Thursday, Sept 20
We were up pretty early yesterday to get to the plane.  Lloyd picked us up at about 5:20am, and we were at the airport at about 6:00.  After we checked our bags (we brought one more than we were allowed so had to pay for the extra), we waited until Karen brought mom and dad.

Once we got their bags checked in, we went through security and waited until it was time to load the plane.  At about 6:30am, they called us to load, and we were ready to go.  The flight to Calgary was about an hour, and went very smoothly.

Once in Calgary, we had a 4 hour wait, and spent part of the time having breakfast.  Then it was a long wait.  Dawn and I walked around the part of the airport where we were allowed to go.  It is a lot bigger than Kamloops, but once you have seen one of the shops, you've pretty much seen all of them.  We were pretty tired of waiting, by the time they called our flight to London.  Flying is great, but the waiting is a pain.

The flight was scheduled for 3 hours 10 minutes, and we thought that was pretty good to go that far in that short of time.  The plane went up to almost 40 000 feet at about 500 miles per hour and until we got closer to Ontario, the sky was pretty clear.  The route we followed took us through the north-eastern tip of Montana, North Dakota, Wisconsin, over Green Bay, Michigan and Lake Michigan, and then to London, Ontario.  It was mostly cloudy by the time we got to Michigan, so we couldn't see much of the water.  However, just before we got into London, the clouds broke, and we could see the shore of Lake Huron as we were coming down in elevation.  It was dusk by that time, and by the time we got landed and into the airport, it was dark (7:30 in Ontario, but 4:30 in BC).  Getting the bags and finding the car we had rented went pretty well, and we left the airport at about 8:00pm.

I set up the GPS, punched in Shirley's address in Chatham, and off we went.  We stopped at a truck stop dad knew about, and had something to eat, so lost about 45 minutes.  The car took some time to get used to.  It was a brand new Taurus, and seemed to have lots of features.  It was a button start, so that is something I will have to get used to.  The dash is great, but most of the indicators for sound, temperature, etc., are on a screen.  Finding the buttons that work things will take some time, and are best not attempted while driving on strange highways at night.  I did manage to figure out the cruise control, but couldn't figure out the temperature controls for the air conditioner.

We arrived at Shirley's at about 10 pm EDT.  Old GPS Jill took us directly there with no trouble.  I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to find it without her.  Dad knew the way and would have been able to direct us, but we were able to rely on Jill to get us there.

Shirley was still up when we got in, so met us at the door.  We went in and visited for about an hour before Dawn and I decided we needed to go to bed.  We don't know why we were feeling so tired, because it was only about 8:30 BC time, but tired we were.  Shirley had a double bed for us to sleep in, and it didn't take long to fall asleep.


Friday, Sept. 21
First day in Ontario, and it was a little difficult getting up early.  When we finally got up (about 9:00 here, but only 6:00 in Kamloops), we sat around, drank coffee, and gabbed for a few hours.

After the folks ate some lunch, we decided to go for a drive so dad could show us Ridgetown, where he grew up.  Mom decided to stay home and rest, and Shirley came with us for the drive.  Ridgetown is about half an hour's drive from Chatham, so it didn't take long to get there.  We drove around the town, looking for and finding some of the houses where he lived when he was a little boy.

Ridgetown is a pretty little town (pop. about 35 000), and we found the old houses really interesting to look at.  There are lots of bricks here, as there must have been a brick factory around there at some time.  The old houses were great to see.  We also stopped at a bakery in downtown Ridgetown, and while the ladies were in buying some bread, I took a couple photos of of a very fancy church that was across the street.

We drove to Morpeth, and went by Carol and Earl's place.  Talked with Earl for a while, and then drove off to have a look at Lake Erie.  We drove along the shoreline, and took a couple pictures there, and drove as far as Rondeau Park, a provincial park on a spit of land that went out into Lake Erie.  We didn't go into the park as there was a fee, but Shirley says it is very busy during the summer.  There were a lot of very nice places along the lake, as well as a number of summer cottages.

Then we decided to head back home, so we had to stop and buy a few groceries for supper.  Dawn cooked supper - salmon, potatoes, broccoli, and coleslaw.  For desert we had apple pie that had been purchased at the bakery in Ridgetown.  A great dinner.

Uncle Don phoned when we were just ready to sit down and eat, so after supper, dad and I went to his place to bring him over to Shirley's house for a visit.  We sat around and visited, and then Dawn and I went downstairs to watch the Hamilton/Winnipeg football game.

