Monday, January 21, 2008

Canada - Day 2

So how was my trip into Canada? How is Canada? (Yeah, I am lonely, sitting in my hotel room, asking questions to myself... no, I have not gone mad.)

My single serving friend on the plane to Chicago was very interesting... a native Utahn from Oak City, UT (Oak City is near Delta; yeah, I didn't know that either), who had moved away to live in Oregon, who had moved back to Utah to work for the government on Hill Air Force Base. He was being sent to Washington D.C. to evaluate some new software. Time "flew" as we spoke about the snow in Utah, trying to grow vegetables in alkaline soil, sod vs. seeding lawns, searching for the mythical "perfect" home, and various other odd topics...

From Chicago to Toronto the flight was practically empty and I had no single serving friends on my row. The lung power of children is amazing; I was glad to be ten or so rows away from the screaming, wailing children in the back row, who were in some sick noise competition with the airplane's engine.

Once on the ground, I made it through customs with no problems (unlike my co-worker, who required additional questioning in a separate room - talk about scary). The attendant at Avis tried to get me to pay for an SUV upgrade, since it was bound to snow; I declined and am now driving a silver 4-door Dodge Caliber in the snow. This car, by the way, is hideous.

My borrowed GPS took me right to the hotel, which is in Cambridge. I was a little shocked when I looked down and found myself doing 110 on the freeway... I quickly remembered that the speed was in kilometers/hour, instead of miles/hour. The temperature is another one... the temperature here has been between -8 and -14, in degrees Celsius (I have asked Ken to FedEx me my thermal Under Armour apparel - I am freezing here).

The main road near my hotel reminds me of State Street, lined with plenty of shops, restaurants, and fast food joints. I have already ate at Wendy's and Subway and found that my Discover and American Express cards are worthless; thank god for VISA (I have been living off my VISA card, since the ATM refused to give me Canadian mula with my government credit card).

So far, so good. Check back, maybe there will be more about this Canada trip... (sorry, no pictures, yet).

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