Days 349 to 357

It's almost here! The end! But first! More world touring!

Excuse me for a minute while I do my Day 349 happy dance.

(pause, as we all watch Vick dance)

Ok, good now. Day 349 was very much another chill out day… apparently there is something to all this busy-ness that I’ve been having!

Day 350 brought my first Frisbee game in a few weeks. We lost, but it was pretty close. A good game all around, although I just wasn’t feeling it sadly.

Day 351 (man, we’re getting close to the end!) and it was an early start to the day, visiting the foot doctor. Look ma, no… er… um… problems? In and out in 5 minutes, no worries there. Off to Barrie thereafter to get some dive stuff done (this is what keeps me out of trouble!). Also got to teach a class, which was a pleasure. I even stayed over the night as I was so knackered by the end of class (not to mention after some great chicken wings!)

Day 352 was very much running around on empty (or so it seemed). Had a lot of things to get here and there, Superstore, Costco, etc etc etc but I got it all, so no problems. Had a hysterically funny visit to Baskin-Robbins with the roommates - can they ever behave??? :) An early night as…

… the start of Day 353 came really really early. As in 4.15 am early. I had to get the first GO bus out of Newmarket at 4.55 to get to my train on time. Makes the early day at Degrassi seem simple! Got to the train in plenty of time, and pulled out of Toronto at 6.50, right on schedule.

The train was good in that they currently have free internet (BONUS) and we had the modern 2 seat/aisle/1 seat row but not so good in that I haven’t been on a train that shook that much, in, well, forever. Both me and my seatmate couldn’t use our computers for the majority of the time as it was hard to not be nauseous!

In any case it was nice to arrive in Montreal and meet up with my good friend Juliette and her ADORABLE seven month year old Charles. Such a cutie.

We started by hopping the métro over to Place-des-Armes to go out for a gorgeous lunch at a Korean restaurant. It’s one of those places that you know will be good but doggonnit, it’s hard to find! I don’t think I’ve ever had Korean but it was so very very tasty. I had a chicken and mushroom dish plus some soup to start, as well as a bunch of side dishes, including kimchi. I wouldn’t say that kimchi is my favourite dish of all time, but it actually wasn’t that bad.

We then proceeded on towards Archambault, which is like HMV but much better I find. Just like last time I was in Montreal, the new Millénium film (that’s Girl with a dragon tattoo who played with fire and then kicked the hornet’s nest to my English readers – and yes, I fully expect that to become a parody film) had just been released (in this case, the day before I got to the store) so I picked that up with the new Marie Mai CD as well as a Quebec film that I’ve heard a lot about, J’ai tué ma mère. And after a stop at Maison de la Presse we hit up the métro for a ride up to Laval where Juliette, Seb and the bundle of joy live.

I’d tell you the rest of the afternoon but I pretty much passed out on the couch to catch up on some sleep! We then took it easy for the rest of the day, including the arrival of Katherine (Juliette’s niece) from Cornwall… we all were in bed by 10 pm!

Day 354 started a bit bizarrely. We had intended to go cableskiing but Katherine’s arms were really hurting… so we actually found a skate park/roller rink. When we arrived we found it closed! We then decided to do a 180 turnabout and go out the beach/cableskiing park. $10 each got us into the beach, which was really calm. Guess what was closed for repairs? Yep.

Actually the few hours at the beach was quite nice. Very relaxing. I personally enjoyed the water trampoline and my lack of skill there on it. That and the inflatable bouncy castle obstacle course (no, we didn’t plow over any children).

We left Charles with Juliette’s upstairs neighbour around 3pm so we could head downtown to see Atomes Crochus! This is the Quebecoise version of Match Game and I think the Goodson empire would be proud.

We were shuffled into the audience area (maybe 50 people tops) and settled in to be entertained by Jocelyn, the warm up guy who also pre-recorded the intro for the broadcast. They started pretty much on time at 4 pm as we had been told.

I was most happy in that there was pretty much ideal panel on stage. I’ll get more into that afterwards. The thing is with this version is that there is a stable of about eight, maybe ten panelists that fill five of six seats every program. They gel well!

The set is really nice as well.

The shows themselves should air in September, and while there were no huge wins, they were massively entertaining. Highlights included one panelist’s robotic impressions, as well as second panelist’s brilliant tossing of his answer card (and it ended up stuck in a set piece!). They also did a couple of naughty things (answer wise) that probably might get edited out of the final broadcast.

Following the shows and the filler entertainment in the break (Juliette won tickets to see one of the panelist’s comedy shows) you were allowed on set to take pictures! Score.

First stop was a picture with Philippe Laprise. He was the one that tossed the card and was sitting in seat one!