When Don was ready to go back home, we took him back, and then settled in to finish the game.  Shirley has satellite TV, and we could watch our local station (CFJC), if we wanted to.  We were getting tired, but dad, Shirley, Dawn and I stayed downstairs to watch the rest of the football game.  Shirley was pretty tired and kept falling asleep and we felt a little guilty.  Not guilty enough, though, to turn off the TV and go upstairs so she could go to bed. ;-)

I was keeping an eye on how the Blazers were doing on my phone app, but it didn't start until 10:15 here, so we only knew the score after the first period.  However, on waking this morning, we happily discovered that the Blazers had beaten Kelowna, in overtime.  A great start to the season.


Saturday, Sept. 22
Got up and had coffee, and then sat around for a while.  Carol Hall came over for a visit.  It was nice to sit down and talk for a few hours - lots of old war stories and reminiscing for dad, Shirley and Carol.

The folks had lunch, and after things were cleaned up, and Carol left, we decided what we were going to do.  We decided to drive to Erieau to have a feed of fish for supper.  Shirley had been going to make a reservation, but forgot to so we decided to take a chance on the place they wanted to take us - Molly and OJ's - which seems to have quite a reputation for perch.

We thought that without a reservation, we should be there fairly early, so left for Erieau at about 4:30.  After driving to Lake Erie, we drove along a very nice beach, looking at some nice houses and cottages.  It wasn't hard to imagine how busy this place must be during the height of summer.  It was quite nice.

Then we came to Erieau, and dad and Shirley wanted to show us where the coal boats used to unload.  We drove onto a pier, where the coal boats were protected from the weather on the lake, and took a few pictures.  Then, back to the restaurant and our attempt to get in.  Luckily, we were there early enough to snag the last table that was large enough to seat all 5 of us.  Most of the rest of the open tables had reservation signs on them, so we felt quite lucky to have gotten a place to sit.  While we were eating, there were a number of couples and groups turned away due to no tables.

After that, it was back to Shirley's house to let the meal relax in our stomachs.  The sunset on the way was beautiful, and Dawn spent much of the drive trying to capture the perfect silhouette of a windmill against the orange sky.

Once home, mom decided to go to bed, while dad, Shirley, Dawn and I went downstairs to watch the BC Lions play in Edmonton against the Eskimos.  BC didn't look great in the first half, getting almost nothing in the first quarter, and not much more in the 2nd.  They were behind by 9 points at the half, and things didn't look good, but they have been a second half team for most of this year, so I felt pretty comfortable.

In the 2nd half, BC's defence came out gangbusters, and basically held the Eskimos to nothing in the 3rd quarter, and not much more in the 4th.  BC's offence started to move the ball, keeping Edmonton's defence on the field more than they were in the first half.

In the end, BC was able to come back and win the game, but there wasn't any more room for error.  The difference at the end of the game was 1 point, and BC's defence was the main reason for that.

By then, it was more than time to get to bed as we were getting up early in the morning and heading off to the baseball game in Detroit.


Sunday, Sept. 23
I had the alarm set for 7:00, so we wouldn't sleep too late, and when it went off, Dawn and I showered and were ready to go just after 8:00.  We knew it was only about an hour's drive to Windsor, but had no idea how long it would take to get over the border into Michigan.  As it was, there was no wait, and after talking with the border guard and getting some directions from him, we were there.  The tunnel comes out just a short distance from Comerica Park, and within 5 minutes of entering the US, we were at the Stadium.  Well, this was far too early, so we decided to drive around and find someplace to eat.

Like Seattle and Vancouver, the big stadia are built in the old part of the city centre, and this part of Detroit was pretty old and run-down.  There were many derelict buildings, and many homes in quite a state of disrepair.  It was sad to see them because some of them looked like they must have been nice places at one time or another.

We didn't come across any places where we felt comfortable stopping to eat, so decided to head back toward the ball park to find a restaurant.  On the way back, we came across an IHop, and decided to stop in there.  It was busy and quite full, but we got right in.  Not a bad place, and not a bad brunch.

Then, off to the ball game.  We took a few pictures on the way into the park, and then a few of the field, once we got in.  It is a nice looking park, and our seats were in the seventh row along the third base line.  Dawn was excited because Miguel Cabrerra was playing 3rd base for Detroit, and he was about 20 metres from where we sat.

