocktail. Which kind of begs the question, what’s Canada’s?

White Sangria from Pipa

One of the many delights served up on beautiful dishware

After thinking long and hard about where I wanted to spend my pre-paid credit card, I decided to see how far it would take me while hanging out with Cokebaby and the in-laws. First destination:

The Foggy Goggle: Home of the Google, I mean, Goggle Burger

The Foggy Goggle is a favorite watering hole among us for its unpretentious food and decor, comfy couches and live music on the weekends. (Inside joke: my brother-in-law is always misattributing ownership of the burger here to the internet giant.)

My tiara

I’m a fan of cider and Guinness so this concoction, a tiara ($5.43), is a dream come true. Two is even better. Or you can order the big brother version, a crown float, which comes in a pint glass.

Potato skins done different

Foggy Spuds ($9.75) are what Cokebaby described as a meeting of potato skins and corn chowder. Maybe that sounds a little weird to you but, trust me, they were pretty yummy.

We moved on from here to The Loose Cannon Scottish Public House for some pre-dinner scotches. I’m not a big connoisseur of the beverage but I do have a couple of favourites. So, I went with the Dalwhinnie 15 yr ($9.25) and wasn’t disappointed. The only picture I had from this location didn’t really pan out because it’s oppressively dark even in the day. I also have to say, while I’ve only been here a handful of times, the service has always been lacking. The menu offers standard pub fare and on the 25th day of every month they serve a haggis dinner in commemoration of Robbie Burns.

Dinner was served at Brussels Restaurant & Brasserie. I’ve posted a review here before and still love the beautiful decor, charming ambiance, and delicious mussels and beers. Plus, Cokebaby and I are vacationing in Belgium this September!

Practice makes perfect

I’m a big fan of fruit beers so I started with the Mort Subite Kriek Lambic ($11.95), then had a Fruli Strawberry ($8.25) with my Moules Escargot ($9.95) & frites ($3.95). My only complaint from this visit is that the menu often relies on waitstaff to make recommendations but ours was not all that knowledgeable in pairings. This fact proved a bit more crucial when several of the beers we wanted to order were out of stock (beer emergency!).

Best quote of the night, said at this location: My husband to his brother, “Did you just call me Cokebaby?!”

Chocolate ice cream with coffee grinds

For dessert we headed to Sugah for some hand paddled ice cream. Nuff said, really.

Overall, it was a fun way to spend a day. More importantly, the Big Day Downtown campaign has inspired me to add a Downtown Halifax tag for all my related content including, first and foremost, restaurant reviews. I’ll also be adding to the tag regularly going forward. So, keep your recommendations coming in the comments section for spots to check out in downtown Halifax.

[This guest post comes courtesy of one of the lovely people I met IRL at BookCamp Halifax earlier this year. If you're interested in sharing your East Coast experience (whether you live here, have lived here, or you're a tourist), check out the submission guidelines for East Coast Guest Posts.]

Photo credit: Christine Gordon Manley

By Christine Gordon Manley

I am an East Coaster by birth, and, despite trying to live elsewhere, I am proud to say I remain East Coast by choice. I grew up in Newfoundland, surrounded by sea and rock, and moved to Prince Edward Island shortly after high school, where I became surrounded by field and clay. I left PEI for one year to pursue an MA across the pond in England, and while the Thames did soothe my need to be close to water, it just wasn’t the same, and I was pleased to return to PEI (my now adopted home) after the completion of my course in 2003.

A reality of living in Atlantic Canada is that many of us do find ourselves having to leave for a brief time. In 2006, my husband and I decided to try our luck at “greener employment pastures,” so to speak, and followed the lure of Ontario—a land that promised more opportunity, more money, more adventures, more everything. Our lives in Ontario were good and we did enjoy some of this “more” (and we even lived in close proximity to Lake Ontario, satisfying my water need), but I found myself surprised to crave the “lesses” of PEI: less noise, less consumerism, less stuff. We had our first child in Ontario and have shared some wonderful memories there, but when I, along with many in the doomed economic year of 2009, was laid off, we took it as a sign to return to our less-is-more homeland.

Deciding to return East was easy; actually doing it was not. Job hunting while living in another province is never fun, and there were additional complications of finding employment for both my husband and I, selling our house, finding a place to live (temporary and permanent), transferring medical records, merging two different immunization schedules, and arranging daycare. Our family couldn’t even move here at the same time: my daughter and I moved here four months before my husband was able to join us. I won’t go into the details of how all of these tasks made my head hurt, but it was a good six months of living here before we felt settled as a family, and another three or four months before we felt truly comfortable.

Now, a year and a half later, we are happy. Atlantic Canada is known for its unique sense of community, and there’s no stronger word for what we feel connected to on PEI. We live in a tree-enclosed, isolated neighbourhood where neighbours become friends, even the dogs know each other, and everyone waves when getting the mail. Whenever we venture out, whether to a local farmers’ market, the beach, downtown Victoria Row, or just a local playground, we often see friends and neighbours. We became friendly with our next-door neighbours because our kids (who were refreshingly and blissfully unaware of social protocol) would wander into each others’ homes.

