The Cubicle is empty!!!

8 – 10 – 06

This morning we said our goodbye’s to the McDermotts.  It was sad to leave as we really had a great time with them.  They’re such wonderfull people and family.  We really had a blast visiting them in Vermont.  But, unfortunately, we have to head home.

 We left the house past 8am.  We decided not to take the ferry across Lake Champlain because a the weather forecast was not good as a storm was heading our way.  We took I89 all the way north past Burlinton to Swanton.  At Swanton a very small town in North Vermont, it took us 15 min to get through it as there was a shutdown of a section of the roadway and we had to take an inpromptu detour.  We never did find out what the deal was.  But the semis had a hard time making the turns at these local roads.

We crossed the Vermont-New York border @ Rouses Pt. and this town reminds me of Lake City, MN on the Mississippi.  Lots of sailboats on the lake and Bed and Breakfasts dot the highway along with souvineer and antique shops. 

North New York state is much like the rolling green hills of central Wisconsin.  So nothing really unusual terrain wise.  We we passed thru the St. Regis Indian Res., I noticed the amount of gas station and tobacco shops as well as the Casino’s along the highway.  I counted 10 gas station in a 3 mile stretch thru the reservation.  The casino parking lot was 3/4 full.  At the end of the reservation, the tribe built their brand new schools and govt. buildings and their health clinics.  It looks like the residue from the casino is put to good use. 

 After crossing the reservation, we cross the US-Canada border into Cornwall, Canada.  We didn’t have much problem crossing the border and they did not even checked the passports.  Just asked the same old crossing questions of what your bringing into the country and if you have any firearms and alcohol aboard.  I was kind-of surprised since the recent news regarding the thwarted effort of blowing up US bound planes from London, I thought that the border gaurds would be on high alert.  No such thing here.  Maybe this is not a high terrorist crossing.  I was somewhat surprised that it didn’t take longer than 2 mins.  Although I was glad that it did. 

 After paying $3 going into Canada, we stopped in Cornwall to get burgers at McDonalds.  The Big Mac in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada tasted the same as the Big Macs in LaX.  Globalization! 

 We travelled the Queens Highway 401 with no troubles at all except for the periods of rain.  Just light rain at the worst.  It was cloudy and gloomy ever since we left Vermont.

 As we approached Toronto, the sun punched thru the clouds and by the time we hit the city, the sky cleared and the temps. rose.  We got to the city around 3:30pm.  But, we hit the famous “traffic Jam” on the 401.  It was nerve wracking at times trying to decipher how the signs are laid out.  Finally figured the Expressways and Collectors.  When on the expressway, a sign will tell you for your specific exit but to the collector highway.  Once on the collector another sign will tell you that your specific exit is coming up.  Confuse? 

We found our exit to our hotel with no problem.  I have a great navigator in Maria and she’s been here before, althought it’s been 15 yrs. 

We got to the hotel and just rested from the long drive.  After the 2 hr nap, we headed to Prince Japanese Steakhouse just down the road from the hotel.  Their sushi is the best i’ve ever had!  We had the snapper and the white tuna sushi.  Maria had the Tempura entree and I had pork jentre japanese style.  I just can’t remember the japanese name for the dish.  But it was delicious.  The Sapporo beer was also very good. 

The excellent japanese dinner capped a long day of travel.  I already love Toronto!   

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 12th, 2006 at 12:03 am and is filed under E Vermont 2006. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.