Brief escape

The boy and I left Thursday afternoon for our escape from the city.
I was actually incredibly excited to be undergoing such a trip. Though we were only going a few hours away, exploring new areas is one of the things that keeps me sane, and it felt so amazing to know that I was finally with someone who gets as much out of such experiences as me.

The trip up was a little odd. We seemed to witness some of the biggest character contrasts I'd ever seen. On the ferry, there were a group of 40-something women who I would call real desperate housewives if the term wasn't so horrendously cliched. I never knew that a group of women could talk about the structure of their feet for so long! Apparently having high arches is especially arduous. It was particularly funny when they gasped to hear that some paintbrushes one of them needed were over $5 after they finished showing off their brand new cow hide shoes.
And as the contrast, behind us on the bus were two men, one who wore a leather ball cap with pride, the other who had apparently just gotten some sort of metal contraption taken out of his head that day and was planning to "get laid" that night to celebrate. I didn't feel too good about his chances, especially after he started describing in detail some sort of medical condition he had. He actually used the word "festering" three times in one sentence!

It's already pretty dark by the time we reached our hotel. We were a little amused by the decor...

(I think half my family had this flooring at some point)


(this was randomly tacked to the wall in the living room)

... but that all seemed pretty minimal when we woke up to this view from our balcony.


Unfortunately, that weather was the exception rather than the rule for the bulk of the trip. However, we did manage to take advantage of it for a good chunk of the first day, and we actually braved the rain a whole lot more than seemingly anyone else in the area (I'm sure the locals were laughing at us out on the pier clutching our umbrellas).

A few observations/comments from the trip...

My whole "I-don't-need-or-want-a-car-because-I-am-resourceful (and-cheap)" attitude is becoming more and more glaringly ridiculous. Though we were able to get to our destination relatively easy, realizing that we had wasted one or two of the precious hours of sunshine on the trip to walk to the grocery store rather than going to the nearby provincial park (which we never had a chance to do, as a result of the weather) was a little disappointing. Waiting around for a local bus while on holidays also seems a little bit weird.
Keep in mind this is from the girl who nearly took a bus through Compton to save money to get to a conference this past summer.

One bottle of wine is never enough for a night in at a hotel.

(check out our innovative way of chilling said wine)

Just because the tourist guide says that the local marsh is a great way to spend part of your visit doesn't mean it is true (as we should have figured out when the local cab driver didn't know where the hell it was). It took about 5 minutes to walk around the entire thing. It was entertaining how fat the ducks were, though, and how they followed our every move en masse.


When you have resigned yourself to getting wet, walks in the rain are absolutely delightful. Particularly along the beach at night.

Though seagulls may be dirty birds, they are extremely photogenic.




The ocean may be my favourite place ever. I could watch boats, ducks, clouds, on a pier for hours. I am like a child in how excited I get when I find a cool shell or see a bird catch a fish. One of the highlights of the trip was the two of us chasing a seagull we saw fish out a starfish from the water to get a good view.

Watching late night TV when stuck inside (particularly when one's state may be a little altered) is more entertaining that you think. A few things we discovered...
-The criteria to be one MuchMusic's 20 hottest guys of 2006 has nothing to do with looks, but rather solely lead singer status in some shitty emo band.
-This same show is also a master of hyperbole. A few of the masterful exagerrations I caught included that My Chemical Romance was one of the top 3 rock bands of the new millenium, that the lead singer of Hedley was the most entertaining Canadian since Corey Hart (quite the standard to live up to!), that Billie Jo Armstrong was pretty much the most outspoken political voice ever, and called Brendan Flowers some sort of epic rock god. Yikes.
-Infomercials are too funny. A few we saw included a late night text-messaging service (which had this guy shouting "I have no limits!" before he discussed why he would rather stay in and text hot local ladies), several 80s boxsets ("... and who could forget the genius that was Air Supply") that may have been advertised by Rick Astley, the ubiquitous Girls Gone Wild (I'm sorry, but no one's boobs look good when they are skydiving. Seriously.), and the best ever.... Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible. We spent like half an hour watching clips from The Miracles of Jesus and Daniel in the Lion's Den, accompanied by parental testimonies. And that's not all! As you can see below, they are hosted by the Hollywood Legend that is Charleston Heston. He even provided the voice of Moses!


Anyways, the main take-away point is that, even though things didn't turn out as ideal as we had hoped, it was a fantastic weekend away-- it is so good to have an excuse to get away from everything for a few days. Hopefully I will be a little rejuvenated come tomorrow, although I have to say I am a little disappointed to be back enveloped in "real life" again.