Cleveland Rocks!

Well...not really. For a city with a hard rock reputation and the birthplace of "Rock and Roll" (the phrase, not the music) its pretty quiet and tame on a Tuesday night. Even the famous house of blues concert hall had a disappointing line up highlighted by the achy breaky Billy Ray Cyrus. Hardly hard rock, but don't get me wrong, other than getting turned around and lost in a seedy part of town, I had a great time in Cleveland and am glad I went. Let me back up. I left Sarnia and headed south through Michigan. Detroit, from what I saw, aint pretty. On the highway through the city there were bumpers, tires and other car parts on the shoulder. Not something you want to hit going 60 mph (100 km/h for us canucks) I did drive by Tiger stadium and where the lions play which was cool to see. Outside of Detroit I stopped at a travel stop to take a leak and grab something to eat. Let me tell you, there are some interesting folk in these parts. Some popeys chicken to go and I was set. In retro spect, fried chicken and biscuits are not something you should eat while driving.


I got into Cleveland around 2:00 and passed by Jacobs field, Q Stadium and the Cleveland Brown's stadium...Again cool to see. Checked into my hotel and walked to the Rock and Roll hall of fame. The place is huge. It has six floors and in 3 hours I only saw three. They start you in the basement which is the museum. I spent 2 hours there and could have spent more. My favorite things were original lyrics hand written by the artist. It was really cool seeing what songs could have been with lines scratched out or omitted. They had great outfits worn by different musicians like a purple jump suite Roy Orbison rever should have worn. By the by, Laurn Hill is a huge lady. They had here Grammy outfit on a manican next to Busta Rhymes and she dwarfed him!

And of course the guitars! Good God the guitars! So cool. Hendrix to Cobain, Elvis to Les Paul himself. So very cool. After the museum I rushed through an exhibit on Les Paul and radio then hit the hall of fame. There I caught the end of a cool film on all the inductees over the years.

After relaxing at the hotel I decided to head out in search of something to eat and some entertainment. This is when I discovered Cleveland is a dull city. Everything was closed or dead.O even went to the Flats, a part of town with nightlife. Nada. Granted it was a Tuesday night. I finally found a Subway that was still open. I headed back in what I thought was the right direction. Not so much as I found myself by the bus depot with plenty of the interesting folk I mentioned earlier. I did make it back to the hotel and to bed.

Off to Niagara tomorrow.

Random life

Golf and food indeed. Mike and I started an eating contest at my grandparents where we would match and try and top what the other ate. Childish some would say but then you don't know my family. In the end, I was a bigger man and put and end to it but the damage was done. I had streached my stomach and was getting used to large "sport eating" meals. So I will say that is why I had to leave Sarnia. The truth is I got very comfy there which makes it that much harder to leave.

I had no plans till going to Montreal for the long weekend. I called my brother/travel agent to set me up with a car for the long weekend trip and then asked him for one in Sarnia. The Rock and Roll hall of fame caught my eye and before I knew it I was off to Cleveland...Ohio.

Hopefully I will have something of interest to post soon.

Lull

Retirement is great. I have spent the last couple weeks fishing, golfing, passing gas...You know, that old chestnut. After Toronto I headed back to Sarnia via VIA rail. It was pretty nice being on a train again, definitely my favorite way to travel.

In Sarnia I ate and golfed. Anne and Mike were kind enough to lend me their van as they were taking their other vehicle north again. I headed to London wo visit with Erin where we golfed and ate...and drank and played golden tee. I then headed north to bug my grandparents once again. I was looking to relax there but no such luck. Don't let anyway tell you retirement is easy or boring. I was up everyday by 8:00 the latest and did something. Whether it was fishing with my uncle, squash with my aunt, or breakfast with my grandparents, it was fun and worth the early rise. One day I went off roading on quads with my uncle Paul and grandfather. So much fun. We would pass by a creek or a field and I would think to myself, "wow this is beautiful"... and then I would run it over! Something funny and extremely manly about that.



One spontaneous thing I did while there was booke a ticket to St.Johns...one way. There was a good seat sale on so I did it. Now what to do in the meantime? Im off to Sarnia once again to drop off the van. I see golf and food in my future. Retirement is great.

