Gordon Island!!!

There is a word that gets thrown around a lot for events that were pretty awesome. It is often misused, over used and abused. It can be defined as “impressive in quality”, “celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero” or simply “majestic”. This word should only be used to describe stories of such grandeur that they should be orally passed from generation to generations. Stories like “The Odyssey”, “Metamorphoses”, “Beowulf” and “Paradise Lost” are all lumped into the category that this word describes.

This word, my friends, is – EPIC.

This past weekend I took a trip that borders on being classed as an “epic”. Some may disagree with me, but I would class it as a “mini-epic”. Not that anything heroic occurred or anything. It was just a great weekend that was full of the spirit of adventure.

Getting down to it.

My friends and I have been trying to plan a camping trip all summer. Our schedules have made this impossible - until this past weekend.

On Friday, this past week, I tried desperately to get my friends together to plan a camping trip. We had talked about it so much, but no one wanted to plan it. So, I tried. I failed. No one wanted to do it. Some of them wanted to go to Stratford instead. So, I went out Friday night and talked it up a bit, but it didn’t seem like it was going to happen.

Saturday afternoon, the texts started flying - Stratford was out, camping was in. Sam, Nicola and I had Saturday and Sunday off, Danielle had to work until 3 on Saturday and at noon on Sunday. We had a small window of opportunity, and we were going take full advantage of it. I got the text from Nicola saying that the trip was happening, at around 1:30. I replied and said that I would grab my gear and meet at her place. So, I rushed home, packed and headed off. As I walked up, Danielle was at the door. Surprising, since it was 2:30 and she had work until 3. Apparently, she had managed to leave early. We met up with Nicola, grabbed her gear and hopped in Danielle’s car to pick up Sam and the boats. We got Sam and headed to Trailhead to get our canoe and kayak. It took some rigging, but we managed to strap them both to the roof of the Ford Focus. We drove to Gananoque to pick up supplies. So, we hit No Frills and The Beerstore (we went with Lakeport Honey for the true “Camping in Canada” feel). Once supplied, we headed further East to Danielle’s parent’s house, where we would put the boats in. After a tour of the house, which Danielle’s dad is currently building and a quick pack job, we headed off with the boats.

Figure 1: Saddling up at Trailhead.

Figure 2: Group shot while buying supplies at No Frills.

We were finally in the water and it felt great. I hadn’t canoed in years and wonder, now, why I don’t do it more often. About one minute in, we cracked a beer each. Nicola missed out because she was in the kayak, but Danielle, Sam and I enjoyed our luxurious paddle towards Gordon Island. We put in at the Eastern end of the island and explored, looking for a good camp site. We noticed a sign by the outhouse that read “Caution: Aggressive Racoons on the Island”, intrigued, we kept exploring. Once we settled on a site, we went back for the boats and paddled around to the other end of the island. Upon setting up camp, we realised that we only had 24 beers. Clearly, this would not be enough. So, we paddled back, hit the beer store, purchased more beer, and a “Penthouse” magazine, for good measure, and returned to the island. Now properly equipped, we began cooking dinner.

Figure 3: Drinking and paddling - a deadly combination!

Figure 4: An omen we should have paid heed to - "Agressive Racoons on Island".


Figure 5: Setting up camp/building a fire.



Figure 6: Cooking dinner - STEAKS!

Dinner was excellent, if I do say so myself. We cooked steaks on the coals of the fire, while keeping it burning on the outside, for later, and boiled some corn, on the stove. No one believed me that cooking the steaks on the coals would work, but they seemed to like it. We followed dinner with some Jiffy Pop, which I hadn’t had in a long time. I think we will need to bring it along with us from now on.

Figure 7: Jiffy Pop!

After dinner, we went exploring. The island was actually pretty big, so we hiked around and came upon a guy and his dog. We chatted for awhile and carried on. A few moments later, we came across the rest of his contingent and talked for awhile, again. They were Americans visiting from Washington state. They were here with people they had met on a cruise the year before. They were interesting people and could actually appreciate Sam’s antics … we think.

