It's the Final Countdown!

We said goodbye to our bikes on Wednesday night. They are being trailered down to Denver, CO and we are flying down to meet them Friday afternoon. The majority of our luggage is with the bikes. We will only be taking the bare essentials along with our delicate electronics and photography equipment with us on our flight tomorrow morning. Now that's the way to travel!

Aaaand ... we're back!

After breakfast, a quick clean up, and packing a lunch for the road, we were ready to go home. We made sure that Mojo and Momo had plenty of food in their dishes and plenty of water in their bowls before heading out. Unfortunately, Mojo likes to play with the water in the bowls. He sticks his paw in and splashes the water around and out of the bowls. With 2 full bowls of water at his disposal, who knows what disaster will happen.

The drive home was uneventful. The only disaster: I forgot the bottle of maple syrup on the counter that I was supposed to take home for my dad. Oops. I guess my sister will bring it the next time she's in town. =)

Goodbye, Ottawa. Until we meet again!

Explorations in the backyard

Matt met the neighbours while he was in the backyard yesterday, barbecuing our dinner. "What happened to the other couple?" "We're just cat sitting for them." "Oh." When I wandered out for a moment, I could hear an accordian playing and singing coming from someone else's backyard. The neighbours joked that we should all go and crash that party. We all got a chuckle out of that.

Every time Matt went out to the patio in the back, Mojo wanted to go too. When we realized that there were 2 thin leashes attached to the deck, we let Mojo out and hooked him up with one of the leashes. Eventually, also Momo decided she wanted to go out. We obliged. And then we discovered that their collars weren't very sturdy. Shortly after Momo was allowed outside, something freaked her out and she started tugging at the leash, wanting back inside. The collar suddenly snapped apart and she bolted for the door. Well! Back inside for everyone. No more outdoor play time.

Earlier in the day, we did some shopping, and then some window shopping. The shopping was a result of a brain cell failure when we were packing to come to Ottawa. The window shopping was for fun, the way window shopping aught to be. We went over to another local motorcycle dealership and accessories store. This one was much larger than the one we had visited the day before. They carried a wide variety of Rev'it gear. I will have to do some research on prices to see if the local prices are worth coming back for. =)

Lazy day, Lazy cats

Friday was a lazy day. Matt got up before I did and played video games until I woke up. In the meantime, Mojo decided he was going to be a lap cat and plunked himself down on top of Matt who was sitting in the couch. That's how I found them when I eventually got up and went downstairs. Matt had made himself a pot of coffee. I put together some breakfast for us and refilled the cats' water dishes and food bowls while Matt played and Mojo snoozed on Matt.

It's been a while since we were here and spent any time with Mojo and Momo. We remembered them to be not quite so ... pudgy. Of course, we had just spent 3 weeks with a much younger, very talkative and active cat. Mojo and Momo are a bit older and lead more sedentary lives with an unlimited supply of food. 

We eventually left the house and paid a visit to a local motorcycle dealership and accessories store. We were somewhat excited as they advertised themselves as an Aprilia dealer. Unfortunately the Aprilia section was quite small compared to their cruiser section. On the way to the store, we joked that Matt could consider coming here to have his bike serviced if he liked what he saw. Well. I think we'll stay local for that.

We returned home for lunch and to figure out what we could do in the afternoon. Ah yes, the Tulip Festival. This weekend would mark the end of Ottawa's Tulip Festival. Despite the impressive numbers of tulips on display, they were getting to the end of their lives. Quite a number of them were starting to lose their petals. After our stroll through the tulips, we had ourselves some caffienated beverages at Planet Coffee in the Byward Market. We spent a bit of time enjoying the ridiculously nice weather and sipping our beverages. When we were done, we spent a bit of time meandering through the Market before heading home again.

Update on Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 12:01AM by Matt

Resting cat... really:

Mojo really does lie down like this a few times a day.  This behaviour seems new as we don't recall him doing this in the past.  Momo seems to do this as well, but not nearly as often.  Oh, and no, he's not lying like this because he wants someone to rub his belly; he doesn't like his belly rubbed.  Apologies for the low quality picture... the iPhone isn't known for it's low light prowess.

