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 |    My random thoughts and reactions to my everyday life. The voices like a forum. |
| PROMPT November 15th You and your two best friends are going on a month-long road trip. Where are you going? What three items must be in your luggage for this trip to be a great experience for you. Nancy my 'bestest' pal and the other Nancy also my 'bestest' pal plus moi have chosen to partake of a momentous road trip. Sure, we may imbibe a few cocktails and a few bottles of wine, but we are not interested in breweries, or vineyards. Our taste buds fancy an eating / sampling tour, or two, or three. We wish to put our teeth into our adventure so to speak. Our motto: have sweet tooth will travel. Ugly Covid and all its restrictions have put a halt to our ultimate dream of visiting Switzerland for its chocolate. Where else can a gal or three with a passion for chocolate travel? We dreamed of sending sticky, smeared post cards back home. We'd imagined ourselves daintily perched upon outdoor cafe chairs sipping bois du chocolat and peering from behind our shaded eyewear at the vivant locals. Now we have adapted, adjusted, made other plans. Thanks to an evening of Google research, we've plotted a route that will take us down the eastern seaboard and over to Texas after a few days of pretending to be in Europe by way of Montreal. We will create a chocolate tour and dedicate it to the explorers that set forth to establish the Spice routes of days past. If anyone can do this, we can. We shall sniff out the chocolate. We shall drive and drive with chocolate as our reward. This heavenly concoction / confection shall be our guiding star. Before we ventured too far and in need of something to fortify us and whet our palates, we veered off to Niagara Falls to grab a quick travel bag of things chocolate. Yes, this is not strictly speaking the direct route to Montreal, but we had urges, okay? Sated, we waved farewell to Ontario and motored to Montreal just over the border in our neighbour, Quebec. Thank goodness we'd decided to be sensible and packed comfy walking shoes. In this marvelous city, we'd committed ourselves to two different walking tours which we had the foresight to schedule with a rest and recovery day in between. Day one found us partaking of a four and a half hour chocolate-tasting and walking tour. Hobbling, wobbling and teetering on heels would not have been a pretty sight as we gobbled sampled the offered treats. I may have lost count, sugar does cast a spell, but I believe I enjoyed nine sweets on this glorious day. I also recall sipping decadent cocoa drinks. On our third day here, we embarked upon another four and a half hour walking tour of Chinatown. Oh, the savoury smells tickled our noses and the delicacies satisfied our exotic whims. Promising to return in the future, Nancy, Nancy and I bid Montreal au revoir and praised each other for escaping the worst of our calorie expedition. We agreed it had been a most fortuitous idea to leave our belts at home. As is our habit, we nattered nonstop in the car and before we could complain of the cramped quarters we arrived at our next stop, Brooklyn, New York. Once more we set out to tour the premises of master chocolatiers and indulge in their delectable offerings. I believe there may be several selfies as evidence of our attentive devotion. We all packed our cell phones with their indispensable cameras. With the additional walking, we felt calories could not possibly catch us. Our foray found us in Hershey, Pennsylvania next. Now this is a town devoted to all things chocolate! It is created as a theme-type park, Chocolate World. Throngs of chocolate lovers tour factories to witness the creation of this treasure, to sample it, to create their own chocolate bars, and to amuse themselves on chocolate rides. Because we were unabashed Canadian enthusiasts we purchased chocolate wear, or as the bubbly cashier corrected us, "merch." This is why we never leave home without a credit card. Impulse purchases come at a cost. The car's trunk is sagging a bit lower now with all of the loot we've stashed there. So far, our spirits have not sagged, and our sugar levels have not spiked. The euphoria of chocolate sustains us. In Savannah, we ooh and aah on another tour fortified by coffee. So, in a stately square we espy the infamous bench where Gump utters his profound words, "Life is like a box of chocolates." Many of the heads on our tour bus seemed to nod in agreement. We hit the open road and wandered over to Dallas. We were ever so pleased that this state boasts more than barbecue and cowboys. Yep, we found another chocolate tour. Be still our beating hearts. So many people share our fascination with chocolate. It's so sweet. Here, Nancy, Nancy and I discover Mexican chocolate. It's infused with cinnamon, sometimes nutmeg, or chilies. This is an intriguing combination. Chocolate chicken? Chocolate chili? My taste buds tingled. During our return drive back home, one of the Nancy-s wondered if we could volunteer as chocolate ambassadors somewhere. I must admit, it is food for thought .We have a taste for it. |
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