Figure 8: Exploration group shot.

Continuing our exploration of the island was pretty uneventful, so we headed back for the campsite. Upon arrival, we kept drinking our beer, gathered wood for the fire, read aloud from our “Penthouse”, all the usual things you do when camping. We soon decided to hang out on the rocky shore. We quickly decided that it would be a good idea to go swimming. So, I dove in, soon followed by Nicola and Danielle. Sam was more tentative about swimming, but we eventually convinced him. Unfortunately, the rest of the swimming story will go unblogged, if you care to ask me to tell it in person, I might, but we will see.

Figure 9: Swimming adventure.

Once we returned to land, we basically just hung around the campfire, which somehow didn’t burn out while we were swimming, luckily. At one point, the “Aggressive” racoons circled our campsite, so Sam threw beer bottles at them until they left. It was really fun, to just hang out in the forest, around a fire, with great people. Soon, we got tired and decided to go to bed. This was an adventure in itself. We were sleeping in a three person tent, and if you remember correctly, there were four of us. We tried several arrangements and finally settled on the most comfortable one. It would have been ok, if no one had moved through the night. Unfortunately, Sam is a very active sleeper, somehow managing to wake up inside my sleeping bag the next morning – weird.

Figure 10: Happy to see the fire still blazing.

I woke up early the next morning, to try and see the sunrise. It was too cloudy, so I ended up just exploring the island some more, making tea, fishing and just hanging out. Later, the others woke up. After a slow start, we finally got Sam in shape enough to move (he is not a morning person, in the slightest) and took off in the boats. We put in near Danielle’s parent’s house, loaded up the car and headed to Gananoque. We stopped at “Bravo” for breakfast, where I had the “Hungry Man”, which was delicious. Then we made the move back to Kingston, dropped off Sam, unloaded and returned the boats. I left Trailhead, went home and was able to hang out with my parents for the couple of days they were visiting Kingston.

Figure 11: Breakfast at Bravo

All in all, a truly wonderful weekend trip. Soon to be repeated, we hope.

I'm on a boat / windmilling around

Today was an adventure filled day.

Most of you have probably seen the SNL “I’m on a Boat” short. Well, today, I spent a lot of time on boats.

Figure 1?: The "I'm On a Boat" short

I went to work this morning, got some things done, but had to leave for a one o’clock doctor’s appointment. The appointment went well, but I didn’t really want to go back to work. So, I called my friend Nicola. I went over to her place and we brainstormed an afternoon adventure. We decided to head for Wolfe Island, see some windmills and meet up with some friends.

So, we headed for the ferry. We got there, but it hadn’t arrived yet. So, we went to the Fort Frontenac patio to hang out until it arrived, which was very quickly. As we were leaving The Fort, we were harassed by a Commissionaire. Apparently, you aren’t allowed to walk through the back gate – Ridiculous! Anyhoo, we eventually made it to the ferry and boarded. We got a spot at the front, so we would of course get soaked by the waves, which was actually a lot of fun.

Once we arrived on the island, we set off in search of windmills. We spotted what we thought would be the closest one. This is where the adventure began. First, we had to hop a schoolyard fence, which happened to be the same place I came for “Outdoor Education” in grade 4. Then, we crossed a fence via bridge from the playground to a farmer’s field. Our next obstacle was - you guessed it, a fence. This one, we crawled under. Now, this put us in a field with a lone cow. We couldn’t tell if it was a bull or not, so we stuck to the treeline and came up with a contingency plan in case it charged. The plan involved a lot of running away and jumping of fences. Soon, we came to our greatest challenge – an electric fence! Now, according to Nicola, the electric fences used to keep horses in are pretty low voltage. I can only assume that it is a higher voltage for cattle. So, we had a choice to make. Do we crawl under? Or jump over? Neither seemed very appealing, so we used the gate. Only after about 7 minutes of trying to decide what to do did we notice the gate – oops. The Holy Grail was near. We just had a short distance between us and the windmill. It loomed in the distance, casting a massive shadow over us. It was actually pretty beautiful. It was silent, spinning quickly and gigantic. After some pictures, we headed back to town.

