St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada + Old Ellicott City, Maryland
A little housekeeping:
We have a trial-size version of us called The Daily Happy…it shows up in the same feed as all of our other podcast episodes, and is only 10 minutes long! We rebranded our daily pandemic 10 minute catch up session to reflect our #whatsyourhappy affirmation - there is something to be happy about every day, and while we are not here for ignoring the world around us, we are here for bringing the inspiration and the joy!
If you have not already done so, please check out our #thankyoufive initiative that is donating food and coffee to frontline healthcare workers! Also if you are in need of a mask and want to give back, check out our get-a-mask, give-a-mask campaign!
Alison is re-obsessed with Vikings. It’s the perfect accidentally-stay-up-til-3-am binge-watching show. Lulu is re-obsessed with sauces. All the sauces.
Alison is wishing for Fancy Sprinkles’ edible prism powder. She was sold by the Facebook Ad with the girl putting glitter in her glass of rosé. Lulu just wants to go to a cocktail bar. Fancy food, good drinks, people to watch, people to talk to, just get her out PLEASE.
The Luxus Boutique Hotel located on historic Water Street is Lulu’s choice for her stay in St. John’s. Their amenities are top-notch. 11.5-ft ceilings and a walk-in closet for space and double-wall soundproofing to keep noise in or out, sounds pretty nice, no? Heated bathroom floors and window shades that can be raised and lowered from the comfort of your bed will suit Lulu just fine in her Two-Bedroom Suite. The petrified wood double vanity sinks, soaker tub, and a 70" tv you can watch while in the bath are pretty suave as well. This six-room boutique hotel has a gym, a cocktail lounge, and a café, and is perhaps worth the flight to Newfoundland and Labrador alone.
There is no Uber in St. John's, so Lulu rents a premium SUV through Skyscanner.com to get around her day. Her first stop is breakfast is at the seemingly unmissable Mallard Cottage. They post their daily menu on Instagram, and Lulu is drooling over the possibility of a breakfast plate with toutons, Newfoundland's traditional fried bread. Oh and their all-you-can-eat cake table, will be delightfully perused and sampled.
Molly Bawn Whale & Puffin Tour You could help release a baby puffin! Enjoy seeing the wildlife amongst the melting icebergs on this boar tour. You get to see humpback whales, puffins, and perhaps even be allowed to release a puffin back into the wild! Of course, Lulu wants to be repping the lovely creature, so brought along this "Stud Puffin" Sweatshirt.
Lulu is dining at the chef’s table at Raymond’s Restaurant, where she is hoping for a lunch of moose carpaccio. June to October, Raymonds offers their tasting menu only in the main dining room, and five, seven and nine courses with vegetarian option and a bar menu in the lounge.
Next Lulu takes a jaunt down Jellybean Row. All the houses are different bright colors, painted this way so that sailors could see the buildings (and land they’re on!) through the fog. It's a sight to see with so many colors, and now serves as colorful character and, of course, great selfie backdrops. She takes in all the possible viewpoints of this area so she can appreciate the row house bars she plans to purchase at the Newfoundland Chocolate Company!
Taking in the sights via telescope on landings, in between zip line trips are the adventure du jour with North Atlantic Ziplines. Lulu is very prepared for this outing with a net headwear aka a bug face shield, and wearable butterfly wings from Etsy. She finishes her zip line preparations by dropping three grand on the Shure KSE1500 Electrostatic earphone system. Maybe some action adventure movie soundtracks in her ears as she zips through the air would be cool?
For dinner Lulu tries out St. John's Fish Exchange Kitchen & Wet Bar - SJFK for short. Scrumptious seafood meets creative cocktails in this eatery, where Lulu goes for the chowder, cod tongues, and Caribbean style lobster. She also gets the Eighteen 9-2 cocktail, their take on a Dark and Stormy, inspired by the Great Fire of 1892, that features Screech Spiced Rum and arrives at the table in flames.
Next stop is getting "screeched in" at Christian’s Pub. This welcoming ceremony makes you an honorary Newfoundlander, once you have taken a shot of Screech rum, http://screechrum.com eat bologna, kiss a cod fish, then say an oath. This tradition even has its own song in Come From Away, the hit Broadway musical telling the true story of the airline passengers diverted to Gander, Newfoundland after 9-11.
With all this Come From Away merriment, she decides to fly out friend Becky Gulsvig, who recently wrapped her turn as Beverley Bass & Others on Broadway. Being a new honorary Newfoundlander, Lulu buys a round of rum for everyone at the pub! She's thinking it'll be around 60 people, to whom she also gifts these “I got screeched in” shot glasses for everyone from the Come From Away store and a Christian's Pub chocolate bar from Newfoundland Chocolate Company.