Travelling without a plan

Our original intent was to ride out to Ottawa to spend the weekend with my sister, her husband, and their two cats. What actually happened was a little off target. I had completely forgotten that they had made plans to meet up with some friends for a week-long trip to Las Vegas and had asked if they could stay the night with us before catching their flight out from Buffalo. Oops!

As it turned out, however, they had been unsuccessful in recruiting anyone to cat sit for them while they were going to be away. Well! We could still go out to Ottawa, but instead of being a burden, we'd be doing them a favour. Ha! Done! Sold!

But then there was the weather. As much as we love riding, we don't "love" riding in pouring rain if we know it's going to happen. We waited until the last possible moment, hoping the weather forecasts would change (remember Earl?). We caved and rented a car. And boy was that the best decision, hands down.

We left Toronto just before noon. The sun was out in full force. The weather was absolutely perfect ... if we were on bikes. Grr. When I saw the signs for Prince Edward County, we made an impromptu decision to have lunch in Picton. We had hoped to stop in at Buddha Dog, but they were closed. Instead, we walked into The Painted Peppercorn, located just around the corner from Buddha Dog. We both enjoyed lamb burgers with salad. The burgers were fantastic; the patty was moist and full of flavour. The portion size was satisfying. We'll definitely be back!

As we ate lunch, the weather started to change. By the time we walked back to our rental car, it had started spitting. The rental started to look more appealing. We continued our journey to Ottawa. After a ridiculous amount of time spent crawling through construction zones, traffic finally started to move freely again. We passed a rider on a Ducati who was wearing very minimal gear: helmet, jacket, and gloves. He was stopped on the side of the highway. I commented that he better be stopped because he was putting on rain gear as we could see huge dark clouds looming up ahead of us. He passed us about 5 minutes after that. About 15 minutes later, the rain came down so hard that we could barely see any vehicles around us. We spotted the same Ducati rider stopped under a bridge. Wise move.

We drove through this crazy rainfall for quite a distance. It eventually cleared up. And then it came back with a vengence. This time, the rainfall was so heavy that we slowed down to a crawl and turned on the hazards; all the vehicles around us did the same. Wow. When we got through this second storm, we were extremely thankful for the rental car. Riding would have been absolute misery and extremely dangerous.

And now we're here! Safe and sound. And DRY. Yay!

She said "apple"!!

My sister and my 19 month old niece were downtown on Saturday for a rare visit.  Matt and I had a bag of apples sitting on one of our Barcelona chairs.  My niece ran over to the chair, picked up an apple, turned around to show it to us, and said (very clearly) "apple!"  Then she put it down, ran around the the living room, and did it again.  I was so impressed.  Not only did she use the correct word with the correct object, she repeated it several times.  Wow.  That was the first time I had ever heard her say a proper word, not baby-talk or nonsense babbling.

And she whispered "bye" when they left to go home.  AMG!!

Day 2: Island Time!

Remember how I said we hoped the sunrise photos would actually happen?  Yup, they didn't.  Matt took a look out the window at 6:00am and it was still overcast.  I guess we'll try again tomorrow from the Island.

We drove to the ferry dock and got our tickets.  We would be taking the first ferry of the day from Tobermory to Manitoulin Island.  We parked the car and quickly hunted down breakfast before boarding the ferry.  3 eggs over easy, a thick slice of ham, homefries, and toast.  Oh, and all you can drink coffee.  Not bad!  Too bad I only had time for a few sips of coffee.  That was probably the fastest I've ever shovelled breakfast into my mouth before.  It was a record-setting 10 minutes!  We boarded the ferry, climbed upstairs, and prepared to set sail.

