Do you ever just get fixated on a particular vacation idea? Lately mine has been roadtripping. Every time I'm in my truck heading somewhere I want to just keep on rollin'. I'm not sure exactly what it is that's got me so keen to go for a drive. It could be just the simplicity of it all; when I'm driving down the road it means that I'm listening to good music (by my standards) and I'm not doing whatever it is that "needs" to be done at that particular moment. I'm just driving. It's also a very personal means of travel. Don't get me wrong, I'm still keen on flying, but only because it can get me to far-away locations in a hurry. The actual process of flying isn't very fun at all. Driving on the other hand lets you see each and every mile you cover while it whistles past your side windows.
This is, of course, a perfectly awful time of year to be having yearnings for a road trip. The weather is just starting to turn foul, and even if I drove South I'd be murdering my winter tires. Also, my bike's in storage, so I couldn't just throw it in to the back of the truck and go somewhere with twisty roads. I think I'm just going to have to put these roadtrip desires on hold for a little while... but sometimes getting an idea out of my head can be a difficult thing.
I should probably also get a tonneau cover for my truck if I want to bring anything more substantial than a backpack with me. Of course, who needs anything more substantial than a backpack?
Okay, I know it's a short post this week, but I just wanted to share my daydream with everyone. Have a great week and I'll talk to you all next Tuesday.
Tuesday 30 November 2010
Tuesday 23 November 2010
Food, Wine and Travel
How do you like the title of this post? Can't think of what more you could want from life!
This past Saturday I attended the Gourmet Food and Wine Expo in sunny downtown Toronto. It's an annual event that takes place every November and I highly recommend that anyone who can get themselves to GTA check it out next year.
The show floor is divided into sections, each of which has it's own booths. There are collections of booths serving food everywhere, but the wine booths tend to be grouped into the country of origin, which makes for really interesting sampling. Also starting to make their presence known a little more this year were the beer and liquor booths. It's our third or fourth year attending the Expo, and it's interesting to see the shift in what's being offered at the show as it diversifies away from just food and wine. The other type of booth that is starting to become more prevalent is the travel booth. It's a sensible thing really when the wines are already being divided up by country; a tourism representative for each country just nestles in amongst the wine vendors and reminds everyone that if they're enjoying that wine there's a place where it can be found in abundance.
While I was visiting France (the section... sigh) I was able to pick up a package of tourism information for Gray and Susan who are in the process of planning a European Adventure. Also I drank some French wines, which failed to upset me in any way.
I sampled a 1985 Port while I was in the vintages section, which I think may be the oldest thing I've ever drank.
It seems like I can't attend the Expo without making some startling discovery, and this year was no exception. For the first time at the Expo there was a massive representation from The Republic of Georgia (that's the one near Russia, not the American State) which came as a huge surprise to me. Even more surprising than finding out that Georgia makes wine was discovering how good it is! I was told by one of their representatives that the region has been producing exceptional wines for centuries, but that in recent years the entirety of their stock has been exported to Russia; the demand was there and it was close so why not? Now that relations with Russia have soured however they are looking for new markets and have been kind enough to bring their wines to North America. They're right in the midst of a major marketing push to get the word out about their wines, and I'm here to help spread the good word. Well worth checking out.
In a couple weeks Gray and I will be attending The Tequila Show downtown, which should be interesting. If it follows the same format as the Food and Wine Expo (buy tickets, trade tickets for booze, drink booze) then I think the Show may last about 20-30 minutes for me before I fall over. 2oz samples of wine can be consumed for a long period of time without the effects getting too distressing... tequila? Hmmm....
Well my friends the time has come once again for me to get out there and find some adventure. I'll report in again next week on whatever I come up with. Until then, be well.
This past Saturday I attended the Gourmet Food and Wine Expo in sunny downtown Toronto. It's an annual event that takes place every November and I highly recommend that anyone who can get themselves to GTA check it out next year.
