May 25 - Indianapolis, IN

It's race day in Indianapolis!!!!

When we purchased the tickets, Chantal purchased a Parking Pass for the lot outside the main gate.  Although traffic was heavy, it wasn't too bad with a few side-road short-cuts we arrived at the track with little difficulty.  (Leaving will turn out to be a night-mare - but more of that later).

It's 9:30 am when we get to the gates, and the beer stands are open and pouring freely... 

Our seats are halfway down the front stretch (don't forget this is a 2-1/2 mile oval - the front stretch is 1-mile long. Thus after a half mile hike through huge crowds (sold out attendance in the stands is 250,000 people, plus approximately 50,000 other persons - facility workers, infield attendees and various other race related people) brings the crowd to roughly 300,000 people...

By 10:00 am we are in our seats - they are perfect - roughly 50 feet from the start/finish line 'yard of bricks', and about equal distance to the famous Indy Position Pole.  Directly across from us is the pit of Marco Andretti,  and we are six rows up from track-side.  Standing up, we can see all the way from turn four to turn one - roughly a half mile in each direction.

 

It's Miller time!  We learned previously that we were able to bring in small coolers with our own beverages, so we did just that, and didn't have to pay the high prices of beer at the track.

The race is billed as 'The Greatest Spectacle in Motor Racing' and it's hard to disagree.  Certainly other races have more prestige, or more famous drivers - but Indy is an incredible show...

From the Jim Nabors singing "Back Home Again" in Indiana; to the traditional fly-over & balloon release; the various singers for the America the Beautiful, God Bless America, The Star Spangled Banner, (Martina McBride, Florence Henderson, Leann Rimes); and, of course, to the call to 'Drivers start your engines'; just the preliminary bits make it an amazing spectacle.  Then the race begins, and let’s just say it was amazing!  The action, the excitement, the roar of the crowds and the action packed finish have us both hooked.

We're coming back in two years for the 100th running!!!

Only the next time we are doing two things differently... 

1. taking a shuttle - it took over an hour to just get out of the parking lot (remember the 300,000 people???);

2. taking our time leaving the track…

There's my car - the only pink one, with the only female driver - she came in 26th...

May 24 - Indianapolis, IN

This will be a non-track day - instead we slept in a little, and then watched the Indianapolis Race Parade, which fortunately went right beside our hotel.

A little rest back in the room - and then we headed over to hotel we booked on points for the kids,  to await their arrival.

Dinner is at the Cheesecake Factory (YUMMMMM!!!!)

May 23 - Indianapolis, IN

It's Carb Day ('Carburetor Day') at the Indy.

Rick is grinning like the proverbial “cat that got the canary” as we approach the track - right up until we park - and he realizes he left his wallet in the hotel and cannot pay for the parking.  Oops!!!!  A quick visit to an ATM, using my bank card, fixes the problem and it is on to the track.

First up is the last day of practice for the Indy Cars, and then that's followed by an Indy Lights 100 Mile race.  Both were very exciting, with no incidents in the practice session, and only one accident in the Indy Lights race, which at first appeared to be serious, but turned out the driver only had minor injuries.

Afterwards we went into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.  A remarkable collection of cars, historical memorabilia and pictures from the race track's 104-year history.  (Built in 1909, first 500 mile race in 1911, and 98th running this year (due to several years of no-race during various war-years).

1911 Indianapolis 500 Winner

100 years later - 2011 Indianapolis 500 Winner

I wished out loud to Rick that I would have loved having my Dad there with us - he would love seeing all these old beautiful cars!

After the race we wandered around the Indianapolis down-town core a little (our hotel, Sheraton Indianapolis, was in the midst of downtown) - took some pictures of the fabulous war memorial statue in the centre of town, and then had a great BBQ dinner at a small restaurant off the town square.

May 22 - Indianapolis, IN

Our drive today will take us to Indianapolis, Indiana.  The route is through Leamington, ON; Detroit, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Indiana and then to Indianapolis.  Due to the length of the drive, we are diverting from our plan of taking the back roads, to sticking with expressways for the majority of the trip. 

