Side Trip to Ottawa

Now it was time to hope on the Greyhound to do the overnight trip to Ottawa. I have developed a rather large hatred of the GO Center because of yesterdays goof up. And they lived up to their lack of service. A Greyhound bus pulls up with no announcement and pulls away without the driver even going inside. If I had waited further in the place I would have missed my bus. The Toronto terminal was not much fun either. On one side of the street are arrivals; the other side in a different building was departures. We all lined up to wait for the bus; it became quite clear that there were more people than the capacity of one bus. This had and added stress because it is around midnight and I wanted to sleep. A second bus arrived for all the people doing the milk run; I got on an express bus to Ottawa. I didn’t sleep a whole lot, no matter how hard I wanted to.

Day 5 I Arrived in Ottawa about an hour early at 4 or 5am so like many people our rides had not arrived yet and took naps on the benches. At one point I happened to look up and see Leah and Kyle looking at the schedule on the wall. I walked up to Leah and she didn’t recognize me at all. She tried to walk around me when I got near and I had to say “Hey it’s me Randy you goof J” She was surprised at how much weight I have lost as well as my hair.

We went for breakfast at Denny’s and my eating habits were changed. I eat in one meal as much as I had in the last few days. We went to Leah’s apartment, Kyle and I hung out while Leah did some schoolwork for her class paper. She was promoted about a week ago to Assistant Editor of the paper. We went for a drive so I could see what the city was all about. We stopped at these sculptures that an Indian does with no glues or mortar (left).

We went to the parliament buildings and found they were open for tours on Thanksgiving. A few things have changed since my tour in Grade 8. It was nice to take the tour with a smaller group. During the afternoon Kyle had to work and Leah and I were going to go out with some of her friends. We decided to bail out of the plan and I fell asleep on the couch with the kitten curled up next to me. Which was a mistake because the little guy would be up all night annoying me.

Day 6 Leah had to go to class in the morning so Kyle and I went to the National War Museum. That was nice to see again, now that I understand more about history than that young lad I was in grade 8. I can’t wait for the new building to be finished in a few years. Kyle had parked next to this little hut that sold Bear Claw Pastries, OH MAN they are so good. Their napkins say they have one in Lake Louise so I must find it!! I had myself booked on an afternoon flight so it was soon time to get me to the airport. I had a window seat this time but once again I got to sit with old people. I just wish that the hot ladies that were across the isle were sitting with me instead. On the way the captain was giving the weather for Calgary and kept saying 5 degrees, I thought I missed the first word because it was over 20 when I left. He was right it was raining and cold.

It was a good vacation even if I spent way too much on the trip. But until I get to "le Tour" this was probably my only chance to see the pros ride. I may have to live of Kraft dinner for a while but I don’t care