The show floor is divided into sections, each of which has it's own booths. There are collections of booths serving food everywhere, but the wine booths tend to be grouped into the country of origin, which makes for really interesting sampling. Also starting to make their presence known a little more this year were the beer and liquor booths. It's our third or fourth year attending the Expo, and it's interesting to see the shift in what's being offered at the show as it diversifies away from just food and wine. The other type of booth that is starting to become more prevalent is the travel booth. It's a sensible thing really when the wines are already being divided up by country; a tourism representative for each country just nestles in amongst the wine vendors and reminds everyone that if they're enjoying that wine there's a place where it can be found in abundance.
While I was visiting France (the section... sigh) I was able to pick up a package of tourism information for Gray and Susan who are in the process of planning a European Adventure. Also I drank some French wines, which failed to upset me in any way.
I sampled a 1985 Port while I was in the vintages section, which I think may be the oldest thing I've ever drank.
It seems like I can't attend the Expo without making some startling discovery, and this year was no exception. For the first time at the Expo there was a massive representation from The Republic of Georgia (that's the one near Russia, not the American State) which came as a huge surprise to me. Even more surprising than finding out that Georgia makes wine was discovering how good it is! I was told by one of their representatives that the region has been producing exceptional wines for centuries, but that in recent years the entirety of their stock has been exported to Russia; the demand was there and it was close so why not? Now that relations with Russia have soured however they are looking for new markets and have been kind enough to bring their wines to North America. They're right in the midst of a major marketing push to get the word out about their wines, and I'm here to help spread the good word. Well worth checking out.
In a couple weeks Gray and I will be attending The Tequila Show downtown, which should be interesting. If it follows the same format as the Food and Wine Expo (buy tickets, trade tickets for booze, drink booze) then I think the Show may last about 20-30 minutes for me before I fall over. 2oz samples of wine can be consumed for a long period of time without the effects getting too distressing... tequila? Hmmm....
Well my friends the time has come once again for me to get out there and find some adventure. I'll report in again next week on whatever I come up with. Until then, be well.
Tuesday 16 November 2010
Winter Fast Approaches
Good morning my friends! The date today is November 16th, and it's a beautiful sunny day out today. The sunshine and warm(ish) weather make it pretty hard to get motivated to prepare for winter, but we all know that it could strike at any moment, so that's what I was doing this past weekend. My dear truck has gone in to the shop and had some winter tires put on (BF Goodrich Winter Slalom KSI for those who are interested) as well as some mud flaps. Of course now the weather, which was getting colder by the day, seems to have levelled off and is holding right around the maximum recommended temperature range for winter tires, so I'm constantly concerned about driving and causing unnecessary wear on my tires. Oh well, better than being caught in the snow unprepared.
After getting my tires installed I headed over to Canadian Tire to pick up an ice scraper for my windshield. It's the kind of thing that so common that you don't really think about it, but it would have been very embarrassing to be caught without.
There's a hotdog stand outside of my local Canadian Tire, and I stopped there to grab a hotdog on my way out. I was just standing there soaking up the warm sunshine, enjoying my lunch, and it occurred to me that there wouldn't be many chances to do that left in this calendar year. It's funny how we begin to savour these simple, summer activities when we know that winter is almost upon us. I've grabbed many a hotdog from that stand in my day, but for some reason the impending cold and gloom just made it taste that much better. I guess it's just part of living in a part of the world with rapidly changing seasons; you learn to enjoy what you've got while you've got it.
Of course, it doesn't have to be cold outside for me to get excited for Vegas! I'm getting pretty pumped to head South. I know that it's not going to be tropically warm down there in January, but it'll be a lot warmer there than it will be here in January. I'm sure I'll be very happy to get whatever weather Vegas throws at us.
