Thursday, August 27, 2009

Vacation 2009 Part 3

I want to go see Fallingwater tomorrow, an Architectural creation by Frank Lloyd Wright. I tried booking tickets online but the site wasn't working and it's too late to call. Up at 9:30am, booked tickets for 12pm a little later thn I wanted but we will still get to go on a tour. We were on the road by 9:40am headed for Fallingwater. We past by Ohiopyle and Cucumber falls and stopped for a look, the falls were not that large but pretty none the less. We first stopped at Kentuck Knob the only other house in the area created by Frank Lloyd Wright. After Kentuck we made it to Mill Run, PA and Fallingwater and had our tour, spectacular. 1:30pm back on the road and headed to Niagara Fall, ON. 5:30pm Erie, PA 3000km and ate at the Bob Evans Restaurant. In Erie, PA one enterprising business is selling Pepper Spray, Stun Guns and Sugar Free Fudge. I guess they don't want you hopped up on sugar and going off half cocked with their stun guns. We know where all the corn comes from, Erie, PA that's where, miles and miles of corn fields. 7:30pm back in Canada 3172km, still sunny, 7:50pm through customs. 8:30pm Niagara Falls, wow there are a lot of people here and know we know why, wow the falls are amazing. 9pm stuck in construction which they do in the evening so it doesn't disturb daytime traffic, smart. Three lanes of traffic down to a crawl, then the traffic started driving on the shoulder making it four lanes of traffic. We soon found out why, there was an exit up ahead and the traffic was exiting to another parallel route to avoid the construction, Seeing as we didn't want to impede the traffic flow we followed. 10:00pm arrived at Kitchener, On and Tony and Kerry Rajottes house. Past KIN Canada National President Bruce Lloyd and his wife Mary were visiting as well.

Tony and I went shopping for a toilet. They have a program in Toronto where they want people to save water The program credits your account if you buy a low flow toilet and with the credit it only cost
Tony $44 for the toilet. We went to a huge outdoor market that runs every day through the summer, not like the markets back home that only operate on Sunday. Arlene bought a necklaces and two table runners. We had a wonderful BBQ for dinner and Arlene was in bed by 9pm. Gordon the hedgehog was out for a visit running around the yard and paid no mind to the Rajoettes dogs or the rowdy people on the deck. Arlene had heat stroke throughout the evening and didn't sleep well. Mon. 30C and off to KIN Canada National Headquarters in Cambridge, ON. 12Pm 34C, smog alert, 839km, $70, welcome back to high gas prices. Toronto Zoo, very hot and all the animals were hiding from the heat. I don't get it they charge you money for entrance and money for parking, how did they think you were going to get there? We passed a horrific car crash on the 401, a Winnebago was rear ended by a semi-truck. The semi's bumper was at the side door, where you would exit the Winnebago. There was debris for about a 1/4km behind the accident and traffic was backed up for about 5km, I hope no one was hurt.

5:30pm arrived at Sean, Karen's in time for supper with their family, Kendra, Megan, Conner and Madeline. Tues. french toast made on the BBQ for breakfast. On the road at 9:30am headed for Ottawa. We past an anorexic jogger who must have been shuffling at a walking speed, maybe he was going to get food. Kingston, ON $90.6/L, why so low? 12Pm Ottawa, ON and the Canadian National War Museum. 1:20pm we went to Parliament Hill and went to lunch nearby. We had a short visit with a past co worker of mine, Alex Cleremont.

2:30pm onto Montreal, we passed a lot of farms and more corn. Who eats all the corn? 3:35pm 4000km, highway sign $895 fine for traveling 160km/hr and 10pts., they have to advertise this because there is a problem, wow. 4:30pm stuck in rush hour traffic in Montreal, it's at least better than screaming by at 110km/hr. 5Pm still in rush hour traffic, buses are the way to go, they even get their own special lane. 5:40pm stopped for a bathroom break and had to speak french to communicate. Arlene is the better of the two of us at french, all I could muster was merci. 5:50pm 4185km first rain since Hfx. it was still sunny and we saw two rainbows. 6:25pm turned onto the 55 south and boy are the roads bad, I can hardly read Arlenes notes.

6:35pm US border and we were the only car for miles. 7:30pm Litteton, NH white mountain, very scenic and we even saw some deer. 9Pm Best Western, clerk gave us a room and when we went to the room it was already occupied. We went back to the front desk and got another room and they felt so bad they gave us a $20 per night reduction. Apparently the maintenance mad wanted a room but didn't tell the front desk. 8:30am on the road to the White Mountains, on the #302, breakfast at the Twin Mountain Trading Post. 9:00amd 22C and at 10it was 29C, it's going to be hot today. We saw two wild turkeys on the side of the road near North Conway, NH. 10:30am entering Maine #302. Arlene stopped at Payless for cheap shoes. 1Pm Augusta, MA, 2pm Bangor 31C and lunch at Quiznos. “John” says we will be home by 11:30pm. 4:30pm 537km $37 last cheap gas, we crossed the border and are in Canada by 4:35pm. We were the 17th car in line and they opened a new line and now were #3, woo hoo. 4:40pm 5000km somewhere in NB.6:30pm Fredericton, NB and headed to Moncton, NB. 7Pm Gagetown, NB 27C, still no moose. If two goose are geese, why are two moose, moose and not meese? “John” now says we will be home by 11:09. 8pm saw a coyote on the side of the road, alive, still no moose. 8:10 Moncton, NB 8:30 Sackville, NB, 8:35 we entered NS and home smells much better. We drove through a swarm of bugs that were hitting the windshield like rain. I didn't dare turn on the wipers because I figured that would make a bigger mess. 9:13pm Wentworth toll, last toll. 10:30pm home, 5530km 16C. I have TomTom on my phone and it works off of satellites and cell towers. With the high cost of using a cell phone we relied on the gps part of the phone, the gps reception wasn't very great and the TopTom didn't work very well at times. You can customize the voices on the TomTom and I have John Cleese, so we affectionately call the phone John. The great road trip is over. I want to go again tomorrow, Arlene, not so much.

No comments: