Some people, for Mother’s Day, do things like go out to breakfast. Maybe they go to church for a special blessing of some kind, or they–god forbid–sleep in.
Not so much, around here. My Mother’s Day morning found me sleeping on the floor at my mother-in-law’s house. (This is less strange than it seems, as she’s in the middle of moving for Florida and has no furniture.) Once we left her house, though, the day was all mine.
Except for the part where she lives an hour away from us. And we had to drive a half hour in the other direction–that is, away from our house–to try to pick up Maura’s jacket, which she’d forgotten at the restaurant we ate at the night before. The restaurant’s main line seemed to be disconnected, and the other number that I found rang and rang until the operator informed me quite sternly that my party was not answering, and that I should try my call again later.
Predictably, after driving all the way out there, Maura’s jacket was not there. Equally predictably was Maura’s response: “It was my favorite jacket! Now I’ll never have it again. It’s just RUINED!”
Obviously, the mature and appropriate reaction to all of this was to stop at Daffin’s, which claims to be “The World’s Largest Chocolate Candy Store”. I think that this is a lie, as the store did not appear to be made of chocolate, nor was even a majority of its merchandise chocolate, but once past the horrible untruths, it was pretty entertaining, in a slightly scary way.
Part of the reason that we stopped was because Nick had fond memories of going to Daffin’s as a child. “They have a chocolate castle,” he said. And, like that, basically any shot there was of not going to the candy store was gone, because nothing says good times to me like the bizarre, the kitschy, and the surreal. This, happily, was pretty much all of those things.
Yes, that’s right. Not only is there a castle made of chocolate, but there are several castles made of chocolate. Also a ferris wheel. Also some deer and elephants, and a really unnecessarily large turtle.
There is also a rhinoceros. I should have zoomed in on this castle some more, but this will have to do. A chocolate castle, bedecked in American flags and tiny pine trees. The white creatures on the castle’s base are, of course, toy soldiers.
A close-up of the terrifyingly large turtle. I have no way to give you a sense of scale here, but there are big animals. There was a waist-high fence surrounding them, and the head of the turtle nearly cleared it. The deer are closer to maybe four and a half feet tall. I have to say that I do like the jaunty bow on the turtle’s hat. It’s so festive!
Another castle (this one is covered in rabbits), and a shot of the large stuffed bear that stands next to the elephant. The bear is actually the most confusing part of this for me–I just can’t figure out how he fits into the chocolate castle agenda. He’s standing next to a neon pink Christmas tree, but somehow, he’s the anomaly. You almost feel bad for him.
Finally, we have the ferris wheel. I guess that if you want to get technical, there’s also a train made out of chocolate, another castle, the shoe of the old woman who lived in the shoe, several cottages, and a carousel, but the impressive bit is the ferris wheel. Not only is it made out of chocolate, but it’s also in operation, which means that you can stand there and be impressed for several minutes as the bags (presumably bags of chocolate) go around and around.
The chocolate castle was everything that I hoped it would be. The chocolate itself–we got samples–was decent, if not anything too exciting. The giant wall of hard candy, on the other hand, was incredibly exciting, and I’m not exaggerating to say that we came home with five pounds of hard candy. All in all, a successful trip.
Duffin’s
496 East State St
Sharon, PA