We have been examining another potential activity for our trip down there, which may seem like a bit of a strange holiday adventure. We're thinking about hitting a gun range. Yup, that's right. Firearms. It may seem like an unusual thing for me to be seeking out, but I'm viewing this as an opportunity to try an activity that just isn't available to me here in Canada. Las Vegas' aptly named The Gun Store (http://www.thegunstorelasvegas.com/) features a firing range in which you can rent weapons from a massive catalogue. Everything from James Bond's famous Walther P99, to the infamous AK-47. They advertise that you can come shoot a real machine gun, appealing to the fact that machine guns aren't exactly commonplace items. However, for me handling any gun would be a unique and exciting experience. I've asked some enthusiast friends around here and they've assured me that, while The Gun Store will rent me a pistol to fire off a couple rounds, here in Ontario that would be quite against the law. So, as strange an activity as it may be, I think I'm going to jump on it just because it's an opportunity to do something that simply isn't available as an activity in my area.
Well my friends, that's about all for me this week. Here's hoping that you're all having a great day, and that wherever you are right now, it's still free from winter's grasp.
After getting my tires installed I headed over to Canadian Tire to pick up an ice scraper for my windshield. It's the kind of thing that so common that you don't really think about it, but it would have been very embarrassing to be caught without.
There's a hotdog stand outside of my local Canadian Tire, and I stopped there to grab a hotdog on my way out. I was just standing there soaking up the warm sunshine, enjoying my lunch, and it occurred to me that there wouldn't be many chances to do that left in this calendar year. It's funny how we begin to savour these simple, summer activities when we know that winter is almost upon us. I've grabbed many a hotdog from that stand in my day, but for some reason the impending cold and gloom just made it taste that much better. I guess it's just part of living in a part of the world with rapidly changing seasons; you learn to enjoy what you've got while you've got it.
Of course, it doesn't have to be cold outside for me to get excited for Vegas! I'm getting pretty pumped to head South. I know that it's not going to be tropically warm down there in January, but it'll be a lot warmer there than it will be here in January. I'm sure I'll be very happy to get whatever weather Vegas throws at us.
We have been examining another potential activity for our trip down there, which may seem like a bit of a strange holiday adventure. We're thinking about hitting a gun range. Yup, that's right. Firearms. It may seem like an unusual thing for me to be seeking out, but I'm viewing this as an opportunity to try an activity that just isn't available to me here in Canada. Las Vegas' aptly named The Gun Store (http://www.thegunstorelasvegas.com/) features a firing range in which you can rent weapons from a massive catalogue. Everything from James Bond's famous Walther P99, to the infamous AK-47. They advertise that you can come shoot a real machine gun, appealing to the fact that machine guns aren't exactly commonplace items. However, for me handling any gun would be a unique and exciting experience. I've asked some enthusiast friends around here and they've assured me that, while The Gun Store will rent me a pistol to fire off a couple rounds, here in Ontario that would be quite against the law. So, as strange an activity as it may be, I think I'm going to jump on it just because it's an opportunity to do something that simply isn't available as an activity in my area.
Well my friends, that's about all for me this week. Here's hoping that you're all having a great day, and that wherever you are right now, it's still free from winter's grasp.
Tuesday 9 November 2010
Who Was That Masked Man?
It's not every day that I see a news headline that I feel applies to the average traveler, but I couldn't help feeling like this latest piece of news just might apply to us all. On October 29th a young man was taken into custody in Vancouver after arriving there on an Air Canada flight from Hong Kong. The reason that this young Asian man was arrested was that he boarded the plane as an elderly Caucasian man. Frankly, I'm just incredibly impressed with the quality of his mask! He really put some serious effort into this! I wouldn't dream of re-posting a news agency's photos, but I will link you to today's CBC article which has a couple great shots of this mask:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/11/08/masked-man-immigration-panel.html?ref=rss
So, what does this mean for the rest of us a travelers? Probably nothing. Hopefully nothing. But...
