Toronto

It started off with this nice surprise visit from Jon's dad:

We had a great visit, enjoying the rain and snow and getting stuff done.  The snow kept us home to visit, cook, and catch up with several tasks that needed to be done.  

We also convinced Jon's dad to play for us!

He was awesome and even stayed up a little past his bedtime to entertain us!  

We had a wonderful weekend after a busy week, and then we were Toronto bound as of Thursday afternoon. On the road again! 

I'm gonna keep the text short...per Jon's suggestion...

During this trip, we visited Jon's very nice and accomodating family, who were very sweet to put us up so very last minute!  Thank you Debbie and Bill, Wendy and Nick (and family!), Taro and Lucie (Jon's mom). We also went to the Toronto bike show for another Flatland contest Jon entered and scored fourth place in!

RADICAL!!

We camped out our first night of the 16 hour drive b/c we like to get good sleep and eats on the way, we're not hardcore about driving all night...thank goodness!

Rudee came along of course.  She loves to travel!  She just sleeps most of the time and makes us laugh.  Her poots are killer though!  Kept us awake!

We made it across the border with no probs, though I had to have Winterville Animal Clinic fax ppwk for Rudee's health record just in case.  We were concerned about getting her across but it turned out to be no big deal, the border lady didn't even notice her sleeping in the back seat.  

Anyway, thanks to my vet!

Ambassador Bridge

Our first stop:

I love it!  We had a sandwich, soup, and wonderful tasting coffee.

Our next stop was Toronto for $7.75 beer.  Oops, overspent by surprise on beer, 

but we only had 3 between us.

Then we stayed the night with Bill and Debbie and went to an awesome place for breakfast called Wimpy's Diner.  

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After a huge wonderful breakfast we headed to the Bike Show

 where Rudee met a sexy Chihuahua : )

We stayed for a while, Jon won fourth place, then we headed out with Jon's friend Taro.  We met up with everybody after the show for dinner and drinks and flatland talk.  Luckily, bloody wrestling was on TV so I entertained myself while they talked frames and old school trix.  

Despite the conversation...I really like the flatland crew.  Everyone has been so cool and friendly and I really enjoy meeting and hanging out with this awesome group of very talented guys (and girls of flatland - Paula!)

We stayed with Taro that night and had breakfast the next morning.  Baguette's from Taro and Pancakes from Jon...with Peanut Butter and Nutella.  

Taro has  a darkroom in his kitchen...I'm so jealous!

 

After breakfast we headed back to the bike show, then walked around Parkdale, a neighborhood in Toronto where Jon once lived with his mom. This was a nice walk, and I took tons of pix but here are just some of them:

 

cool art installation in Parkdale

a little slice of Lake Ontario

 

 

 

We left Toronto and headed to Bill and Debbie's to meet Jon's Aunt Cathy, Uncle Frank, and Nicholas for a short visit.  No pix of this but next time...!

We then headed for Nick and Wendy's for some surprise wonderful grub and awesome company!

We had a wonderful night's sleep there before leaving for Belleville to see Jon's mom.

On the way to Belleville we stopped by to see Jon's Aunt Dilys, then his grandmother at the nursing home.  Rudee was able to come with us and really enjoyed it! 

Wendy left us bacon & eggs in the fridge!  

Jon's bike stashed in their dining room

Jon's Aunt Dilys

One of her awesome cats

Jon with his Grandmother

Setting up the photo

 

 

After an awesome visit with tea and cookies, we headed to Belleville to find Jon's mom. On the way though, we stopped by Jon's hometown of Peterborough and stopped at a couple of his old dwellings and favorite spots...

Jon at Ace Submarine, across from the gas station where Jon worked

A house where Jon used to live

Another one of Jon's old homies

 

Jon's graffiti that says, of course, "RAD", and something else I can't remember

Peterborough Liftlocks - look at the frozen water!!!

So we finally made it to meet Jon's mom after a few stops and an hour late...

We met her at a Chinese restaurant called "Modern Cafe"

She showered us with gifts there at the restaurant...even hooked Rudee up with dog food and a huge bag of little tiny milk bones- she hadn't even met Rudee yet!  

She also had "Queen Anne" cordial cherries for me - I LOVE those, my dad used to buy me those all the time!!

Later that night we drove her home, had some red wine, got to know each other, talked about Buddhism mostly (her fav. subject!), and woke the next morning to take pix of this unique place...

she calls home for now! 

Jon's Mom's boots

Our picnic from remnants in our cooler and Jon's Mom's veggies.  We had pasta salad, 3 bratwurst (split them) salad with carrots, tomatoes, and celery, potato chips, and fake cheese.  Then cherry cordials for dessert!  Yummy.

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We had a very nice visit and headed home around 3pm, Athens bound.  On the way out of Canada however... we stirred a little trouble with the border for going thru the "Nexxus" line.  They gave us hell and made us stop and go in for questioning, they acted like jerks and Jon didn't like it so he shared his thoughts but we made it out within 30minutes.  I think Jon just wanted to make our exit exciting - he kept me concerned about border patrol, which I didn't really believe b/c of our ease of entry.  He just likes to make an exit...I guess that's why they call him the "Duke"?