Oddities and Adventure
Listening: Porno Mouth - Holly McNarland
He's breathing my voice
He's inhaling my skin
He's breathing my voice
Inhaling my skin
He's got me within him.
I watch the TV
Realize that you're for me,
And I watch my skin,
Watch my skin crawlin'
When I'm thinkin' of him
He's everything but beautiful.
So I finally got around to writing an update. Yeah, it's been a while. In my defense, I have been a busy Marchioness. Adventures, work, more adventures, more work, a whole lot of drama... Admittedly, my life hasn't been quite as crazy as those of some of my pals (who know who they are), but hell, it's been insane nonetheless.
For now, I may as well update y'all on mine and Colette's stint to Ottawa. It's been a great deal of adventure, and we sure had some awesome times. I figure the best way to do it would be a breakdown day by day, and make note of the important things that happened during the day. Less confusing for everyone, and it cuts down on enormous blog space. Ready? Okay: begin!
Day One: Wednesday, August 8. Cole and I left St. John's. There was a great deal of confusion over boarding passes. I know who I'm blaming, but that's not important right now. Anyhow, the flight leaving St. John's took about a year to depart. When it finally arrived in Montreal, where our stopover was, we had exactly 5 minutes to run like maniacs to our next flight. We did, but we were detained halfway in front of glass doors.
Security Guard: You can't go through.
Me: We have a flight on the other side of these doors!!
Security Guard: You have to wait for ten minutes.
Me: Our flight is leaving in FIVE MINUTES.
Anyway, by the time we finally got there, it turned out that our airplane wasn't even there yet, and wouldn't be there for another two hours, so we panicked for nothing. It wasn't too big a deal since, gate to gate, the Montreal/Ottawa flight took about 47 minutes, tops. When we finally got to Ottawa, Cole and I spent a few minutes panicking about luggage and the absence of a certain boisterous redhead before aforementioned redhead showed up. Much hugging happened.
Accompanying Rae were her mother, Lisa, and her younger brother Rhys. (That's pronounced "Reese", by the by. Don't ask. It's Welsh.) We all trundled out to the van and met Rae's father, Ken, who had clearly been quizzed prior to our arrival, because he shook our hands and called us by name before we'd even been introduced. It was impressive.
A note on Rae's van here. It is an old-fashioned, teched-out VW with no suspension and a rattletrap, tough-as-nails exterior. It was clearly a Death Van (which is how I came to know it in my mind) but Cole and I were really rather fond of it. Anyhow.
We all drove home in the Death Van. Along the way, Rae's parents and brother pointed out a couple of sights. We finally got home and they gave us a five-cent tour of the house (which is a lovely place, complete with stained-glass window). Once Lisa and Ken retired for the night, Colette and I demanded food from a nearby Subway. We walked, giving us the opportunity to observe the Glebe (Rae's neighborhood) by night. Um, I want to live there, because it's gorgeous and filled with huge trees and brick houses covered in ivy and crickets that chirp all night.
The Subway owner was a hilarious and extremely friendly man (who, whenever I asked for a new ingredient on my sandwich, would say "Yummy yummy yummy" in an adorably high-pitched voice), and the three of us got cheerfully reacquainted over dinner. We trudged home at about 12, whereupon Cole and I passed out in our bed in the basement almost immediately.
Day Two: Thursday. I woke up at 7:15 and sneaked out of bed so as not to wake Colette. Fortunately we had the forethought to plan our sleeping arrangements in a way that put her against the wall, since I sleep less than her most days. Upstairs, I encountered Lisa, who kindly made me a cup of tea. We sat down and had a long get-to-know-each-other chat, and I discovered that she really is the nicest lady anywhere.
Rae woke soon enough, and made breakfast for both of us. Rhys trudged down afterwards and we started to chat. Turns out he's a cool cat himself. He hates zombies just as much as I do, so of course we hit it off, especially after he showed me his collection of movies. What time did Cole stir her bones? Noon. We teased her for the rest of the trip. I do love my muffin dearly, but she may very well be part vampire. Don't tell her I said that.