Little to remark upon on the trip - the entire drive is pretty much flat country - with the biggest hills being the overpasses.  The good news, the weather has finally turned hot enough to 'drop-the-top' for the full day of driving.

As we neared Indianapolis, Rick is getting very excited, and once there, cannot resist driving by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on our way to our hotel.

Having checked out the seats in advance of race-day, and the weather forecast for race-day (clear and hot), and, since we had an extra set of seats (due to both Rick and me buying tickets for race-day) we decided to invite our daughter, Kristah, and son-in-law, Robert, to the race on Sunday.  Fortunately, they were able to get the time off from work.

May 21 - Leamington, ON

First - let us apologize for not updating the blog for almost two weeks. 

No real excuse, except we have been having too much fun, and been too exhausted at the end of the day to update.  So now it's time to make up for lost time...

A bright sunny morning with temperatures in the mid-teens greeted us on our departure from Niagara.  Our route today is to travel upstream along the Canadian side of the Niagara River up the Niagara Parkway to Fort Erie, and then travel on side roads for as long as reasonable until we arrive at Leamington - the gateway to Point Pelee National Park (the southernmost point in mainland Canada).  

After a beautiful morning drive, as planned, we decided it was top-down weather as we wound our way along Lake Erie.  Unfortunately, that didn't last long as we ran into a large fog bank as we neared Port Burwell.  We put up the top, and continued on our way and then, much to our surprise, as we entered Port Burwell, we were shocked to see a 300 foot long submarine, up on shore on blocks!   Apparently, the Federal Government has decided this will be the site of the Canadian cold war, and somehow, the HMCS Ojiwa represents this...  I'm still a bit confused by this...  But you can check it out on the 'net'...

Lunch was a VERY reasonable $17.00 - which was a great relief from the Niagara Falls' standard lunch price of $75.00 (with a beer each included).

About 4:30 we reached the Tomato Capital of Canada (and the gateway to Point Pelee), Leamington.

We made our way to the Point Pelee Park, and after paying (the rather hefty fee of $15.00 to enter for a day permit)  we slowly made our way to the end of the point, and then walked the short 1/4 mile trail to the end of the point.  Then we slowly wound our way out of the park with a few stops for pictures.

Then after a delicious dinner of fried yellow perch (a delicacy of Lake Erie) we drove to the B&B we were staying in overnight.

The B&B that we were booked into was called 'Bound to Please', which may seem innocuous, but that name, coupled with a copy of 'Shades of Grey' in our room, left us wondering about the mixed message of a homey, comfortable B&B with an odd name...

Mileage to date: 6,189 kms.

Gas in Defiance, OH: $3.87/gal. = $1.12/litre Cdn

May 20 - Niagara Falls

Today was beautiful, again!  Warm (about 19 degrees C), and mostly sunny with a few cloudy periods.  We had breakfast at the hotel this morning, then decided that we would do the "Maid of the Mist" boat ride today.  We went over to U.S. side of Niagara Falls for the ride, as the lineups for the ride were less than half that of the lineups for the Canadian side.  So we drove through the border and parked on Goat Island, in the midst of the Niagara River.  We had a bit of a walk around, and made our way to where the boats depart.  We were ready to be soaked, but with the supplied poncho, we barely got wet at all.  The hems of my jeans got a bit wet, and I think that was the worst of it.  What a fantastic experience that was!  It's hard to describe the power and force and magnitude of the water going over those falls.

Me and Rick on the "Maid of the Mist" at Niagara Falls

We haven't decided what we're doing for dinner this evening - perhaps burgers and beer.  Sounds good to me!

Mileage to date: 5,711 kms.
Gas in Ridgeway, ON: $1.36/litre
Gas in Blenheim, ON: $1.30/litre

May 19 - Niagara Falls

We had a big sleep-in this morning – didn’t actually roll out of bed until 10:30!  We grabbed a quick sandwich and latte at the Starbucks in the hotel, then thought about what to do for today…  The day has been warm, about 19 degrees C, and sunny with cloudy periods.  As it turned out, this was a quiet, relaxing day for us – a quick shopping trip, then back to the hotel for some R&R.  We’re just trying to decide what to do for dinner this evening – we think we may find a Greek restaurant.