The game was pretty good for the first 5 innings.  Detroit had scored a couple runs, but in the 6th inning, the roof fell in.  Minnesota seemed to be able to hit anything pitched to them, or Detroit could not keep from making a pile of mistakes.  By the end of the 6th, Minnesota was up 5-2.  It kept going that way, with Detroit using lots of pitchers, and giving up lots of runs.  The final score was 10-4.

Then it was off to drive back to Chatham.  We thought we would like to try going back over the bridge, rather than through the tunnel.  However, I went the wrong direction, and even though GPS Jill was giving constant direction to change direction and go back where we had come from, I thought she was just trying to get us to go to the tunnel, so kept going.  Eventually, we decided to go back and find the tunnel to go through.  As it turned out, the bridge was on the other side of the tunnel, so we never would have found it going the way we had been going.

We knew we had to go past the entrance to the tunnel to get to the bridge, so that is what we decided to do.  However, when the highway split, I took the wrong split and couldn't get back to the correct one, so we thought we would just go through the tunnel.

Once back in Canada (Windsor), we felt we were hungry and began looking for a McDonald s.  Dawn was putting Red Lobster into the GPS, but she wasn't having any luck finding one.  As soon as I saw a McDonald's, I pulled into the parking lot.  I decided to try one last time for Red Lobster, and we found one that was 7 km from where we were, and we decided to go there.

Once there, we were able to get in very quickly, had a great meal of "endless shrimp" and were very full when we left.  Then, setting the GPS for Shirley's place, we were back there in just less than an hour.  It was to bed, shortly after that.


Monday, Sept. 24
We didn't do much today.  We had planned on going for a drive to see some more of the places dad wanted to show us, but we were somewhat tired from our big trip yesterday, so we ended up staying home.  Dawn cooked a lasagna supper, and we ate, really big.

In the evening, we watched Monday Night Football, and when Seattle didn't score with 2 minutes remaining, Dawn and I went to bed.  It was 11:40 by this time, so we were again tired.  Shortly after we turned out the lights, Shirley was outside our door, calling Dawn to come and watch the last play.

It all boiled down to Seattle getting credit for a 4th down touchdown, that looked like it was an interception by Green Bay.  However, once the play was okayed, Seattle did win.  This has certainly created lots of controversy, and may be the final impetus to get the NFL referees back to work.


Tuesday, Sept. 25
We were determined to get something done today, so once we got up and showered, we were soon ready to leave.  Mom and dad had to eat breakfast, so that took time, and we were ready to leave about 11:00.

First we drove around some of the places where dad's family had lived while he was growing up.  He showed us one of his school buildings, which was now a hall.  It was a great looking old building, with a steeple, and doors on opposite sides of the building.  Dad said that the boys went in on the right side, and the girls on the left side.

Then we drove around some more, looking at places where different members of the family were born.  We ended up going to a campground on Lake Erie where Carol and Earl used to go.  It was quite windy, but a nice place to be.  The waves were crashing in pretty hard.  There was a single car parked at the picnic parking lot, and we noticed that it was from Washington State, so spoke with the 2 women who were driving it.  We told them we were from BC, and we had quite a laugh that all of us were so far from home, and met up with someone from much closer.

Then we headed off again.  We got back into Ridgetown, and stopped at the Tim Horton's for a bite to eat (coffee and donut).  Then off again, looking at more places.  Dad took us all over, and I was able to recognize some of the places as we had been there in the previous days.  It would take some time, and I still can't figure out which direction is north.

Shirley was at home, cooking a roast chicken, so we headed off and were home about 3:00.  She phoned Julie Ann to let her know we were back, and Julie came over for a visit.  She visited with us for a few hours, and shortly before supper was ready, she went home.

The chicken was excellent - mashed potatoes, cauliflower, stuffing, chicken and gravy, and a special salad.  MMMM-MMMMM GOOD.  Very full when done, and Dawn and I did the dishes.

Later we tuned in the Kamloops news on Shirley's satellite.  It was 8:00 in Chatham, but only 5:00 in Kamloops.  We were quite interested in the press conference that had taken place that day, in British Columbia.  It was nice to hear that they thought they knew who had been killing some of the women over the past 40 years, and had confirmed that this guy had been the killer of 1 of the 18 cases.  He is also suspect in 2 of the deaths from the Kamloops area.  We then watched the news on Global BC, so we could get more of the same story.

After that, we went downstairs and watched some sports on the TV down there.  As it got closer to 11:00, we decided we were tired and headed off to bed.