Feeling bad that she left Alison out of this unique experience, she decides to fill this insulated foam shipping kit with four bottles of Screech rum, a bologna charcuterie board from Chinched Deli, and a whole cod fish from the Fish Depot. Quite the souvenir package!
Alison based her entire day off of an episode she watched recently of Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours To Hell And Back. In the show’s first-ever two-hour special episode, he took on the entire town, as opposed to the usual one restaurant. The city? Ellicott City, Maryland, which was devastated by flooding in 2016 and again in 2018, destroying much of the town and shuttering businesses. The two-hour “Save Our Town” episode aired on May 12. Fox is marketing it as the show’s “biggest makeover challenge to date,”
Alison books a stay at The Wayside Inn, known throughout this area as “that house with the candles in the windows.” While there are many myths as to why, the real story is that the owners like the tradition of lit candles showing it to be a public house where weary travelers are welcome. They even "snuff out" a candle in one of the bedroom windows for each guest that checks in. The whole process is like a romantic vacancy sign, with soft candlelight instead of glaring neon. Alison reserves the Terrace Room, one of their "most intimate and private" rooms. Located on the ground floor, there are delightful views of the gardens from the terrace, and the bathroom has a jetted tub and rainfall shower. Alison adds a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries to indulge in upon arrival.
Gordon Ramsay commits to reviving three restaurants, and Alison's breakfast stop is one of them. The Little Market Cafe serves breakfast and brunch all day, as well as delicious coffee drinks...and pizza! Alison sticks with a bagel sandwich and a latte to start her day off right! Alison decides to make a donation to Howard County General Hospital. They need meals for their staff, so Alison gives them $1,000, #thankyoufive style.
A day of shopping is in store, with not a chain in sight. Alison wanders Main Street where she peruses shops filled with antiques, home furnishings, clothing, and gifts! As she shops, she plans to hand a one dollar bill to the first 1,994 people she encounters. On each bill will be a post-it note with the following message: “Here’s a Dollar from 10K DOLLAR DAY… meet me at the Judges Bench at Midnight - bring your cell phone”...very curious but you'll have to keep reading to find out what happens!
For her last shopping haul, she spends $1000 at Primitive Beginnings & Lotus which is currently offering virtual shopping from your vehicle! you can video chat with a store employee, and they bring you all of your goods curbside! She'll be outfitted for a long while with their ultra-reasonable price points!
Lunch is at the second Ramsay-saved restaurants, Phoenix Upper Main - which is actually a merging of the former Phoenix Emporium and Ellicott Mills Brewing Company - where the crab soup and crab dip sandwich fend off the post-shopping spree hunger pains. She also buys a $1000 gift card to support the restaurant in the time of COVID. She'll make her way back to use it at a later date. One more quick stop at the Wine Bin for a case of mixed wines, and another $1000 gift card purchased for use at a later date.
Alison moves on to Jaxon Edwin Social House, the third and final restaurant helped out by Gordon Ramsay and his team. It is a barbershop, a game room, and an eatery all-in-one! Alison goes for a haircut and a drink, followed by some snacks - soft pretzel with house beer cheese, charcuterie and cheese board, and a glass of Cab. She buys 10 $100 gift cards here, and will be back when she needs a trim/sip/bite combo.
Founded 1924, Taylor’s Collective is a sprawling, two-floor showcase and marketplace for art and artisan wares, high quality antique and vintage furniture, lighting, home accessories, and apparel and home accents. $1000 will score her some pretty great items, though how she is getting all her new goods home at this point is unclear.
Now it is time for the peculiar invite to 1,994 strangers earlier in her day to go down. Judge's Bench is a pub located across from what used to be the courthouse pre-flood, and is named because Judges would escape the non-air conditioned courthouse for a cold drink sitting on benches outside of the building which was once a grocery store. Now it's where Alison's master plan is revealed and she has a dream come true…
Alison has shots of whiskey waiting for anyone who shows up. As her guests straggle in, she asks everyone to take out their phones and all take a video of themselves saying what their happy is…then asks them to post them on all of their social media accounts, tagging Gordon Ramsay and 10K Dollar Day Surely with 2000 alerts at the same time, Gordon's social media manager will notice and then will have his people contact our people and he will invite us to join him for a meal at one of his restaurants and Alison can die happy.
CHECK OUT THE CHARITIES WE FOUND IN THE CITIES WE VISITED:
Burleigh Manor Animal Sanctuary and Eco-Retreat
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