The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Good news: We get up early this morning - 4am - to catch a cab to make our way to the airport, where an excellent adventure is supposed to start.

More good news - we get on board and safely land in Toronto.

Bad news: Toronto airport sucks when you are going on international flight.  It's badly organized, slow and just plain ridiculous.  Anyway, we go through all the hoops and make it to our gate.

Bad news - "What's your last name?  she asks.  "Roy" I reply.  "You are kicked off the flight because your bag didn't make it.  Please go to customer service" she says. What? That makes no sense - let me on and send my luggage on the next flight!  Nope. Not going to happen.

We go to customer service - got there just in time!  There is about 6 people in front of us and soon after about 50 people behind us!  Air Canada not having a good day... what else is new?!

We waited one hour - yes, you read correctly - 1 hour - that's how long it took them to serve 5 or 6 people!!  What great customer service - NOT!  It's finally our turn...

Good news (sort of)  We are booked on the next flight.

Bad news - the next flight is at 5pm -  we have to spend the day in the airport.

Good news - the only spots left were in First class!  We will be getting dinner on the flight!  They also gave us each $20 so we can have lunch in the airport.

I just hope the rest of the trip will run a little more smoothly than the first few hours of this day!

One more day!

The time has finally come!  Today will be busy!  Last day of school - it's a PD day.  Will spend some time at school finishing up.  As soon as I get home, I'll finish packing, I'll drop the cat off at the "spa", drop the dog off at the sitter, make sure Sophie has everything she needs and off to bed.  We have to get up at around 4 - to be at the airport for 5 am!  Tomorrow will be a long day since we won't be getting much sleep and will have to makedo with the time change as well... but hey! Freedom!!

I'm sooooo anxious to get going!  We will have a wonderful adventure!

12 days left!

I'm getting really excited!  Our trip is fast approaching - which also means freedom for 2 months!

Everything is planned, things are booked all that's left is the packing!

Here's a list of things we will be doing:

• Whale watching in Seattle area (I've not seen orcas in the wild yet - add to my list of whales in the wild!)
• Segway tour in Seattle
• bird watching all over - hope to see a condor - endangered bird - also the largest predator
• Alcatraz
• Golden Gate Bridge
• Aquarium
• Whale watching in Newport beach area (blue whales - my dream to see one! also an endangered species -perhaps my one and only chance to see one)
• quite a few things planned in L.A. - surfing lesson, a couple of tours, lots of hiking
• Comic Con of course
• plan on paragliding in San Diego - depends on the winds
• snorkeling in San Diego area
• The list goes on and on!

Make sure you come back to read up on our adventures and to see pictures!

Mission Impossible : Comic-Con International

Well, well! Look what I found in my inbox!  A mission? Mission is on!  Press play before moving on!

This is your mission, should you choose to accept it, involves selecting 10 must see/do sites/activities for the locations  listed below.  Do not reveal your choices  to the other members  of the team. On March 20th send your choices to the team senior team member (me).  The sites/activities that are common amongst all three team members will be automatically added to the itinerary, others will be voted upon to complete travel plan.

1 - Pacific coast highway  (PCH) Route 101 & route 1
2 - Seattle
3 - San Francisco
4 - Los Angeles
5 - San Diego

And team member trying to bribe other team members with ice cream and chips to include your choices on their list will not be tolerated.  This message will self-destruct in five seconds.

I am working hard to find interesting and crazy things to see and do on the way.   I will post my list soon!

Next Destination: San Diego ComicCon!

It's only March I know.  I just can't wait for our next trip and so the planning has begun! This trip is really three years in the making...  Before it could happen, we needed to get tickets for the San Diego Comic Con - which has finally happened!

Our adventure will start with a flight from Ottawa to Seattle.  We will then rent a car and drive down the coast all the way to San Diego.  Of course we will have a few stops along the way - San Francisco, Los Angeles and whatever little spots on the way.

I've been looking at pictures online and I just can't wait!!  It looks absolutely beautiful!  How will I ever be able to wait until the end of June?

New York - Day 8

We are heading home today!  First, we are driving to Cape May in New Jersey - two hours away - to see birds.  Yup, you read correctly - birds.

Cape May is a quaint little town - looks like a vacation destination for people who want to relax - lots of places for rent.

We saw some pretty cool sites here!  We saw a couple oyster catchers take turns to catch food for their young chick.  I'm glad I'm not one of these birds!  It's hard work!  The nest is quite a ways from the ocean - the little guy runs to the beach, pokes its beak in the sand after a wave to catch mussels and run back to the baby to give it to him.  Then, the spouse runs to the beach to get another.  It's craziness!  Those little legs... phew!

looking for food

got some! (can't see it in this shot)

feeding baby

We also saw some wild swans - not something you see everyday either!  We were lucky to see a family!

What else... we saw an osprey, dolphins (right of shore!), geese, terns, ibises, a muskrat, a rabbit and lots of beautiful dragonflies.  We also saw a  - darn I forget it's name - black skimmer I think - pretty neat!  He skimmed the water right in front of us so I could get a couple shots!

swan family

skimmer

skimmer

muskrat

dolphin

New York - Then Day 7

Today was a walking day!

Remi at end of tunnel - Running joke is
that there are lots of dead people in these tunnels
on tv anyways!  We didn't see one =)

Remi and I got up early and went for a last run in Central Park - one of my highlights of the trip - who

This is the Ansonia - where 666 Park Avenue was filmed-
it is nowhere near park Av.
It's not even on the right side of the park! 

would ever though running in a park would be a highlight for me?  Well, it's a beautiful place! What can I say?!




We walked for over 20 km today.  We walked the whole length of the park (there and back) looking for the building where 666 Park Avenue was filmed.  I thought it was near the end of the park - ends up it was more near the beginning - so we walked all of that for nothing... We did find it though - and it was well worth it!  What a building!  Wow!

We didn't do much more than walk about and watch a couple episodes of Criminal Minds.  We had to go to bed early since we are leaving early - making our way to Cape May in NJ (2 hours away) before heading home.