Wednesday, Sept. 26
We got up at 7:00 in the morning and quickly showered, because we were heading off to Niagara Falls and toward Toronto.  We were in the car and on our way at about 8:15, heading up the 401 to near Talbotville, where we followed highway 3 for most of the rest of the day (at least until we got to Fort Erie.  There we went right down to the Niagara River, and followed the road along the river until we reached the falls.  There were some pretty large, expensive homes along the river, and we figured the people living there were part of the very rich in Canada.

They were pretty spectacular, but it was also very expensive to park along the river, so we went into the town of Niagara Falls.  Well, we were not impressed.  It felt very much like a carnival town, where they seemed to have lots of things to scam the tourists.  We stopped for lunch at a restaurant, and the waiter seemed to be too busy to give us much attention.  After waiting a long time for it to come, and then for him to re-fill our drinks, and then bring our bill, we grew tired of waiting for him to come to our table so we could pay and leave.  I'm afraid I was not overly polite when I finally was able to pay.

We didn't feel like staying there, so took off, and decided we would stop near Hamilton.  Well, we got there quite quickly, and decided to carry on.  I had investigated a Best Western in Brampton before we left, so we decided to go to Brampton.  We checked in for at least one night, but we may decide to stay here both Thursday and Friday nights.

Thursday, Sept 29
We got up in the morning, had breakfast at the hotel, and then got ready to drive into Toronto for the ball game.  We had plenty of time, so were able to find our way into the area where Rogers Centre is, and do some tourist type things for most of the day. We decided to go for a drive.  We travelled east of the Rogers Centre to see what we could see.  We ended up in a section of town that is a lot like then Kerrisdale area of Vancouver.  Quite interesting to see the houses and the streetcars that drove up and down the main streets.

Then it was back downtown to find a parking spot before the game (Toronto Blue Jays vs New York Yankees).  After turning down an expensive parking spot, we found one that was$10 for the rest of the day, and  $18 for the evening (we turned down one that was going to charge $50 for the rest of the day and the evening).  It was about 3 blocks from the stadium, so not too bad.  We walked around the area where the park is, up and down Front St.

We went into what looked to be a market in an old warehouse.  It was, but it was very busy and crowded, and after having a somewhat quick look around at many of the shops, we moved on.  Walking farther east, on Front St., we looked into more shops

 After what seemed like a couple kilometres, we were getting tired and hungry, so looked for a place to eat.  We were going to eat at McDonald's, but it was very busy.  Across the street was a pub that looked interesting so we went in there.  It was great - a sports bar that wasn't busy.  The owner sat down and talked with us for a while.  We asked him all sorts of questions about the area, and who came to the bar, and those sorts of things.  Turns out he has a cousin who lives in Langley, so it was like he knew where we were talking about when we spoke of Kamloops.  Great food in this little place.

We walked to the Hockey Hall of Fame, and went in for a tour.  That was really interesting, and we got to see lots of hockey memorabilia.  There was even a Kamloops Blazers jersey in there, that was donated by Shane Doan from one of the Memorial Cup runs.  I was starting to cough, but felt that this was due to the walking along the congested streets that were under construction.  I was to find out differently tomorrow morning.

Next, to the baseball game.  We went in early, walked around a bit and saw many of the sights of the park.  One of the first things that stood out for me was to see Ichiro talking with some Japanese fans who were in the stands.  It was during the warm up, and he seemed to really be hitting it off with them.  Our seats were along the first base line, and we had a really good view of the players as they warmed up, and then during the game.  This was a great game.  Toronto won 6-0, and we left quite happy with what we had seen.

It took us a while, but we were able to find our way back to Brampton, in the dark.  Boy are those highways busy.  However, GPS Jill was great, and gave us pretty good directions, although sometimes she was slow in getting them to us, but we did find our way back.

Friday, Sept 28
Got up this morning not feeling well at all.  My cough had grown to a full fledged cold, and I was stuffed up and congested.  After showering and eating breakfast, we went looking for a pharmacy so I could buy some cough syrup and other things to stop the coughing and phlegm.  My ribs hurt from coughing.

We stayed close to the hotel for much of the day, and then about 4:00, headed of for the ball field.  GPS Jill indicated it was about a half hour, and we were at our parking lot by 5:00.  Paid to get in, and then we sat in the car and watched the construction around us, and the folks who were getting off work.

At 5:30 we headed up to Rogers Place, and had to wait 5 minutes for the doors to open.  Our seats for this game were more expensive, but we were closer to home plate.  We could see the players well, and could hear some of the things they were saying to each other and the fans.  Got some photos of Jeeter, A-Rod, and others, as the Yankees were having batting practice again.