Do you remember that case a few years back where a guy tried to blow up a plane by sneaking explosives on board in the soles of his shoes? Anyone who has flown recently remembers that story very well as they march barefoot through the metal detectors so that their shoes can be subjected to a more thorough examination. It's this "well we'd better be careful about this one specific thing" sort of a reaction that I'm the most afraid of right now. As soon as I read the first article about this fellow that everyone is calling "The Masked Man" my immediate reaction was a mental image of a security guard pulling on some poor elderly man's jowls screaming "I know you're a Chinese kid! Why won't this mask come off?" Hopefully that's just a side effect of having watched Austin Powers a few too many times.
In other news, the plans are still taking shape for Vegas. Mom, who sadly seems to have difficulties posting on this blog (I really need to get my own site that I have more control over) has made a suggestion about a spectacular light show. I believe that was called the Fremont Street Experience. Looks to be well worth checking out. I've managed to procure some really excellent seats to see Penn & Teller's magic show while we're there, so I'm very happy about that.
One of the sights that I am particularly keen to visit is Red Rock Canyon. It's just on the outskirts of Vegas, and a great place to go for a desert hike. My quest to find transportation out there has lead me to a really interesting option: http://www.dreamcarrentals.com/ These guys rent out luxury cars, but you don't have to break the bank for a 1-day rental. Yes, it's true the Lamborghini Gallardo would cost me $1,350 for the day, which is slightly out of my price range, but a much more reasonable $189 would get me behind the wheel of a BMW Z4, which I think would be a lovely way to get out to the canyon. If I'm feeling really adventurous I could even drop $159 and get on the back of a Honda CBR600... essentially the big brother of my little motorcycle. Oh decisions, decisions.
Speaking of my esteemed little CBR125, Yoshi has sadly had to go into hibernation for the winter. I put him in storage on Saturday... the same day I went and purchased winter tires for my truck... blah. Winter is nearly upon us my friends. Time to start thinking a lot more about trips to the desert.
That's all from me this week. Tune in next week for more exciting tales from the trip-planning department. Have a great week everyone.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/11/08/masked-man-immigration-panel.html?ref=rss
So, what does this mean for the rest of us a travelers? Probably nothing. Hopefully nothing. But...
Do you remember that case a few years back where a guy tried to blow up a plane by sneaking explosives on board in the soles of his shoes? Anyone who has flown recently remembers that story very well as they march barefoot through the metal detectors so that their shoes can be subjected to a more thorough examination. It's this "well we'd better be careful about this one specific thing" sort of a reaction that I'm the most afraid of right now. As soon as I read the first article about this fellow that everyone is calling "The Masked Man" my immediate reaction was a mental image of a security guard pulling on some poor elderly man's jowls screaming "I know you're a Chinese kid! Why won't this mask come off?" Hopefully that's just a side effect of having watched Austin Powers a few too many times.
In other news, the plans are still taking shape for Vegas. Mom, who sadly seems to have difficulties posting on this blog (I really need to get my own site that I have more control over) has made a suggestion about a spectacular light show. I believe that was called the Fremont Street Experience. Looks to be well worth checking out. I've managed to procure some really excellent seats to see Penn & Teller's magic show while we're there, so I'm very happy about that.
One of the sights that I am particularly keen to visit is Red Rock Canyon. It's just on the outskirts of Vegas, and a great place to go for a desert hike. My quest to find transportation out there has lead me to a really interesting option: http://www.dreamcarrentals.com/ These guys rent out luxury cars, but you don't have to break the bank for a 1-day rental. Yes, it's true the Lamborghini Gallardo would cost me $1,350 for the day, which is slightly out of my price range, but a much more reasonable $189 would get me behind the wheel of a BMW Z4, which I think would be a lovely way to get out to the canyon. If I'm feeling really adventurous I could even drop $159 and get on the back of a Honda CBR600... essentially the big brother of my little motorcycle. Oh decisions, decisions.
