Round Trip

Ok. Sorry for the delay. I'm writing this entry from Winnipeg, so as you can imagine I've been a little occupied with settling back in. But I'll do my best to continue where I left off.

So the next day Mike was meeting his family in Niagara and I was invited along since it was one of my destinations. His Mom and her boyfriend are big spenders at the Niagara Casino so they get all sorts of free things. They were staying at a really nice hotel room on one of the top floors for free, had a free buffet meal and tickets to Sinbad live, all of which I was invited to partake in.

On the ride there I actually found it kinda weird to be in passenger after spending over 50 hours driving recently. It was nice though cause it meant I could enjoy the scenery along the way. Lol, even though he's a cop he was speeding the whole way there and cursing the drivers who were only going 20 over the limit. I thought that was kind of ironic.

Niagara falls were awesome. The Canadian falls are way better than the American ones. Mike's family were cool too. Apparently my Mom used to babysit Mike and Sherry when they were kids and their Mom told me a few funny stories about that. The last time she'd seen me I was like 5.

Once it got dark out we went to the theater in the casino and saw Sinbad live. Personally, when I heard we were seeing Sinbad I thought of terrible movies. But his stand-up was actually quite hilarious. And surprisingly PG. After his actual act was over he stayed on stage for another 45 minutes just talking with the audience and improving. It was hit and miss, but the funny improv stuff was hilarious, and the stuff that wasn't funny was usually cause an audience member had asked a stupid question. We were in 4th row, so it was kinda cool to see him up close. I just realized I forgot to mention some other actors I saw. In Chicago I saw Oprah from across the street and in Toronto Mike and I saw Eric Balfour from Six Feet Under and 24.



Anyway, after the show we headed to the casino. Mike gave me like $100 to spend in the casino! Needless to say that vanished. It was a lot of fun though. In the back of my mind though I knew this was the last destination before heading home. The fact that my trip was coming to and end was hanging in the air.

We got back to Toronto at something like 3:00 in the morning, so I crashed immediately. The next morning I woke up slowly to the realization that the long drive home began that day. I took my time waking up and showering, then treated Mike to breakfast. He had been so hospitable and paid for everything so I insisted on at least letting me pay for a breakfast. We ended up talking for hours. He totally understood what this trip was all about, and related stories of his youth when he was in a similar "who am I?" phase.

The conversation ran a little long and we didn't leave the restaurant until 3:30 pm. We said our goodbye and I thanked him for the place to stay and we both got in our cars and left the parking lot. I followed him a bit on the 401 until it was my turn off. As I turned off the 401 to take the long road back to Winnipeg he waved out the window as he drove off in the distance and I waved back. The long drive through Northern Ontario was now ahead of me.

I am really glad I decided not to come back through the states. It was great coming out through there but to go back the same way seemed silly. Everyone had warned me about driving through Ontario, saying the driving conditions were awful and that wildlife was everywhere. They told me it was 2 lanes with oncoming traffic zooming by, including semis, etc... Once I was on the road I realized I could easily handle it. I probably would have been nervous if I'd come out through Ontario, but now that I had over 75 hours of highway driving under my belt it was a breeze.
Canada is a beautiful country and I'm so fortunate I got to see it. 3 days driving along the lakes through Northern Ontario was a great way to reflect on the trip and get in a little zen time. Huge rocky hills topped with lush green forest, winding roads up, down and around the hills, with the great lakes on my left and often waterfalls on the right leading into the lakes. On the second day I could see a giant cloud of fog rolling in off Lake Superior and within an hour it was so foggy I could barely see over a meter from the car. It was really cool.



Once the fog had faded I drove by a small pond and the fast changing temperatures had led to steam rising off the water surface. Just beautiful.

After 3 days of driving I finally reached Manitoba. It's funny, you leave Ontario and it's immediate. The hills vanish, then so do the trees, and within minutes you went from huge forest covered hills and lakes to the prairies. And all you can see is horizon. After a while it feels like you're not even moving, cause there's no way to gage your speed or direction.

As I reached Winnipeg a sense of nostalgia came over me. I hadn't been home in 2 and a half weeks. Even though now I saw it for the dump it really is, lol, it's still home. "It's good to be back" I thought to myself as I drove by the mint. Literally as soon as I finished that thought I looked over and saw a young guy sitting at a bus stop not looking too good, and suddenly without warning he leaned forward and violently projectile vomited onto the street in front of him. "Yup, I'm home."

I drove by work and popped my head in to say hello. As soon as I did I realized how foreign my own life felt to me now. After that I went to my Mom's to let her know I was back in one piece. She'd been worried pretty much the whole time I'd been gone. When I got home most of my friends got together and hung out for a bit, first just at McDonald's then at Johnny G's on Main.

It's been really weird falling back into the routine of things. This trip has changed me, and it's been so monumental. It's weird though, cause everyone else is acting like it's life as usual, cause I suppose it is, but things are very different for me. There are several changes in life I've realized I need to make. This trip is exactly what I needed it to be. Next year, either the west, or south to the States!

It's been a great adventure.

I've posted a tiny percentage of the photos and videos from my trip on this blog. If anyone wants to check out all the photography and videos I got out of it, I have a set on flickr, it's about 900 photos and 50 videos, lol.