Well, more like 2 addendums, although one might not be related to the last post:
1. The fall colours along the 401 were beautiful, especially between Toronto and Kingston where most of the trees still had leaves.
2. Blaze A Trail 2010 - September 25, 2010. Details coming... sometime.
28.10.09
road trip
About 6 years ago, I went on a road trip. Three days in a car with two friends seeing places that were pretty cool. Although the majority of our waking hours were spent in the car, it was a memorable experience. An experience I've wanted to do again since, but it's become harder to plan a trip like that. Until this weekend.
Some friends from Indiana came up and we took a road trip to Montreal and Ottawa for the weekend. We left KW by 9:00AM on Friday morning and after 3 quick stops for gas and food, we made it to our hotel on the in the Outremont district of Montreal shortly after 4pm. Driving in the city wasn't as bad as some people made it out to be, but we hit rush hour before it truly started and didn't have far to go once we left the highway.
First impression: Our hotel was in a Jewish neighbourhood. Many Hasidic Jews were walking around with the hats and the hair and the yamakas. We walked by a synagogue on our way to the Metro stop. It was good times. I spent a day in Old Montreal last year, so I was fairly familiar with what's there, but this time it was fall and wet and cold, so not much was open, and it was getting dark by the time we got there. Instead of walking around too much, we got a Crepe at a restaurant for dinner, and then took a quick walk through Chinatown, and then back to the hotel for the evening.
Saturday was spent at the Biodome, Insectarium, Botanical Gardens, and the Eaton Centre (still cold and rainy). That evening I was tired, so I stayed back while my friends went out to Schwartz's deli for dinner. They brought me back a sandwich with lots of meat on it. Tatsty stuff. I went to Tim Horton's near the hotel for my dinner and was sad to find out they didn't have chili. I got over it quickly and ordered a sandwich instead.
Sunday we drove through the fairly empty streets to the top of Mont Royal to see the lookouts, and then we drove by St. Joseph's oratory (rather huge), and then hit the road to head westward to Ottawa. I've only let the gas light come on three times in my car. Twice I was within 2 km of a gas station every time. The third time was between Ottawa and Montreal and I had no clue where the next gas station was on the 417. Thankfully, there was one about 5 km up the highway, but we went for the first 25 km in Ontario without seeing one, which is somewhat reminiscent of the 402. The car didn't die and we got enough fuel to last us through partway home. All was well in the world again.
Upon arriving in Ottawa, I decided to turn off and take the "scenic" drive into downtown, which turned out to be a rather pretty drive along the Ottawa River, past 24 Sussex Drive and Rideau Hall, and to the parliament buildings. We found some parking and then took a walk around Parliament, opting not to take a tour, mostly because my friends weren't really interested, and I plan on going back sometime. After about an hour or two there, we left for the hotel, checked in, and then went out to a guy we met at EBC's place in Orleans for dinner. It was nice not to have to eat at a Restaurant for the first time in the weekend.
Monday morning, we woke up, packed up the car, and hit the road by 10:15. After brief stops in Prescott for breakfast, and Port Hope for lunch / gas, we made it back to KW by 4:30, only 1433 km later.
It was some fun times, and I'd like to do it again. Probably in the summer next time.
Some friends from Indiana came up and we took a road trip to Montreal and Ottawa for the weekend. We left KW by 9:00AM on Friday morning and after 3 quick stops for gas and food, we made it to our hotel on the in the Outremont district of Montreal shortly after 4pm. Driving in the city wasn't as bad as some people made it out to be, but we hit rush hour before it truly started and didn't have far to go once we left the highway.
First impression: Our hotel was in a Jewish neighbourhood. Many Hasidic Jews were walking around with the hats and the hair and the yamakas. We walked by a synagogue on our way to the Metro stop. It was good times. I spent a day in Old Montreal last year, so I was fairly familiar with what's there, but this time it was fall and wet and cold, so not much was open, and it was getting dark by the time we got there. Instead of walking around too much, we got a Crepe at a restaurant for dinner, and then took a quick walk through Chinatown, and then back to the hotel for the evening.
Saturday was spent at the Biodome, Insectarium, Botanical Gardens, and the Eaton Centre (still cold and rainy). That evening I was tired, so I stayed back while my friends went out to Schwartz's deli for dinner. They brought me back a sandwich with lots of meat on it. Tatsty stuff. I went to Tim Horton's near the hotel for my dinner and was sad to find out they didn't have chili. I got over it quickly and ordered a sandwich instead.