Figure 2: The windmill, in all it's glory

Figure 3: If you can see us, we are in front of the windmill, striking "adventure" poses

We met up with Zak and Krista (I think that is her name, I can’t remember. Can someone correct me?) at the Island Grill. The food was great and surprisingly cheap. We ate and headed off in Zak’s boat. We planned on going to his place and tubing. The trip, which normally takes about 30 minutes, took close to an hour because of the chop. The waves were huge. We were all soaked by the time we got to Zak’s and we all had sore tail bones. Once there, we changed and built a fire. We were waiting for Zak’s parents to get back from catamaraning, so we could all tube together. Upon their arrival, they noticed that all the fibreglass from the side of the boat had sheared off. We don’t know when/how it happened, but tubing was out. So, we made smores, chatted and eventually headed home.

Figure 4: Nicola and I on Zak's boat

Figure 5: Waves crashing over us

I think I need more days like this. It was so relaxing to be out on the water, in the sun, enjoying myself. Hopefully I can find some more time for this kind of life, before the summer is over. We shall see, as I always say.

Here Comes The Sun

So, this past weekend, I was planning on heading to the Adirondacks. The weather, unfortunately, did not cooperate. Eric, Grand, Nick and I set off in the car Friday night, after a last minute change of destination. I was heading for Montagne D’Argent – again.

We arrived at the campsite that evening and set up. We were the only ones there, so we took the primo spot – under the tarp, by the picnic tables, SCHWING! We quickly hit the nearby IGA for some cheap Quebecois beer. While at the IGA, we found a GINORMOUS wheel of cheese, that we could have purchased for the low-low price of $99.98 for half the wheel. We declined, but gladly had our picture taken with it. Returning to the camp, we drank some beer and turned in.

Figure 1: Grand and his expensive cheese

Saturday morning, we awoke to beautiful weather. After a quick breakfast, we headed out for the M&M area, which happened to be about 30 seconds from our tent. This area has a beautiful grey granite stone that is chock full of cracks. It was great. We started on “M&M” (5.8), of course. Grand lead it, I seconded. Then we moved over to “Krakabra” (5.7+), which I lead, very sketchily because it was soaked to the gills. From the ground, it looked as if only the sidewall was wet, but I soon discovered that the entire crack was seeping and slippery. Plus, I didn’t have enough #2s. So, I had to walk gear up the whole way. Basically, it was tricky, slippery, but successful. Grand decided against seconding it. Then we moved to “Lezadomachos” (5.9+), which was a technically difficult climb, with a swing in the middle. It was fun, but hard. Once we had exhausted the cracks at M&M, we moved to “Le Fou” area, so we could hop on some multi pitch climbing. Grand and Eric did “Maudit Fou” (5.10b), while Nick and I did “Le Centenaire” (5.8). It was fun; the climbs shared anchors, so we saw a lot of each other. Plus, the last pitch was the same for both. Once down, we moved to La Petite Folie area, where Nick lead his first trad line – “Encore! Mon Lapin” (5.4+) – way to go Nick. Grand and I climbed “Colonel Kirtz” (5.10a), a disgustingly dirty hand crack. Soon, we moved to the amphitheatre, where Grand, Eric and Nick climbed “Meo Penche” (5.10c). When they were done, we called it.

Figure 2: Me rappelling off M&M

Figure 3: Me at the top of Le Centenaire

Figure 4: Eric on Colonel Kirtz

We quickly went back to the tents, got ready and headed for the river. We brought some beer, to cool in the river, but the water was too warm, so they just got slightly less hot. We swam around a bit and headed back to camp. Our night in camp was pretty uneventful. We made dinner, ate, drank beer and went to bed early. The next morning, we awoke to pouring rain. So, we ate breakfast, packed up and headed for home. We stopped in Ottawa, had lunch and shopped at MEC. It was a pretty good day, even though it rained. Of course, once we arrived back in Kingston, the weather was beautiful.

