First Day in Toronto

Thursday, Sept. 27

We got up relatively early (7:30), and after getting ready, went to the lounge for breakfast.  Not bad - I made waffles for both of us, and they were pretty good.

Gas Station

By 10:30, we were ready to head into Toronto for the day.  We set GPS Jill for Rogers Centre so we could see where we needed to go.  She took us there, but there were a number of things on the way.  First, our gas gauge indicated that we needed to fill up - very soon - so we found a place to pull off for gas.  Punching in gas stations, we found we were only a short distance from a station, so we headed there and filled up.

Then, back onto the freeway, to continue the drive into TO.  It is only about a half hour drive from where we are staying in Brampton and that seemed about right.  We got onto Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) which took us along the shores of Lake Ontario.  Very pretty to look at, and we stopped at a park that ran along the highway and the Lake.

Lake Ontario

Congestion Near Rogers Centre

Park on the Lake

After a short walk and some photos, we were back in the car to continue to Rogers Centre.  Well, it got very busy and congested, with lots of twists and turns, and very aggressive drivers.  Once we say where we had to go, we decided to get out of the busy area, and drove along the shore, to the east.  After going through and industrial area, we got off the highway and ended up in Cabbagetown (at least this is what we were told by a shop owner we spoke to later on).  It was old, the houses very close together, and the trolley buses on rails ran down the streets.  We drove for a while, and then decided to turn around and go back downtown and park, so we could walk around.

Cabbagetown

 

Back downtown, and we had to find a parking spot.  The first public parking I pulled into said it would cost me $50 to park for the rest of the day and for the ball game.  We drove back out and looked for another.  The next place was $30 dollars - $12 until 6:00, and $18 for the game after 6:00.  We went in and were directed to a spot where a construction worker was just vacating.

We got out and began to walk around.  First up the block and to Rogers Centre so we would know where we were.  Then, back out onto the main road for a walk along the road.  Lots of construction going on, so the street was very busy and noisy.  We kept heading east, looking for a market we had seen when we were driving.  Finally got to it, a few long blocks farther than we had thought.  We went in and found it to be similar to Granville Island, with lots of little shops of various ethnicities.  Dawn found a place with souvenirs, and purchased something, but we found this too congested for us, and left shortly afterward.

Lunch at the Pub

Pub Interior

We were getting hungry by this time, so started looking for a restaurant.  There were lots of them around, but most looked quite expensive.  Finally, we agreed on a little pub, so went in.  It was small, and basically empty at that time of the day.  It reminded me a lot of the Cheers bar.  The owner came over and took our order, and then came back to sit with us to talk about sports and the various teams.  It turned out that he has a relative who lives in Langley, so he knows a bit about BC.  Our lunch was great, and we thoroughly enjoyed our sandwiches.

Hall of Fame Entrance

Walkway to Hall of Fame

Then we left, and headed to the Hockey Hall of Fame, which was only a few blocks west.  It wasn't too bad to get in, and we spent at least a couple hours inside looking at all the exhibits.  There certainly were a lot of things to look at, including a Kamloops Blazers jersey donated by Shane Doan.  We were getting very tired, and when we finally heard the sounds of a movie, we found it and went in to watch the end of it.  It was about the 1972 Canada-Russia hockey series.  It was very interesting (the part that was left when we arrived), and we quite enjoyed it.  Then, there were a few more things for us to see, and we decided to head back to the car to rest our feet before going to the game (this was about 4:30).

Score Clock

Turning in the Lineups

We sat in the car until 5:30, and then walked over to the stadium (only a couple blocks).  We had to walk down the ramp to the first level, and then we could see the field.  The Yankees were having batting practice when we got in, and Ichiro was right in front of us, warming up.  We found our seats which were in row 20, about equal to first base.  The only problems were that they were seats 1 and 2, and we ended up standing up a lot to let people in and out, and the people walking up and down the steps, along with the vendors, really got in our way.  However, the Blue Jays had a great game, winning 6-0.  Brett Lawrie hit a home run to drive in the first 2 runs, and they went on from there.

All day, I had been coughing lightly, and began to feel a bit of a sore throat coming on.  By the time we got back to our hotel in Brampton, I was coughing lots, my throat hurt a lot, and my nose was stuffed up.  I could only think about flying home on Sunday, in that plane with all the others, passing on my germs.  I took a couple ibuprophen before crawling into bed, and must have slept fairly well, although it felt like I was up coughing, a number of times.  This morning, it was definitely a cold, and we had to get some cough syrup and other cold remedies.

Off To Niagara Falls

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.

Another Day to Snoop Around

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 doughnut).  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.

A Lazy Day

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.

Ball Game in Detroit

Sunday, Sept. 23

The Field After We Left the Tunnel

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 disrepair.  It was quite sad to see them because some of them looked like they must have been quite 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.

Miguel Cabrerra

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 McDonalds.  Dawn was putting Red Lobster into the GPS, but she wasn't having any luck finding one.  As soon as I saw a McDonalds, 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.

Visits and a Perch Dinner

Molly and O.J.s

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.

Sillhouette of a Windmill

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.

Visit to Ridgetown

Church in Ridgetown

Downtown Ridgetown

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 and hour's drive from Chatham, so it didn't take long to get there.  We drove around the town, looking for and finding where 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.

Lake Erie

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 hime 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.