Sunday we drove through the fairly empty streets to the top of Mont Royal to see the lookouts, and then we drove by St. Joseph's oratory (rather huge), and then hit the road to head westward to Ottawa. I've only let the gas light come on three times in my car. Twice I was within 2 km of a gas station every time. The third time was between Ottawa and Montreal and I had no clue where the next gas station was on the 417. Thankfully, there was one about 5 km up the highway, but we went for the first 25 km in Ontario without seeing one, which is somewhat reminiscent of the 402. The car didn't die and we got enough fuel to last us through partway home. All was well in the world again.
Upon arriving in Ottawa, I decided to turn off and take the "scenic" drive into downtown, which turned out to be a rather pretty drive along the Ottawa River, past 24 Sussex Drive and Rideau Hall, and to the parliament buildings. We found some parking and then took a walk around Parliament, opting not to take a tour, mostly because my friends weren't really interested, and I plan on going back sometime. After about an hour or two there, we left for the hotel, checked in, and then went out to a guy we met at EBC's place in Orleans for dinner. It was nice not to have to eat at a Restaurant for the first time in the weekend.
Monday morning, we woke up, packed up the car, and hit the road by 10:15. After brief stops in Prescott for breakfast, and Port Hope for lunch / gas, we made it back to KW by 4:30, only 1433 km later.
It was some fun times, and I'd like to do it again. Probably in the summer next time.
18.10.09
breathing room
I just decided to widen up my blog a bit to give it some more breathing room to deal with the newer monitors that are out there. If you're on a feed reader, come enjoy the extra 160 pixels of width.
17.10.09
fear this
Today I went to Rockwood with some students for the second time in a month. Why go two times in that short period of time? well... here's the story:
Backtrack a few weeks: I'm talking with a co-worker about exploring the caves at Rockwood and how I would never go into them because of my claustrophobia (which I think is caused by Dan sitting on my head too many times as a child, but let's not point the figures at any brothers in particular.) He said he'd come with me because he's explored them a few times and is fairly comfortable in that type of situation. So we made an Outdoors Club outing of it.
Fastforward to yesterday at lunch. We're both eating lunch in the Campus Centre at work and are talking about what we'd be doing at Rockwood. And as he's talking, he was getting more and more excited about this, while at the same time, I was getting more and more anxious. He laughed at me as I told him this. Then last night, I came to the conclusion, much in the same way that I came to overcome my fear of rollercoasters (and more recently the concept that my feet might be chopped off by Top Gun at Wonderland) I decided that I was going to just do it without thinking about what I was doing.
Fastforward to this morning at Rockwood. Things were going great until we got into the first cave and headed to the back to go in the tunnel from 1 to A to 2. I made it almost halfway through the tunnel from 1 to A (see map below) and had to turn around because it was overwhelming me. After a moment or two and some encouragement from the others, I went back onto my belly and slithered through the tunnel into the A and then again out into the open air at 2. We then proceeded to go back into cavern B, which was another slither on my stomach trying not to get stuck, but cavern B opened right up to the point where I could sit up and have some room to move around while still seeing daylight from the tunnel entrance.
It was good to get beyond the entrance and actually underground for a change. The other guys continued on through all the tunnels and caverns mentioned on the map, but I stuck around in B, C, and D because they were the most open. There was a bat sleeping in one of them, stalactites hanging from the ceilings all over the place, and even some cave paintings (I'm doubting any of them are original native drawings, but they were still cool to see.) Maybe next time I'll go further in, but it was a start, and I was somewhat glad to be back in sunlight.
Come to the next challenge. We decided to take a different way back from the caves that none of us had ever done before. So we walked along the cliff face and found a way that looked climbable and up we went. Everyone (including the dog) went up before me and I was left with my wimpy upper body strength and my fear of heights. The solution: tie a rope around me and belay me up the cliff. It worked, and I was thankful I packed my rope for the trip. Once at the top, we tried to find a place known locally as the "Devil's Well", a giant glacial pothole hiding in the
park. It seemed to be the roundabout route of getting there, but we found it and it was huge. We even found the way to the bottom of the 15 metre deep, 11 metre wide hole in the ground and climbed through the crack to get inside.