Speaking of my esteemed little CBR125, Yoshi has sadly had to go into hibernation for the winter. I put him in storage on Saturday... the same day I went and purchased winter tires for my truck... blah. Winter is nearly upon us my friends. Time to start thinking a lot more about trips to the desert.
That's all from me this week. Tune in next week for more exciting tales from the trip-planning department. Have a great week everyone.
Tuesday 2 November 2010
The Ball Is Rolling Again
Happy Tuesday everyone!
I'm happy to report that my internet service was restored shortly after my last blog post, and I am now writing this post comfortably on my home computer instead of trying to punch it out on my BlackBerry.
Since my camping trip with Dad at the end of September I haven't had any trips on the books, which is always a painful situation for me. I'm happy to say that I've remedied that situation. I believe I had alluded to the possibility of visiting Las Vegas earlier, but I can now officially say that that trip is booked!
I'm heading out on January 8th and staying until the 12th for one of those common 4-day Vegas excursions. I'm heading out with my friends Richard and Baseet, and we'll be staying in The Luxor, which should be pretty cool. It's funny because that hotel is very close to The Excalibur, which is where I stayed when I was in Vegas as a kid.
My next mission is to procure tickets to Penn & Teller's live show, which I've always wanted to see. Hopefully I have no issues completing that mission. Graydyn has also found a really awesome looking place to go zip-lining, which I'd like to check out. I couldn't find any mention of price on their website (http://www.bcflightlines.com/) so that could be scary... another thing I'll have to inquire into before we leave. Other than that, we have no specific plans, but I'm quite certain that three guys in Vegas are perfectly capable of finding adventure.
The zip line adventure would be a nice opportunity to get out into the desert, which is really all I want to do while in Vegas. I'm hoping that I'll get a chance to visit Red Rock Canyon at some point too.
I love this phase of the "Vacation Lifecycle"; the flights and hotel are booked, we're definitely going, and now we just need to decide what to do while we're there. Of course, it being Las Vegas the options are limitless! It's very exciting!
Well, I need to godaydream about Vegas to work, so I'd better be off. With Vegas as such a popular destination though, I'm sure lots of you have suggestions for leisure activities, and I'd be happy to hear your suggestions. Just keep it clean folks, I know I'm heading to Sin City, but my Grandma reads this blog!
See you all next week!
I'm happy to report that my internet service was restored shortly after my last blog post, and I am now writing this post comfortably on my home computer instead of trying to punch it out on my BlackBerry.
Since my camping trip with Dad at the end of September I haven't had any trips on the books, which is always a painful situation for me. I'm happy to say that I've remedied that situation. I believe I had alluded to the possibility of visiting Las Vegas earlier, but I can now officially say that that trip is booked!
I'm heading out on January 8th and staying until the 12th for one of those common 4-day Vegas excursions. I'm heading out with my friends Richard and Baseet, and we'll be staying in The Luxor, which should be pretty cool. It's funny because that hotel is very close to The Excalibur, which is where I stayed when I was in Vegas as a kid.
My next mission is to procure tickets to Penn & Teller's live show, which I've always wanted to see. Hopefully I have no issues completing that mission. Graydyn has also found a really awesome looking place to go zip-lining, which I'd like to check out. I couldn't find any mention of price on their website (http://www.bcflightlines.com/) so that could be scary... another thing I'll have to inquire into before we leave. Other than that, we have no specific plans, but I'm quite certain that three guys in Vegas are perfectly capable of finding adventure.
The zip line adventure would be a nice opportunity to get out into the desert, which is really all I want to do while in Vegas. I'm hoping that I'll get a chance to visit Red Rock Canyon at some point too.
I love this phase of the "Vacation Lifecycle"; the flights and hotel are booked, we're definitely going, and now we just need to decide what to do while we're there. Of course, it being Las Vegas the options are limitless! It's very exciting!
Well, I need to go
See you all next week!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)