July 4, 2003 Thursday - Ate Breakfast in Brandon at 6:00am which was really 5:00am SK time.  Saw the Manitoba legislature and war memorial which was just up the street from the bus station. The bus was late leaving Winnipeg since it had a flat tire before it got to us.  A flat on a bus seems to be unusual.  We made many little stops including Kenora, Dryden, and then Thunder Bay at 9:00pm local time.  James and I walked to the the mall and had supper there, after HMV thought I was stealing because I set their alarm off when I entered.  It turned out my camera bag had a tag sewn inside it that was still "sensitized" to their detector.  Not since buying a phone in Ottawa and entering the Bay did I experience that joy of playing "find the hidden tag".

July 5, 2003 Friday - In Sault St. Marie I bought a half dozen donuts at Timmy's and ate them over the rest of the day.  Mmmmmm sugar.  In Sudbury we went across the street to a Liquidation World and when we crossed the street on the way back a driver slowed down, honked at James and rolled down the window to tell him he was an "Fing Ahole", presumably because he made the driver slow down for a pedestrian.  From then on, poor/angry drivers were remarked to be "a long way from their home in Sudbury".  There were no crosswalks for 3 blocks in both directions, so it wasn't like we had any other way to cross the street.  The bus was delayed leaving Sudbury too.
    On the way we got to see 5 movies.  Madeline [5/10], I Spy [6/10], Just Married [7/10], xXx [8/10], and National Security [7/10]. We rolled into Toronto coming in on Avenue Road [strange name for a street, huh?], and got to the station pretty much on time, which was the theme for travel in Canada - leave late, and then arrive early or on time.  James and I politely listened to this fellow who was bilingual and upon arriving in Toronto from Montreal found that his friend who was taking him to Windsor had ditched him and he needed just $70 to make it back home, since he had a sack of money from asking others earlier.  I said nope, and James said he already gave someone his money [I think he actually had], and we walked away.  A restaurant owner told us as we were walking away, "Don't listen to those guys, the story's always the same," and we nodded at his friendly advice.  We had supper at Subway [the first Subway meal of many] and saw our Montreal friend in the street again elsewhere on our way down Bay St to Union Station.

July 6, 2003 Saturday - We visited the Royal Ontario Museum, and spent a good chunk of the day there, after walking around the Legislature until the museum opened at 10:00.  There were cannons in front of the building that I figured could take a good chunk out of the building down the street if someone was eager enough to load them.  James pointed out that the wooden blocks they were in would turn to splinters if they were fired.  I figured it best to leave them un-powdered, and un-lit for the time being.
    The CN Tower was now $18.99 for a trip up, so we passed and watched the Metalica fans streaming past into the SkyDome for what was surely a performance the RIAA could be proud of.  With our newly found $18.99, we went to the Eaton Center where James spent his on a Staind CD, and I kept mine for later.  We went to National Car rental and had to wait 30 minutes for our booked car to show up, because they overbooked that day.  The first car to show up was a Chrysler Intrepid, the Blind-spot car of the year.  We went home to my Grandma's, dodging the festival on Yonge St as we drove there for supper.  I saw the school my uncle went to for a bit, while we were eating in the restaurant.  I forget what I had, but it was very good.

July 7, 2003 Sunday - We got up early, and started driving in mild traffic on the 401 to Kitchener/Waterloo to pick up Kelly.  After barely getting lost [left instead of right at just one place], we got back on the road to Niagara.  Unfortunately the Hamilton by-pass was not marked with actual road signs, and we discovered that Hamilton's Main St. is very long and one way.  Finally we ditched the traffic nightmare of Hamilton, found the QEW freeway, and onto Niagara On The Lake we went. We went to Brock's monument and actually climbed the 200+ stairs to the top.  The original monument had been destroyed once by a man in the 19th Century.
    Then we looked for the Chippewa battlefield.  After driving around the right "area" for about 10 minutes we tried asking two locals, one at the 7-11 and another at a hotel.  Neither knew about it.  We finally found it after I noticed an "information for tourist" shop just where we decided to park to look at our inadaquate map more closely. We had lunch at East Side Marios restaurant, and looked at a museum across the street on Lundy's Lane where the curator actually turned on an Edison wax disk player for Kelly and I, and we heard music recorded 100 years ago.  I had left my camera in the car, and that is one of the few things I wish I hadn't missed getting a video of.  There was an impressive display upstairs of the slave trade in Canada and the US, and of an ancient telephone switchboard.  They had displays of everyone who tried to make it alive over the Falls, and failed. Farther up the street was an old cemetery.  The acid rain has been hard on it.
    At the end of the day we saw a fort that was closed, and stopped by Lake Ontario for a few minutes.  I could see Toronto across the water with my binoculars.
We ate supper at Wendy's in Waterloo and headed back for Toronto just as it got dark out.  The road plugged up almost before we got out of the city, and we spent time waiting in the car, stop and go for about 20 minutes while the police directed people in one lane past a rolled car in the ditch.  The car had thrown gravel up onto the road it went off so hard.  We got back to Toronto and learned that "Express way" is what we wanted to exit on, to the left of the 401 that we were on.  We ended up using the Toronto map to its full value, as we drove along Eglinton Ave. toward Yonge St. which was still blocked by the street parties.  Eglinton isn't too pretty in the part we drove through, but there was only one drunk man walking down the middle of the street, during the whole 20 minute drive.

