Dad awoke us on September 14th 2009 AD at approximately 6:37 AM with the news that he was taking the car in to the dealer. We were to stay at the hotel in Toronto and try to get some work done. So, he left out to get the car fixed and I ate a bagel (Like A Boss! for all of you who get that.)
I decided to work on Spanish. I had finished my weekly homework, and wasted nearly an hour determinedly trying to connect to the hotel internet so I could send it in. Didn't work D=.
Dad returned at 8:30 with the good news that our car was not in fact as completely destroyed as we thought. Apparently, our airbag sensor had either been incorrectly triggered or had a delayed reaction from another small collision (perhaps the Niagara Falls Valet, hmmm?) They reset the sensor and drove it around a bit (the light didn’t come back on) , and let us go with the diagnosis of a faulty trigger.
Seeing as our car now appeared OK, we decided to head on the ~3 hour trip to Algonquin Provincial Park. En Route, we stopped for our first Tim Horton’s donuts. Tim Horton’s is a very large Canada-only breakfast/donut chain that is similar to Dunkin Donut’s in the US. Except, it is *so* much more delicious. I haven’t had a donut since we moved to Chapel Hill in 2005, so eating a one was like a small epiphany to me. Mmmmmm….
We made it to Algonquin safely and saw our first ‘moose danger’ sign. Moose are apparently incredibly dumb and weigh a whole lot. They are known to be so lacking in common sense that there is a story of one hearing a car and running into the street to evade it. Wow.
We checked into our campsite after recieving several bear avoidance papers, and set up camp. While eating a late lunch, we made our first acquaintance with a deranged Canadian chipmunk. It walked right up to Greta's feet and stared at her, and then jumped right onto the table and began eating a corner of Dad’s sandwich. I shooed it away, and it re-appeared within a minute. This time, I decided to feint kicking it, trying to make it realize not all human's feed wild animals.
After this encounter, Dad decided that we should go for a hike with our few remaining hours of daylight. We went on the Peck Lake trail, which had periodic markers with sections in a pamphlet to read. They were posted at about every 120 feet, and always had some amazing views. By about 6:00, we finished the trail and went back for dinner.
The original dinner plan had been beans and sausage, but since we brought one small can of beans and a nearly two foot long sausage, it ended up being more of sausage with the occasional bean. Once we finished dinner, the dishes were cleaned very thoroughly and Greta and I played around with mosquito spray and fire. Kids, don’t try this at home. Or while you’re at a campsite. Or ever. (We didnt actually spray it in the fire, for those out there worrying. We just played around with it. Still not a good idea, kiddies.)
We went to bed with *anything* that could possibly have the scent of food on it in the car, and fell fast asleep.
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Marlow--You do know that bears can smell through cars? They really can!
ReplyDeleteI can't help but pity you. I don't eat donuts and even I have had one since 2005! Have you not had a hot Krispy Kreme? You poor, poor, boy.
That chipmunk sounds awesome, I want it;) you should of taken video of it then post it on youtube. If you think those donuts are good you need to try krispy Kreme.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, we didn't bring a video camera, and we were far too occupied shooing it to snap a pic.
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