Regaining My Youth

Toronto is a cool city. I have passed through numerous times but never really took any of it in. I was lucky to have tour guides this time as I stayed with Erin and Steph, whom I met on a train from Krakow to Budapest. They are a lot of fun and great hostess's. I saw a lot in Toronto and had a blast. My favorite sights were the hockey hall of fame, center island, and Canada's Wonderland.

The Hockey Hall of Fame was very cool, so much history, information and games. I was like a little kid in there. I could have spent hours reading stats and stories but didn't want Erin to sit through that. The hockey masks through the years were sweet and I got to see the original Stanley cup.

Center island is a great escape from the big smoke. We headed out to watch some wake boarding competitions but were pretty slow moving from the night prior. Instead we toured the island, walked out to the piers, got lost in a garden maze, and saw a sunset I didn't think possible in a big city. There ferry ride to and from the island is worth the trip itself as you get a great view of the city, very cool at night as the skydome is light up.

And of course, Canada's wonderland. So much fun even though it rained most of the day. I was actually on a mission going there. A mission to regain my youth and finally become a man. No, Canada's Wonderland didn't steal my barmistfa party, I had that...and Im not even Jewish! I(but you could tell that by my spelling) Its much sadder than that. When I was about 9 or 10 my Uncle took me and my cousins there and I chickened out on every rollercoaster. I even went as far as lining up for an hour only to turn around and fight my way out of the line. Sad I know. My life has been a lie. I was not a man and I apologize to the people in my life who thought otherwise. Erin said she would ease me into the scary rides but by the 3rd roller coaster we were doing loops and twists backwards...and I loved it. We did basically every ride there, even a free fall from I don't even know how high up. We got video from one of the best rides as you can see me mouth " My balls!" as the g force crushes the harness down. So funny. In the lineup to that ride there was a kid who chickened out at the last minute just like I did. I should have grabbed him and told him to man up but at that point running still looked like a good idea to me! After that ride everything felt like child's play. I was even comforting Erin on some rides, including the one I ran out on years ago. I was laughing at the ride and pretending to fall asleep and then we hit a bump and I cracked my knee on the safety bar. It was almost like the ride knew I was mocking it.

The rain finally let up so we decided to hit up a water ride before leaving. Smart idea. We got absolutely soaked and had to go and return a erntal car drenched. All in all it was a great day though.

The next night Erin's sister and brother-in-law stopped by on there way back from the east coast. They had just done what I had planed on doing, drive and camp through Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and PEI. I have been hesitant to do it alone and after talking to them I decided I will save that trip for when I have others to do it with. It's just to bad cause I have the time and freedom to do it now. For the time being Im off to visit with family again in Sarnia. Free rooms are nice. Family is OK.

Meet the Robertson's

I arrived at my Gandma's late afternoon and as expected the first words out of her mouth were "So, what do you want to eat?" Such a sweet lady and still laughing and joking at 86 years young. We talked and laughed. I repeatedly got the story about how when I was born she came to help out my parents. After a few weeks under Granny's care I ballooned in size and no one knew why. They also did not understand why they were going through so much formula. Put those together and you get Grandma serving me straight formula that was supposed to be diluted. But I was still cute.

The next morning I awoke to the smell of crepes. I have definitely been treated very well since getting back to Canada! I spent the next couple days visiting with Grandma and my musically gifted uncle Fred. He had a digital recording studio and was nice enough to set it up in my room. I managed to get one song recorded and asked Fred if he could put some lead guitar to it. After one listen he layed down a nifty track. I thought it was pretty cool to have a recording with my uncle whom I never see.

Another Uncle was in town with his family so we visited them as well as an Aunt and some cousins. It was a lot of fun hearing stories about my parents or my grandparents and there up bringing.

It was another hard place to leave as I was getting very comfy at Grandma's.

Next up T.O.

Meet The St.Amours cont...

