We headed out for our run first thing this morning.
Wanted to get it in before we had to head out.
We went on the trails again and I did 6k.
The exercise details.
Pretty good average pace and splits for the day.
We walked back through the garden area by the church.
We happened upon this big 'snake' of painted rocks.
What a great idea.
It was huge.
There were some really well done ones - like these m&m's.
I liked the owl and the light house.
The snail caught my eye.
As did these rainbow bugs.
The carrot with the bunny was cute.
My cousins daughter bought this new home and I just love this row of trees leading up to the house.
It is a gorgeous place.
They hadn't moved in yet or I would have dropped by for a tour.
It has a really nice garage next to it.
It's a gorgeous property - good for them.
Just some gorgeous trees we saw on our walk back to Gerald's
People keep their homes looking so nice here.
I recognize that daisy art - my guess is that it was painted by Paula's sister Pam.
We got back to the house, packed up and said our Good bye's.
I don't think we'll be back up to Tignish this trip.
We were treated to some pretty scenery on the way - the church on the hill is pretty.
Water is always nice too.
Pretty PEI.
I noticed as we were going by that the Confederation Trail goes right by this body of water.
It would have been a nice place to stop and go for a ride but we didn't have time.
For some reason I thought it was only a 2 hour drive from Tignish but it was actually a 3 hour drive.
What a gorgeous day for a drive though - the puffy clouds were so pretty.
We pulled onto the grounds at Inn at Bay Fortune with a few minutes to spare.
It was perfect because it gave me just enough time to use the facilities.
I really liked this painting that was on the wall in there.
Then we all headed down onto the front lawn for first event of the evening, the farm tour.
This is looking back up at the Inn.
There were lots of planter boxes in the yard filled with herbs and things and the head farmer started off by telling us a bit about them.
I like all the colorful Adirondack chairs that were in the yard and the view of the Bay across the street was so nice.
I can see why Michael Smith fell in love with this place, it is beautiful.
My Honey - looking forward to what we think is going to be an enjoyable and unforgettable experience (it was).
I could just sit here and take in this view all day long.
The head farmer on the grounds and his buddy.
She was such a good dog - very friendly and she loved kiddos.
Then he took us to the back gardens.
They have these test gardens where each year they plant a bunch of different species of something then figure out which items taste the best, grow the best, look the best - they look at all kinds of factors.
This year they were doing tomatoes.
These black tomatoes looked pretty neat.
There were tons of varieties.
Then we walked back to another section - all of what they serve to us in the meal tonight is grown right here in their gardens.
Puppy being so good.
He had this forest of old pots.
When they have a pot that can't be used anymore for whatever reason, they take it out here and hang it up in the pot forest.
Kind of a neat idea.
This a from the old Paderno pot making factory that used to be in PEI.
Not sure how it got here but this will be it's final resting place.
These are the piles of oyster shells that have been shucked and eaten here over the years.
Each pile is from one year and they try to get a bigger pile each year than the last.
This was last years pile.
I look forward to doing my part and adding a few shells to the pile from oysters that get into my belly tonight.
Of course when you are on PEI, you need to include some lobster traps in your decor.
We had a walk through of more of the gardens.
There was a row of sunflowers.
Sunflowers are just so stately looking or something.
Maybe because they are so tall?
Whatever it is, you can't help but admire them.
They really do have a lovely garden here and they really care about what they are doing.
I think 'Passionate' is a more accurate description actually of how they feel about what they do.
She's still right there with her buddy - she didn't leave his side the whole time.
I love the vines growing up the posts.
We had our first taste of the evening here, cucumber fresh out of the garden and it was so crisp and refreshing.
Lobster Trap Labyrinth.
You can stay at the Inn of course and I think this area might be for the guyes.
They invite everyone to walk the trails and to picnic there.
They started a mushroom farm this year.
There were quite a few guests here tonight.
This is where we finished the farm tour and the next stop was the fire feast - appetizers cooked over fire.
I noticed they had the wood stacked in this pinwheel - it looks like a piece of artwork.
This is where Chef Michael Smith joined us.
I used to love watching his show - he's had a couple different ones over the years and I've liked all of them.
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Chef Michael Smith @ Inn at Bay Fortune Fire Feast.
One thing that struck me about meeting him in person is that he seemed to be genuine.
The man I used to watch on the cooking shows is the exact same person I met here tonight.
Also, he's super tall.
All the chefs were at the ready.
We were so lucky that it ended up being such a gorgeous evening for this tonight.
Oysters with herbed butter warmed up on the hot coals - yum yum.
They just stayed on the coals for a minute.
So they weren't cooked all the way through, just slightly warmed enough to melt the butter.
Hurry up and get in my belly!
OMG - these were FANTASTIC!
If I could have just stood there and ate these all night long, I would have.
