Yippee - I'm going on a trip with Rissa!

Rissa is off to Charleston, South Carolina and is taking me with her this time. Well actually she's going to Folly Beach, near Charleston. We'll see how this goes!!! After all, Clare is normally my scribe and who knows yet if Rissa is any good at it.

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign!!

So I have always ended my trips with some useless tidbit of information that amused me along the way but never really had a place that fit in. This trip has no exception, as Di and Nate seemed to be fascinated with all the signs along Ontario roads. I guess I never really noticed before, but as they started pointing them out, I realized that we do have an awful lot of them, and each seem individually tailored to that particular road. It leaves one wondering just how much we spend on all these uniquely printed signs.

Naturally, as we drove around, more and more jokes were made about the signs, and soon we were coming up with stranger and stranger meanings behind them. As our list of sign meanings grew, we had no choice but to stop and take photos of them to share. Some of the meanings we came up with were instant comments by these friends with warped minds, while others kind of progressed over time. Either way, I hope you will see these signs with an open mind, and perhaps you too will start seeing road signs in a whole new way. Enjoy...

 The sign that started it all... For some reason my two traveling friends thought this looked like a zombie, thus it quickly became known as "Zombie Crossing"

Another early sign that kind of grew in meaning as time passed.  Originally commented on because the man and woman were going opposite directions, then the red explosion was pointed out, and soon enough it was being called the "Divorce Bus Ahead" sign.

Another early one, as Di kept asking Clare about the "truck flying off the road backwards" sign.  It was a long time before Clare actually saw the sign Di was talking about, and had a good giggle over it.

Walking along a street in Toronto, Nate looked up and asked if this meant the parking was in the sky, about 225 m up!

Canadians seem to be so nature-friendly that they even having parking for the crickets!

Fascinated with the idea of "hidden" driveways, we had to stop and get a picture.  Only after stopping at this particular one, Di noticed the sign just past the main sign which we passed in the past (sheesh your language makes no sense people!).  Anyhow, the sign reads "Seek ye the Lord while He may still be found").  Is He in the hidden driveway?

We aren't really sure what this sign was about (seen at West Montrose Bridge), but it sure amused me!

No stop signs allowed!

Old man crossing
Older man with oxygen crossing

Hitchhikers will lose their hand!

Once the first one was seen as a chinese rice picker, the rest just kind of fell into place
- rice picker
- depressed or lonely
- waving hello
- going to trip you
- waiter taking your order
- in serious need of chiropractor





I really wish I could share them all with you, but I think you get the idea.  So, wherever you may live, the next time you are out driving around, take a good look at those signs you pay little attention to and see what else they could mean.  Trust me, it might just make the drive go a little quicker, and even bring a smile to your face.

Well, that's all she wrote for this adventure.  I enjoyed being a tour guide, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat, but I have to admit that my true love lies in traveling to new places, meeting new people, and sharing the crazy adventures I have with all you humans!

Until my next trip...
Whatever!

The Last Days

Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and since vacations tend to be good things, they tend to come to an end also. My dear friends had to return to Detroit and fly home on Wednesday, so we decided to head down a day early. As Di wrote in an email; "We don't want any misadventures four hours away from the airport in Canada. We'd rather have them ten minutes away and in the USA."

So it was, that Tuesday was spent packing up, repacking, and then repacking again. These two non-travelers had done well to get everything in to come on their adventure, but Clare had neglected to suggest they make sure to have space to take home the various trinkets and paraphernalia that they would inevitably pick up while here. As a result they were left playing a very intricate 3D version of Tetris to get everything in and ready to go.

The drive back to Detroit was uneventful, they found the hotel without a problem, went out for dinner, and returned to the hotel with time to write the Zoo blog-entry before going to sleep. In other words, it was an utterly boring day for me, without much to report on whatsoever (except that we counted another 7 Tim Horton's).

The last morning, however, does have a few noteworthy pieces of information.

It started with a stop at a rather unique coffee shop not far from the hotel. Yes, my dear readers, we planned this from day one (ever since Clare saw the first advertisement on the interstate). After counting nearly 50 Tim Horton's in Ontario (where the popular chain got started), we chose to actually enter one in Michigan! Part of the reason for this amusement stems from the fact that none of them drink coffee, and two of them can't eat gluten so the donuts are not an option either. Basically, they had no reason to enter the store at all, but after counting and joking about it for two weeks, it seemed a fitting place to stop on the last day. To prove that this stop was planned, I can tell you that Clare and Di even bought gluten-free donuts days before, brought them across the border and defrosted them in the microwave before leaving the hotel. They then bought hot chocolate (and a donut for Nate), and proceeded to eat their treats inside Tim Horton's as if it was the most normal thing in the world to do. Oh, and they both agreed that the hot chocolate was delicious!

Our final stop of the day, before heading to the airport, was a mall about half an hour away in Ann Arbor. Yes, this too was planned ahead, as I wanted my pawsport stamped at the Build-a-Bear store there. For those of you not yet converted by my constant references to the store, they have little bear passports ("pawsport") that you can get stamped as you travel. Each state/province/country has its own stamp, and since I already had Utah and Ontario, it seemed only right to find a store and get a Michigan stamp as well. It was the one thing I could get in the states and not have to declare at the border on the way back!

Sadly, it came time to return to the airport and say good-bye to my friends. I have learned since that it was Nate this time who was privileged to receive the incredibly personal security check at the airport. I can not help but wonder what it is about this couple that has the security people so fascinated by them. Oh well, at least they are both fully acquainted with the process of airport security now, that they should be good to go for future trips (as I'm sure they will have now that they've learned how much fun it is)...

Maybe they'll even be willing to travel with me some day!


Tim Horton's Count (both days): 9
Tim Horton's Final Count = 50 (what an interestingly round number).
That is an average of over 3.5 per day and we didn't even go that far!
Now of course, the challenge for Clare is to STOP seeing them everywhere she goes!
Whatever!