We found a Greek restaurant called Koutouki Greek Cuisine – it looked really nice, and had a very good menu and a good rating on Trip Advisor.  I had the pork souvlaki and Rick had the moussaka, which is his very favourite Greek dish.  We also shared a saganaki appetizer.  My dinner was really good, but Rick’s was less than…  He said it lacked any kind of spice, so was bland, at best.

Just before going back to the hotel for the evening, we took a quick walk down the street, to the Hershey Store, which was about six storefronts from the hotel.  Talk about chocolate heaven!!  I could have cleaned up in there in no time!  I may have to go back again tomorrow, when I have a little more time to choose and decide what I want there…

So much chocolate... so little time...

#neverenoughchocolate

May 18 - Niagara Falls

Today is fan-tastic!!  Beautiful blue sky and sunshine on the falls this morning – it just doesn’t get any better for a vacation day, particularly since we haven’t had the best of vacation weather since leaving Kelowna.

We had breakfast at the Sheraton breakfast buffet this morning – quite an extensive affair, and absolutely delicious!  I could have stayed and enjoyed more coffee, but we wanted to get out to see Niagara On The Lake today.

We stopped at the Niagara Whirlpool on our route, and took some pictures.  Rick would have loved to take the Niagara Whirlpool Aerocar across the whirlpool, but I’m afraid that I just didn’t “feel the love” for that.  Chicken??  Yes!  Readily admitted.

We found our way to a couple scenic views along the Niagara Parkway, particularly the monument dedicated to Major General Sir Isaac Brock - Brock's Monument is a 56-metre column atop Queenston Heights, in Queenston, Ontario, one of Canada's heroes of the War of 1812; and the Niagara Park Floral Clock; then found our way, amongst the beauty of the old, grand homes along the Niagara River to Niagara-On-The-Lake.  Southern Ontario has captured my interest in a big way.  Though the spring season is about two weeks later than spring in B.C., the trees are just turning green here, and the lawns and surrounding green areas (parks and such) are just the “new spring” green that I love so much.  The beauty of the surroundings here makes me jealous of those who can enjoy this time and again.  But I dare not forget that this beauty is replaced by harsher winters than I care to tolerate, given a choice.

Rick and I wandered around “Old Town” Niagara-On-The-Lake for a couple hours, poking into this shop, and peeking into that shop – it was crowded, and it was fun.  Because of our large breakfast, and the lateness of the afternoon, we decided to forego lunch, and treated ourselves to a piece of carrot cake for me, and a date square for Rick.  We tasted some ice wine, and bought a bottle, and was tempted to buy a number of other items, but refrained…  We stopped into a winery, Reif Estate Winery, on the way back to the hotel, and tasted another ice wine, and bought a bottle there, too.  Who says I can’t be tempted with sweet nectar?!

“Old Town” Niagara-On-The-Lake

We got back to our hotel, and checked with the front desk, as the hotel was to move us from the room we checked into yesterday, to a suite.  They gave us new room keys, and we went in search of our new accommodations for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights.  This 22^nd floor suite is gorgeous, with two full bathrooms, two fireplaces (electric) and a circular staircase to the bedroom.  The suite has a chandelier in the loft area, and curtains that operate with a switch.  The view of the falls is magnificent from our room, and we learned that there will be fireworks over the falls tonight, for Victoria Day, and we’ll get the best view from our room.

Our two-storey suite at the Sheraton

Dinner at the Fallsview Restaurant in the Sheraton this evening was so delicious.  It was a huge buffet-style dinner, and there were so many selections, that it was hard to choose.  We took our time with dinner, and enjoyed a bottle of wine, then went back to our suite to wait on the fireworks at 10:00.

The fireworks were fantastic, and we had one of the best views that we could have had – Rick took quite a few pictures, that didn’t really do them justice, of course.  It was great having the opportunity to see them from the vantage that we had.

It’s now midnight, and time to turn in for the night.