Figure 5: The swimming hole/river

It was a pretty good weekend, all tolled. We got a bunch of awesome climbing in, so that was good. It was just a little too much Montagne D’Argent in two weeks for me. I need to go somewhere new! It looks like I will be soon, though, so that is good.

Figure 6: Us unhappily eating breakfast in the rain

Figure 7: Us happily eating lunch in Ottawa

Beerville, ON

The past few days have been excellent. Here is the story of my last Thursday.

I had Thursday off, so I met up with my friend Sam around 1PM at Tir na Nog. We had a beer and then took off to downtown for an adventure. The first sign we saw said “Tour Guide on Duty – Free”. Naturally, we went in. Our tour of City Hall could not have been better. Our tour guide took us through the building, told us all about the history of Kingston, showed us the mayoral portraits, etc. We went into the legislative hall, saw the old prison in the basement and got our picture taken in front of City Hall. It was a ton of fun.

Figure 1: Sam and I in front of the Tour Guide sign

Figure 2: Sam and I behind the Mayor's desk

Figure 3: Sam and I in front of City Hall

Once we finished our epic tour of City Hall, we went to Trailhead. Sam had broken his sunglasses and needed a new pair. There, we linked up with Nicola. We were going to go to Fort Henry, but she had a doctor’s appointment. So, we went to The Gap to find Danielle. She had to work, but on the way there, we ran into Tom. Tom, Sam and I headed to Coronaville and began our afternoon in luxury. We sat on the waterfront patio, drinking beer and eating wings for several hours, building up an excellent burn around my neck. From Coronaville, I went to my friend Leif’s place for a barbecue. I hung out with a bunch of friends, had GREAT food, chatted and eventually worked my way back downtown.

Figure 4: Sam, Nicola and I trying on sunglasses at Trailhead

Figure 5: Sam, Tom and I at Coronaville

Once downtown, I went to the climbing gym to meet up with some people for the evening. They didn’t make it, but I did meet up with my friend Josuel. He was buying a t-shirt for our friend Arnaud as a going away present. Apparently, there was a “going away” dinner for him that night (he is returning to France after 2 years in Kingston). So, I sold him the shirt and headed to the dinner at Lonestar, or more accurately – Margaritaville. Which means, I spent most of my day at both Coronaville and Margaritaville. We arrived at Lonestar, everyone was already there, except Arnaud. Of course, in his usual style, he showed up an hour later. He enjoyed the t-shirt, especially because it was in a bag that looked like a sunflower. We had dinner and dispersed.

Figure 6: Arnaud's "going away" dinner at Margaritaville

Nicola, Andrew and I headed out to the Merchant for some cheap wings and beer. This didn’t last very long. The wings were very filling and we had too many, the music was too loud and the beer was expensive. We migrated out to the patio, so we could at least hear each other. Soon, we moved on to the Brass. By this point, I had run out of money and energy. Contrary to my usual style, I bailed early and went home to sleep. All in all, though, it was a great day.

Montagne D'Argent

This past weekend I was supposed to go to Quebec City, QC. I was going to travel by train for free, because of a deal VIA gives military members during the month of July. The plan was to stay at the Citadel, do a bit of climbing, party it up and generally have a great time. That is, until VIA went on strike an hour before my train was scheduled to leave.

Boy, am I glad they did.

Instead, I had a great weekend at Montagne D’Argent. It is a climbing area about an hour and a half North of Montreal. I can not believe that more people haven’t heard of this place. It was excellent. But, I am getting ahead of myself.

