anait
09-07-06, 09:14 PM
Grab yerself a beverage.
1) Left Wpg after the funeral of my aunt, my youngest uncle's wife. She was 43. Survived breast cancer 2 years ago, but it came back everywhere. (I know, downer way to start this post, but bear with me.) My mom, who had come in for the funeral, decided to stay to housesit, and check in on her brother for a while.
2) First night in Ironside, Michigan. Pool open until midnight - mr anait and I enjoyed a soak in the hot tub sans kids.
3) Second night in Sudbury, Ontario. Driving through Sault Ste Marie, over all those bridges, some of which seem to be going up into the clouds...I went a little white-knuckled. Got to the hotel after 11pm, in time to witness a friendly little spat between a bunch of drunk 20-somethings in the parking lot. :)
In the morning, found out that the day after we left Manitoba, a tornado touched down just southeast of our town, hitting a home with a pregnant women inside. She survived with scratches.
4) Four nights at a lovely lakefront cabin in Cobden, ON. Small sandy beach for the campground, as well as a rocky beach accessible from our cabin. Fantastic week there. Built the coolest sand castle complex with the kids. Spent one afternoon at waterslides, where the two oldest kids and mr anait misread the signs and went down the tough slide first. Mr anait ended up getting flipped over weirdly and bruised a rib or three. He was in major pain for a week.
5) Three nights in Midland, ON, at a hotel. Great big pool. Saw a medieval armory and heraldry museum. Went to Sainte Marie among the Hurons, a recreation of a Jesuit and Native Canadian settlement. Mr anait remarked on the many open fires inside and among so many buildings made entirely of wood.
6) Four nights in Oakville, ON, right off the QEW. Mr anait worked on the other side of the QEW, but I discovered that I am very capable of navigating the highways there. This was a big thing for me. Hotel pool perfect for us, and we had it to ourselves nearly the whole week. Spent one afternoon at Bronte Provincial park, at an outdoor 1.8 acre pool. I enjoyed taking mr anait to work each morning, and returning to enjoy a coffee in the lobby while watching the news or working on floor plans.
Found out that two days after we left, Sainte Marie among the Hurons had a big fire which destroyed the smithy and damaged two other buildings.
7) One night in Chicago. Took us three hours to get around Detroit b/c of construction. Streets and Trips ensured we drove the correct route on the Skyway to arrive at our Lakefront hotel. Man, I thought the freeways into Toronto were fast and furious. We did manage to get a wee bit lost going around the block (!) to get to the valet parking side of the hotel...ended up on a lower street level, in underground deserted parking lot movie hell...you know, with all those semi-lit columns where they film lots of car chases and things??
The hotel was great. Beautiful lobby/bar/restaurant/pool. And of course the views were amazing. It was fantastic to be in Chicago. I went to sleep in the most comfortable bed EVER, listening happily to the sounds of the city.
We were able to spend about two hours walking around the next day; Millenium Park, the Chicago Architectural Foundation, and a great little music store. Did a much too short drive/walk in Hyde Park; I snapped some pics, stopped at FLW's Robie House. Hard to walk away without going in, but we were already three hours behind schedule...which also necessitated us skipping Oak Park, and FLW's home and studio. It was very difficult to leave so soon.
On that day's drive, stopped at Winona State U to meet a friend of kid #1. Beautiful little college town.
8) One night in Minneapolis. Three wedding receptions that evening in our hotel. Rooms surprisingly soundproof. Next day built Lego creations for two hours with the kids at MoA, and did a quick look through the Discovery Store.
9) Arrived home very late Sunday evening. We called my mom from Fargo, who cryptically said she had something very important to tell us. I wondered if a) her cancer had come back, or b) one or both of our cats was gone...or, that she'd decided to move to Wpg. Nope. After the rental van was unloaded and most kids asleep, she broke down telling us that she'd been in a bad accident THE WEEK BEFORE, in our van...she is fine, thankfully, a bad cut on her right arm, which got infected, but seems to be improving...also bruised ribs. The passenger side was T-boned - the other driver ran a red light at high speed. My mom remembers the van spinning around and around. She was taken very good care of at the site, and at the hospital - and her sisters and a brother in Wpg were able to help her. The other driver was just devastated...his wife came over to see my mom, and was just weeping.
The van's a write-off. Should get an offer this week. Thankfully the veggie oil truck is working well. We're trying to get the '91 Civic running, so I'll have it for in town. Mr anait replaced the battery and a fuse, but still no dice. Anyway. I'm just glad we didn't have another funeral to attend when we got home. Once we get the settlement, I'll post a pic of the van. Nearly the entire passenger side behind the hood was pushed in about 2'. Seats now angled sideways at 45 degrees. Not a scratch on the upholstery, though.
