Happy Tuesday everyone!
Since I mentioned last week that I'd be at the Fan Expo I thought I'd follow up on that a bit this week. Also, for those of you who didn't check the comments section, Gray listed some really good info about finding stuff to do in Toronto. I said that I wanted to extrapolate that data a little bit, and after checking out the info that Gray posted I've come to the conclusion that your first step in finding excitement in a new city should actually be to determine what the best venues are. If you check the page for the Convention Centre downtown it lists every event that will be hosted there for many months in advance. It's a perfect way to find something fun to do.
Okay, on to the Fan Expo. This was an interesting experience for sure. It's not one that I intend to repeat, but I'm glad that I made it there to see what it was all about. As with most things in Toronto this particular event was organized by chimps. Not particularly bright chimps either. You know how some chimps could be taught sign language, but sometime horrible people have been teaching chimps to smoke cigarettes? These would be the smoking chimps, not the sign language ones.
Okay, enough about chimps.
There were about 8 different lines to get into the place, and not a single employee had been given the slightest clue of what line any one person should be in. So I just jumped in one (the correct one, hooray for me!) and hoped for the best, but I was surrounded by people who were asking anyone in hearing range if THEY knew what line they were supposed to be in. A sea of very confused people is a strange thing to behold.
Eventually we all go in to the centre though and it was quite the event. Easily the best part of the whole show for me was the tendency for people who attend these events to show up in costume. Some of these costumes were phenomenal too, and I shudder to think of just how much work must have went into their production. If there had been somewhere to sit down I would have happily parked myself for hours and watched the flow of strangely dressed people. As it was I don't think there was a square inch of that place not occupied by one human or another.
In the end it was that constant crush of people that got to me. I've never been a very big fan of crowds, and pushing through the swarms of people just took it's toll. Despite the fact that I wasn't really DOING anything other than just wandering around it was a tiring day. Like I said, not really my cup of tea, but all the same a highly interesting experience.
Now I'm looking forward to the Food and Wine Expo! That even is still crowded, but to a lesser degree, and it's always much better organized. Also, booze. So yeah.
There was something INCREDIBLE that I saw at the Expo, which I feel the need to share with you all before I go. Some absolute geniuses at a company called Universal Designs Ltd. are making fully functional, leather motorcycle suits complete with CE-approved armour, but modelling them after suits from popular sci-fi/comic book movies. How awesome is that? Check out their website here:
http://www.udreplicas.com
The suits are somewhere in the neighbourhood of $1000, which, given that you get a jacket, pants, and gloves, and taking into consideration that I paid almost $500 for a jacket alone, you're looking at a reasonable deal. If I was even remotely in the market for a new jacket I think you'd see me riding down the road dressed like Batman.
http://www.udreplicas.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/943318265_3bk8g-L.jpg
Well, speaking of motorcycles, I think it's past time that I jumped on mine and got myself to work! I hope you're all having a lovely day, and I'll talk to you next week.
Tuesday 31 August 2010
Tuesday 24 August 2010
What To Do On the Weekend
I'm looking at going to the Fan Expo Canada this weekend: http://www.fanexpocanada.com/
I've never attended one of these conventions before, despite a long-time curiosity about them, so we'll see how it goes. Steve and Tinea are going to be in town for the Expo, and Richard can always be counted on to attend any of these conventions. It's just one of those fun things that happens once a year.
This reminds me a lot of the Gourmet Food and Wine Expo: http://www.foodandwineexpo.ca/sitepages/
We've been going to the Food and Wine Expo for a few years now and we always have a blast while we're there.
This brings me to the topic of the day: exciting once-a-year events in the town of your choice. Conventions, Expos, Fairs, events of all description are taking place all the time in the large cities of the world. The question is (and this is something that Jay and I have discussed on multiple occasions) how do you find these blood things? The Food and Wine Expo is something that Gray managed to stumble upon entirely by accident, and the only reason I know about the Fan Expo is that I've got enthusiastic friends who attend every year.
I think that events like these ones could add a lot of excitement to a vacation in a new city, but I'm never entirely certain how to find them.
So I guess in the end I'm looking (once again) for input from my audience. Those of you who have lived in the city for far longer than I have, how do you know when something exciting is going on in your hometown? I'm hoping to translate this info into a generalized strategy for figuring out unique and interesting things that are happening in the cities that I visit in the future.