May 17 – Stratford to Niagara Falls

Today we woke to a gray day, but fortunately it’s not raining.  We got ourselves ready for the day, and down to breakfast just before 9:00.  Elena and Dom, our hosts at the Birmingham Manor B&B requested that we be on time for breakfast, as they request of all their guests.  They treated us to a delicious breakfast of a fresh fruit plate, orange juice, orange and ricotta pancakes with berry compote, and "something" and rhubarb crumble, with coffee and tea, as desired.  There was another couple staying there at the same time, and between the hosting couple, and the other guests, we had some interesting conversation over breakfast.  We’d definitely stay at this B&B again, if ever in this area.  http://birminghammanor.com/

Elena Pastura & Dom Tassielli, owners of Birmingham Manor B&B in Stratford, ON.

We had a really nice drive today – not sunny, but certainly not bad for driving.  Again, the scenery was beautiful – the landscape so lush and green.  Along the way, I spotted some “minion” hay bales in a field that a farmer had created, but we were traveling too fast for me to grab my camera and get a shot, or even to tell Rick to stop for a moment so I could get my camera out…  I totally regret not going back there to get a picture, as it was sooo cute.

We got to Niagara Falls at about 2:00, and we had to drive past the falls, first and foremost, as it was my first time experiencing Niagara Falls.  So by the time we took a little drive, we got to our hotel, Sheraton On The Falls at about 3:00.  We checked in and were given a double-queen room on the 3^rd floor for one night.  We could have remained in that room for the duration of our stay, but we were promised a two-floor suite on a higher floor with a king bed, if we wanted to move.  We indicated that we’d definitely change rooms when the suite came available tomorrow.

Once we got checked in, we went to the Hard Rock Café in the adjoining complex, for a late lunch.

We then decided to go for a walk down to the falls…  What an experience!  I was amazed and impressed and awestruck, and more…  The force and the magnitude of the falls overwhelm me.

We walked along from the Sheraton to the Canadian falls, and then we warmed up in the Table Rock Welcome Centre with a cup of Timmy’s hot chocolate and a doughnut before we headed on our walk back to the hotel.  Because of our late lunch and snack of hot chocolate and doughnuts, we weren't very hungry for dinner, so instead had a snack/dinner of nachos at Ruby Tuesday’s, at about 9:00.  Then we went back to the hotel, and soon after turned in for the night.

Mileage to date: 5,371 kms.
Gas in Niagara Falls, NY: $3.88/gal = $1.128/litre Cdn

May 16 – Caledon to Stratford

We had a bit of a chance to sleep in a little this morning, then checked out of our beautiful room at the Millcroft Inn.  We decided to go back to Orangeville to find ourselves a Starbucks breakfast.  Again, we had a beautiful day for travel - not too warm, but pleasant.  It was a great drive from Caledon to Stratford - and we took our time, taking some back roads through the beautiful countryside, and thoroughly enjoying the drive...

We drove through Brampton, and stopped to take a picture of the house that Rick owned while living there, and where Shannon and Meghan first lived after they were born.  This house was about 900 sq. ft. upstairs - a little larger than the house that I lived in, as a child.  It appears that someone's doing renos to this house, at the moment...

18 Royce Avenue, Brampton, ON

We got to Stratford and found the Birmingham Manor B&B that we had reservations at - it was around 4:00 pm by this time.  We were greeted by Elena, one of the hosts of the Birmingham Manor B&B, and were shown to our room.  I had a sneak peek at the other rooms in the B&B, since they weren't occupied just yet.  In the hallway, there was a "guest" mini-fridge that could be used for any items; and was stocked with water and pop which were complimentary for guests.  There were a lot of little amenities for guests, that were very thoughtful.

Birmingham Manor B&B, Stratford, ON.

We thought we'd have an early dinner and catch our evening show that we'd previously booked.  When Rick looked at the tickets for our show, however, we realized that we'd goofed - our show was a matinee that started at 2:00 pm - not an evening show, as we had thought and anticipated.  We were both disappointed, but there was nothing that could be done about it at this point.  So we found a place to go have dinner, and went back to the B&B for an early evening.

Our room at the Birmingham Manor B&B.

 A beautiful, comfortable queen-size bed in a beautifully appointed room.

 The foyer to the Birmingham Manor B&B.

 The other side of the foyer.

 A working telephone booth inside the B&B

- local calls and long distance calls within Canada are complimentary.

 The sitting room for guests at the B&B.

The formal dining room for guests at the B&B.