Friday afternoon, I left work early and went home to pack my gear. Then, I met up with Colin and Arnaud to buy groceries for the weekend. Soon, we parted ways and waited at our houses for Pat to come pick us up. I got picked up first and then we went for Arnaud and Colin. We hit the road around 4:45PM.

The ride to Ottawa was very uneventful. Our directions took us straight through the ByWard Market, so we decided to stop for dinner. We tried to get a table a pub I like, Chez Lucien, but it was packed, coupled with the fact that I embarrassingly thought a patron was a waitress, we left and carried on to Pub 101. There, we all ordered the $10 steak and fries, and a beer. It was pretty good, not excellent, but good for the money. Once we were done, we carried on towards our final destination. A few near miss car accidents later, we arrived in La Conception, QC. We pulled into the campsite and everything was going fine, until we found out it was going to cost us $220 dollars to camp for the weekend. We decided that we were certainly in the wrong place because none of us would ever stay in a place that expensive. So, we asked for directions to another camp site. After quite a long hunt for the other camp site, we stopped at the single bar nearby. We had a beer, talked with the locals and had some fun. Then we started looking for the camp site again. An hour or two later, we found ourselves back at the bar, after unsuccessfully following the directions that my broken French gleaned from another campsite attendant. By this time, Pat was very frustrated and he was taking it out on a telephone pole with a metal rod. So, we called Eric for help. He managed to, eventually, guide us to the proper camp site. We joined out compatriots around the fire and went to bed dreaming of the day to come.

Figure 1: $10 Steak and Fries at Pub 101

Figure 2: At the local bar in La Conception

The next morning, we all awoke to mediocre climbing weather. It was better than expected, but not as great as we had all dreamed it could be. So, we headed up to the Grand Canyon area of Montagne D’Argent. Colin and I snagged the driest line available and started up a 5.10b called “Lucky Luke”. It was an excellent route; it was moderate climbing, with a few tricky moves. Coling breezed up it. I struggled with the last clip, took some big falls and eventually gave up. For my first hard sport climb in a while, I think I did pretty well. We climbed a bunch of other routes in the general vicinity, with various degrees of dryness and success. Soon, we left and went back to the tents for lunch. Then, we moved on to the “Le Fou” area. I lead “Boeing” (5.9+) and then hung out with Pawel, one of the Montagne D’Argent legends. He has a ton of First Ascents in the area and bolted most of the lines at “Le Fou”. We hung out for a while and shared some belays; it was fun to talk with one of the developers of the area. Pat and I then moved on and climbed the first pitch of “La Petite Delphine” (5.7/5.8). I set up a belay at the top of the climb and we decided to opt out of the second pitch, so we simul-rapped down. We rejoined the main party, did a little more climbing/talking and headed back to camp. From camp, we went down the trail to the river, where we stripped down in front of many shocked campers, located on the other bank, and went for a swim. It was awesome! The current was strong, so we would swim upstream and let the current carry us down. Although, as they say, it is all fun and games until Greg gets a leech between his toes. This situation required us to burn it off of him, only to have it reattach itself, requiring a second torching. Bloodsucking disaster averted, we headed back to the campsite.

Figure 3: Just a tidbit of the amazing climbing at Montagne D'Argent

Figure 4: Pat and I rapping off

Figure 5: Climbing at "The Grand Canyon" area

Figure 6: Colin pulling hard

Figure 7: More climbing at "The Grand Canyon"

Once we arrived back at the tents, we discovered the camp sauna. It seemed newly built and was amazing. Whoever decided to install it is a veritable genius. Greg, Colin and I proceeded to spend copious amounts of time in there. Eric and Pat joined in for a short session, and the rest didn’t seem interested. We, on the other hand, loved it and got our fill. In between sauna sessions, we made and ate dinner. A bunch of people went to the grocery store to get food, Colin, Arnaud and I made a giant pot of pasta, which we shared amongst ourselves. While out shopping for groceries, they discovered that Quebec sells beer for incredibly cheap prices. So, they returned with two cases. We drank the corona, but couldn’t finish the Keith’s. It was a good night. We all, eventually, turned in. I stayed outside in my bivy bag and the rest were in tents. Later that night, it started pouring rain. It wasn’t the rain that kept me awake, but all the people seeking shelter in the nearby picnic area. I eventually slept, once they braved the downpour and returned to their tents.

