After our long drive across ND and MN, we opted for another long drive across WI and MI. We left Duluth a little late, but were very clean! Princess trimmed my beard, so now it's
shapely and I'm presentable, and then we wrestled for a bit (I won) before I had to jump in the pool to cool off. The mosquitos and humidity were quite intense - I haven't had both in a
long while. We headed east and crossed over the outlet waters of Lake Supe
rior, immediately jumping into Wisconsin. Northern Wisconsin is much like Northern Minnesota (and most farnorths of the US) in that it's a lot of forested land, with the highway cutting a straight path through. Much of our road across WI followed the southeastern shore of Lake Superior, and
when we got to Ashland, we stopped for lunch at the South Shore Brewery in town. We did a little WiFi, chowed down on Whitefish sandwiches, fresh out of Lake Superior itself, and
then fell in love with the Irish Milk Stout. I pronounced that it was the best stout I had ever consumed, even better than Silverado Brewery's Oatmeal Stout. I was so much beside
myself at its awesomeness that I couldn't leave without it - and that's why H & P have their very own growler!
The rest of WI was pretty bleak, and by 7pm we were near Marquette, MI. An old wrestling buddy of mine from HS (Nathan Engel) is training for every major wrestling competition while
studying for his masters at the local university, so we stopped in for a plate of nachos for dinner and catch-up. Our stay was short, and then we continued east to Newberry for our next
KOA stop. The next morning we woke up at our normal time - back in Utah, that is. Michigan is on Eastern time, so we found ourselves an hour late to the world. We played a bit of
frisbee on the giant lawn, hopped in the indoor pool to test our head to head racing skills (Princess cleaned my clock) and jumped back on the road for our next MI adventure. I managed to stub my pinky toe on the edge of the pool while diving in, which is strictly forbidden, and now I have the feeling I broke it. It hurts when I push on it, so maybe it's just my finger that's broken.
After crossing over both Lake Ontario and Lake Michigan (at the same time!) we headed over to Cheboygan for another round of stake claiming. Princess had to have her picture taken in
front of the local firehouse, and then we were back on our way. Along the route south, P reccommended that we have our tires rotated after 4000 miles (what for?), so we stopped in
Grayling to have it checked out. The whole procedure took about a half hour, and we managed our time by riding around town on our bicycles. It was very warm that day, 94 degrees,
and everyone felt it. After paying our $15 for the rotation, we dove into the local 7-11 for some 28oz slurpees. So refreshing!
We pulled into the Emmett KOA a few hours later, and after setting up camp I cast my line into the local watering hole. This was my first opportunity to prove my man skills a
way fromthe kitchen, but, unfortunately, I failed miserably. Princess came over after doing laundry, threw MY line out a couple times, and came back with an 8-inch largemouth bass. Three
nickels in one shot...so embarassing! The next morning was very eventful for us, for one because we would be venturing into Canada! The other, slight, not important at all event was me clumsily losing my wallet. After our camp was cleared out and packed up, I loaded my wallet onto (not into!) the car and drove off. I'm not sure where it left the comfort of the vehicle, but I didn't figure it out until we were 5 miles down the road. After two full vehicle searches and a return to the KOA, I was out $25 cash, a California Driver's License and an ATM card. No biggie, really. I had the ATM card cancelled within 15 minutes and a new license being sent out to Boston.
Canada!!
The border crossing was sm
ooth and the roads clear. Across the way we spotted a giant anvil in the sky, looming and growing every second. We knew it was something intense, as wefound out before our KOA departure that a big wind storm was coming in. Fortunately for us, the only thing we saw was a two minute dribble of rain on the windshield and a splash of
traffic. Apparently, southeastern Ontario was hit with large quantities of rain, hail and thunder/lightning. We pulled into Toronto just after four in the afternoon and parked ourselves
underground at 44 Charles West. During our time as car jockeys for our close friend Claus, we met some very nice Canadians that invited us into their homes. Two of them were the
lovely Bruce & Sheila, and they happened to have a small clunker of an apartment in the ghetto, far from everything. I hope you all know me and my sarcasm, because none of that is
true. It's actually the exact opposite. We were very lucky to find ourselves in the center of town, with a nice place to stay AND free parking. It's friends like these that make you want
to open your heart and share the world.
We were met by Bruce & Sheila's daughter, Heather, at just after 5, and then headed
down towards the water for some much needed cocktails and food. The Canyon Creek Chophousewas running a Martini special for that day only, and we were so happy that we stayed for dinner! Heather's husband Matt showed up a little while later and our foursome started the
evening. It was steak
s all around, and then a quick walk to Rogers Centre. The Cincinnati Reds were in town, so we dropped in to watch the Blue Jays take them on. We scalped somegreat seats 16 rows up from 1st base for only $35 US each. I don't think I've ever seen a major league game from so close - it was amazing! Our night ended at the top of our building at
the Panorama bar...it faces all the lights of downtown!
The next morning...err, afternoon, Princess and I took to the streets for a full day without driving. The plan was to see the sights, shop for jeans and have fun. We walked down Yonge
St, stopping at all the shops with sales, hoping for the right deal. There were a bunch of people out that Friday, mostly because it was Gay Pride week and the big parade was the
following day. We had a blast trying on new jeans (nice ones!) but couldn't find anything that exactly tailored to our needs. Too small, too tight, too loose, wrong color...sometimes
you just can't win! We crisscrossed through the lower section of town, aiming for the CN tower. We passed through the Jazz festival, skipping the Robert Mondavi tasting and tiring our
feet along the way. We arrived at the tower, but were dismayed to find out it took an hour's wait to reach the overlook and another hour to get to the top. I found out that we could
skip the wait if we bought an entree each at the 360 Restaurant, and the next thing we knew, up we went! The elevator up is quite a thrill - if the ride were any longer my stomach
would have most definitely been in my throat!
We had dinner theatre at 4:30, with the entire city of Toronto playing the cast. The restaurant rotated 360 degrees every 72 minutes, and we were lazy enough to go around twice! We
both had the prix fixe - mango and crab salad, prosciutto and salami, smoked salmon, lobster fettuccini, peppered steak, strawberry shortcake and berry bramble crumble. Are you
drooling yet? We choked it all down with a 2005 Domaine Bossuet red Rhone...delish!
After dinner we took turns cheating death over the glass floor of
the tower, laying out over nothing but thick glass and about 400m of air. Vertigo, anyone? We walked back to the suitethrough the University of Toronto and out Victoria University. The campuses were very green and very gorgeous, and we nearly walked into a movie set! A superhero film was being
made in the center of U of T...it's so fun to watch people pretend! Our last stop was at the Royal Ontario Museum for a look at the Egyptian Book of the Dead and some artifacts from all
of the ancient cultures of the world. We were pretty pooped after that...seepy seepy.
Do you guys see why we can't blog everyday? Our days are just too jam-packed with stuff to do. Because I'm so nice, I'm gonna stop here for now. I promise to have another edition
up soon...try not to be too busy on the fourth so you can read it! Oh! By the way...my toe is much better. It only hurts when I try and yank it out of its socket!
personnel were acknowledged. The lighting of the 4 presidents was a lovey end to a memorable visit!