July 8, 2003 Monday - Early in the morning James and I headed to Kingston along the 401 Highway.  We again didn't learn to keep left and ended up back in Eastern Toronto before I found a way out on the map.  That added about 10 minutes to our trip.  Anyway we made it to Kingston and barely found the Fort Henry area.  It was not visible from the road, but was above an information center that explained where it was.  James was less than thrilled with the signage, and I don't blame him.  RMC was better marked on signs.
    We spent a good chunk of the afternoon at Fort Henry, watching the flintlock 1853 guns being fired against a wall, and took the tour seeing the toilets that Nazi prisoners used to escape through, and other things like Grapeshot canons and loopholes[?] to fire out of.  They had a goat mascot there even, and there were canons mounted on huge tracks that looked like a semi circular train track.
    We looked around the Royal Military College that James wanted to see [he almost went to University there], and another old fort on that property.  Then we drove into Kingston and found banks and a place to eat.  Someone asked us for directions to a Greek place, and at first I said I didn't know where it was, but then I remembered where it was when I walked past it earlier.  I told the guy where it was, and he didn't believe me!  He thought I was lying I guess, and asked this homeless guy within ear shot where the restaurant was, right in front of me.  It wasn't hard to find homeless people on this main street in Kingston.  I figured it to be about 1 homeless every 2.5 blocks.
    I ate supper at Pizza Pizza, and James ate elsewhere after seeing his first Pizza Pizza "restaurant".  I had wings which were good, and we ate on a bench on the extra wide sidewalk.  I saw these ladies almost run down by this car that tore around this 60degree corner at a stupid intersection that is designed to control population and raise insurance rates. The car weaved by them, almost nipping their heels, if I remember it correctly.
    We drove down the highway to Gananoque which is by the St. Lawrence river and stayed the night there with relatives.  We twisted our car rental agreement slightly, and drove right up to the cabin walkway, but it was a snap, James had to do all the driving.  The car survived the rocks and we even managed to turn it around so we didn't have to back up all the way back down the "road" to the cabin.

July 9 Tuesday - Upper Canada Village park was the next stop.  The admission wasn't cheap, but the town is an elaborate reconstruction of a town from 1866, with people acting as people would then.  There is a mill, a broom maker, tin smith, tavern, yarn factory, and much more. James and I had so much fun, and tiring walking, that we didn't leave until 3:30pm.  We had to be at the Ottawa airport by 5:00pm to return the car.  I thought, "no problem, it isn't that far," but I didn't account for the slow highways.  There were stretches that were only 80km/h and at one point 2 police cars went flying past the other way so I suppose someone couldn't even drive safely at that speed.  With just 20 minutes to go we were barely in Ottawa, and hitting many red lights.  We got to the airport with 12 minutes left and we realized we didn't know where to return the car precisely.  I saw a National car retal sign and hopped out to ask.  The guy explained where to go, so  ran back to the car, we took off, parked in the right place and were returning the keys with just 4 minutes to spare and $110 saved. Close call, and we vowed, "never again".
    I gave a friend in the city a call and some family, and we headed to a hotel on Montreal Ave.  The bus ride there was remarkably easy, and to make use of my $6 day pass on the busses, I headed back to Parliament at 9:00pm.  When I got there I was treated to a free light show projected onto the center block, while I and many others sat on the Hill.  After I wandered over to the Canal past the War Monument and ended up in a park I hadn't been too.  I could hear loud music from somewhere over there, and when I got close enough I could hear Sheryl Crow singing at the Blues Festival.  I sat on the other side of the fence, not really able to see the stage, but within good [and safe] hearing distance.  I stayed for about 30 minutes while she wrapped up and did an encore.  When I and others were leaving, there was this "smell" in the air near some stairs up to Colonol By Drive. This obviously very high Scottish-Canadian was proclaiming "Smoke your dope, but keep it clean, you've got to keep it clean!", and "I love the smell of marijuana, it makes me horny.  Does it make you horny too?", he asked many people.  Some were heckling him,"OK, Thumper," as I just smiled and nodded to keep him disinterested in talking to me.  The bus ride back to the hotel was less interesting.

July 10 Wednesday - In the morning we went to the War Museum.  In my 8 months of being in Ottawa, I never made it there so I was glad to go.  It was very worth it, and I had my picture taken infront of a French WWI plane, and saw a piece of the Berlin Wall.  I went to the National Art Gallery next and the Royal Canadian Mint after walking a long way up Sussex St. to see the PM's at 24, and even part of Rideau Hall's entrance.  Stornaway was also somewhere there, but not well labeled so I'm not sure if I saw it or not.  24 Sussex had a huge gate with barricade beyond it, and RCMP car parked beyond that.  There were some tense moments when James though his camera had jammed, but it was a false alarm luckily.
    For lunch James and I had a hotdog on Sussex, which was slightly disapointing after our wonderful experience outside the ROM in Toronto. For supper we went to my favourite Lebanon place on Dalhousie St. and I had the chicken platter.  I don't think James was disapointed with my recommendation, and probably got a kick out of the Egyptian[?] TV playing, like I do.  One of the cooks is running for Ottawa city office, so he was all dressed up and humourously conversational.

July 11, Thursday - We toured Parliament outside until it opened up, and then got the first tour inside with a girl from SK.  Then we checked out of the hotel, lugging our huge backpacks and I met with Kris at the Supreme Court while James headed over across the river to the Museum of Civilization.  I took a 15 minute tour of the Court, and walked with Kris to Parliament along the river.  Then I went across the Alexandria Bridge too, and watched 2 IMAX movies Stomp's PULSE [6/10] and Adrenelin Rush [9/10] which was fantastic.  There was a shot looking over a cliff in the first person perspective that made more than a few people in the audience gasp.  I can only wish it was a 3D film.
    Then we walked back to the busses, and caught our VIA train to Montreal where we met James' cousin.  We ate at a place known for its Sangria drink which has fruit floating in it, and we all finished the pitcher after a couple hours.  During our meal, this 30-something lady came along with a waitress and started pawing at the latches on the patio gate just behind our candle lit table.  She started to explain to us with drunken gestures that she had to get away from her boyfriend who was near the front door somewhere.  We moved our table before she knocked something over with her movements, and they managed to bang the back gate open for her.  She thanked us all profusely and made her escape as the gate and table was returned to normal.  About 5 mintues later when we were again in conversation, this short guy came along with a bit of a frown on his face and started to try to open the gate.  He gave up, probably thinking it was too tough to open with our table there and all, and left.  Montreal can be a strange place.

July 12, Friday - Slept in.  Oh yeah!  I really needed to sleep in, and then I did laundry.  Jame did laundry too, unfortunately he washed a little too much of his stuff though as I'll explain later. I spent the day lazing around, walking around trying to find a bibliotheque [library] to use the Internet.  I ran across some displays for the Just for Laughs festival, but nothing going on.  The library was closed, and the next day I found out that I needed to be a member to use it.  I didn't bother to ask if there was a guest pass because I was short on time on Saturday.
    Anyway, I watched Futurama episodes where Fry and the gang go back in time to WWII and he accidentially kills his potential grandfather in a nuclear explosion, so he grandfathers himself, and one of the Xmas episodes with Santa Claus the evil robot.  When Grahm came back from work, we watched "Old School" [6/10] with Will Farrel from Saturday Night Live.  The catch line of the movie: "Dude!  That's Awesome!" became our favourite saying when something semi-bad happened. Like in New York, after James had acquired a sun burn of nuclear proportions, I said, "Dude, that's Awesome! You have a sunburn on your neck!".  Trust me it will be funny after you've seen the movie.

July 13, Saturday - I walked down to the Planetarium, which wasn't yet open so I missed it two years in a row.  I walked up Ste. Catherine St. and there was this sidewalk sale on and I watched some games and such while I ate my lunch on the steps of a large art or museum complex.  At the bus station later, we were trying to convince the people behind the ticket counter glass to reissue a bus pass to James who'd had his nearly totally destroyed by yesterday's laundry incident.  The nice people decided that there was enough proof of the pass, from the reciept James had kept safe and the remains, so we rolled on to Quebec unhindered.  We walked around the Old city for a few minutes then took a cab out to our hotel in what was supposed to be the closest Comfort brand inn to downtown.  Some close!  It was a $21 cab ride away.  Beside the hotel was a mall with a Famous Players and Imax so we went over to see a movie.  All of the movies, T3, Charlie's Angels, Hulk, were in French.  Not an English one on the menu.  So we left.

July 14, Sunday - Cool weather and light rain hindered our visit to the Citidel, but we went anyway, me using my emergency poncho for the first time.  The cab ride in was cheaper, and much much faster.  The dude may have smoked in his cab before we got there, but boy could he drive.
 
 

July 18, 2003
    Entered the United States of America via Montreal and through Albany I met a New Yorker who had lived in Canda for many years..

August 18, 2003
    Returned home from Edmonton today leaving at 6:00am after the vallet finally found the car under the last name of "Buick".  Drove around the eastern and southern part of Calgary today, after missing the turn off on 16th Ave which is really the Number 1 Highway.  I had lunch at Wendy's in Medicine Hat the Gas City, and stopped in Swift Current for a few minutes at the mall.  I was happy we got home just a little after 6:00pm.

August 25, 2003
    I started an eBay Group the other day to help people learn more about computers.  I also carted a truck full of monitors over to storage, and am planning on setting up a workstation over at the old school that I can experiment and text equipment on.  An old VCR I got in an auction lot for $5 may be easy for Dad to fix because it is almost identical to our first VCR in the '80s.