as the summer evolves...

I'm finally in Winnipeg. Was painful getting out of Calgary (i.e., packing and cleaning up Carole's apartment in case she returns before I do (unlikely, but...) - it took about 3 hours to pack my car. I'm quite disappointed in my friend Paul, who usually helps me pack up!! So I made it out of Calgary just before noon on Monday, meaning it was a long day of driving and didn't get into Winnipeg until after midnight.

One comment about the drive... Saskatchewan is now entirely 4 lane and 110 km/hr (almost, last 20 km under construction)! This makes the trip so much faster! Although I left my roof racks on and with a full load I got the worst fuel economy of my life... I was right up there with an SUV barely getting 30 mpg (Imperial gallons that is, or ~25 US mpg). Anyway...

You'd think my life would be slow and relaxing, but there are so many things to do! (truth and sarcasm, all at the same time!) Day 1 in Winnipeg I sleep in a bit, then get up and just hang with my Dad for about an hour or two (get breakfast and coffee made, you know...), then it's over to my sister's, pick my nephew up at school, lunch with the kids, then off to my grandmother's with my Dad, then back to my parents for dinner, then off to my nephew's inline hockey game, then home to bed. This is a vacation?

Day 2 was less busy, but still involved too much effort. Watching the hockey game with my nephew (Edmonton scored in overtime to stay alive... series is now 3-2 in favor of Carolina, best of 7, and now heading back to Edmonton), playing basketball during the intermissions, and beating him up regularly. Now I'm on Day 3 and I stayed at my sisters because I new it would be calmer (kids are at school and didn't come home for lunch today) and I need to get a report done for tomorrow, which I haven't started because I haven't done any work this week. However, my sister and I got talking this morning next thing I know I'm travelling around Quebec / Ontario with my sister and her kids in a few weeks. I can't complain, because I just got a return ticket bought for me (on airmiles). So, the newest plans are...

I'm flying to Toronto on June 30, spending the long weekend in John either at his cabin or sailing (yet to be decided). Then the following week (week of July 3rd) I'll travel to Montreal, meet up with a couple friends and catch a few days of the Jazz Festival (which runs till July 9th). And on July 9th, my sister (Robyn) and her 2 kids (Jack & Emma) are flying in to Montreal. We'll spend just 1 day in Montreal and then head to Quebec City. The plan is to mak this a bit of a touristy and informative trip for the kids, which isn't hard to do in Quebec City (e.g., Plains of Abraham, fort this and fort that, etc.). After a few days in Quebec City we'll jump a train to Ottawa, where none of us have ever been. Note that I'll be the pretend father throughout all this! The end of the trip will all 4 of us flying back to Winnipeg on July 17th. And all this flying on airmiles (or Aeroplan to be precise) on the exact days we wanted and on short notice... pretty sweet!

Okay, more later, must do some work and make enough money to buy beer.

P.S. I'm looking for places to stay in Montreal!!