Rae had to work from 1 - 5, so her parents obliged us by taking a driving tour of the city. We saw everything from the Supreme Court to the canal to the Parliament buildings, and we saw a good deal of Hull, as well. Somewhere in the midst of this, I developed a fear of squirrels. Have you seen the ones on the mainland? They're huge and black, and they will rip your spleen out if you don't watch them. I'm serious.
We were dropped off in front of the Museum of Civilization, and the two of us saw an Imax film on the First Emperor of China, followed by actually viewing the Treasures from China exhibit itself (which was absolutely amazing). Then we had an adventure trying to get onto the bridge back across the river. It took us 25 minutes, because I apparently have no sense of direction.
Rae and folks picked us up under the enormous spider sculpture (Maman) in front of the Art museum. I saw a kick-ass church with silver steeples. At home, we had dinner and then Rae, Cole and I retired downstairs to watch Shaun of the Dead. It was pretty good, but nowhere near as good as I thought it would be. This is what started our habit of exhausting ourselves during the day and winding down with movies at night, which continued almost every night until the end of the trip.
Day Three: Friday. We woke Colette early so that the three of us could adventure down to Parliament Hill to see the changing of the guard. Colette was awed to find that this is not a simple matter of a dude popping in and out of a teeny outpost, but in fact requires a marching band in full regalia. All were duly impressed.
We wandered around Parliament Hill for a while, took pictures of statues and listened to the bells, and found the cat palace with only one sleeping cat and an absolutely enormous squirrel. There were a lot of statues of lions, so I made a lot of lion jokes. (e.g. "Come to Ottawa, we got lions!", "Holy crap. Lions! Tours.", "Jesus Christ it's a lion, GET IN THE CAR!", etc.) We also scrambled into the Parliament buildings just so I could visit the gift shop and buy a grotesque to match Baal, the one I bought there in 2001. Cole got her sunscreen confiscated because it was in an aerosol can. Later, it was returned by the most frightening security guard in history. He had scars between his knuckles. You do not mess with a dude with scars between his knuckles.
We wandered away from the Parliament buildings and deeper into the city, chancing upon the market, where we spent the rest of the afternoon. Cole spent so much money it boggled my mind. We stopped to get Beaver Tails, the cinnamon-sugar kind, which proved to be cavity-inducing from a single bite and so delicious it hurt. We paid money for really awful Henna tattoos, which turned out to not set at all, but they were still fun to get. I designed a symbol and had it done on the inside of my right wrist. Cole got an ankh on her shoulder "For protection against vampires", because she forgot her ankh jewelry at home. Rae got a fancy piece done on her hand.
We dragged ourselves over to the mall so Colette could buy more ankhs for further protection. We passed a Cinnabon on the way, and I wept inside when we left it behind. As it happened, Rae lead us to the most frightening goth store in the history of anything ever. It was called Trivium, and when I tried to get footage of it on my video camera, a saleswoman with a neon-red spiked mohawk yelled at me to put it away. I obeyed immediately. I don't disobey the living dead.
I puttered around the store and gawked blatantly while Cole convinced herself to buy an (admittedly gorgeous) ankh earrings-and-pendant set. After a long hunt to find a chain to put the pendant on, we finally dragged ourselves outside and got picked up. Rae's grandmother came over that night and stuffed us full of shrimp and lemon cheesecake, and Lisa and Rae made an amazing Chinese dish of noodles and pork, which kept us in leftovers for days.
We drove out to Gatineux Park after dinner to see the view and watch the sunset. We saw a great many groundhogs and (to my horror) squirrels. The entire way there and back, me, Rae, Cole, and Rhys had a very heated, very scientific discussion about vampires, werewolves, and other such fantastic beasts. The view from the Gatineaux lookout was amazing. Rae's dad took us for ice cream at Dairy Queen, and then we went home and watched Hot Fuzz (one of the funniest movies of all time).