I spent the majority of the crossing asleep.  Matt, on the other hand, spend a good deal of time outside taking photos.  End result:  we were both in need of hot beverages once we got onto the Island.  We stopped in at one of the motels by the ferry dock and warmed up with a hot chocolate for me and a coffee for Matt.  We also browsed the local wares and picked up a few things.  Once we finished our drinks, we set off to continue our sightseeing and photography tour. 

Today we saw a few more lighthouses, several historical buildings, and a decomissioned ferry.  The ferry, named Norisle, ended its active service in 1974.  Since then, it has been sitting at the Manitowaning Harbour.  There have been plans to restore it, but they seem to have stalled.  It now sits silently in a rather sorry state at the harbour.

Some of the historical buildings we visited today include the Manitoulin Roller Mill, the Batman Mill, and St. Paul's Anglican Church.  We also made a quick stop in Providence Bay to see the boardwalk.  A few broken down, abandoned looking trucks also became subjects of our photographic excursions today.

The weather was pretty overcast and gloomy.  The only time we saw any sun was just after debarking from the ferry.  Hopefully we will see some sun (and sunrises and sunsets!) in the next two days.  This is getting frustrating!

Day 1: And I'll huff, and I'll puff ...

Wow.  We were rather unprepared for how windy it was throughout the day.  It's still blowing like crazy outside as I am typing out this entry.  Today we visited 5 lighthouses in the Bruce Penninsula.   As it turns out, they are all open to the public for tours.  Unfortunately, most of them are only open until Labour Day.  Drats!  We came, saw lighthouses, and took pictures of them.

When we finally arrived at our motel in Tobermory at 6:15pm and checked in, we were informed that most restaurants closed at 8pm.  We decided to try and eat dinner quickly and then attempt to get some sunset photography done.  We quickly ate at a local fish and chips place (they were out of chowder!).  Our potential sunset photos were a bust.  It was far too overcast.  Oh well.  Perhaps we will have better luck once we get onto Manitoulin Island.

Our final outting for the night took us to the ferry dock at 10pm.  The wind was still blowing quite strongly.  We watched the final ferry arrival of the day as it came into the harbour and docked.  It was quite an undertaking with lots of turning and adjusting.

Tomorrow we plan on getting up early and getting some sunrise photos.  Wish us luck!   

On the road again

No.  I don't believe we get tired of sightseeing.  ;)  We are leaving in about an hour to start our next road trip.  This time, however, we will be driving.  The main purpose of this trip is to follow a rather detailed itinerary up to Tobermory and then on to Manitoulin Island for great photography opportunities.  I actually have no idea where we're going (in terms of specific destinations) and what we'll be seeing.  How exciting! 

We're pretty much all packed up.  I've made breakfast.  I can hear that Matt has finally gotten out of bed to do some last minute tending of our plants.

Onward, ho!

Day 3: Rawr! More seafood, please!

We decided to split off from the group this morning. We left about 20 minutes before they were to be setting out. We stopped in Naples, ME for lunch. We both had a cup of New England clam chowder and a lobster roll. Very tasty.

We had a bit of a laugh as we rode along after lunch. The eastern US states seem to enjoy naming their towns after far-off places. We rode through South China, Poland, and Naples to name a few. It was almost like we had a whirl-wind world tour in the span of a few hours!

So far we have found the majority of US drivers to be extremely courteous. Not only will they move over for you if you are merging onto any of the interstate highways, they also move over (one single lane highways) almost onto the shoulder to let you pass if they think they're holding you up. Wow. Many thanks and kudos to all of you. =)

The highlight of the day was riding on Route 112. It was obviously a favoured local riding road as we saw many, many motorcycles on it, travelling in both directions. This was the only time that we got rained on. And it was only a very light rain.

We arrived at the hotel about an hour ago. To our surprise, we're the first ones here. Unfortunately, we are not able to check-in until Rory arrives. So in the mean time, we've worked on yesterday's and today's postings. We hope you've enjoyed them. =)

Day 3 route:

View from our lunch spot:

Bikes, resting:

Lunch spot:

Cess about to dig into her lobster roll: