Toronto visit

Toronto is huge! There I've written the first impression that came to mind when Ash and I visited Toronto for a couple of days. My second impression was; Toronto is huge. The difference between the two impressions has to do with how we experienced the city and surrounds. The first was to do with geographical size - the way that the city spreads across such a huge area that it is known as the GTA or Greater Toronto Area - I assume because it is hard to determine where one part of the city ends and another starts.
The second impression comes from the sheer volume of traffic that seems to be constantly on the move around the city. Early on a Sunday morning I thought that the traffic would be light - maybe it was at 12 lanes worth of constant traffic - because there were some gaps and we could drive at the designated speed limit for the roads. Regardless of this fact, the image that came to my mind often as we drove in Toronto was that of a 'flash flood' of vehicles carrying us along in their wake and  pouring towards us in the opposite lanes.

Later when we decided to use public transport, I think I hit upon why. I nearly wrote the phrase, "public transport system" but had to stop myself, because I cannot describe it as a system. The public transport that is offered in Toronto is made up of separate operators for the trains, subway and buses/trolley cars. Because they are separate, the two operators don't allow you to use their tickets for each other. So, you cannot grab a train then transfer to a bus for example. They charge independently and use different ticketing too. And this is all within the same area of the city - once you drift into the suburbs there is another public transport group altogether! It was quite bizarre for a lad who only knows one ticketing system and charge for ALL public transport across a city.

The final oddity for me was the use of the old paper tickets. I hadn't seen the like of such cheap tickets for more than 20 years, but here they were still in use in this big modern city. I think the tickets are more for people like us, people who rarely travel - as most people had a plastic drivers licence style card to flash. No swiping or payment - so I am unsure how they know when the card is no longer valid - another mystery of Toronto public transport.

Travelling back to Thunder Bay

The trip back to Thunder Bay was just that, a journey focused on getting home rather than taking the time to enjoy the scenery. Despite our somewhat one tracked focus, a few new things happened along the way. Most of this last leg of our North American odyssey wasn't photographed because we were in a let's cover mode.I'm sure that anyone who has been on a long trip will recognize the phenomenon of getting the 'bit between their teeth' and running for home. We did see and experience some interesting people and places along the way though.
The first interesting event occurred in Washington when we arrived to collect our trailer from the repair shop. Firstly, no-one was around and yet the yard was open with our trailer just begging to be taken away, so we did. Once we had hooked up and driven out the yard, Ash asked if we were going for a long drive, so we did. By the end of the day we ended up in Pennsylvania just outside of a town called Somerset. The interesting things about the town were that we nearly couldn't use our VISA card there as we needed to enter our zip-code to authorize payment - fine if you are a USA resident, not so good for the rest of the world - a problem this place had NEVER experienced! Eventually they determined that if we spent less than $50 in one transaction we would be okay. It was galling and enlightening to think that this supermarket chain was setup to handle purchases by USA residents only. Apparently foreigners don't buy in the USA. The other quirk was that of openly available tobacco products as part of a supermarket aisle. You could literally stroll along the aisle marked "Tobacco Products" and pickup chewing tobacco, cigarettes, cigars, etc. conveniently located at child height and a normal part of anyone's shopping list. Yet in the same store you would not find even a hint of the demon drink - alcohol. In fact that particularly nasty vice was conspicuous by it's absence anywhere in the town.
We did drive on to find a nice park and a wonderful American couple though.

This Pioneer park had a pool and two lakes.

The couple that were camped next to our site were amazingly hospitable, helpful and forthcoming. They had a new A-van and were very convincing in their enthusiasm for the van - so much so that we began to seriously consider buying one to travel with in 2011 and beyond. 

A-liner - could this be our next camper?

Peter and Bonnie Saxman were a soon to be retired couple gearing up future travel in their brand new a-liner. It was incredible how quickly this thing went up and down and how much room there actually is inside. But also their close connection with the horrors of 9-11 was morbidly fascinating. Peter's family has a farm in Pennsylvania where the unsuccessful hijacked plane crashed into a field and killed everyone on board, known as Flight 93. The plane apparently crashed a few miles from where Peter's family was milking cows. His story made the whole 9-11 incident seem a little more personal than it had been before. 

After leaving this park we were intending again to cover ground in out bid to get back to Thunder Bay on time for my return to school. Luckily we did make the push to cover ground and make time, because we needed it in the end. 

At last! Marshmallows over a fire in Ohio.

From Pennsylvania we made it to the shores of Lake Erie and a place called East Harbor State Park. Despite the warm night, we decided to have a fire and toast marshmallows. The idiosyncratic aspect of this area was the way in which alcohol was sold. I decided upon a last minute drive for red wine. Should be quick I said, I said, I had seen a fishing tackle, bait and liquor shop just down the road. (Clearly in Ohio these things go together.) When I get to the shop however the owner tells me that he cannot sell me liquor on a Sunday, but due to the look of distress on my face, he relents and tells me I can drive a mile down the road and buy from the supermarket! Go figure. Anyhow I drive the distance and find the market. I also find that they have a huge range of wines- including Grange Hermitage 2004 laying around waiting to be snapped up for US$300. Even better, because it is state controlled prices the hard liquor is practically at give way prices!! America sure is a strange place.

After Ohio, we motored around the edge of the lake and made it to Mackinaw City in Michigan, our last stop before the USA/Canada  border and the junction between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. The K.O.A. campsite was in a quiet period before the Labor Day weekend -which was lucky for us or we may have had to pay more than we intended. 

