Back Home!

Well, after 11 days out on the road, we made it back home yesterday. The flights were a bit roundabout - Newark to Chicago, Chicago to Orange County - but everything ran on time and we made it home!

I have to say that all in all, it was a fun vacation. New York was definitely the highlight of the trip. Looking at some maps today, we probably walked about 10 miles or so the two days that we were there, saw some interesting stuff. I personally enjoy the active around midtown and downtown.

We are setting our sights on next year already. I am proposing we go west from Niagara - Detroit, Chicago. We have votes to go back to NYC. What it means is that we'll be going somewhere!

Vacation - Day 7

After the storms of yesterday, this day broke like a spring day. Today we are in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. While we are technically still in Ontario, there is a lot of French spoken here. Our plan for today was to catch the changing of the Guard on Parliament Hill, get some Beavertails for breakfast, and then hoof it to Philadelphia.

Ottawa is a very interesting city - small in city terms (about 250,000 population), but still large enough to have all the entrapments of city life. I find it an interesting mix of European architecture and North American charm. One thing for sure - small cars are king here. And with gas at $5.00 per gallon I can see why. It's interesting that a country that has so much oil (Canada is the #1 exporter of oil to the US) has such a high cost for gasoline. I can;t wait to get back across the border later today to fill up the rental.

One other thing about this city, and Canada in general - much of the pomp and circumstance from England is safely stored away up here. The changing of the guard is much like it's counterpart in the UK. It is also interesting that everything here is being done "in the name of Her Majesty" or for "HRH, the Prince of Wales". Say - isn't Canada an independent nation?

The changing of the Guard was very cool! From the parade to Parliament, to the drill of the change - very interesting. Nowhere in Washington DC are we as ceremonious as this!

After the changing of the Guard, we made our way back to Byward for Beavertails. A Beavertail is nothing more that some fried dough, but it is a true Canadian food - so we had to try. The Byward was going full tilt when we got there. Very reminiscent of a farmer's market back home - I was impressed with the fresh fruits and vegetables available.

We were going to go on a tour of Parliament, but by the time we got to the Info Centre (yes misspelled) the next available tour was going to be at 1:30PM, which would place us way behind plan for our drive to Philadelphia, so we decided to forgo the tour and start south toward Philly.

The drive to Philadelphia was long but uneventful. We stopped for lunch in Syracuse, where gasoline was a more reasonable $3.84 a gallon. The highlight was driving through (well actually around) Scranton. We looked for Schrute, but he was nowhere to be found.

After 7 plus hours, we were finally at our destination - Residence Inn on Penn Square. We had two more things to accomplish that night. First - Geno's for Cheese Steaks, and then return the rental car. We made it to the south side of Philly and got our Cheese Steaks. I don't know what these folks do to get such tender meat, but the sandwiches and cheese fries were as good as ever. From Geno's, we drove over to the airport, returned the rental car, and grabbed a taxi back to the hotel. A long day for sure!

Vacation - Day 6

Well, since we are done rowing, we stayed in the sack this morning. I was up early to get some work done, and was thinking about the other rowers when I looked outside and saw the skies had opened up. It poured for a while this morning.

We are using our early exit from rowing to move on down the road. After some discussion last night, we decided to change our itinerary and leave Niagara a day early and spend two days in New York City. So, we checked out of our hotel to move down the road to Ottawa. But, before we left, we had one more thing to do. Yesterday, my oldest son was a little disappointed that we did not get close to the falls, so in the morning, we hopped on the Maid of the Mist (http://www.maidofthemist.com/en/) and took our obligatory trip to the base of the falls. For all of the grief I give Niagara, to be at the base of the falls and see the volume of water coming over is absolutely stunning!

Once done, we took off down the road to Ottawa. Ottawa is reached by taking the QEW to Toronto, then the 401 east from Toronto. According to Google Maps, this was supposed to be a 5 and a half hour drive. But, traffic in Toronto was as bad as I've seen it anywhere. Top it off with pouring rain (the news said a waterspout was photographed over Lake Ontario) and we were in the car for almost 7 hours to drive the 500 kms to Ottawa.

We settled into our hotel (the Westin Ottawa - a very nice hotel by the way) and eventually made it out to look around the town. One thing I enjoy about places where winter is an issue is that they tend to be pretty compact towns - meaning everything is within walking distance. My goal the first night in Ottawa was to find a deli to get a couple of things that are uniquely Canadian - smoked meat and poutine. We walked down through the Byward Market, and not finding anything, continued a few blocks to the east. I was looking for Nate's Deli - highly recommended. When we got to Nate's, we found them closed, so started walking back to the hotel. As we were wandering back ,we stumbled on Dunn's - one of the better known delis in Ottawa. So we were able to get our Montreal smoked meat and poutine.

After dinner, it was off to Parliament Hill for the light show and then to sleep in another wonderful hotel bed!