Day Four: Saturday. Another early morning for Colette; we had to wake her nice and early at 8ish, so we could all pile in the car and take off for Montreal. I love roadtrips, even short ones, that take place in the early morning and during the night, and both of those desires were appeased today. The drive to Montreal was really very peaceful; Rae wrote, I edited, and I think Colette slept. I know Rhys did. He actually slept most of the day. Anyway, by the time we got into Montreal, all of us were fresh as daisies and rearing to go.
We stayed in Old Montreal for the most part. Lisa found us a store called The Round Table. (I can't remember the French name. La Table Ronde, or something? Yeah, someone's just going to throw something at me in the comments for not spelling that right, I can see it now. I'm looking at you, Rykea.) Anyway, the point is the store carried gargoyles and masquerade masks. I ended up spending over $150 in that one store alone. My masks are amazing and my gargoyle is adorable, though, so it was totally worth it.
We had lunch in the most amazing restaurant ever. The food was sub-par, but the building itself was a two-story affair open to the roof, so we were exposed to the brilliant blue sky overhead and the blistering sun. When it got too hot, the fellow we spoke to put up the world's largest umbrella. Oh my pizza, it was amazing. Later on we had to go on a quest to find the bathroom. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. Anyhow.
We walked around Old Montreal for a little bit more, heralded by cicadas (between the cicadas and the crickets, I was delighted with the insect population) before we cut out for the Biodome. This was also a wonderful experience, as I'd never been. I was promised meerkats, but someone lied to me. I was distraught, but my spirits were buoyed by the fact that the Biodome holds claim to the most retarded fish anywhere. Rhys, Rae, Cole and I spent at least twenty minutes flipping out at the fish in the St. Lawrence exhibit (or wherever we were), primarily this behemoth and hideous motherfucker. There were like seven of them, and I think Rae said it best: "Yeah you would not get me into that tank not for a million dollars."
We left the Biodome and cruised around Montreal for a little while, which I sadly can't remember much of, because I was slipping in and out of sleep. Eventually we found ourselves at a kosher delicatessen (an accomplishment, from what I hear) called Schwartz's. The place is apparently renowned, and I wasn't surprised to hear it, given the size of the lineup to get in. It took us 45 minutes of standing in the blistering sun, but eventually we got inside, and really, the place was excellent. We all left full and happy.
We drove back to Ottawa in the fading light, which I spent listening to my iPod for the most part. Everyone dozed and/or full-out slept the whole way--I slumped on Rae's shoulder and passed out. We stopped at a Tim Hortons halfway, where most of us got a second wind and I bought for everyone. When we got back into town, we decided to just go to bed out of it, rather than watch a movie. Everyone was pretty wrecked.
Day Five: Sunday. I got up at the regular time of about 8. Cole surprised me by getting up shortly afterwards, but I later discovered that this was due to the fact that I was apparently jabbing her in the ribs all night. Rae fixed me the world's best and most glorious "Sunday sandwich" and we kicked around the house for a little bit. Eventually Rae, Cole and I loaded up with Ken in the Death Van and trucked out to Gatineaux Park to go swimming. En route, some dude backed into the Death Van. This was the first time on the trip that I ever heard Rae's dad raise his voice for any reason at all. We weren't surprised to find that, although the other guy had dented his own car somethin' fierce, the Death Van was barely scratched. Like I said, the thing is a tank.
We stopped for lunch at a roadside shack, and then careened into the park. Ken trundled off to find a place to launch his kayak while the girls and I found a spot on the very crowded tree-lined lake beach to spread a blanket. Cole and Rae had the forethought to bring bathing suits. I did not. For a while I sat on the blanket, watching them paddle around having fun. Eventually I forgot that I cared and waded out to talk to them. Rae and Cole herded me into deeper water, and then Rae tackled me, so of course I was soaked. Some lady watching from the shallows caught the whole thing and laughed hysterically the entire time. We paddled around for a bit, and I developed a furious vendetta against clay pits, which I kept stepping into, slipping, and nearly drowning. We clambered out after a while, and pretty soon we drove home.
