The Wheels Are Coming Off

Today is not a good day. Bad things happened.

One of them, is the announcement that the Wheels Inn in Chatham will be closing and turning into a Holiday Inn.

So sad. As a child (and as a grown woman) I have spent may a wonderful day in Chatham and some of my best hotel memories have to do with stays at the Wheels Inn.

I remember staying there with my grandparents, turning off all the lights and in our room, announcing that it was bedtime (yes, my oldest child tendencies emerging) and promptly face planting into the carpet as I tried to make my way to the bed.

I remember watching a screaming Annie zooming down the water slide (the one on the left!) with a look of such terror it is ingrained in my brain forever.

I remember the Wild Zone, the ball room and the home made photo albums that Mags and I made after a birthday weekend stay at the Wheels Inn when we turned 8 and 6 (or 7 and 5).

So sad. I'll miss the mini putt complete with the gorilla you putted the ball into at the 18th hole. I'll miss the smell of chlorine and the wonderful Chatham memories.

Maybe we should all take vacations to Chatham until July 1st just to show them how cool that little place is.

I Want Some M.O.M.!

As I am getting ready for my trip to Oz, I'm trying to figure out what it is that I need to do.

And I've decided that I have to eat a kangaroo. Not a whole kangaroo, but at least a portion.

I hear that the kangaroo is somewhere between beef and venison, and I like both.

This intrigues me. Besides that, eating the kangaroo would be an opportunity to get closer to the culture of the Aboriginals of Australia since it was traditionally a food that they ate (and still do).

Apart from that, farming kangaroo is illegal, so all kangaroo that is eaten is wild. Thus the elimination of genetically modified marsupial.

When it comes to what cut I would like to try, there are many choices, I am reading. I could go with a filet, or perhaps a "kanga banga" (kangaroo sausage).

Besides that, eating kangaroo would be able to help the rampant population of kangaroos in Australia. There are about 50 million wild kangaroos running around doing what they do...I'm guessing that includes pooping in driveways, hopping, hiding in pouches and boxing.

Keep this in mind- there are over 50 million kangaroos in Australia. And there are only 21 million people. That's practically a plague.

And every part of the kangaroo is used! People drink the fluids (ew, none for me thanks, I want to get the Australian experience, but that's a little extreme), use the fur for rugs (I remember my stuff kangaroo Catherine got me when she first visited), and make purses out of the scrotum. Yes, the boy kangaroo's 'area' is used to make purses. Now, I like bags, but that one is a doozy.

The only thing will be to figure out what it's called on a menu. I've read that they farmers held a contest to see what it should be named, because people tend to think that kangaroos are sweet, cute and fluffy, not tasty. The winner was 'australus'. Other were kangarly, maroo, krou, maleen, kuja, roujoe, rooviande, jurru, ozru, marsu, kangasaurus, marsupan, jumpmeat, and MOM (meat of marsupials).

Hmm...sounds delicious.

My Hotels!

Check it out...

This is where I'm going to be staying in Australia (minus the lovely accomodations in the Canberra region).

The hotel on the right is the Four Point Sheraton, Darling Harbour where I'll be spending 4 nights. It's located on the harbour, and if I'm lucky enough I'll get a view of the harbour.

The hotel on the left is the Cairns International Hotel in Cairns where I'll be staying 3 nights. It's in the centre of Cairns, and across the street from a casino.

Sweet!

APRIL 17TH, 2008 6:40PM

I BOOKED IT!

Very, very, VERY exciting!

W00T!

Last week I met with a travel agent and tonight, after finding out the last details, I told her to BOOK IT!

So I leave in April for 3 glorious weeks at the bottom of the world!

So much to see, so much to plan, I'll be spending some time with my family then hooking up with a tour.

And while I'm there I'll get to go to Canberra (the capital and Colin&Cath's home), Adelaide (where all the wine & Colin's fam are), Sydney (Nemo's home), Cairns (the "r" is silent- I know, I need to get fluent in Oz speak), and Brisbane (just the airport, though).

Aussie fact: Australia has the coolest sounding islands. They include: Christmas, Cocos, and Kangaroo.

Dinner Anyone?

Our dining room...and behind that is the sliding door on to our patio. Yes, patio.

Kitchen

Our kitchen...check it.

Full kitchen.

What we had in our fridge:

Bottle of wine

6 pack of Stella

Chocolate

Damn.

Look at this damn suite.

It's sweet.

Blue Mountain!

Well, Shannon and I survived the week at Blue Mountain Resort in Collingwood...

It was a real hardship. It definitely was a bizarre week, it was very extreme.

So, check out the pictures...this is what I'm doing instead of unpacking.

Maggie's Baggage (The Literal Kind)

Maggie is crazy.

She was over packed. By a lot. Luckily, the VIA Rail people were very nice and let her box up her excess baggage.

We thought we would find it in London. Little did we know, we had to pick it up in Montreal, then in Toronto.

Look, Anne! Ireland!

I love my sister. She's very smart, very sweet and incredibly funny.

She thought she could see Ireland from Nova Scotia.

I don't care who you are, that place was creep.

OK, here's the bed and breakfast we stayed at in Yarmouth (it's spelt Yar-mouth, not Yar-mit).

It was very nice. But incredibly creepy. It was like staying in someones house. Oh yeah, that's because it was someone's house.

The people were very nice, very good food, very beautiful house (minus the creepy dolls everywhere).

And I'm all for supporting local economies. But seriously. I did not like it.

Sigh.

Peace Train...

I'm so proud of my little sister...fight the revolution!

Watch out...he's armed and dangerous!

This is my Papa at Fort Anne. For those of you who don't know Fort Anne is built in a valley. The hills were no match for Papa.

It was my birthday!

Ok, it's official. I'm old. And I love it.

I turned 25 on the 11th and had, what can only be described as a unique birthday (no complaints...yet).

I got a nifty new digital camera.

That's me, and in the corner is the light house on Peggy's Cove. You can't tell, because I'm so tough, but I'm freezing my ass off.

SHE GRADUATED! W00T!

Yea! Maggie graduated last weekend and it was FANTASTIC! She got a medal and everything.

First Week Down

Alright, so after a relaxing week in Montreal (a.k.a. the coldest place on Earth) it was time to get down to the business of having a real job.

When I was in Montreal I tootled around, got to know the Metro system, went to the Insectarium, Botanical Gardens, ate bagels, did some shopping, walked up and down St. Denis Street, explored Vieux Montreal, ate crepes, got locked out of Cathedrale de Notre Dame (could they tell that I don't go to church anymore?), got chillblains every night, ate smoked meat, walked around underground, spoke French, slept in, and went to the Biodome.

All in all a pretty good week with my Dad.

Above you will see a picture I took at the Rainforest portion of the Biodome of two monkeys grooming each other. I call them Annie and Maggie. I think it's fitting.

At the end of the week I decided that I could live in Montreal, but not in the Winter months.

"And some places you been before are so great that you don't ever mind going back. Some places you been before you don't ever want to go back, you know, like Montreal in the Winter."

~M. Freeman

A Whirlwind Weekend

Late last night the Rodgers got back from our weekend in Toronto, to say the least.