Some more hiking led us out the easy way and back to the park lookout for lunch. Some afternoon walking let us go island hopping where I got a soaker on my right foot, the dog got over it's fear of getting wet, and we had an adventure.
Good times had by all, and if the park didn't close tomorrow for the season, I'd probably go back again.
Backtrack a few weeks: I'm talking with a co-worker about exploring the caves at Rockwood and how I would never go into them because of my claustrophobia (which I think is caused by Dan sitting on my head too many times as a child, but let's not point the figures at any brothers in particular.) He said he'd come with me because he's explored them a few times and is fairly comfortable in that type of situation. So we made an Outdoors Club outing of it.
Fastforward to yesterday at lunch. We're both eating lunch in the Campus Centre at work and are talking about what we'd be doing at Rockwood. And as he's talking, he was getting more and more excited about this, while at the same time, I was getting more and more anxious. He laughed at me as I told him this. Then last night, I came to the conclusion, much in the same way that I came to overcome my fear of rollercoasters (and more recently the concept that my feet might be chopped off by Top Gun at Wonderland) I decided that I was going to just do it without thinking about what I was doing.
Fastforward to this morning at Rockwood. Things were going great until we got into the first cave and headed to the back to go in the tunnel from 1 to A to 2. I made it almost halfway through the tunnel from 1 to A (see map below) and had to turn around because it was overwhelming me. After a moment or two and some encouragement from the others, I went back onto my belly and slithered through the tunnel into the A and then again out into the open air at 2. We then proceeded to go back into cavern B, which was another slither on my stomach trying not to get stuck, but cavern B opened right up to the point where I could sit up and have some room to move around while still seeing daylight from the tunnel entrance. 
Come to the next challenge. We decided to take a different way back from the caves that none of us had ever done before. So we walked along the cliff face and found a way that looked climbable and up we went. Everyone (including the dog) went up before me and I was left with my wimpy upper body strength and my fear of heights. The solution: tie a rope around me and belay me up the cliff. It worked, and I was thankful I packed my rope for the trip. Once at the top, we tried to find a place known locally as the "Devil's Well", a giant glacial pothole hiding in the 
Some more hiking led us out the easy way and back to the park lookout for lunch. Some afternoon walking let us go island hopping where I got a soaker on my right foot, the dog got over it's fear of getting wet, and we had an adventure.
Good times had by all, and if the park didn't close tomorrow for the season, I'd probably go back again.
12.10.09
still breathing
This weekend was the annual Thanksgiving trek home for time with the family, any friends that might be available to get together, and to eat way too much turkey. On an ironic note, there were more people for Thanksgiving Dinner on Sunday at my grandparents house than there were at my parent's church in the morning. I think the final tally was around 35-37ish at dinner.
Now onto other things. On Saturday, I went out to the Brigden Fair for the parade and to spend some time watching my niece and nephew enjoy the rides and whatever else was there. I took my camera along for the ride, and got a few pictures:
Brock, Garrett, Grant, and Mason are in the top blue car.
What's wrong with this picture?
Now onto other things. On Saturday, I went out to the Brigden Fair for the parade and to spend some time watching my niece and nephew enjoy the rides and whatever else was there. I took my camera along for the ride, and got a few pictures:
What's wrong with this picture?
And just a note: Blogger finally upgraded to allow Image Upload to cursor. It's much easier to include pictures sequentially now.
As for other things in life:
- I haven't slept through the night more than 5 times since around August 22nd. I think it's starting to play havoc on other systems.
- We just launched a new website at work. It was many hours of content editing over the past month and a bit, but now it looks pretty(er) than the old site did.
- I'm hoping to get out to Rockwood again on Saturday before it closes for the season. One of my friends who knows the cave system is coming with us to take people back in to explore. I'll more than likely stick in the open with any bags of those who do go in.
- I'm hoping to take two classes at UW next semester. My enrolment appointment starts tomorrow afternoon, so I'll register and then share which ones I'm taking. This semester's course is "Jesus: Life and Legacy". Seems fairly close to much of what I've learned at EBC to date, but it's a good "starter" course at UW before I branch off into other disciplines. After this semester, I'll only have 13 courses left to go before I graduate with a BA in Liberal Studies, unless I decide to change my major before then. Haven't thought too much about that one yet.
That's all.
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