Vacation - Day 5

Today was my youngest son's big day. His future at St. Catherines this week is based on how he does on this day in his heat. So, we spent most of the day on the island to cheer him on.


The morning started as a muddy mess as the skies opened up. Kyle rowed his heat and did well - bettering his time from earlier this week by almost 20 seconds. But, the times in the Junior B event were simply blazing. Heat times in the 7:30 range were not uncommon. So, we are done rowing this year.



But - we took advantage of his early exit to do some more touristy things in Niagara. We headed over to the Whirlpool Jet Boats to run the rapids in the Niagara River in a 1500 horsepower Jet Boat. Absolutely fantastic! Like to log ride at Disneyland on steroids. At one point, we were plowing through 10 to 15 foot waves in the boat (http://www.whirlpooljet.com/). We left absolutely soaked! And had a blast doing it!


This also gave us a first opportunity to roam Clifton Hill. The boys and I had a great dinner at the Keg Steakhouse, then went to the Fudge Factory, walked the shops of the Hill, enjoyed a couple of games of pool at the midway, and relaxed in our room. A nice day for us to do some bonding.

Vacation - Day 4

Wednesday - Day 4 - was spent primarily at Henley Island. Most of our rowers had events today, so time was spent in St. Catherines. It was an absolutely stunning day - bright, a few white puffy clouds, a gentle breeze, temperature of around 75F.

St. Catherines is a nice community about 15 minutes to the northwest from Niagara. It is a typical upper midwest bedroom community. The largest employer in the region is General Motors, which has a plant in St. Catherines. All of the normal comforts of home are available here - Costco, Home Depot, Staples, etc. In the summer months, the breeze off the lake can keep things comfortable.

The rowing venue is a lake that is an offshoot of the St. Catherines canal between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The closest that those of us in California would relate to would be Lake Natomas in Sacramento. Organization for this regatta is top notch, and things run smoothly considering all of the rowers and all of the boats.

I still couldn't keep my phone quiet today, so I was back at the hotel by 1PM to field calls. My youngest had to stay on the island for afternoon practice, so he got back to the hotel around 1PM. I cleared my calls and headed back to the island for the afternoon.

Wednesday afternoon we decided to do a little sightseeing on our way back to the hotel. Instead of taking the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way - the main freeway in the area), we drove the lakeshore back from St. Catherines through Niagara-on-the-Lake. I call it the La Jolla of the Great North! A quaint little town with a ton of boutiques, restaurants, coffee houses and b&bs. All of the buildings are out of the late 1800's which provides character. Now, imagine La Jolla mixed with Napa! That's right! The southern shore of Lake Ontario has a climate that is conducive to fruit orchards and vineyards (the heat from the water keeps the southern shore area warmer than the north). Drive along any road in the area for winery tours and tasting, fruit orchards, and farmer's markets!

We spent the rest of our day driving through this very interesting area and back to the hotel. Wednesday nights is fireworks night, so we enjoyed the fireworks from the comfort of our hotel room!

Today's photos are available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/glennsphotos2007/sets/72157606588862655/

Vacation - Day 3

The third day of vacation was a working day for me. I headed back to Buffalo for a meeting with Erie County.

There are a number of bridges over the border from Buffalo. The bridge closest to Buffalo is the Peace Bridge, accessible from downtown Buffalo. This bridge drops you into Fort Erie, where there is an easy drive from the crossing to Niagara Falls. The bridge closest to the Falls is the Rainbow Bridge, which is within view of the Falls. Trucks are not allowed over this bridge and because of its proximity to Niagara, this is the busiest of the bridges. The third bridge is north of Buffalo by about 20 minutes at Lewiston. I headed over the Peace Bridge, got to my meeting, and went back over the Rainbow Bridge later that afternoon.

Tuesday afternoon gave us a little weather too - afternoon thunderstorms were keeping things wet and rowers out of the water in the afternoon! Little did we know what that would bring in the next couple of days.

Vacation - Day 2

The second day of vacation broke hot and humid (what's new) in Niagara Falls. The rowing is actually taking place in St. Catherines Ontario, about 10 minutes west on the QEW. My youngest is the rower, so he had to meet his teammates in the hotel lobby at 6:30AM.

My older son and I got to rest a while longer and start transitioning our body clocks to Eastern time. We eventually made it out to Henley Island in St. Catherines where we were able to watch our guys practice. This is the second year that we have rowed in the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, considered the end of the season Championship Regatta in Canada. Last year we were here with two rowers (both under 16), one coach, and a couple of dads. This year, our club, the Newport Aquatic Center, has sent over 30 rowers, so we are well represented this year. This is no minor commitment too, as we have to trailer and send boats across the country to compete.