Aside from that, I'm really looking forward to spend some quality time with my friends this weekend, and I'm still really excited about my trip to Portland/Victoria which is now a mere two weeks away! I hope you're all doing well, I'll talk to you next Tuesday.
I've never attended one of these conventions before, despite a long-time curiosity about them, so we'll see how it goes. Steve and Tinea are going to be in town for the Expo, and Richard can always be counted on to attend any of these conventions. It's just one of those fun things that happens once a year.
This reminds me a lot of the Gourmet Food and Wine Expo: http://www.foodandwineexpo.ca/sitepages/
We've been going to the Food and Wine Expo for a few years now and we always have a blast while we're there.
This brings me to the topic of the day: exciting once-a-year events in the town of your choice. Conventions, Expos, Fairs, events of all description are taking place all the time in the large cities of the world. The question is (and this is something that Jay and I have discussed on multiple occasions) how do you find these blood things? The Food and Wine Expo is something that Gray managed to stumble upon entirely by accident, and the only reason I know about the Fan Expo is that I've got enthusiastic friends who attend every year.
I think that events like these ones could add a lot of excitement to a vacation in a new city, but I'm never entirely certain how to find them.
So I guess in the end I'm looking (once again) for input from my audience. Those of you who have lived in the city for far longer than I have, how do you know when something exciting is going on in your hometown? I'm hoping to translate this info into a generalized strategy for figuring out unique and interesting things that are happening in the cities that I visit in the future.
Aside from that, I'm really looking forward to spend some quality time with my friends this weekend, and I'm still really excited about my trip to Portland/Victoria which is now a mere two weeks away! I hope you're all doing well, I'll talk to you next Tuesday.
A Bit Late Again
Just using the Mobile Posting option from my phone here because my connection at home has decided to flake out again. In all likelihood I just need to reboot my router(s), and I shall, but by the time they're back up and running I won't have time to actually make the post. I'll try to get it all typed up while I'm on lunch today. Sorry for the delay everyone.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
Tuesday 17 August 2010
B.C. Here I Come!
Hi everyone! Sorry about the late post today, but I didn't get a chance to make a post this morning, and then ended up at work late. Hopefully it's better late than never!
The big news this week is that I'm officially going to British Columbia next month! I'm really excited to go see all my family out that way as it's been a very long time. I'm also managing to get a visit with a friend in the fine State of Washington while I'm out West, since it's not every day that I find myself in that neighbourhood. That adds a ton of excitement to an already awesome trip!
Here's the game plan:
I leave Toronto on September 8th bound for Vancouver. I'll transfer there onto a quick flight to Portland, Oregon. For those of you wondering why I'm flying to Oregon, my friend Debbie lives in Vancouver, Washington, which is right across the Columbia River from Portland. I'll be staying in Portland just out of convenience sake... haven't booked a hotel yet, but there are lots of decent options between the airport and the border with Washington. I should arrive mid-afternoon local time, but I'm not sure how much thirst for adventure I'll have after that day of travel. Still, I'll have just short of a half-day to begin my trip, and hopefully I'll be able to make something of it because I'll only have two full days following that. The hope is to just spend so quality time with friends, and with any luck drive up to Mt. St. Helens to admire the site of Nature's wrath. Other than that VERY loose plan I'm probably going to be playing things by ear a little bit.
Early morning Saturday (the 11th) I'll be departing Portland, once again transitioning through Vancouver (B.C.) and making my way to Victoria. I'll have a full week on the Island as I won't be heading back to Toronto until the following Saturday. At this point I don't have any real concrete plans for what I'll be doing on the Island, but I've certainly got a head full of half-formed ideas. When I was but a wee lad I spent a good amount of time out on the Island and I'm looking to re-visit some of my old haunts. The sights that really stand out in my mind from those days are the Nanaimo River just for some good swimming, Cathedral Grove for some good hiking amongst HUGE trees, and just some monumental hikes along the coastline of that fair island. Beyond that it will just be great to spend some time with my B.C.-based family and chill out for a week.
Of course, this is me we're talking about, so I've already started looking into alternate means of getting myself into trouble. The fine people at http://www.cyclebc.ca/ will, I understand, be so kind as to rent me a motorcycle for a couple days. I'm not sure if that will work out logistically yet, but it's certainly a consideration. I haven't had the opportunity yet to ride through the kind of winding, mountainous terrain that the Island could offer, and I think it would be a phenomenal experience. Also, I think it could do a lot to help inform me in regards to my next motorcycle purchase, even though I suspect that such an event is still far in the future. Still, I've been checking out some of the larger, more touring-capable bikes out there, and renting something like a Suzuki V-Strom 650, or even their GS 500 would give me experience of a larger bike, and let me know if that style of machine is really what I want for my next ride.