Back at the ranch, we had dinner, and then the three of us trundled into the basement, where we watched Wayne's World 1 and 2. It was my first time seeing them, and I heartily approve. Cole and I collapsed into bed after that. We were exhausted. Also, I still had sand in my clothes from the beach. Ahh.
Day 6: Monday. We decided to let Colette sleep in today. Rae and I kicked around and did little for most of the morning; when Colette finally got up at about 11:30, the two of us were out back in Rae's yard, me in the hammock and Rae in a chair, chatting about writing and stuff.
We went down to the Rideau Center again to shop around a little more; afterwards, we walked over to another building (with narwhals and belugas hanging from the ceiling) to see the Simpsons movie, which was absolutely brilliant. We walked home after that--Rae's house is pretty much a straight shot from there--and went into the stores we saw that weren't closed. We stopped at Mexican restaurant for dinner, where I had the best chimichanga ever created. We toasted each other and our last night in Ottawa.
When we got home, we sat on the back deck for a while watching the bats flapping around. Eventually we went inside, where I got to pick the movie of the night. I chose The Mummy, which was amazing. Brendan Fraser got our Manly Man of the Night vote by throwing a chair at another guy to stop him from running away. It was sheer gold. None of us really wanted to go to bed, but we wanted to have one last go at Ottawa in the morning, so we turned in, reluctantly.
Day Seven: Tuesday. I woke up sometime during the night very confused, only to discover that I had somehow turned myself upside down, and that my feet were now on my pillow and my head at the foot of the bed. As I straightened myself up, Cole woke up long enough to ask, "Any particular reason you're upside-down?"
"I was wondering that myself," I replied sleepily. She grunted some reply and we both went back to sleep.
Even now, almost a week later, she will occasionally turn to me and ask, out of the blue, "How did you manage to turn yourself upside-down?", and I can never answer her.
We got up early once again. While Colette showered, I got our boarding passes, determined not to have the same trouble we'd had on the previous flights. We walked with Rae back up the street we'd ventured down the day before, this time hitting up all the spots that had been closed previously. We got lunch and topped off the day with gelato (which was really very delicious), then wandered back to the house and sat down in the backyard again, just enjoying each others' company and not wanting to think about leaving. Eventually we went inside and packed up what we hadn't the night before. We said goodbye to Ken and Rhys, and then Lisa drove the three of us to the airport. She hugged us goodbye, which of course caused me to tear up. I really became fond of the whole Desson clan during this vacation, truth be.
Rae accompanied us inside, guided us through the process of checking in our luggage, and then the three of us said goodbye. Sure, Rae will be back in September, but it didn't make the goodbye any more fun. In the airport terminal, Cole and I sat in near-silence, thinking back on our trip and mourning that it was coming to an end.
We wound up in the Montreal airport again before long, and the two of us caught dinner in a restaurant there as a sort of "last hurrah". We went all out, even ordering the most massive slab of chocolate cake you've ever seen--so huge that the two of us between us finished only half of it, the rest of which Cole brought home to her sister. We returned to the terminal, where I loaned my iPod to a couple of bored kids so they could watch The Lion King on it, and waited around for about an hour and a half before we finally boarded. Cole accidentally showed the wrong boarding pass on two separate occasions, which caused a bit of a kerfuffle for security, but eventually things were straightened out and we were on our way.
~
So that was our trip to Ottawa. We had an absolute blast, and we wouldn't hesitate to do it again. We've discovered that there's a wonderful freedom to going on vacations on your own, and both of us are eager to repeat the experience. Maybe next time we'll head even further. After all, my uncle still has that flat in Paris...
Adieu!
Icarus is still scared of squirrels.
