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[Friday, August 6, 1999: And so it begins..]
We made it to Finch station for the car pickup (we were being picked up by the car). We were a little late when we met up with.. uh.. we'll call him Bridge Boy, or BSB for short, and it seemed as if everyone knew each other so I didn't have to bother with introductions. The car was nice, a 1999 Passat (a Volkswagen for those who don't know).
![[Day 1: The Car.]](../Pictures/1999-07-21/1999-07-21a.jpg)
This is a picture of most of us and the car just before leaving for our cross Canada trip. We were a little surprised at how nice the car was, but heck, I was tired (having not slept a wink the night before) and I just wanted to eat and sleep. Funny how it didn't show up like that in the picture. Ah well.
After a quick lunch at Wendy's (and a quick looksee at the rules), we took off.. to the great white north! BSB took the wheel and Parry sound was our first destination. Quite a nice view, a typical cottage country city.. nice to visit, but I'll be danged to live there. After picking up a couple of post cards, I took the wheel and we headed towards Sudbury and the big nickel.
![[Day 1: Parry Sound.]](../Pictures/1999-07-21/1999-07-21b.jpg)
Our first stop of the trip was at the quaint little touristy town of Parry Sound. The weather was very good and we had a nice little walk around the docks and bridge area. If you look closely at the photograph, you might notice a sea plane in the background. (It took off soon after the picture was taken.)
From the left, we have me, an oh-so-happy BSB, and an even more happy MJO.
I don't have to remind you folks that I didn't get any sleep the night before, and I had a fairly short nap on the drive up to Parry sound. Fortunately, the other guys didn't notice since they were all asleep! The view was very nice up there, as we entered into the Canadian shield. There were many rolling hills and trees trees trees everywhere. I might have taken a picture if I had a camera, but I might as well buy a postcard.
![[Day 1: Sudbury.]](../Pictures/1999-07-21/1999-07-21c.jpg)
Reaching Sudbury, MJO and I went into explorer mode and began to discover far off smoke stacks, and remote radio towers. I can't remember what exactly I was pointing at, but it must've been something just as irrelevant.
If you didn't know already, MJO is on the left, and that's me pointing.
We got a little lost trying to find Sudbury.. don't ask. (It wasn't really my fault either!). We made it to town in time for dinner, and we stayed at the Peddler's Pub for some grub and drink. The waiter was nice enough to tell us where the big nickel was (on the way out actually, which was also fortunate). So we went there, we saw, took a couple of pictures, bought a couple of post cards, and left.
![[Day 1: The Big Nickel.]](../Pictures/1999-07-21/1999-07-21d.jpg)
The main attraction that we wanted to see while we were at Sudbury was the Big Nickel. We didn't have any idea where the thing was, nor did we have any tourist maps of the area, so we were quite lucky when the waiter told us that the thing was basically on our way out of town. After the tip, it wasn't hard to find. I've seen the Big Nickel already during a family trip many years ago, but it's always good to come back and make sure that it's still there.
That's BSB, me and MJO at the foot of the monument (from the left of course), wondering how we're going to fit the nickel in the trunk.
Oh yeah, this got old quick, but Laz kept asking:
"Do you know how they found nickel in Sudbury?"
Uhh.. not rea..
"They smelt it."
Oh.. kill me.. now. Please!
BSB took over driving again, as I was a bad night driver and we wanted to make it to Sault St. Marie. It was getting dark as we plowed along the Trans-Canada and it was pretty spooky watching the mists wafting onto the highway as the sun slowly set. The stretch of road between Sudbury and the Sault probably had a nice view of this and that, but I didn't care too much since I took a nap.
Reaching the Sault, we booked into the Diplomat, and the proprietor told us where the bars were (all three of them). After fixing some problems with our car alarm, we went down to check it out. The first one was jam packed, filled with high school kids, and pretty loud. Despite the nice view (apparently the girl in red was nice..), after a drink, we took off to try out the other bars. The second one was empty. Well, the bartender was there. Ooh. We tried bar number three, which was quieter than the first one, but had more people than the second one. Not a hard feat. Stayed there talking about this and that (girls mostly), and I went through a fair bit of water. During the conversation, Laz turns to me and asks:
"Are you going to put this on your page?"
No no no no no.
I mean yes.
That was it for the first day. Jam packed with driving and viewing, and we still had to get up early the next day for a ferry ride. Oh hurray.
Monday, June 12, 2000 at 19:50:19 (UTC)
That joke still kills me. *laugh*
Lazarific