I can be certain that my loosely-formed plans will begin to take shape as the next couple weeks pass by, and I'll keep you all posted on what my intentions for this mighty vacation are. For the most part though, I think we might just have to wait and see what I end up doing while I'm out there! It makes for more exciting blogging that way anyway.
The big news this week is that I'm officially going to British Columbia next month! I'm really excited to go see all my family out that way as it's been a very long time. I'm also managing to get a visit with a friend in the fine State of Washington while I'm out West, since it's not every day that I find myself in that neighbourhood. That adds a ton of excitement to an already awesome trip!
Here's the game plan:
I leave Toronto on September 8th bound for Vancouver. I'll transfer there onto a quick flight to Portland, Oregon. For those of you wondering why I'm flying to Oregon, my friend Debbie lives in Vancouver, Washington, which is right across the Columbia River from Portland. I'll be staying in Portland just out of convenience sake... haven't booked a hotel yet, but there are lots of decent options between the airport and the border with Washington. I should arrive mid-afternoon local time, but I'm not sure how much thirst for adventure I'll have after that day of travel. Still, I'll have just short of a half-day to begin my trip, and hopefully I'll be able to make something of it because I'll only have two full days following that. The hope is to just spend so quality time with friends, and with any luck drive up to Mt. St. Helens to admire the site of Nature's wrath. Other than that VERY loose plan I'm probably going to be playing things by ear a little bit.
Early morning Saturday (the 11th) I'll be departing Portland, once again transitioning through Vancouver (B.C.) and making my way to Victoria. I'll have a full week on the Island as I won't be heading back to Toronto until the following Saturday. At this point I don't have any real concrete plans for what I'll be doing on the Island, but I've certainly got a head full of half-formed ideas. When I was but a wee lad I spent a good amount of time out on the Island and I'm looking to re-visit some of my old haunts. The sights that really stand out in my mind from those days are the Nanaimo River just for some good swimming, Cathedral Grove for some good hiking amongst HUGE trees, and just some monumental hikes along the coastline of that fair island. Beyond that it will just be great to spend some time with my B.C.-based family and chill out for a week.
Of course, this is me we're talking about, so I've already started looking into alternate means of getting myself into trouble. The fine people at http://www.cyclebc.ca/ will, I understand, be so kind as to rent me a motorcycle for a couple days. I'm not sure if that will work out logistically yet, but it's certainly a consideration. I haven't had the opportunity yet to ride through the kind of winding, mountainous terrain that the Island could offer, and I think it would be a phenomenal experience. Also, I think it could do a lot to help inform me in regards to my next motorcycle purchase, even though I suspect that such an event is still far in the future. Still, I've been checking out some of the larger, more touring-capable bikes out there, and renting something like a Suzuki V-Strom 650, or even their GS 500 would give me experience of a larger bike, and let me know if that style of machine is really what I want for my next ride.
I can be certain that my loosely-formed plans will begin to take shape as the next couple weeks pass by, and I'll keep you all posted on what my intentions for this mighty vacation are. For the most part though, I think we might just have to wait and see what I end up doing while I'm out there! It makes for more exciting blogging that way anyway.
Tuesday 10 August 2010
Invaluable Travel Companion
Good morning everyone! I've been posting all weekend, but I haven't forgot that today is Tuesday! Actually, truth be told, I've been having a hell of a time remembering that it's Tuesday; there's nothing quite like a long weekend to mess with your perception of the week's stately march.
Since I've already told you all about my trip, I thought I'd talk a little bit about my newest toy. I'd mentioned this weekend that I spent some time with my book... which was only slightly accurate. This weekend I was travelling with an e-book reader. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, e-book readers are small, thin, lightweight devices with a special type of screen (they call them e-ink screens) that are designed to look like ink on paper. Unlike an LCD screen they don't throw any light, so you need a light source, just like with a real book. However, since it's a softer look, with no direct light emitting from it it's very easy on the eyes. Just like a real book you can sit and read for hours without eye strain.