He's breathing my voice
He's inhaling my skin
He's breathing my voice
Inhaling my skin
He's got me within him.
I watch the TV
Realize that you're for me,
And I watch my skin,
Watch my skin crawlin'
When I'm thinkin' of him
He's everything but beautiful.
So I finally got around to writing an update. Yeah, it's been a while. In my defense, I have been a busy Marchioness. Adventures, work, more adventures, more work, a whole lot of drama... Admittedly, my life hasn't been quite as crazy as those of some of my pals (who know who they are), but hell, it's been insane nonetheless.
For now, I may as well update y'all on mine and Colette's stint to Ottawa. It's been a great deal of adventure, and we sure had some awesome times. I figure the best way to do it would be a breakdown day by day, and make note of the important things that happened during the day. Less confusing for everyone, and it cuts down on enormous blog space. Ready? Okay: begin!
Day One: Wednesday, August 8. Cole and I left St. John's. There was a great deal of confusion over boarding passes. I know who I'm blaming, but that's not important right now. Anyhow, the flight leaving St. John's took about a year to depart. When it finally arrived in Montreal, where our stopover was, we had exactly 5 minutes to run like maniacs to our next flight. We did, but we were detained halfway in front of glass doors.
Security Guard: You can't go through.
Me: We have a flight on the other side of these doors!!
Security Guard: You have to wait for ten minutes.
Me: Our flight is leaving in FIVE MINUTES.
Anyway, by the time we finally got there, it turned out that our airplane wasn't even there yet, and wouldn't be there for another two hours, so we panicked for nothing. It wasn't too big a deal since, gate to gate, the Montreal/Ottawa flight took about 47 minutes, tops. When we finally got to Ottawa, Cole and I spent a few minutes panicking about luggage and the absence of a certain boisterous redhead before aforementioned redhead showed up. Much hugging happened.
Accompanying Rae were her mother, Lisa, and her younger brother Rhys. (That's pronounced "Reese", by the by. Don't ask. It's Welsh.) We all trundled out to the van and met Rae's father, Ken, who had clearly been quizzed prior to our arrival, because he shook our hands and called us by name before we'd even been introduced. It was impressive.
A note on Rae's van here. It is an old-fashioned, teched-out VW with no suspension and a rattletrap, tough-as-nails exterior. It was clearly a Death Van (which is how I came to know it in my mind) but Cole and I were really rather fond of it. Anyhow.
We all drove home in the Death Van. Along the way, Rae's parents and brother pointed out a couple of sights. We finally got home and they gave us a five-cent tour of the house (which is a lovely place, complete with stained-glass window). Once Lisa and Ken retired for the night, Colette and I demanded food from a nearby Subway. We walked, giving us the opportunity to observe the Glebe (Rae's neighborhood) by night. Um, I want to live there, because it's gorgeous and filled with huge trees and brick houses covered in ivy and crickets that chirp all night.
The Subway owner was a hilarious and extremely friendly man (who, whenever I asked for a new ingredient on my sandwich, would say "Yummy yummy yummy" in an adorably high-pitched voice), and the three of us got cheerfully reacquainted over dinner. We trudged home at about 12, whereupon Cole and I passed out in our bed in the basement almost immediately.
Day Two: Thursday. I woke up at 7:15 and sneaked out of bed so as not to wake Colette. Fortunately we had the forethought to plan our sleeping arrangements in a way that put her against the wall, since I sleep less than her most days. Upstairs, I encountered Lisa, who kindly made me a cup of tea. We sat down and had a long get-to-know-each-other chat, and I discovered that she really is the nicest lady anywhere.
Rae woke soon enough, and made breakfast for both of us. Rhys trudged down afterwards and we started to chat. Turns out he's a cool cat himself. He hates zombies just as much as I do, so of course we hit it off, especially after he showed me his collection of movies. What time did Cole stir her bones? Noon. We teased her for the rest of the trip. I do love my muffin dearly, but she may very well be part vampire. Don't tell her I said that.