Figure 8: In the sauna

The next morning (Sunday), we woke up and decided it would be too wet to climb. So, we ate breakfast, packed up and headed to Ottawa. Breakfast was quite the affair. Arnaud, Colin and I made a chocolate-banana for everyone. Basically, we sliced open some bananas, shoved some chocolate inside and cooked them directly over the coals. Delicious!

The drive to Ottawa was pretty boring, since we were all tired. We arrived in the city and with some speedy navigation by me, made it to Mountain Equipment Co-op, where we were meeting the other car. We shopped around the MEC for awhile, picked up some things we “needed” and went to the parking lot for lunch. We sat on the rocks outside and finished the food we had packed for the trip. People gave us funny looks (particularly Nick, who had his rain pants pulled down to his ankles and was sitting in his long underwear), but we didn’t really care that much. On the way back to Kingston, I took an unexpected nap that made the drive much shorted than planned and was dropped off at home. I unpacked my kit, put my sleeping bag on the balcony to dry and ate some dinner.

All in all, a great weekend in Montagne D’Argent. I can’t wait to go back, but first THE ADIRONDACKS, next weekend!!!!!!

Figure 9: The group (sans Colin, the photographer) eating in front of MEC

Independence Day

Independence Day is an American holiday celebrated on July 4th. This holiday celebrates several things, the most important of which are American independence and Will Smith punching aliens in the face. Now, however, we have a new reason to celebrate the Fourth of July – my friends, Alex Parker and Lynne Comeau were brought together in marriage yesterday.

Figure 1 An American flag

Figure 2 Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum ready to kick some alien ass!

I got off work on Friday afternoon, quickly tied up some loose ends, packed and rushed off to the train station. My train was leaving at around 6PM, but since I had to take the bus and then walk to the station, I wanted to leave myself a large margin of error. So, I ended up arriving about an hour early. It was OK, though, one of the soldiers we have role-playing at The Peace Support Training Centre (PSTC) walked in soon after I arrived. Of course, he tried to ignore me and pretend he didn’t see me, even though I see him everyday at work. So, I walked over and sat down next to him. We chatted, he seemed like an OK guy and soon the train was pulling in for us to board. While on the train, I tried to get all my work for the weekend out of the way. I made a dent in it, but still had plenty left over for Sunday. Upon arrival in Ottawa, my friend Ashley picked me up. I was to stay with her for the weekend and we were going to the wedding together. On the way home, Ashley, her friend Dana and I picked up some Vietnamese food and headed for her place. Once there, we sat down, ate and watched “He’s Just Not That Into You”. We were all VERY tired, so we took Dana home, and went to sleep.

The next morning, we woke up around 10AM. Ashley started to get ready for the wedding, which was at 3PM. I headed over to the mall to buy a belt. I came back and noticed no change in Ashley. I then went to get gas for the car. I came back and noticed no change in Ashley. Then, I went to pick some other wedding stuff up. I came back and noticed no change in Ashley. She told me to stop making fun of “the process”. Eventually, we were both ready to go and we both looked pretty good. As you can tell.

Figure 3 Ashley and I at the wedding.

We drove downtown, found a parking spot and headed over to the Notre Dame Cathedral. When we arrived at the front doors at around 2:15PM there was a wedding party exiting the church. “OH NO!” I thought “We somehow missed the wedding”. Luckily, I didn’t recognise anyone and we realised that the cathedral was just a really popular place to get married. So, we headed for the pub and had a drink. Around 2:40PM, we went back to the church and I recognised the wedding goers who were milling about the entrance, phew!