Mileage to date: 5,157 kms.
Gas in Guelph, ON: $1.33/litre

May 15 – Manitoulin Island to Caledon

We decided to get up by 8:00 this morning, as we wanted to grab a bite of breakfast at Mum's Cafe; and had to catch the M.S. Chi-Cheemaun ferry from Manitoulin Island over to Tobermorey, and still had to travel about 37 kms to get there.  We miscalculated our time, and had to rush through breakfast, and literally sped the distance between Mindemoya and South Baymouth, where we were to catch the ferry.  If we missed the 11:15 am ferry, there was one more ferry at 3:00 pm, and then our day would have been thrown off.

The ferry ride between South Baymouth and Tobermorey is about two hours - something that we're quite familiar with, being from Vancouver Island, and traveling to the mainland of BC often.  On this ferry, however, passengers aren't allowed to remain in their vehicles during the ferry ride.

The ride between the two ports was often very foggy, and dismal with rain.  Something that I found quite interesting, is that this ferry has a permit to sell alcohol on it, and has beer and a couple cocktails that they sell.

Rick and I were sitting in the lounge area, and were absolutely freezing, with our hoodies on.  We decided to move one floor down, to the cafeteria area, and perhaps get a hot chocolate to warm us - this area was much more bearable regarding warmth, and we stayed there until it was time to return to our vehicle.

After our ferry ride, we continued our trip through Wiarton, where we had lunch, and took some pictures of the huge groundhog statue, commemorating Wiarton Willie.  Oh, and we saw Wiarton Willie's "Re/max" home, and took a photo of that, too!

We passed through some areas that had Amish colonies - there were road signs heeding us to watch for horse-drawn buggies on the road.  And we came upon some areas that were using wind turbines for power generation - we'd never seen that many wind turbines in such a small area.

We continued our beautiful, scenic drive to the Village of Alton in Caledon.  We had a reservation at the Millcroft Inn, which is a beautiful, historic, country inn that was once a knitting mill in 1881.  Rick had also made dinner reservations for us at the restaurant in the Inn.  We took a short while to rest up and change our clothes, and then we went down to the restaurant.  We both had a cocktail prior to dinner, while relaxing, then had a most delicious meal, while overlooking the waterfall that used to operate the mill.  We took about twenty photos at the Inn, but I'll only post a couple.  Our room was fantastic, beautifully appointed with a comfortable king-size bed, towel-warmer in the bathroom, a seating area and stunning views from the windows.

 Lounge area off the Dining Room.

 Rick and our view of the falls during dinner.

Millcroft Inn - such beauty!

Mileage to date: 4,905 kms.

Gas in Tobermorey: $1.40/litre

May 14 - Red Rock to Manitoulin Island

We got up fairly early this morning, as we have a long day of driving ahead of us.  Our hosts treated us to a breakfast of delicious blueberry pancakes with maple syrup, bacon and coffee and orange and apple juices.  After breakfast we got our bags packed and were off.

This was the view of the morning from the Quebec Lodge.

It was a beautiful day's drive, along Lake Superior, that goes on, and on..., and on....  We took some photos of the ice still on the lake.

We drove through White River, where the story of Pooh began...  Of course, I had to get a picture of this!

We had wanted to stop for dinner at a couple places we saw on billboards, but when we got there, they were closed for the evening.  We came into the town of Little Current, and spotted a pub that appeared to be open and thought this would be a great place for a bite to eat.  They even had the Montreal vs New York playoff game on - how could we lose?

After dinner we had to get on the road again, as it was becoming dark and the rain was threatening, again.  It was about 40 more minutes to our destination.

We finally got to where we were booked to spend the night, on Manitoulin Island, at Mindemoya.  At this point, it had been raining off and on all evening, and it was dark, and we were both tired of the day's drive.  We checked into Manitoulin Inn, and were glad to be able to stretch out and put our feet up.  We couldn't find the ice machine, if there was one, and neither of us had enough change to get a coke or something similar from the vending machine...  So we turned in for the night.

Mileage to date: 3,917 kms.
Gas in Wawa, ON: $1.47/litre
Gas in Sault Ste Marie, ON: $1.39/litre