Even the online community here is well connected: both my husband and I are proud to be active members in the PEI Twitter-sphere and have met amazing people this way. We attended a local PEI Tweet-Up and are helping to plan an Island-wide picnic later this summer. I am a member of the Island Tweethearts, a group of twelve young professional women who meet monthly to share business ideas and just enjoy each other’s company. And my magazine, Edwards Magazine, has flourished, not dwindled, at being “rooted” in PEI—I am blessed to have had the best of both worlds, merging an Island publication with national contacts to create a Canadian magazine. These connections can happen easily here, and we feel like finally, after years of wandering, we belong.

And it’s not just PEI. I often think of my birthplace, experiencing waves of longing whenever I catch an episode of Republic of Doyle or see a Newfoundland and Labrador tourism ad that highlights its overpowering landscape, its colour, and its rugged beauty. Living on PEI makes me feel more connected to my other Island home, and I know that visits are not out of the realm of possibility. I love being able to do day or weekend trips to New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. Basically, living within a stone’s throw to all the Atlantic provinces puts a smile on my face.

It’s funny. I lived in PEI a long time before being this at peace. When I moved here in 1997, I was surrounded by the same landscape as I am now. I visited the same beaches. I ate at the same restaurants. But it wasn’t until we made an active decision to move back that I felt truly blessed to live here, instead of just living here out of necessity or waiting until the Next Big Phase that would take us away again.

Driving to a local ice cream shop the other day, my husband and I began talking about the insane beauty of this place.

Him: “It truly is beautiful here.”

Me: “It was always beautiful. We’re just appreciating it now.”

Christine Gordon Manley currently works at the UPEI Centre for Education Research where she serves as communications officer, research coordinator, and all-around Jill of All Trades.When she’s not working with educational researchers, Christine can be found all over the internet. She runs her own freelance editing business, is the founder and editor of Edwards Magazine and the Edwards Book Club, and practices both her writing skills and her running at Share the Run, a blog she started to form a community of runners and co-bloggers. Christine is also a member of the Island Tweethearts.

Photo credit: lumierefl from Flickr

Tonight I’ll be heading out to a launch party at Pipa for a fun venture put on by the Downtown Halifax Business Commission.

The Big Day Downtown program is meant to highlight downtown Halifax as a destination for shopping, dining, doing business, working and living. Participating bloggers, columnists, journalists and media personalities will be tasked with answering the question: “How would you spend $100 in downtown Halifax?”

Our little city is home to a compact, walkable downtown that’s pretty easy to fill a day with. Unfortunately, with lots of talk about the death of Barrington Street, a recent article in the Toronto Star remarked that “Halifax tends to look shabby and under-populated.”

I’ll be setting out into the streets of downtown Halifax to find out how far $100 goes and report back here with my findings. Before I do though, I’m going to look for some pre-game tips. What are some of your fave gems in downtown Halifax? Where do you think I should I go? I’m looking forward to showcasing what this fair city has to offer in our downtown core.

(Note, that according to the breakdown of business districts, the visit will not include Spring Garden Road which has its own association. Here’s a map of the district that is downtown Halifax.)

So, the blog posts have been a bit sparse here lately. Truth be told, I’m feeling a tad burnt out and therefore a little uninspired.

Feel free to fill in the gaps with stories of your own by submitting them to East Coast Guest Posts.

Or leave a comment below to let me know what kinds of stories you’d like to read about in this space. Restaurant reviews? Books I’m reading? Interviews with East Coast celebrities or regular people? Vacation spots/day trips (my memory of those are vague)?

I’m not just writing to fill space on the internet so I’d love to hear from you personally, gentle reader.

Hey, East Coast bookworms! I know you’re out there. Have you heard about the free event taking place in bookstores across the region tomorrow (Saturday, June 26) from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.? Atlantic Author Day is being put on by the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association and features writers included in this year’s Atlantic Summer Reading Guide. You can find out more info, including the schedule of events for each province, at Atlantic Books Today or check them out on Facebook and Twitter.

While you’re here though, why don’t you leave a comment below about your favourite book by an Atlantic Canadian author? I’m currently reading Chad Pelley‘s Away from Everywhere. He’s the Newfoundlander behind Salty Ink and the Atlantic Canada Reads Competition. The book is about two brothers torn apart by a series of events and…that’s really all I can say about it. If I didn’t have to put it down to do other things, I probably would have devoured it by now because the writing is that solid. Plus, he’s a first time novelist garnering a lot of attention so you should go out and support him.

There. That’s my PSA for the week. Happy reading!

In case you missed last week’s show, Shelagh Duffet (@AliceinParis) and Gail Lethbridge (@giftedtypist) were interviewed by CBC Information Morning’s Lisa Roberts. Listen to what they have to say about Halifax Chicks and the technology that brings them together.

Tech-savvy women put the social in social media

One of the standard complaints about living on the East Coast is that comparatively speaking, we don’t make the same amount of money that peers in other bigger cities do. Alison DeLory interviewed a number of professionals around the city of Halifax, including me, to get our opinions on the matter.

In every city you could complain about something, Walsh says. “I want to embrace the positive experiences of living in Halifax.” She includes among her favourite Halifax things: spectacular dining, a dogs-off-leash park and walking trail five minutes from her affordable suburban home and her quick commute. “Everything is so close here.”

Read the full article.

Fun foodie times ahead this weekend in Halifax! Just a quick note to put this event on your radar. CATCH is all about local seafood and the hottest culinary trends. It takes place this weekend (June 19 & 20) at the Cunard Centre.  Cokebaby and I will be heading over with the in-laws to check out some of the yummy eats (and drinks). You can’t get much more local food on the East Coast than with the bounty of seafood we have on our shores.