That's a Long Way to Go for a Coffee!

Ok, ok I'm sure you've all been waiting to find out if my friends even made it to Canada, let alone if they are having fun with me as their tour guide.  Well, I lay complete blame with Clare and Di who never seem to stop talking long enough to serve me as they should.  Well, tonight I put my foot down (ok paw) and since it is only midnight, and they seem to like bedtime around 4am, I've given them plenty of time to update all my fans on our most recent adventures.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  As always, my adventures begin in airports and although I might not have been present, this adventure started as any true Whatever adventure should!  My good friend Di, the same friend who took a lot of convincing that she could indeed brave an airport and make it to Detroit where Clare and I would safely see her across the border, was the fortunate recipient of the random full body scan at the security desks in the Salt Lake City airport, where she stood with tears streaming down her cheeks in a glass box and then had some weird wand thing passed over her open palms.  I have been on many planes now, and Clare even more than I, and we have never received the honour of such a dedicated security process. 

Learning this story after the fact, explained why Clare and I did not receive the expected email informing us that they had made it to their gate and were waiting to board.  You may feel this an unnecessary piece of information, but you see, Clare and I needed to leave at the same time as they were to board their plane in order for all of us to arrive in Detroit together.  How crazy is that!  So, off Clare and I went, going on the faith and hope that Di would have found some way to contact us had they missed their plane.

For those of you who remember my last adventure with these two, Di is very proficient at taking photos out of windows of moving vehicles, and this clearly includes airplanes.  Her fascination with clouds on the ground was multiplied ten times over as she found herself above them, but the reason I bring this up at all was the most interesting camera angle of the plane's wing, which does indeed look something like a fish (or shark) out of water.



Well, to keep this from becoming any longer (well not really), I will inform you that the plane landed about the same time that Clare and I pulled into the airport parking lot.  Could that have been any better timed?  I think not.  My friends were last off the plane, so I was there waiting for them when they came through the doors.  My only gripe is that they hugged Clare first - how rude!

The drive home was long and uneventful.  Even the border crossing was bordering on boring.  While Nate fell asleep in the back seat, Clare and Di talked and I smiled as Di marveled at the silhouettes of many varieties of trees against a moonlit sky.  What Clare had aptly described as 3 hours of straight, flat road and nothing to see but farmland and trees, was something completely beautiful to Di.  Talk about perspectives.


To finish this wonderful first day (although it was actually 4am on the next day but who's counting), I must share with you a story from before Di's departure.  She was informed one night, that should she go to Canada and not partake of a Tim Horton's coffee, she would be an outcast.  Di had no idea what this meant, and upon informing Clare of this she received only laughter.  So began the quest to find said Tim Horton's...

Now, to those of you who are from Canada, you can stop laughing and be patient while I explain this to all my non-Canadian readers (yes, I do too have fans outside of Canada!).  I will not bore any of you with the history of the place, but simply explain that it is the most common donut and coffee shop in Canada.  When Di responded with "I'll have to remember that", her friend simply said "Oh you won't have to.  They will be on every corner, every billboard, on the radio and every commercial break."  He's not far off I'd say.

So, when finally arriving in Guelph, Clare kindly pointed out the first Tim Horton's she passed, and then the second, and the third (and she hadn't even left Woodlawn Road!).  So began the "Tim Horton's Count", referring only to new stores seen over the course of the trip.

Tim Horton's Count: 3 (Total = 3)
Whatever!