Rae had to work from 1 - 5, so her parents obliged us by taking a driving tour of the city. We saw everything from the Supreme Court to the canal to the Parliament buildings, and we saw a good deal of Hull, as well. Somewhere in the midst of this, I developed a fear of squirrels. Have you seen the ones on the mainland? They're huge and black, and they will rip your spleen out if you don't watch them. I'm serious.
We were dropped off in front of the Museum of Civilization, and the two of us saw an Imax film on the First Emperor of China, followed by actually viewing the Treasures from China exhibit itself (which was absolutely amazing). Then we had an adventure trying to get onto the bridge back across the river. It took us 25 minutes, because I apparently have no sense of direction.
Rae and folks picked us up under the enormous spider sculpture (Maman) in front of the Art museum. I saw a kick-ass church with silver steeples. At home, we had dinner and then Rae, Cole and I retired downstairs to watch Shaun of the Dead. It was pretty good, but nowhere near as good as I thought it would be. This is what started our habit of exhausting ourselves during the day and winding down with movies at night, which continued almost every night until the end of the trip.
Day Three: Friday. We woke Colette early so that the three of us could adventure down to Parliament Hill to see the changing of the guard. Colette was awed to find that this is not a simple matter of a dude popping in and out of a teeny outpost, but in fact requires a marching band in full regalia. All were duly impressed.
We wandered around Parliament Hill for a while, took pictures of statues and listened to the bells, and found the cat palace with only one sleeping cat and an absolutely enormous squirrel. There were a lot of statues of lions, so I made a lot of lion jokes. (e.g. "Come to Ottawa, we got lions!", "Holy crap. Lions! Tours.", "Jesus Christ it's a lion, GET IN THE CAR!", etc.) We also scrambled into the Parliament buildings just so I could visit the gift shop and buy a grotesque to match Baal, the one I bought there in 2001. Cole got her sunscreen confiscated because it was in an aerosol can. Later, it was returned by the most frightening security guard in history. He had scars between his knuckles. You do not mess with a dude with scars between his knuckles.
We wandered away from the Parliament buildings and deeper into the city, chancing upon the market, where we spent the rest of the afternoon. Cole spent so much money it boggled my mind. We stopped to get Beaver Tails, the cinnamon-sugar kind, which proved to be cavity-inducing from a single bite and so delicious it hurt. We paid money for really awful Henna tattoos, which turned out to not set at all, but they were still fun to get. I designed a symbol and had it done on the inside of my right wrist. Cole got an ankh on her shoulder "For protection against vampires", because she forgot her ankh jewelry at home. Rae got a fancy piece done on her hand.
We dragged ourselves over to the mall so Colette could buy more ankhs for further protection. We passed a Cinnabon on the way, and I wept inside when we left it behind. As it happened, Rae lead us to the most frightening goth store in the history of anything ever. It was called Trivium, and when I tried to get footage of it on my video camera, a saleswoman with a neon-red spiked mohawk yelled at me to put it away. I obeyed immediately. I don't disobey the living dead.
I puttered around the store and gawked blatantly while Cole convinced herself to buy an (admittedly gorgeous) ankh earrings-and-pendant set. After a long hunt to find a chain to put the pendant on, we finally dragged ourselves outside and got picked up. Rae's grandmother came over that night and stuffed us full of shrimp and lemon cheesecake, and Lisa and Rae made an amazing Chinese dish of noodles and pork, which kept us in leftovers for days.
We drove out to Gatineux Park after dinner to see the view and watch the sunset. We saw a great many groundhogs and (to my horror) squirrels. The entire way there and back, me, Rae, Cole, and Rhys had a very heated, very scientific discussion about vampires, werewolves, and other such fantastic beasts. The view from the Gatineaux lookout was amazing. Rae's dad took us for ice cream at Dairy Queen, and then we went home and watched Hot Fuzz (one of the funniest movies of all time).