Here are a couple pictures that illustrate the size of the device:
So, as you can see, it's pretty easy to carry around. In fact, I found on Sunday that it fit perfectly into the chest pocket of the shirt I was wearing.
The advantage to a device like this over a traditional book is that it really is very small and light, and unlike standard paper, I can a whole library on that thing. It came pre-loaded with 100 books, which only take up a little more than 10% of the 1GB built in storage, and it has an SD-card slot in it, so it can be expanded with another 4GB of memory, bringing the grand total to 5GB. If the size of the 100 books that are currently loaded is any indication that means that I could have somewhere in the neighbourhood of 5000 books in my pocket. No easy task with old-school paper.
There are dozens of these devices on the market right now. Arguably the most famous would be Amazon's Kindle, which by all accounts is a spectacular device, loaded with features. It's also incredibly expensive. I'm using the Kobo e-reader, which is sold at Chapters and represents the other side of the spectrum from the Kindle; it's not loaded with bells and whistles, it pretty much just reads e-books, and at $150 it's amongst the cheapest e-book readers on the market.
Graydyn has been using Sony's e-book reader for awhile now, just so that he has something to read on the subway to and from work. He raves about his, and it's been serving him very well. A great thing about both of our e-readers is the incredible battery life. I think in the months that Gray has been using his, and keep in mind that's probably 1 to 1.5 hours of reading every weekday, I think he's only had to charge it 2 or 3 times.
Well, that's my travel gadget suggestion for today. I absolutely adore mine, and if you enjoy having a book with you while you travel I think this is a fantastic option.
Since I've already told you all about my trip, I thought I'd talk a little bit about my newest toy. I'd mentioned this weekend that I spent some time with my book... which was only slightly accurate. This weekend I was travelling with an e-book reader. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, e-book readers are small, thin, lightweight devices with a special type of screen (they call them e-ink screens) that are designed to look like ink on paper. Unlike an LCD screen they don't throw any light, so you need a light source, just like with a real book. However, since it's a softer look, with no direct light emitting from it it's very easy on the eyes. Just like a real book you can sit and read for hours without eye strain.
Here are a couple pictures that illustrate the size of the device:
So, as you can see, it's pretty easy to carry around. In fact, I found on Sunday that it fit perfectly into the chest pocket of the shirt I was wearing.
The advantage to a device like this over a traditional book is that it really is very small and light, and unlike standard paper, I can a whole library on that thing. It came pre-loaded with 100 books, which only take up a little more than 10% of the 1GB built in storage, and it has an SD-card slot in it, so it can be expanded with another 4GB of memory, bringing the grand total to 5GB. If the size of the 100 books that are currently loaded is any indication that means that I could have somewhere in the neighbourhood of 5000 books in my pocket. No easy task with old-school paper.
There are dozens of these devices on the market right now. Arguably the most famous would be Amazon's Kindle, which by all accounts is a spectacular device, loaded with features. It's also incredibly expensive. I'm using the Kobo e-reader, which is sold at Chapters and represents the other side of the spectrum from the Kindle; it's not loaded with bells and whistles, it pretty much just reads e-books, and at $150 it's amongst the cheapest e-book readers on the market.
Graydyn has been using Sony's e-book reader for awhile now, just so that he has something to read on the subway to and from work. He raves about his, and it's been serving him very well. A great thing about both of our e-readers is the incredible battery life. I think in the months that Gray has been using his, and keep in mind that's probably 1 to 1.5 hours of reading every weekday, I think he's only had to charge it 2 or 3 times.
Well, that's my travel gadget suggestion for today. I absolutely adore mine, and if you enjoy having a book with you while you travel I think this is a fantastic option.
Monday 9 August 2010
Home At Last... At LONG Last
Good afternoon ladies and gents. Sorry for not posting yesterday, but there really wasn't much to say. We got a lot of rain in the morning, so we spent that time mostly just bumming around the lodge and driving to nearby shops. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it gave me a great opportunity to get a ride in my uncle's Toyota MR2. Big grin!
In the afternoon I just went for a jog out to the lighthouse and then chilled out in the lounge with my book. After dinner we all relaxed in the lounge and listened to Andy sing the evening away. All told a very relaxing day.
Today, not so much.
