ice cream, a lake, seafood and a wedding | east coast trip

Ice cream, a lake, seafood, and a wedding – not bad for our full first day in Massachusetts!

After breakfast at Cruisers Malt Shoppe, we dropped off my aunt and cousin back at the hotel and we went for a little drive around my dad’s hometown of Fitchburg, MA. Well, actually, first we went to Target because I realized it was chilly at night and doofus me didn’t bother to pack a sweater. New Goal: buy a sweater at Target. (Goal accomplished).

On the way to Target, we drove around in circles because the GPS didn’t know how to tell us to make a U-turn. Luckily we weren’t in a hurry and the scenery was quite pretty. Trees everywhere, man.

After my sweater acquiring mission was completed, we drove back through town and stopped for a little bit of ice cream at a place called Carol’s Dairy Bar.

I remember always loving the retro-looking sign but had never actually stopped here before. Today was the day!

Apparently they have a whopping 24 different flavors of soft serve. I didn’t even know anyone made flavors beyond vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry to tell you the truth.

This is just the ice cream menu. They have sandwiches and seafood and hot stuff on the other side.

Jake and I split a two scoop strawberry cheesecake cone. I immediately asked him why on earth he got two scoops. He said, “I didn’t think they’d be so big!”

The ice cream started to drip quickly and we decided to save it by getting a cup and dumping it in there. It seemed to be vanilla ice cream with strawberries and strawberry sauce mixed in with cubes of cheesecake. The ice cream tasted particularly light and airy. I liked the strawberry sauce a lot! The little cubes of cheesecake made it extra yummy.

Carol’s Dairy Bar
310 Summer St
Fitchburg, MA 01420
(978) 342-9675

After finishing our ice cream, I had us drive by my grandparents’ old house. This is the house I always remember them living in from when I was a little girl. My grandpa was a little better at maintaining the yard, but I was happy to see the house looked good and just about how I remembered it. 

Then we drove through town and stopped at a place called Coggshall Park. My grandparents took me here a few times when I was little. The lake here is called Mirror Lake. There’s a little path that runs around the lake and on the far side you can see little trails that head off further into the surrounding forest. Apparently there are miles of trails in this area!

Coggshall Park was a gift to the City of Fitchburg from Mr. Henry Coggshall, an executive of The Fitchburg Gas Company, and his wife in 1894. In the winter when the lake freezes over, they offer ice skating on the lake. 

Jake and I walked around the whole lake and then went to hang out in the gazebo. From the gazebo we got a closer look at swans and ducks as well as these little turtles.

Plus this MONSTER turtle! It looks like he’s been living here since the Jurassic age. 

It was a lovely day for a walk and we really enjoyed the shady, cool comfort of the trees. After our adventure in Coggshall Park, we went to get some seafood! 

Specifically at my favorite place in Fitchburg, SS Lobster. I also visited SS Lobster when we were in MA last year. I ordered a small fried scallops which were just as sweet and tender as I remembered them. I wished I had though to ask for half scallops and half clams but it didn’t occur to me this would be allowed. Later on my relatives told me they would totally just do half and half if I asked for it. I’ll have to remember that for a future trip.

Jake, the apprehensive seafood guy, decided to get the fish and chips. He got the standard fish they use, which is pollock. I told him my dad said cod was a better choice but he decided he wanted to try whatever their standard was. The fish was incredibly flaky and fell apart very easily. He didn’t really care for the texture of the fish. I didn’t care for the pollock, either. 

After lunch we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding that evening. Here are a few shots from the reception! 

They had a cool Guest Tree that I really adored. This can serve as a decoration for their house later! 

Heartfelt tribute to those who could not be with them at the wedding today.

Cute table settings.

Their wedding cake topper featured a couple plus two little kitties on each side of them to represent their cats Rufus and Dasher (so cute). 

Foooooooood! Specifically fruits, crackers and lots of cheeses. The cranberry stilton was especially interesting to me! It had a creamy, tart flavor that I wasn’t sure if I liked or not. It was gorgeous looking though.

There were also trays of hot appetizers! For the life of me I can’t remember what that is on the bottom – I think they’re scallops. The top is coconut shrimp, which I had multiple helpings of. 

These are basically chicken tenders on a stick and the other ones are stuffed dough bites. One had mushrooms in it and the other had beef in it. It was creamy inside, almost like a chicken pot pie dumpling or something.  

Cute wedding favors that Ashleigh made.

We also had some local beer to try! I really liked the Blueberry beer. 

These are little rose shaped butters. I remember staring at them for awhile thinking maybe they were white chocolate. Funny thing is, Ashleigh also thought it was white chocolate and picked up a whole one to eat it! 

Jake and I all spiffed up for the wedding. I didn’t know it, but I bought a dress that matched the colors of the wedding! 

Jake playing around with Lillith, my cousin Alicia’s daughter. Lillith thought Jake was hilarious and kept coming back to play with him. 

By the time we got around to dinner, I wasn’t all that hungry. All those appetizers had started to fill me up! There was also clam chowder (which wasn’t very good) and salad before this hunk o’ meat (prime rib). The prime rib was just kind of eh. Mine seemed to hardly have any flavor. Jake got an end piece which was FULL of flavor and I just took a few bites of his instead. 

Cake cutting!

Aww. 

The cake was very moist and light and a fruity filling. I could take a guess at what it was but I don’t really remember. I do remember the cake was tasty, though. And bathed in purple light. Wooo!

One of the games they played was like a Newlywed game. The bride and groom sits back to back and they each hold one shoe from the bride and groom. The DJ asks questions about who’s more likely to do things, like take out the trash, or take longer to get ready, etc. They both answer by holding up the respective shoe. Their answers were pretty on point with one another! 

Jake and I were thrilled to be able to go to Ashleigh and Steve’s wedding. Jake finally got to meet more of my family and they all seemed to love him. 😀 😀 

More East Coast adventures coming soon!