Day Four: Saturday. Another early morning for Colette; we had to wake her nice and early at 8ish, so we could all pile in the car and take off for Montreal. I love roadtrips, even short ones, that take place in the early morning and during the night, and both of those desires were appeased today. The drive to Montreal was really very peaceful; Rae wrote, I edited, and I think Colette slept. I know Rhys did. He actually slept most of the day. Anyway, by the time we got into Montreal, all of us were fresh as daisies and rearing to go.
We stayed in Old Montreal for the most part. Lisa found us a store called The Round Table. (I can't remember the French name. La Table Ronde, or something? Yeah, someone's just going to throw something at me in the comments for not spelling that right, I can see it now. I'm looking at you, Rykea.) Anyway, the point is the store carried gargoyles and masquerade masks. I ended up spending over $150 in that one store alone. My masks are amazing and my gargoyle is adorable, though, so it was totally worth it.
We had lunch in the most amazing restaurant ever. The food was sub-par, but the building itself was a two-story affair open to the roof, so we were exposed to the brilliant blue sky overhead and the blistering sun. When it got too hot, the fellow we spoke to put up the world's largest umbrella. Oh my pizza, it was amazing. Later on we had to go on a quest to find the bathroom. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. Anyhow.
We walked around Old Montreal for a little bit more, heralded by cicadas (between the cicadas and the crickets, I was delighted with the insect population) before we cut out for the Biodome. This was also a wonderful experience, as I'd never been. I was promised meerkats, but someone lied to me. I was distraught, but my spirits were buoyed by the fact that the Biodome holds claim to the most retarded fish anywhere. Rhys, Rae, Cole and I spent at least twenty minutes flipping out at the fish in the St. Lawrence exhibit (or wherever we were), primarily this behemoth and hideous motherfucker. There were like seven of them, and I think Rae said it best: "Yeah you would not get me into that tank not for a million dollars."
We left the Biodome and cruised around Montreal for a little while, which I sadly can't remember much of, because I was slipping in and out of sleep. Eventually we found ourselves at a kosher delicatessen (an accomplishment, from what I hear) called Schwartz's. The place is apparently renowned, and I wasn't surprised to hear it, given the size of the lineup to get in. It took us 45 minutes of standing in the blistering sun, but eventually we got inside, and really, the place was excellent. We all left full and happy.
We drove back to Ottawa in the fading light, which I spent listening to my iPod for the most part. Everyone dozed and/or full-out slept the whole way--I slumped on Rae's shoulder and passed out. We stopped at a Tim Hortons halfway, where most of us got a second wind and I bought for everyone. When we got back into town, we decided to just go to bed out of it, rather than watch a movie. Everyone was pretty wrecked.
Day Five: Sunday. I got up at the regular time of about 8. Cole surprised me by getting up shortly afterwards, but I later discovered that this was due to the fact that I was apparently jabbing her in the ribs all night. Rae fixed me the world's best and most glorious "Sunday sandwich" and we kicked around the house for a little bit. Eventually Rae, Cole and I loaded up with Ken in the Death Van and trucked out to Gatineaux Park to go swimming. En route, some dude backed into the Death Van. This was the first time on the trip that I ever heard Rae's dad raise his voice for any reason at all. We weren't surprised to find that, although the other guy had dented his own car somethin' fierce, the Death Van was barely scratched. Like I said, the thing is a tank.
We stopped for lunch at a roadside shack, and then careened into the park. Ken trundled off to find a place to launch his kayak while the girls and I found a spot on the very crowded tree-lined lake beach to spread a blanket. Cole and Rae had the forethought to bring bathing suits. I did not. For a while I sat on the blanket, watching them paddle around having fun. Eventually I forgot that I cared and waded out to talk to them. Rae and Cole herded me into deeper water, and then Rae tackled me, so of course I was soaked. Some lady watching from the shallows caught the whole thing and laughed hysterically the entire time. We paddled around for a bit, and I developed a furious vendetta against clay pits, which I kept stepping into, slipping, and nearly drowning. We clambered out after a while, and pretty soon we drove home.