Also grabbed a picture with Stéphane Fallu. He was speaking English throughout one show for some odd reason!

Next was Alex Perron. Alex has a very offbeat humour which I quite enjoy. He always has very bizarre answers but they’re really funny.

I also made sure to get a picture sitting at the desks – I’m holding Phillipe’s tossed card (which I got to keep along with a couple of other cards).

On the way out I was also able to meet the host Alexandre Barrette. He does a GREAT job. Great rapport with the panel, keeps the game moving along at a great pace.

I told him that I had come from the Toronto area to see the show, he was absolutely flabbergasted that there were fans out that way. He seriously was speechless!

Well to say the least it was a great taping! We dropped Katherine back at the bus station so that she could get her ticket and her bus home, then we headed back to Laval for some late night dinner. Kraft Dinner never tasted so good.

Day 355 came early and I was en route to home. Got the train at 10 am and it was a great ride – got a two seater to myself the whole way home! We also were in the last car, enabling me to get a great shot when we were stopped temporarily in Port Hope.

I had good reason to get back to Toronto on time. Through a series of bizarre events, I had a screen test for a commercial. Now I thought it was for French speakers, but imagine my surprise when I got there to find out that I was supposed to have memorized two specific English lines on the script I was given! I had a good laugh after the fact.

Got a ride back on the GO train, which pleased me very much (although not with the GO gang, as I had caught a later train after my screen test).

Day 356. Do you think I would rest up? Nope!

I was off to Cleveland to visit with good friends! And one other specific thing. To come.

The drive down wasn’t too bad… held up at the border for around 45 minutes but that was about it.

Stopped in my usual haunt in Lackawanna NY at the Timmie’s… now with FREE WIFI!

Also had a nice chat with the manager, turns out, she tells me, it’s the 3rd highest sales Timmie’s in the states!

The second stop along the way was... welll... you have to see it for yourself!

Yes indeed, I found Bort road!!!

After a stop once inside the Ohio border for gas, I arrived in Cleveland at Cabe’s house to crash for a bit. We caught up since my last visit in May. We did our usual stop to Dick’s Sporting Goods and then over to the hoity-toity mall – having never been to Saks Fifth Avenue, I don’t need to go back – before heading home for a bit.

We then decided to go over to Applebee’s to watch the Browns game. Sadly at the end of the first quarter they were badly behind so we decided to go to Half-Price Books.

And it was WONDERFUL. See the price, drop it 50%! We spent about 90 minutes in there, I was just fascinated. Overstimulation lead me to about eight books.

And Day 357 brought something that I had been waiting for, something for quite awhile, a visit to Cedar Point!

Now since I was a little wee tot I didn’t like rollercoasters. However in the last number of years things have changed and now it’s ‘gimme gimme gimme’ thrills. So Cedar Point was the place to go.

We arrived around 11 am and started off at Raptor. It was your normal run of the mill scatter your brain coaster which was a nice start – the line was 90 minutes long but you’re consistently moving so it’s not that bad.

Second up was Millenium Force – over a 300 foot drop, the highest coaster I’ve ever been on.
At this point we were approaching 1.30 pm and decided to head back to the car to get the sandwiches we had made (read: bought) earlier. Megan made the excellent thought of mapping out the rest of the day.

Which turned out to be a GREAT plan.

First stop was Maxair, which is a more fiendish version of Psyclone (at Wonderland). Not only did we get to go up, but at one point we went up and over I’m quite sure and frankly it was much more dizzying than the one I’m used to.

Next up was some kind of indoor rollercoaster that was like a Space Mountain wannabe… whose best feature was the fact that it was air conditioned.

Then came Wicked Twister:

No kidding. I was screaming so intently that I had to sit down afterwards. You get shot out of the gate around 90 mph, then up the corkscrew you see above in the pic. Then you “fall” back down, and you do it again. Backwards.

I don’t think the guy that was sitting next to me was really prepared for it. My screaming, that is.

Following a stop at the Power Tower – where we were shot up something like 200 feet in the air – we headed over to the granddaddy of them all – Top Thrill Dragster.

Now, while this isn’t the tallest roller coaster on the planet – although it used to be – it is still nothing to scoff at.

Let me tell you some stats. 120/mph. 420 foot drop. Shot up directly 90 degrees, fall back down to earth at 90 degrees. And now I’ll show you a picture.

Yep, it really was that intimidating. At this point Megan celebrated with a snow cone, while Cabe and I got in one more coaster – the Magnum 2XL – sorry, not a late 80’s toy, rather that should be Magnum 200XL – before catching the train back to the starting gate (or near enough to it). Sufficient to say that we were done at that point and we took it easy for the rest of the night.

Cheers,
Vick.