After breakfast I got right on the road, hoping to get home in the early afternoon. I made great time to Parry Sound, stopped for a bit of gas and a bag of beef jerky at the half way point, and continued on my merry way. However, it was around half way between Parry Sound and Barrie that the fine troglodytes of the Ontario Provincial Police decided that it would be amusing to shut down the highway. Now, it may seem like I'm being critical of the highway closure itself, which I'm not. I have no idea why they closed the highway, and given their track record it's entirely possible that the closure was vaguely warranted. No, my problem with our lobotomised boys in blue was that they simply blocked off the highway at a particular exit and dumped everyone using that highway out onto a meandering county road and left us to fend for ourselves. With that many cars dumped onto a road, completely devoid of directions, chaos ensued. People were stopping in the middle of the road to turn around, or try to get directions. There were hundreds of us on this tiny road, on the way to a small town where the great caravan of cars would be held up by a stop sign. In short, it took about an hour and a half to get the roughly 17km to the first small town. At that point, things sped up a bit, but aimlessly as at that point, still without signs or guidance in anyway from the imbeciles who had thrown us off the highway, the great caravan wove its way through the great Ontario back-country. With the previously mentioned stop for gas and one short washroom break being my only stops it still took just a little over 7 hours to get home. The real fun was that thanks to my detour I got into Barrie around 4:00, which was just time for traffic to start getting nasty, so even the last leg of the journey where I was back on course was a bit arduous. As usual the OPP have managed to make it look like this was everyone's first day on the job. Well done.
Okay, okay, enough ranting from me. Aside from the crumby drive home I had a great vacation. Looking forward to heading back up for some camping at the end of September.
In the afternoon I just went for a jog out to the lighthouse and then chilled out in the lounge with my book. After dinner we all relaxed in the lounge and listened to Andy sing the evening away. All told a very relaxing day.
Today, not so much.
After breakfast I got right on the road, hoping to get home in the early afternoon. I made great time to Parry Sound, stopped for a bit of gas and a bag of beef jerky at the half way point, and continued on my merry way. However, it was around half way between Parry Sound and Barrie that the fine troglodytes of the Ontario Provincial Police decided that it would be amusing to shut down the highway. Now, it may seem like I'm being critical of the highway closure itself, which I'm not. I have no idea why they closed the highway, and given their track record it's entirely possible that the closure was vaguely warranted. No, my problem with our lobotomised boys in blue was that they simply blocked off the highway at a particular exit and dumped everyone using that highway out onto a meandering county road and left us to fend for ourselves. With that many cars dumped onto a road, completely devoid of directions, chaos ensued. People were stopping in the middle of the road to turn around, or try to get directions. There were hundreds of us on this tiny road, on the way to a small town where the great caravan of cars would be held up by a stop sign. In short, it took about an hour and a half to get the roughly 17km to the first small town. At that point, things sped up a bit, but aimlessly as at that point, still without signs or guidance in anyway from the imbeciles who had thrown us off the highway, the great caravan wove its way through the great Ontario back-country. With the previously mentioned stop for gas and one short washroom break being my only stops it still took just a little over 7 hours to get home. The real fun was that thanks to my detour I got into Barrie around 4:00, which was just time for traffic to start getting nasty, so even the last leg of the journey where I was back on course was a bit arduous. As usual the OPP have managed to make it look like this was everyone's first day on the job. Well done.
Okay, okay, enough ranting from me. Aside from the crumby drive home I had a great vacation. Looking forward to heading back up for some camping at the end of September.
Saturday 7 August 2010
Just a Peaceful Day On the Water
Good evening everyone! I'm back in my room, taking a little break after dinner, and thought I'd take the opportunity to say hello.
Today after breakfast we rounded up the kayaks and got right on the water. Dad brought three of his boats: the Loon (tandem kayak,) his recently refurbished black boat, and his mighty folding kayak. Uncle John and Aunt Sue jumped in the Loon:
Mom got the folding kayak, Dad grabbed his newer one, and the left me to swim the rest of the way. Pretty tiring work really. Actually, I jest, I borrowed one from the lodge:
We took a short paddle to a nearby bay and setup for a picnic. It was a very leisurely way to spend the late morning and early afternoon. Unfortunately my camera was running low on juice and I'd left my spare battery in my room, so I didn't get a lot of pictures. I actually did have a couple more that I wanted to post today, but the upload time from here seems particularly bad this evening, so I decided to just wait and post pictures later.
I didn't do much while we were picnicking... just worked on my tan. Not sure if I got anywhere with that, but anything would be an improvement over the "white as the driven snow" look that I've been working with all summer. I really should get out more...