Once the game started, it was clear that the Yankees were going to play better.  They were getting some hits, and scoring some runs.  The Blue Jays outhit them for much of the game, but didn't score too many runs.  In the end, New York basically hammered the Jays.

We left in the 9th inning, as Toronto was coming up to bat.  It was far easier walking to our car tonight, than it was last night when the Jays won.  I guess lots of people had left already.  We didn't have to wait to get out of the parking lot, or into the correct lane for the turn I had to make on Spadina Ave.  The drive to Brampton was again, less than half an hour, so things weren't too bad.

We hadn't eaten dinner, so we found a McDonalds and had a bite to eat.  Then back to the hotel.  I started the computer and got the Blazers game on the radio.  There were only a few minutes left in the third period, and the score was tied 3 - 3.  Well, they played through overtime, and in the shootout, Victoria scored more times than the Blazers did, so we didn't win that game either.  Hopefully we will be home in time to hear how they do on Sunday's game in Victoria.

Saturday Sept 29
Got up in the morning not feeling real well, but we were heading back to Chatham.  We didn;t feel much like eating breakfast, so left as soon as we showered and packed our bags.  We were on the road by 9:00, and headed out to highway 401.  Old GPS Jill tried to take us to the toll highway (407) but we outsmarted her and stuck to our guns to get to 401.  Once on that highway, it was clear sailing to Chatham.

The road was fairly busy and I had to pay attention so I wouldn't get into the wrong lane and end up getting off the freeway.  Dawn did see a sign indicating a potter, so she asked if we could pull off and find it.  However, once off at the exit, it appeared that the potter was 27 km off the highway, and we decided not to go.  So, we moved right back onto the freeway and kept going.  The next stop was for something to eat.  We pulled off at an OnRoute to get a couple sandwiches at Tim Hortons.

Then on to Chatham and Shirley's house.  We got there shortly after 12:00 and they were just eating.  We weren't hungry, so by the time we got in and our stuff into our room, they were done.  We visited a while, and then Dawn and I went downstairs.  I wasn't feeling too well, and fell asleep.  I guess Carol and Earl came over, and Dawn went upstairs, but I was not doing well and stayed downstairs.  Carol came down to say goodbye about 4:30, so I woke up and went to see them off.

Shirley took us out to dinner at a nice restaurant, and that was basically it for the evening.  When we got home, we went downstairs to catch the tail end of the Regina football game, but were too tired to stay up for the Lions game.  In retrospect, it was likely a good thing as they lost.  Shirley told us it was 17-1 at the end of the first half, but she went to sleep, too.

Sunday, Sept. 30
We didn't sleep too well overnight.  I guess it was anticipation of getting up and going to the airport, and getting everything ready in time.  We sure didn't want to miss our plane.  As it was, everyone was up, and we were ready to go about 8:00, which was an hour earlier than I expected to get away.  We knew Shirley was going to church and wouldn't get herself ready until we left, so about 8:40, we packed the car and left, after our goodbyes.

The drive to London was uneventful.  It was an hour or so of straight, flat freeway.  Traffic didn't start getting heavy until just before London.  We were looking for the place we had eaten when we arrived, and found it.  Had a good breakfast, and then headed off toward the airport.  It's amazing how different things look in the daylight.  I had no idea we had gone some of the places we had when we flew in.  At least now, we could see them.

At the airport, we unloaded the car at the entrance, and I had to take it and park it in the rental area.  Then we had to officially return it, which was quite easy.  I hope there are no other charges that will show up, but I'm sure we will get billed for using the toll freeway, sometime in the near future.

Once we checked in, it was up to the departure area, through security, and then sit and wait for our plane.  After about 2 hours, our flight stopped in Winnipeg for about half an hour, and then we were off to Calgary for another 2 hour flight.  We discovered that we could watch TV and listen to what was going on, so spent much of our time watching football and golf.

In Calgary, we had a long wait.  It was supposed to be about 3 and a half hours, but something went wrong with their computers, and things got backed up a lot.  The terminal was very full, and getting a seat was a problem.  Of course with planes not being able to take off, it was quite a wait.  Finally, they were able to get things going, and we boarded our plane about an hour late.  I was texting Christie and Karen to keep them informed, and they were both at the airport in Kamloops to meet us.

Then it was a matter of collecting our bags, loading them in the cars, and heading home.  We were pretty tired, so it wasn't long before we were in bed.