We went in and were both taken aback by the amazing Cathedral we were now standing in. It was huge, there were so many marble statues, they looked like wax melting down the walls, the ceiling was beautifully painted and there was gold everywhere. Amazing! We sat about eight rows from the front, on the right side, on the centre aisle. The cathedral started filling around us. All the student-types sat near me, no one sat closer to the front than we did. The left side of the church filled from the front back and was dressed in very bright colours. The right side filled sporadically from the middle out, and was dressed all in very dark colours. It was easy to tell which side was Quebecois and which was not. The ceremony itself was simple, elegant and wonderfully done. Lynne looked remarkably beautiful in her dress and Alex was dashing in his uniform. The whole thing went of without any problems. Once it was over, we realised that there was an hour to kill before the reception, so Ashley, Hanni and I went back to the pub.

Figure 4 The cathedral

Figure 5 A bad picture of the bride and groom, but the only one I have

Hanni was Alex’s room mate through law school and is currently finishing medical school at Queen’s. We sat, chatted and had a drink. Soon, it was time to leave for the reception. Ashley and I drove to Tudor Hall and made good time, even though the GPS made no sense for the majority of the drive. On arrival we were told that we were sitting at the “Dieppe” table. Alex and Lynne named the tables after places they had been together. I sat with Phil Osanic (a Kingston lawyer), Ryan Barber (ADJT GGFG), Rob Foster (CO GGFG) and their wives. Why Alex chose to sit all the military members in attendance at a table named for an Allied failure we will never know. However, it was good to meet the Governor’s General Foot Guard (GGFG) fellows.

The reception progressed smoothly. Dinner was excellent, the cake was FANTASTIC (way to put your foot down Alex) and the DJ was pretty good. Ashley and I spent the majority of the evening chatting with Steve (the best man), Hanni and Gordon (one of Alex’s friends). We talked about everything from the “Disappearing Male” problem to strategic missile defence. After a long day, Ashley and I headed back to her place and promptly went to sleep.

This morning went quickly. We woke up, I packed, Hanni picked me up and we took off for Kingston. We chatted the whole way home. We haven’t seen each other since Alex left for Ottawa, so it was good to catch up. We stopped at Tim Horton’s on the way home, only to run into Jay (another wedding go-er). So, we chatted for a minute in line and continued on our way. I arrived home around 1:30PM or 2PM, did some work and am now writing this report of the weekend.

All in all, the weekend could be assessed as good. I would assess it as excellent. I hope Alex and Lynne have fun on their honeymoon and have a long, prosperous, full life together. Best of luck!

Ottawa Bachelor Party Trip

So, this past weekend, I went to Ottawa for my friend Alex’s bachelor party. I wasn’t expecting to be able to attend, as I was supposed to be on my Phase 3 Infantry Course. However, for those of you who don’t already know, I was medically taken off the course the day before it started and will now be spending the summer in Kingston.

Friday 29 May 09:

On Friday, I went to the train station to catch my 1200 train. I also booked tickets for the month of July. VIA rail is doing a promotion in which all military members can use the train for free as often as they want during the month of July. So, I am going to Ottawa the first weekend, Montreal the second, Toronto the third and Quebec City the last weekend of July. It will be a great month. So, I boarded the train, which arrived 10 minutes late, no big deal, I wasn’t in a rush, and found a seat next to some girl. I wasn’t planning on introducing myself, but she pulled out her laptop and put in BBC’s “Planet Earth”. So, I leaned over and said “I’m Alex, this may seem weird, but does your laptop have two headphone jacks”, to which she replied “I’m Katy, no it doesn’t, but we can just share mine”. Katy and I proceeded to watch the first episode of Planet Earth together, and it was amazing. I can’t wait to watch the rest of the episodes. The rest of the train ride was uneventful. Once in Ottawa, I got picked up by Scott, a friend of mine who just moved to Ottawa a few weeks ago. We went back to his place, dropped my gear, he changed out of uniform and we hit the town.