Unfortunately on the paddle back to the lodge I managed to cultivate a spectacular headache and spend the hours before dinner just trying to sleep it off. In hindsight I didn't have any coffee or Pepsi all day, so that probably didn't help. There's a lesson to be learned here about the dangers of caffeine addiction... if I figure it out I'll get back to you.
Well, that's about all for now. I hope you are all having a lovely day, and I'll be sure to check in again tomorrow.
Today after breakfast we rounded up the kayaks and got right on the water. Dad brought three of his boats: the Loon (tandem kayak,) his recently refurbished black boat, and his mighty folding kayak. Uncle John and Aunt Sue jumped in the Loon:
Mom got the folding kayak, Dad grabbed his newer one, and the left me to swim the rest of the way. Pretty tiring work really. Actually, I jest, I borrowed one from the lodge:
We took a short paddle to a nearby bay and setup for a picnic. It was a very leisurely way to spend the late morning and early afternoon. Unfortunately my camera was running low on juice and I'd left my spare battery in my room, so I didn't get a lot of pictures. I actually did have a couple more that I wanted to post today, but the upload time from here seems particularly bad this evening, so I decided to just wait and post pictures later.
I didn't do much while we were picnicking... just worked on my tan. Not sure if I got anywhere with that, but anything would be an improvement over the "white as the driven snow" look that I've been working with all summer. I really should get out more...
Unfortunately on the paddle back to the lodge I managed to cultivate a spectacular headache and spend the hours before dinner just trying to sleep it off. In hindsight I didn't have any coffee or Pepsi all day, so that probably didn't help. There's a lesson to be learned here about the dangers of caffeine addiction... if I figure it out I'll get back to you.
Well, that's about all for now. I hope you are all having a lovely day, and I'll be sure to check in again tomorrow.
Friday 6 August 2010
Live From Killarney
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are live! I'm sitting in my room right now at the Killarney Mountain Lodge (which will hereby be referred to as KML for brevity's sake) and I've got a strong WiFi signal! This is exactly the kind of situation that I got my Netbook for, and this is where it shines. I'm traveling, but my computer setup, my programs, even the keyboard that I'm typing on, all are very familiar and I can quickly organize my photos and post to my blog. I can't imagine the level of detail that I could have presented while in Japan if I'd had this little beauty with me. Ah well, no sense dwelling on that now.
I don't have a great deal to say yet, since today was largely given over to travel, but I'll touch on the highlights anyway.
I got up at my usual time this morning as if I was going to work. This allowed me to take my time getting ready and still be fed and on the road by 10:30. I headed North to Newmarket to bypass the 401 and about half of the 400... still managed to run into traffic on the 400 though. That road is mental. Still made good time though, and arrived here at 3:00. The traffic was good most of the way up once I got North of Barrie, although oddly enough all the rest stops were PACKED with people... I guess that's why the roads were so clear.
Once I'd arrived I checked-in, and got myself settled (i.e. I threw my backpack on the bed and headed right back out again)
I managed to find Uncle John and Aunt Sue pretty quickly, and then went and found my parents. Once I'd touched base with everyone I quickly made my way to Herbert's Fisheries for some fish and chips. Since the rest stops along the way were so busy I didn't take the time to get much of a lunch on my way here and I was starving. I took this picture of the KML grounds on my way so that you can all see what a lovely day it is:
After my brief photography stop I had the BEST. FISH AND CHIPS. EVER. You may think you have experienced excellent fish and chips, but until you've had Herbert's you are only getting the runner-up. Seriously. Drive to Killarney and get some. Now, if possible.
This blog post sponsored by Her.... errrr... nothing.
Mmmmm... fish and chips. Yes, I know they spelled my name wrong on the box, but at least they correctly determined that I'm number 1. I would have edited the photo so that my name was correct, but it turns out that I'm horribly lazy, and not really that good at photo editing.
After that I spent a little time sitting my the pool while my Dad took a lesson on rolling a kayak. I would have joined him, but I was still a bit tired from the drive up. (Please reference previous statement in regards to my laziness.)
After that it was dinner, one of the highlights of KML experience. What a restaurant they have here! We just finished that up and I retired back here to get a blog post in. I think tomorrow will be devoted to kayaking, picnicking, and swimming. Life's tough. I'll try to take more photos tomorrow, although with the slightly sluggish WiFi I may not be able to get huge amounts uploaded. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes.
