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!