Back at the ranch, we had dinner, and then the three of us trundled into the basement, where we watched Wayne's World 1 and 2. It was my first time seeing them, and I heartily approve. Cole and I collapsed into bed after that. We were exhausted. Also, I still had sand in my clothes from the beach. Ahh.
Day 6: Monday. We decided to let Colette sleep in today. Rae and I kicked around and did little for most of the morning; when Colette finally got up at about 11:30, the two of us were out back in Rae's yard, me in the hammock and Rae in a chair, chatting about writing and stuff.
We went down to the Rideau Center again to shop around a little more; afterwards, we walked over to another building (with narwhals and belugas hanging from the ceiling) to see the Simpsons movie, which was absolutely brilliant. We walked home after that--Rae's house is pretty much a straight shot from there--and went into the stores we saw that weren't closed. We stopped at Mexican restaurant for dinner, where I had the best chimichanga ever created. We toasted each other and our last night in Ottawa.
When we got home, we sat on the back deck for a while watching the bats flapping around. Eventually we went inside, where I got to pick the movie of the night. I chose The Mummy, which was amazing. Brendan Fraser got our Manly Man of the Night vote by throwing a chair at another guy to stop him from running away. It was sheer gold. None of us really wanted to go to bed, but we wanted to have one last go at Ottawa in the morning, so we turned in, reluctantly.
Day Seven: Tuesday. I woke up sometime during the night very confused, only to discover that I had somehow turned myself upside down, and that my feet were now on my pillow and my head at the foot of the bed. As I straightened myself up, Cole woke up long enough to ask, "Any particular reason you're upside-down?"
"I was wondering that myself," I replied sleepily. She grunted some reply and we both went back to sleep.
Even now, almost a week later, she will occasionally turn to me and ask, out of the blue, "How did you manage to turn yourself upside-down?", and I can never answer her.
We got up early once again. While Colette showered, I got our boarding passes, determined not to have the same trouble we'd had on the previous flights. We walked with Rae back up the street we'd ventured down the day before, this time hitting up all the spots that had been closed previously. We got lunch and topped off the day with gelato (which was really very delicious), then wandered back to the house and sat down in the backyard again, just enjoying each others' company and not wanting to think about leaving. Eventually we went inside and packed up what we hadn't the night before. We said goodbye to Ken and Rhys, and then Lisa drove the three of us to the airport. She hugged us goodbye, which of course caused me to tear up. I really became fond of the whole Desson clan during this vacation, truth be.
Rae accompanied us inside, guided us through the process of checking in our luggage, and then the three of us said goodbye. Sure, Rae will be back in September, but it didn't make the goodbye any more fun. In the airport terminal, Cole and I sat in near-silence, thinking back on our trip and mourning that it was coming to an end.
We wound up in the Montreal airport again before long, and the two of us caught dinner in a restaurant there as a sort of "last hurrah". We went all out, even ordering the most massive slab of chocolate cake you've ever seen--so huge that the two of us between us finished only half of it, the rest of which Cole brought home to her sister. We returned to the terminal, where I loaned my iPod to a couple of bored kids so they could watch The Lion King on it, and waited around for about an hour and a half before we finally boarded. Cole accidentally showed the wrong boarding pass on two separate occasions, which caused a bit of a kerfuffle for security, but eventually things were straightened out and we were on our way.
~
So that was our trip to Ottawa. We had an absolute blast, and we wouldn't hesitate to do it again. We've discovered that there's a wonderful freedom to going on vacations on your own, and both of us are eager to repeat the experience. Maybe next time we'll head even further. After all, my uncle still has that flat in Paris...
Adieu!
Icarus is still scared of squirrels.
posted by Icarus at 6:45 PM
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