Unfortunately for me, this is a bit of a working vacation. I was back in the hotel room by noon Eastern so I could field phone calls and do the other things in a normal work day. Once that was done, we "hit the town" in Niagara Falls. Now, Niagara Falls is a *huge* tourist trap. Everything here is expensive, and is tailored for tourism. Everything has a charge associated with it, from horrible exchange rates (85 cents CDN for each USD exchanged), to parking in near empty lots. Food is atrocious - dinner for 3 at TGI Fridays runs $100! A half liter bottle of water runs $2. In the past, this was still not too bad, but with the weak dollar these days, we are not getting a favorable exchange, so when put in dollars, everything is 5% more expensive than the price in CDN. But, at least everything is within walking distance here. So, we set off for Clifton Hill (the main tourist area), and the falls (lighted at night).

The walk up and down Clifton Hill is like going to Downtown Disney. Flashing lights, touristy type stuff. There are some things that are most apparent here - everywhere you turn there are midway style "Haunted Houses" and sideshow style museums. You can go to the Criminals Hall of Fame ($6), or the Guinness Museum of World Records, or Movieland Wax Museum, or Louis Toussaud's Wax Museum, or (you get the idea). For $10 CDN, you can ride the Falls View Ferris Wheel. For a couple of bucks you can do just about anything!

But, we bypassed all of the "attractions" and went to the falls, where we enjoyed the views and fireworks.

All photos are available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/glennsphotos2007/sets/72157606575928965/

Rowing in St. Catherines Day 1

As mentioned in my last entry, I've been on vacation for the last week. I feel a *little* guilty for not running, but I'm watching my food intake (as much as one can on a vacation), and I have not been completely sedentary...

I'm going to go back and reconstruct some of my vacation here - for posterity. These aren't running related entries, but so what!

We left last Sunday, August 3rd from LAX. My daughter was going to France for a few weeks and flew out of LAX, so it was a convenient trip for my wife to drop everyone off at once. We left the house at 3 AM and got to the airport at 4. Lines weren't too long yet, and we made our way through check in and security in a reasonable amount of time. One of the great things that United Airlines has done at LAX is to have a person with a microphone guiding people to the next available kiosk. Also, being a Mileage Plus Premiere level helped as we were able to bypass the security line. I got my daughter to her gate a little before 5AM (yeah - Starbucks was not open yet), and the boys and I went over to the Red Carpet club, where we had to wait 30 minutes for the club to open. Our flight was not scheduled until 9AM, so we had some time to kill in the club. The boys settled down for a little nap.

Our end goal for the day was Buffalo NY, right across the border from Niagara Falls Canada. We had to fly through Philadelphia, so we settled in for a lengthy flight on the small plane. As a frequent flier, I am used to the little glitches that can hammer plans, and this day was no different. As I was trying to resolve a seat problem with my son (I had asked us to be seated together in Economy Plus), the agent notified me that the plane to Philly was bein delayed due to mechanical problems! So, I got the seating changed and settled in for what I feared was going to be a long delay. To my amazement, the problem was fixed and we were still able to board on time! We got off about 30 minutes late, and were on our way across the country.

Once in PHL, we had to change carriers to USAir to make the quick flight to Buffalo. It's been a long time since I've flown an airline other than United or Southwest. I was absolutely flabbergasted to find that you had to pay for drinks on USAir! Let me mark in my book that I want to avoid that airline!

The rest of our flight was uneventful - we picked up our car in Buffalo and drove across the border to our hotel - the Courtyard in Niagara Falls. We were comfortably in our room by 11PM Eastern. In total, we spent 17 hours in transit to get to our destination - hmm.... we could be in Frankfurt by now!

Vacation!

Well - I meant to run each day while on vacation here on the East Coast, but I haven't been able to with all else going on. Oh well - I'm not going to sweat it!

What I've been doing has been attending the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta in St. Catherines Ontario. Yeah that's right - up in Canada. My youngest son rows a single, and was in a couple of races here. I'm going to post my stories that have been going back home and have been posted over at http://newportaquaticcenter.blogspot.com/ here as well.

I thought I would have time to run each day, but we've pretty much been on the go almost the entire time here:

Sun 8/3: Fly LAX to PHL to Buffalo NY. Pick up car in Buffalo and drive over to Niagara Falls. We got to LAX at 4:30 AM, and got to Niagara a little after 11 PM.

Monday through Thursday: Stay in Niagara Falls, Ontario and commute back and forth to St. Catherines Ontario (about a 10 minute drive). Also, I had to spend some time working (able to do so remotely).

Friday 8/8: Drive from Niagara Falls, Ontario to Ottawa, Ontario. Traffic was horrible through Toronto! Leave Niagara about Noon, get into Ottawa about 6:30 PM.

Saturday 8/9: Do some sightseeing around Ottawa (capital of Canada) then drive to Philadelphia for Cheesesteaks. Turn in rental car.

Sunday through Tuesday: Independence Mall, Rocky steps in Philadelphia. Train to NYC. Sightsee around NYC.

Tuesday: Spend our last day in NYC. Move to hotel at Newark airport late.

Wednesday 8/13: Fly home!

Yeah!