in Ontario!

SOLD!
moving men and the tetris-ed van

an empty house

What a weekend. We left Thursday afternoon, and made it to very full Thunder Bay after hmmm, eight hours or so - we were denied at three (or four?) hotels before landing a free upgrade deluxe king-size-bed-room at Travelodge. Friday we made it to Sault St Marie where we had some seriously average Italian food (did you know that The Sault has the most Italian restaurants, per capita, in Canada?), and Saturday we finished the slow-go uhaul to Ottawa... ugh.


The only moose we saw en route was this one

This was not the only bear we came across en route - not far from Thunder Bay we saw a mid-sized black bear pause... and then cross the highway - safely.

We weren't sick of each other but we sure were sick of driving. Steve somehow managed to fit the beast of a vehicle into my aunt Zella's driveway, and after a nice chat with first cousin once removed (or something like that) Val, passed OUT. (Val just got back from a kayaking trip in Greenland, and her pics were amazing... amazing!) Sunday morning we were back in the van, but only for the short trip to a Uhaul storage facility and again, four hours later, to a Uhaul parking lot to drop the thing off. Thankfully we had help unloading and hauling and packing the stuff, and Steve and I along with Fred and Shanti, got the business done pretty quickly. The most disappointing part of that day? Unloading our couch and finding a huge unknown stain on one of the sewn-in-sewn-on cushions... sooooo annoying. Anyways, we stuffed all the stuff into a small-ish storage unit and after a quick stop at Freddie's to drop off patio furniture and a bbq, left the Uhaul, left the key and left the moving weekend behind us. We were tired and frustrated... but glad that we had it all wrapped up and finished. It was back to Zella's for a cold beer, a shower, a lovely dinner, a yummmy bottle of wine and some great company... best part of the day for sure.

Zella making bruschetta in Grandma's apron - so good, so sweet!

Steve enjoying a cold one after a(nother) long day!

Soooo that was yesterday, Sunday. Today we were up and meeting with a realtor by 9:30, at a Second Cup in the Glebe; on our to-do list was to figure where we want to live - Ottawa or Gatineau, what neighborhood, and what our options are/were. And, based on our criteria, we came to a conclusion - for now, because we need to be close to the gym (after all, we did move here because of volleyball), Gatineau is our best bet. It's cheaper, easier and we're not planning on being here forever (and by here I mean Gatineau). So, that was gooooood - a good decision made. We made an appointment with a different realtor for tomorrow, for this side (Gat) of the water... and that was all of the business we could really do for the day. We drove around a bit - Steve showed me the new, half-built complex where the team will be training, and we checked out a few neighborhoods. From there we made our way back into Ottawa to take a look at what used to be my Grandpa and Grandma's house - the house my Pops grew up in. Sadly, the house at 41 Bedford was demolished and has been replaced with a huge megalith of a thing - a definite (ugly) neighborhood anomaly. We visited with Joyce (neighbor), and her son and his partner, and, over coffee talked about this that and the other. It was great to see Joyce - she's known me since I was a wee little bean, and over the years we've had some great visits. So that was a highlight of my day, as was our trip TO THE SPA this afternoon!!! We went to the Nordik Spa in Chelsea and it was amazing. It was so relaxing and so calming and so what we needed after (at least) five consecutive days of moving and packing and moving. And voila, that's it. And, now it's bedtime.

Me and Joyce!