There were several stations set up though and you could eat as much as you wanted at each one so we had to go try all the rest.
This station was the raw oysters.
Chef Michael stood there and shucked the oysters along with a couple of other chefs.
I love this dragon that they had in the sink with the ice - so cool.
I like the decor too, rustic is my jam!
The wheel of raw oysters.
They had a frozen Caesar slush on them that was tasty but I preferred them without.
We got ourselves each a virgin Caesar at the bar.
It went down waaaay too easy.
What a cool smoker - they had it inside of a light house.
Each chef had a different appetizer they were preparing - this one was a maple smoked salmon with seedy gouda and black garlic on a cracker.
They had capers on them too and I'm a sucker for a caper.
These were so good, I couldn't tell you how many I ate.
Next station - Pork belly and maple bourbon sizzlers.
The chef was hard a work preparing them.
Jason and I got the last two of that batch.
We did go back and have a few more later.
Next station was Tacos with cauliflower smear, chantrelle mushrooms and onion sals.
This station the chef comes up with a new taco every day.
The Fire Altar.
Everyone just waiting on some tacos.
The chef was talking the whole time letting us know what he was doing.
Then they were ready and they were really good.
We headed back to the oyster wheel for the next treat of the night.
Caviar!
Oysters with caviar - Yes please!
I've had caviar a couple times and while I do like it, it's just ok, I actually, again, preferred the oyster without.
We headed back to the taco station and the chef had another batch almost ready.
So we had a couple more.
Chef Michael happened to be down that way so we asked him if we could get a selfie with him.
He kindly obliged and even held the camera - said selfies turn out better because he has such long arms.
Just another shot of the pretty garden.
We spent about an hour going back and forth between all the stations and basically stuffing our faces.
A neighboring farm - also pretty.
After appy hour, we headed back to the Inn and saw a few interesting things along the way.
The head farmer's name was Jason.
Fireworks that way.
It was called the Fireworks feast.
I loved this table - again, the rustic style that I love.
The bar at the front of the house.
This is PEI after all so very fitting.
Chef Michael talked to us all a bit more.
He even got a volunteer from the guests to cut open a bottle of bubbly for us.
Getting this party started with some bubbly.
She did a good job of it.
After that, Chef Michael left and headed home to do homework with his daughters but it was nice that we got to meet him and he stayed there with us for a short time.
One last shot of that gorgeous view before heading in for supper.
The Inn.
I loved our table setting.
It was simple and pretty.
Jason.
Moi.
The first course was this artisan bread with three different spreads.
The whipped maple brown butter was Amazing.
I couldn't get enough.
This is the menu of what we were treated to the whole evening.
For the Land & Sea, we had to let them know on our reservations if we wanted fish, beef or the vegetarian option.
I choose the fish and Jason chose the beef.
The Fire Brigade.
The next course was the chowder.
Everything was so beautifully presented.
The anchor shaped cracker was neat.
Next up was the Earth Plate, root trio and a few other tings.
It was different and interesting.
A bit closer of a look.
I love beets and parsnips so I was all about this.
Then it was the Harvest Bowl (salad).
Everything in it was edible.
I don't know that I like how flowers taste everything else was fabulous.
I was so excited when I found out the fish dish was halibut because I love it so and this did not disappoint.
Jason's brisket.
We were feeling mightily stuffed by this point but they came around with extras and offered them to everyone - as stuffed as I was, I took a piece of the brisket so I could taste it.
Then DESSERT!
Butterscotch pear galette.
Check out the little leaf from pie crust - darling.
The cinnamon basil ice cream was awesome.
We didn't think we could eat another bite but when they brought out the homemade apple cider marshmallows, we just had to try one.
They had long sticks on them so you could take them outside to the fire pit to roast them.
We checked out the restaurant a bit first - what a great oven.
I love me some beams/
That's one big knife.
That looks like a comfy place to sit.
This is the dining room that we sat in.
Got our marshmallows.
Took them to the firepit and roasted them.
I'm not a big marshmallow fan normally but these were good and I'm glad we didn't skip it.
It was a cozy setting - we would have hung longer maybe but we decided to stay in Charlottetown tonight so we had an hour long drive ahead of us still to get to our hotel room.
The Inn looks so welcoming in the evening - all those windows are great.
So - it was a pricey evening but completely worth it.
I'm so glad we finally got to experience it and the whole thing from the food, to the staff to the location to the scenery to just the overall ambiance was wonderful.
I would come and do it again in a heartbeat!
So, onto Charlottetown.
Our hotel was in a part of Charlottetown that I'd not been in before - it seemed like a new hotel and was very nice and clean.
Bed was super comfy and we both were so ready for bed when we got there.
Haylee posted this picture today of Freya at school.
She's just loving it!
That's all for today, until next time, be happy!
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