We wandered the Byward Market area for awhile and began to get a little hungry. So, we went to Highlander Pub, had some beer and dinner, at 4PM. Since we weren’t meeting up with Alex (the bachelor) and Steve (the best-man) until 10PM, we hit as many bars and pubs in Ottawa as we could. We went to The Brig (where we got free drinks), The Rainbow (where a really bad band was playing), the Cabin (totally empty at the time), Pub 101 (lame!), Patty Boland’s (pretty good), Cornerstones (really nice) and others. We had an interesting experience. Early in the night, we went into a bar called “The Lookout”, which was totally empty at the time. The service was great and the few people that were there were really nice. We went out onto the second story balcony, which overlooked the Market and hung out. Later, Alex texted me to ask where we were. So, I messaged back “The Lookout”. His response was “The Lookout? That is a gay bar … seriously it’s a gay bar”. So, we looked back through the door, into the bar, which had filled up while we were on the balcony and yes, it was definitely a gay bar. Everything started to click. We quickly finished our beers and moved on.

Eventually, we met up with Alex and Steve at Cornerstones. We had a bunch of drinks, Scott left to meet up with some other friends and we continued our pub crawl around the market. Eventually we went to McDonald’s and home. Nothing else happened ;).

Figure 1 - At the Parliament Buildings.

Saturday 30 May 09:

Saturday morning was a bit of a late start, but eventually I got moving, only to realise that Scott was not home. He stumbled in soon after, so we napped a bit and proceeded out for a much needed coffee. I was supposed to meet up with my friend Ashley around noon, so I called her, in order to sort out what we were going to do. Once we figured it out, I got a ride from Scott to Place D’Orleans and walked over to Ashley’s place. From there, we went out for Sushi with a bunch of her friends. We all ate far too much, but had a great time, plus it was delicious. From there, four of us (Ashley, Tara, Dave and myself) went climbing at an indoor gym called Coyote. It was really fun. Although, every time I go to Ottawa, I think I won’t climb, so I don’t bring my gear, and every time, someone wants to climb with me. I think from now on, I will bring my gear with me. From there, Ashley gave me a ride downtown. I wandered around until I met up with the bachelor partiers, who were out paintballing all afternoon. We had a great dinner at Vineyards in the Market. I met a bunch of Alex’s friends, family and soon to be family, that I hadn’t met before. They were all great. A hilarious coincidence occured at the the restaurant. The priest that will be marrying Alex was having dinner at the same restaurant. He made sure we all knew that God was always watching. After dinner, we went to Patty Boland’s for some drinks. Eventually, the Dad’s and a brother in law left. So, we continued drinking at Patty Boland’s … and nothing else happened … right ;).

Figure 2 - At the War Memorial.

Sunday 31 May 09:

Sunday morning was a bit of a late start. After two nights out, I was wiped. Eventually, I got up and Alex, Lynne (his fiancé) and I met Alex’s dad for breakfast. It was a good meal and we reminisced about the night prior. Alex’s dad had to go back to Toronto and Alex and Lynne had errands to run, so they all left. I stayed downtown, as I was meeting my friends Nathan and Pudge for lunch. I toured around downtown and eventually sat on a bench by the War Memorial, which quickly turned into lying down. Soon, Nathan arrived, so we chatted. Then Pudge showed up, so we headed towards the Greyhound Terminal to check the schedule. A bus was leaving in an hour, so we went to Harvey’s for lunch. They took me back to the terminal and we unloaded the gear Pudge had brought up to Canada for me. I got on the bus to Kingston and headed home. Once home, I shared a cab with two others downtown. Got to my apartment and found the power to be out. Apparently, it had been out for several hours. So, I headed to my grandparent’s (who are out of town) house. I will likely spend the night here.

Figure 3 - Recovering from the night before.

Figure 4 - Relaxing on a bench at the War Memorial.

All in all a good weekend. I got to see old friends, make new ones, see Ottawa and picked up all my climbing gear. It was great.