1) Left Wpg after the funeral of my aunt, my youngest uncle's wife. She was 43. Survived breast cancer 2 years ago, but it came back everywhere. (I know, downer way to start this post, but bear with me.) My mom, who had come in for the funeral, decided to stay to housesit, and check in on her brother for a while.
2) First night in Ironside, Michigan. Pool open until midnight - mr anait and I enjoyed a soak in the hot tub sans kids.
3) Second night in Sudbury, Ontario. Driving through Sault Ste Marie, over all those bridges, some of which seem to be going up into the clouds...I went a little white-knuckled. Got to the hotel after 11pm, in time to witness a friendly little spat between a bunch of drunk 20-somethings in the parking lot. :)
In the morning, found out that the day after we left Manitoba, a tornado touched down just southeast of our town, hitting a home with a pregnant women inside. She survived with scratches.
4) Four nights at a lovely lakefront cabin in Cobden, ON. Small sandy beach for the campground, as well as a rocky beach accessible from our cabin. Fantastic week there. Built the coolest sand castle complex with the kids. Spent one afternoon at waterslides, where the two oldest kids and mr anait misread the signs and went down the tough slide first. Mr anait ended up getting flipped over weirdly and bruised a rib or three. He was in major pain for a week.
5) Three nights in Midland, ON, at a hotel. Great big pool. Saw a medieval armory and heraldry museum. Went to Sainte Marie among the Hurons, a recreation of a Jesuit and Native Canadian settlement. Mr anait remarked on the many open fires inside and among so many buildings made entirely of wood.
6) Four nights in Oakville, ON, right off the QEW. Mr anait worked on the other side of the QEW, but I discovered that I am very capable of navigating the highways there. This was a big thing for me. Hotel pool perfect for us, and we had it to ourselves nearly the whole week. Spent one afternoon at Bronte Provincial park, at an outdoor 1.8 acre pool. I enjoyed taking mr anait to work each morning, and returning to enjoy a coffee in the lobby while watching the news or working on floor plans.
Found out that two days after we left, Sainte Marie among the Hurons had a big fire which destroyed the smithy and damaged two other buildings.
7) One night in Chicago. Took us three hours to get around Detroit b/c of construction. Streets and Trips ensured we drove the correct route on the Skyway to arrive at our Lakefront hotel. Man, I thought the freeways into Toronto were fast and furious. We did manage to get a wee bit lost going around the block (!) to get to the valet parking side of the hotel...ended up on a lower street level, in underground deserted parking lot movie hell...you know, with all those semi-lit columns where they film lots of car chases and things??
The hotel was great. Beautiful lobby/bar/restaurant/pool. And of course the views were amazing. It was fantastic to be in Chicago. I went to sleep in the most comfortable bed EVER, listening happily to the sounds of the city.
We were able to spend about two hours walking around the next day; Millenium Park, the Chicago Architectural Foundation, and a great little music store. Did a much too short drive/walk in Hyde Park; I snapped some pics, stopped at FLW's Robie House. Hard to walk away without going in, but we were already three hours behind schedule...which also necessitated us skipping Oak Park, and FLW's home and studio. It was very difficult to leave so soon.
On that day's drive, stopped at Winona State U to meet a friend of kid #1. Beautiful little college town.
8) One night in Minneapolis. Three wedding receptions that evening in our hotel. Rooms surprisingly soundproof. Next day built Lego creations for two hours with the kids at MoA, and did a quick look through the Discovery Store.
9) Arrived home very late Sunday evening. We called my mom from Fargo, who cryptically said she had something very important to tell us. I wondered if a) her cancer had come back, or b) one or both of our cats was gone...or, that she'd decided to move to Wpg. Nope. After the rental van was unloaded and most kids asleep, she broke down telling us that she'd been in a bad accident THE WEEK BEFORE, in our van...she is fine, thankfully, a bad cut on her right arm, which got infected, but seems to be improving...also bruised ribs. The passenger side was T-boned - the other driver ran a red light at high speed. My mom remembers the van spinning around and around. She was taken very good care of at the site, and at the hospital - and her sisters and a brother in Wpg were able to help her. The other driver was just devastated...his wife came over to see my mom, and was just weeping.
The van's a write-off. Should get an offer this week. Thankfully the veggie oil truck is working well. We're trying to get the '91 Civic running, so I'll have it for in town. Mr anait replaced the battery and a fuse, but still no dice. Anyway. I'm just glad we didn't have another funeral to attend when we got home. Once we get the settlement, I'll post a pic of the van. Nearly the entire passenger side behind the hood was pushed in about 2'. Seats now angled sideways at 45 degrees. Not a scratch on the upholstery, though.