I hope everyone is doing well. I know Jay has already expressed his regret at not being here, and believe me buddy we'd all love it if you were here too. As you mentioned though, it's becoming a tradition, so count on it for next year!
Until tomorrow everyone!
I don't have a great deal to say yet, since today was largely given over to travel, but I'll touch on the highlights anyway.
I got up at my usual time this morning as if I was going to work. This allowed me to take my time getting ready and still be fed and on the road by 10:30. I headed North to Newmarket to bypass the 401 and about half of the 400... still managed to run into traffic on the 400 though. That road is mental. Still made good time though, and arrived here at 3:00. The traffic was good most of the way up once I got North of Barrie, although oddly enough all the rest stops were PACKED with people... I guess that's why the roads were so clear.
Once I'd arrived I checked-in, and got myself settled (i.e. I threw my backpack on the bed and headed right back out again)
I managed to find Uncle John and Aunt Sue pretty quickly, and then went and found my parents. Once I'd touched base with everyone I quickly made my way to Herbert's Fisheries for some fish and chips. Since the rest stops along the way were so busy I didn't take the time to get much of a lunch on my way here and I was starving. I took this picture of the KML grounds on my way so that you can all see what a lovely day it is:
After my brief photography stop I had the BEST. FISH AND CHIPS. EVER. You may think you have experienced excellent fish and chips, but until you've had Herbert's you are only getting the runner-up. Seriously. Drive to Killarney and get some. Now, if possible.
This blog post sponsored by Her.... errrr... nothing.
Mmmmm... fish and chips. Yes, I know they spelled my name wrong on the box, but at least they correctly determined that I'm number 1. I would have edited the photo so that my name was correct, but it turns out that I'm horribly lazy, and not really that good at photo editing.
After that I spent a little time sitting my the pool while my Dad took a lesson on rolling a kayak. I would have joined him, but I was still a bit tired from the drive up. (Please reference previous statement in regards to my laziness.)
After that it was dinner, one of the highlights of KML experience. What a restaurant they have here! We just finished that up and I retired back here to get a blog post in. I think tomorrow will be devoted to kayaking, picnicking, and swimming. Life's tough. I'll try to take more photos tomorrow, although with the slightly sluggish WiFi I may not be able to get huge amounts uploaded. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes.
I hope everyone is doing well. I know Jay has already expressed his regret at not being here, and believe me buddy we'd all love it if you were here too. As you mentioned though, it's becoming a tradition, so count on it for next year!
Until tomorrow everyone!
Tuesday 3 August 2010
Getting Ready to Roll Again
Hello ladies and gents, and happy Tuesday!
I'm afraid that I don't have much to say this week. I'm getting ready to head up to Killarney on Friday though, so that's excellent. I'm going to drive up Friday morning, spend a few days up there, and come home Monday morning. Should be a really nice, relaxing long weekend. I'm not doing any camping, just boating, hiking, fishing, and all that good stuff from the comfort of the lodge. I'll have my netbook with my while I'm up there, but I'm uncertain as to whether or not I'll actually have any WiFi to speak of. If I've got a strong net connection I'll try to blog as I go, otherwise I'll just do my best to keep good notes and tell you all about it next Tuesday.
Unfortunately I'm having a bit of a busy Tuesday morning. Sorry everyone, but I'm going to have to make this a quick post. I've got a few things to deal with before heading in to work. With any luck I'll have another post up by Friday from Killarney!
Have a great week everyone.
I'm afraid that I don't have much to say this week. I'm getting ready to head up to Killarney on Friday though, so that's excellent. I'm going to drive up Friday morning, spend a few days up there, and come home Monday morning. Should be a really nice, relaxing long weekend. I'm not doing any camping, just boating, hiking, fishing, and all that good stuff from the comfort of the lodge. I'll have my netbook with my while I'm up there, but I'm uncertain as to whether or not I'll actually have any WiFi to speak of. If I've got a strong net connection I'll try to blog as I go, otherwise I'll just do my best to keep good notes and tell you all about it next Tuesday.
Unfortunately I'm having a bit of a busy Tuesday morning. Sorry everyone, but I'm going to have to make this a quick post. I've got a few things to deal with before heading in to work. With any luck I'll have another post up by Friday from Killarney!
Have a great week everyone.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)