So I had problems uploading pictures...Again. Here are a few more of the family:

(Me and grandparents and me and my aunt Anne)

After a few relaxing days at my Grandparents cottage my mother and I were off to Sarnia to visit with my Aunt Ann and her family. There I spent a couple days playing with the cousins and got out golfing again with Mike and Griffin. We also went and saw Talladega nights which was hilarious. Shake and bake. After Sarnia my mom and I were off to Gananaque where she recently purchased a cottage in the thousand island's area. It is a beautiful spot and I got a good idea why so many chose the cottage life. I am already salivating at the thought of visiting and vacationing there in the future. The previous owners were kind enough to take us for a boat tour around the islands (not all of them) There are some amazing houses in the area. One channel we went through was about 10 feet wide and separated the U.S. and Canada.

After a couple days in the area it was off to Ottawa. We arrived early in the afternoon and was a gorgeous day so we headed out to a buskers festival then walked around parliament hill. I had been to Ottawa a couple times prior but never in the summer. I had never seen things like the locks on the Rideu canal. It was very neat to watch boats slowly make there way up the canal as each section was opened and filled. Ottawa is definitely a beautiful capital city, right up there with all the great capitals of Europe I had seen. One thing I found very cool was while walking about I took a picture for some girls whom, based on how they were talking about and praising the city, I thought were tourist. Turned out they were locals. Can't say I have been like that about any city I have lived in.

After a feast at the Keg we were off to parliament hill for a very neat light show. It was very "ra-Canada" but very cool.

The next day I dropped mom off at the airport and headed west to visit with my Dad's side of the family. Stay tuned...

Its amazing how the motivation to do this fades when internet is so readily available. It could also be the teenager/bums life I have been living..."I said I 'll do it laaater!" I spent my last week in YK living like that...and I liked it. I was up till 4 am every night and slept till the crack of noon everyday. I snuck out and even stole beer from my mom to go to a party. How funny is that?

I did get down the lake to my dad's cabin and it was great. I fished, played guitar, and played with my dad's dog Maggie. I caught dinner and it was tasty, possibly better than my dad's fried fish. Al packed me some bear spray which was nice cause there was bear shit everywhere. The shore I hiked to was stained purple and looked as though there was a not so teddy bears picnic going on. When my dad picked me up he told me he forgot to mention that he saw a bear there a week prior. Thanks dad.

Other highlights while in YK was the airshow and the "Four Full Inches" get together. This was a band I played in out of high school. Mike flew up for the weekend and we went out for drinks with Erwin, a guitarist in the band. We ended up running into Margaret, the lead singer. Good times were had catching up. After the bar my cousin Trevor ferried us to my brother's house boat for some after hour drinks. I don't have any pictures with me of my time in YK but will post some in the future. I met a lot of people in Europe whi asked about Yellowknife. I was surprised to find it a very pretty spot, espically with the 6 hour or so sun set/rise.


Meet the St.Amour's


After a quick stop over in Edmonton (long enough to see who I wanted to see and eat some great sushi) my mother and I were off to Toronto. We rented a car and drove up to my Grandparents cottage east of Sudbury. There we spent a few days visiting and celebrating my grandparents 80th birthdays. It was great to visit with everyone as I dont get out this way often. The birthday party itself was more like a reunion. It was great visiting and meeting relitives for what felt like the first time.

Quiet days at the cottage were spent playing with my little cousins, golfing with my uncles, and swimming. We would take dips at night to cool off and it was awsome, its been awhile since I have seen that many stars. I even got up around 5 am one day to go fishing with my uncle. I was more in it for the view but my mother and uncle ment bussiness. My mom caught a very nice perch, I caught a small pike, bottom and some z's.

After a visit at my Aunt Marry's in Sudbury we were off to Sarnia to stay with my Aunt Ann for a couple nights. I will post a few pictures from there soon. Till then, here are some from my time at the lake and golfing:


5 Am on Lake Agnew





Sunset on lake Agnew - I was helping my Uncle put his boat away and while he was off to get the trailer I zipped out to the middle of the lake, watched the sunset and took a leak.



My with cousins Nathan, Maria, and Griffen


Nathan teeing up.



Never to old for video games or to young to drive a golf cart