So, I consider myself to be somewhat of a breakfast cereal aficionado.
I've tried many cereals. I've even formed a cereal club in my late teens (where hazing new members included eating a bowl full of soggy grape nuts that have been sitting in luke warm milk for a half an hour). We were even fortunate enough to have a member from Japan who wrangled some interesting cereal from his homeland. But I digress. It was essentially a geeky cereal/videogame orgy. And it was fantastic. Many different sugary cereals flowed freely into my bowl on those occasions, the best our grocery stores would offer, but one cereal... the KING of sugery cereals in my opinion, was missing... FRANKENBERRY.
I've had a small part of my brain power(maybe 2%) silently thinking about Frankenberry cereal for about 20 years now (since about my last bowl of it). Suddenly, for some reason, about a month ago my desire for Frankenberry Cereal has nearly overtaken me. Likely due to the fact that I discovered they still make the bloody stuff around Halloween in the US. I live in Canada, and we for some reason, haven't had it here in an eternity (likely due to stricter FDA regs perhaps. see: http://www.blogadilla.com/2007/07/13/urban-non-legends-frankenberry-stool/).
I found a pack of 12 boxes on amazon.com, but when I tried to buy the stuff, they refused to ship it to my country. I found it on another website (http://www.crossroads-market.com/hard-to-find-grocer/Franken-Berry-Cereal-96-oz/productinfo/HFCE103/) but the shipping cost was MORE than the product itself.
So I decided to take my kids on a quest. I read that the SuperWal-Marts in the US often carry it. Upon looking on Google Earth, we discovered we have a Super Wal-Mart just across the border from us. Early Saturday morning, we finally set out on what was to be a quick trip into cereal cornucopia.
So we got across the border, drove for awhile, got lost on a toll highway, paid twice due to going up the road, and coming back, and finally made it to a regular sized Wal-Mart (which Google Earth claimed was a Super Center). Upon entering, we discovered that of course they had no Frankenberry. So we chanced it and went across the parking lot to the local grocery store called 'Tops'. There we found our old friend, Count Chocula. I was pretty excited, as this was a sign that I was close (I thought). I bought a box, just in case we didn't find that strawberry flavoured bastard (my booby prize I guess), and set out for the second Wal-Mart (I planned a back up just in case). This one turned out to actually be a Super Center, so I was pumped. Upon arriving at the huge cereal aisle, I discovered... NO FRANKENBERRY. Not even Count Chocula. I asked the gentleman stocking shelves if they ever carried it. He said "oh yeah, all year, we ran out about a month ago and we aren't expecting any more". My heart sank.
Funny aside, at the checkout counter at the Mega-Wal-Mart, the cashier, who was an elderly lady, asked me if I found everything I was looking for. I said 'naw' (in that 'Ralphie' voice before he discovers his BB gun behind the desk). She pry's out of me what I didn't find and sympathetically recounts here own quest for ABC cereal (I think she meant Alphabits?) and how she said she bought 5 boxes. Anyways, it was nice she understood.
I went back to Tops and bought another box of Count Chocula (I have 3 kids... and I'd like to get more than 2 bowls to myself).
On our journey back,here are some things that happened:
Family got hungry,
Went to Wendy's,
Left Wendy's due to the horrible hygene on of the cashier,
Went to McDonalds,
Paid less than $10 to feed the family (less strict FDA regs FTW?)
Drove through the slums.
Drove through a 4 way intersection where ALL the lights were GREEN (as in everybody was going... it was nuts)
Got stuck at the border due to a parade RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE BORDER! What the...!
Anyhow, we made it home, and Count Chocula tastes great... but my quest goes on.
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