On our last morning in the USA, our car stopped starting. It did start once to move, but then, no more. We asked for a jump start from the park owner but that did nothing. So with an expected 20 minutes remaining of our time in the US we were forced to join the Automobile Association and wait for a tow-truck. We had stayed beyond our booked time at the site, but because it was quiet we weren't charged for an extra night - thank goodness. When the tow-truck arrived, the driver tried one more jumper boost using a big-assed booster. It worked! We simply needed a lot of electrical oomph to get us going again. 

Dinner and a swim - it must be holidays.

Sault- Ste. Marie in Canada.

The bridge to Canada at Sault Ste. Marie

At the border crossing post i asked the guard if he knew of a trailer repair place in 'The Soo'. It turned out that he did and could gives us directions which were along our intended trip home anyhow. What a great break - we drove out of the township and thought that we had kissed the place when at last it appeared. After dropping it off we hoped to be back to collect it in another hour or two. Upon return - the bad news - the brakes had been worn down to almost nothing and worse still the braking mechanism needed replacing. It would take at least overnight as they waited upon the part. We needed to find alternative accommodation for the night. $176 later we had a cabin just down the road with access to a spa, pool and sauna. 

I LOVE to swim.

The kids loved the TV and pool, mum and dad loved the spa. Close to $1000 later we had our trailer back with new brakes and a new tyre ready to roll again. 

Our sudden cabin stop.

It wasn't until after lunch the next day before we could rive on though and this made a dent in our plans to enjoy a leisurely drive back. We pushed along again, this time over familiar ground along the top of Lake Superior to WaWa. Our last night out- all was going well, Megan had a 40 minute hot shower until we discovered where she was and got her out, much to her disgust, until the final morning.

The final campsite for the summer

On the last morning our little trailer decided that she did not want to be taken down -  in fact she would stay up - so there! Of course I disagreed with this attitude and decided to use force to persuade her otherwise.I won in the end, but not before the trailer made a loud breaking BANG! noise and crashed down so unexpectedly that I lost a piece off my thumb knuckle. It was a "I told you I didn't want to ending" from the trailer. So we limped on home in the realization that more repairs would be needed and we would NOT be camping anytime soon.

The aftermath - clothes Armageddon!

Seven? Nine? A dozen washing loads later and we were at least on top of the washing rather the the reverse. Thankfully I was 'required' to be at work so the task fell to Jill the size 8 wonder-woman.

Jamaican activities

It is so hard to write about events that have happened in the past, even more so the longer in the pat that they occur. This entry is just such a case. Just before leaving Jamaica for the US, we visited 2 places of interest outside of the resort. The first was Dunn's River Falls near Ocho Rios and the second, Green Grotto Caves near Runaway Bay.

Dunn's River Falls
The Dunn River Falls are a "standard" tourist attraction for everyone visiting Jamaica, and rightly so. These are a long set of small waterfalls that can easily be climbed with a bit of care. True to Jamaican style, however, these falls are almost impossible to negotiate without guides, videographers and various other indispensable hangers-on whose role is unquestionably unknowable, but ultimately tippable. Ah yes the tipping system - it seems that if you look a Jamaican in the eye then as a tourist you are duty-bound to tip them.
The walk up the falls is q wonderful experience never-the-less, even though it does have a production line atmosphere when run with guides. We managed well enough and could have completed the climb without guides, had we known how to do it, but that wasn't really an option being Jamaica.

Megan and Ash prepare for Dunn's River Falls

The falls are a series of small climbs over smooth rocks which are constantly washed by water that feels quite cold until you realize that the water temperature is only relevant to the heat of the day. After the initial shock, you become quite accustomed to the water temperature and look forward to new soakings.

Photo stop #1 (In Jamaican: Tip reason #1)

Why do 8 year olds have such silly poses!?

Like father, like son.

We only took Ash and Megan with us for this trip as it looked too much for Paige. That turned out to be a good call. Paige would likely have wanted Jill to carry her for most if not all of the climb and made it far less enjoyable for Jill. Megan was cold after a short while and accepted the offer of being carried across the cold deeper water sections. Dad didn't mind as it gave him a chance to have some special time with his girl.

The Green Grotto Caves
This was our chance to to visit a Jamaican attraction as a complete family. So complete in fact that we got to take our Jamaican Nanny, Tina as well. You really have to love the openness with which the Jamaicans 'milk' their tourists. The costs for tourists to visit was something like $15 Jamaican for adults and J$12 for kids. For locals, it was $2 Jamaican and if they are accompanying tourists for work - free. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not complaining, I just shake my head in disbelief at the blatant 'tourist milking'.
The trip was perfect for a family, it was short, cheap and easy for everyone to do. The caves themselves were quite different to most other systems that we have visited. These were a comparatively shallow system, almost like tunnels that spread out in many directions from large central chambers.

Large social functions are held in these caverns.

The system is lit by a number of coloured lights in order to induce some interest in an otherwise bland limestone system. Personally, I didn't think that anything other than normal path and natural lighting was needed. The accessibility of the caves was deceptive, as once you began to penetrate the cave system proper, you soon realized how easy it would be to become disorientated and lost. 

Where are we?

Somewhat to my chagrin, we were unable to lose the children and instead had to bring all three home with us. Ah well, better luck next time (we must stop letting them take bread-crumbs on these trips).

Don't read the sign Ash, it says don't touch!

Descending into the depths.

Apparently these caves were used by slaves fleeing from their captors way back when slavery was common in the region. I wonder how many slaves and pursuers never found their way back.