Friday, October 22, 2010

Goodbye Gravenhurst hello Ottawa

I made it through four days in Gravenhurst Ontario...What a hardship ;-) I don’t know why anyone would want to wake up to a sunrise over a calm lake with a light mist hovering just above the water.  It really makes your skin crawl :-)  The Picard family was amazing.  Special thanks to Jamie and Jeff, I really hope you get to sleep in one day. Hannah and Nathan, two of the sweetest kids you will ever meet and to Marilyn and Alan, I love your energy and enthusiasm.  Thank you so much Jamie and Merilyn for the day long tour of your part of the world.  I had a blast, you guys are awesome and do hope to see you all in Florida J
Once again I was welcomed into a home and treated as one of the family.  I was amazed at the treatment I received, the welcome I was given and the gluten free food which had been purchased for me before I had even arrived.  I am so grateful for everything about this trip thus far.  I am in search of kindness but I have managed to discover so much more.  The personal escorts around the towns have been phenomenal.  I have developed a new appreciation for the world around me and I can’t wait to experience the rest of the country.  Gravenhurst is a beautiful area and the little sections and towns around it are equally as interesting.  The shops are cute and the roads are clean and personal.  It is not a commercial town that gouges your pocket book...Well, except for one store which happened to be selling a wooden bowl for an astronomical price of..........You will never guess.......$18,000 and no, that is not a misprint.  I said “BOWL” and I said “Eighteen Thousand Dollars.” Believe it or not, there was a bigger bowl right next to that one that didn’t even have a price on it, so we could only assume that bowl was probably worth more LOL  Wow, the really sad part was we could only really see this bowl being useful for one thing and one thing only...”Nacho’s anyone”
Ok, now onto some other things.  Betty Lou and I had a wee bit of a disagreement yesterday. ( Betty Lou is my GPS) I wanted to go through Algonquin Park and get some great photos of that area, but I guess Betty Lou had other ideas.  She tends to be a little on the impatient side and wants to get where she is going as soon as she possibly can.  I am not complaining I just wish she would have told me she was in that much of a hurry.  I started out in Gravenhurst Ontario at 10:50am and was knocking on my Auntie Margo’s door in Kanata Ontario by 3:00pm bypassing Algonquin Park all together.  I figured I had missed an important intersection when I saw the sign for Ottawa and it only had 45 Kilometres remaining.  I did have a few things to say to Betty Lou but since I was already in Ottawa there was not much I could do about it.  Note to self...return to Algonquin Park at some point in my life and take some photos.
I am now in Kanata Ontario with my Auntie Margo.  The woman I was named after.  Big shocker there I’m sure lol  She and her husband Randy have taken me in and shown me a wonderful time so far.  I have had a chance to get to know their children a little better as well. They were all so young the last time I saw them and I am so thrilled to have a chance to see them all again as adults.  Cameron, Peter and Faith were all at dinner last night.  Robbie is in Germany so won’t get a chance to see him this time.  Peter took me on a tour of the Museum of Nature here in Ottawa today and we are going to hit the parliament buildings tomorrow.  Yes, that is correct...Margo is going to the parliament buildings.  lol  After that I will be having dinner with my auntie Margo and Faith.  However, first we have to shop for a winter jacket. Then we will have dinner.  Yes, I also just say I was going shopping J  I have been informed that the big thing to do in Ottawa right now is Swing Dance...I love Swing.  Unfortunately I don’t think I will be getting out to try it.  Well, this time anyway. 
I am off to Montreal on Saturday, it is calling for snow but I really hope that is not the case.  I am sooo not ready for snow.  I will be cutting my time down there and making a dash for the coast.  The weather seems to be coming in faster than they had anticipated and the best thing to do right now will be to get to Nova Scotia and start heading south as soon as possible.  However, from the sounds of it, I may be staying in Nova Scotia for the winter.  If they are as friendly as I am told I don’t see any reason to move on J  Just kidding mom!
Please take care and I shall chat with you all soon
M