So the trip begins in Las Vegas.
I have been anticipating my trip back east for some time now. So far it has been more than fulfilling. Our vacation started in Las Vegas where we were able to meet with Amanda and Dustin for dinner and drinks at the Mirage. We enjoyed some fun times with them and headed back to our room for some rest before our early flight. Our flight was a nonstop flight into Columbus, Ohio. I was able to read the entire book Water for Elephants on the way; A sad, but amazing story of the lives of circus workers and life in general during the 1930’s era of traveling train circus acts. It documented the abuse of the workers and animals and also told a great love story. I highly recommend this book. On the way back I will indulge in the latest book from the Alex Cross series by James Patterson so I can finally discuss it with my Dad!
Back to vacation
We arrived In Columbus and we were met by Jess and Kaleb and Anthony. It was so amazing to see them and be greeted by family with hugs and smiles. We stayed in Newark at my brother’s house with his fiancé and the boys, Jess-Kaleb-Karter-Anthony. We were also sharing a space with the dogs, Jetta-Venus-Reign. It was so amazing to just sit back and absorb the family atmosphere and talk and play with the boys. Brother was more than accommodating and cooked up a storm. When we walked in the door he had already had dinner ready to go; stuffed rigatoni with homemade sauce and fresh pecorino romano cheese. I knew immediately that I was going to enjoy this trip! Delicious! During our trip Jess had finished her current semester of classes and ended her clinicals with amazing results! We drank to her accomplishments and had a great time chatting and playing family feud! Jess was hilarious and fall down drunk form one margarita! Did I mention I adore this girl? The next night was spent visiting with an amazing old friend and catching up on years passed. Jen is a childhood friend that I have known since I was pre kindergarten age. She was like a big sister to me growing up and a person I looked up to and still do. She is an amazing person with a great set of morals and values and I am so thankful that I was able to see her and catch up on life in general.
We soon began our trip in the rented Chevy HHR to Youngstown, Ohio. While making the three hour drive I began thinking about how far I have come and how much I have accomplished. I also thought of my friends and family. I miss them all of the time when I am away. I am SO thankful that my brother lets Anthony stay with us in the summer while he is still young enough to enjoy it. Soon he will be at the in between age where he will be bored. I am also very thankful that my brother takes time every year to drive down to visit with the entire crew around the holidays. I am so proud of him and his family. At the time I am typing this we have not yet had a real visit with my other family, brother Tim and sister Melissa and the boys Brycen and Gavin. I am anticipating our visit with them and the short time we saw them so far was shocked by how much the boys have grown. I can’t believe Brycen was only a toddler when Jeff and I started dating. I remember holding Gavin when he came home from the hospital. I held him for the first time on the couch like a child sitting and holding him nervously afraid he might break and using the couch to help me brace him; I was 19. They have grown into their own little people now and it seems like they should still be little kiddos to me.
Seeing Faith and Kyle and their daughter was such an experience for me. I can hardly believe my friend, who is very much my sister in this life, has her own beautiful daughter. I could have cried with happiness holding that little child. She is the essence of precious and I am so thankful to have been able to hold her and visit with Faith. The friendship and comfort of familiarity were much needed.
Jeff and I feel the same way about friends; we take them on as family and trust and care for one another in a family way. We do what we can for each other whenever we can and do not expect anything in return other than a mutual caring friendship. We have been very lucky to have such amazing friends far and near and to create new friendships in Arizona as well. There is nothing like reconnecting with old and loved friends and family members. It makes me appreciate life and where it has taken me and where it will lead me.
We stayed with Curt and Carla and had an amazing time as well. Jeff has been friends with Curt for more years than he can count and it was a great and overdue visit. We enjoyed a few games of bowling while drinking (the only way to really bowl) and competed in not the score of the game, but in rounds we titled with such things as “best grandma form,” “Best Moonwalk Down the Lane,” “Best Chicken dance Down the Lane,” “Best Gangsta Strut Down the Lane,” and “Best Split.” Great times and great pictures to come on FB. I enjoyed our time there with Curt and Carla and their family of four legged children.
Speaking of children…
Jeff and I have been talking about this topic a lot lately, mostly about adoption and other options. One of these options is to not have children at all. As surprised as I am that Jeff seriously considers this an option, I have realized I think I could be happy not having children. I love working and spending time with children and believe that Jeff and I would make great parents, but I also think I would be perfectly content as an Aunt and a teacher. If we do decide to have children I would much prefer adoption. While I know Jeff struggles with all of these options more than I do, he actual had a serious discussion with me involving not having children even though he would make an amazing father. Sometimes we feel that we would rather have dogs and enjoy our lives being able to travel during our time off and travel and spend time with each other and with our family in other states including spending more time being an active Aunt and Uncle to our slew of nephews and new niece. It would be great to see them more than every few years. We discussed how we love being with children, but really love our off time and giving them back. I know so many of our friends and family try to tell us that we need to have children and that we should have at least two and that we…blah blah blah. Our life; our decision. Just because we would make awesome parents and love children doesn’t mean we need to have one or five or however many. Children are not right for everyone. Maybe they aren’t for us. Fortunately we still have a few years to decide. We have time to think about our options and decide what we feel is best for us. We will take the time to decide what we want, but currently either not having children or adopting are my two personal favortie options. Time will tell.
We have enjoyed spending time with Faith and Kyle, Brother and crew, Bill and family, Kelly, The Wilson bunch, Jen, Curt and Carla, Chris and Jim and Jess; our short visit with Kenny at KIA and wish we could have seen him and Melissa. We wish we had more time to see more people. We are excited to see more family over the next two days as well. Vacation has been much needed and very enjoyable so far and there is more to come. The traveling Jackson circus in the HHR is on its way to the next destination-The Jackson’s in North Jackson. Keep an eye out, we may be coming to a town near you! We are hoping to make it back to Columbus at a decent time on Saturday. Hoping; fingers crossed. J Looking forward to our Friday afternoon/evening shin dig at the Old Log Cabin at Millcreek Park. 4-midnight! The last hurrah, for now!
***Currently spending time with Tim, Melissa, Brycen and Gavin out at the camp. I will post more on our time with them later. ***
Toronto
We left our friends and headed to Toronto Ontario, Canada. After our 6 hour drive we arrived at our amazing hotel that offered free wi/fi, fridge, microwave, coffee pot, breakfast and other amenities that helped us make a quick decision that 6 hours in a car deserved an extra night’s stay. So we immediately checked in and added a night to our stay. As pricey as Canada is to visit, we wanted to make the most of it and enjoy our trip while trying not to think about money. It has been hard, but I have the rest of my life to worry about finances. The room was not only fully loaded, but incredibly clean and comfortable. Toronto is a beautiful city that practices many ‘green’ techniques. There was actually a timer light system in the bathroom so that if you left the light on it would automatically shut off after 15 minutes. Since I normally follow people around and turn lights off behind them, I loved this! Locals were riding their bicycles around the city and there were recycling and conservation centers around the city. Lots of people walking and many of them with their canine companions; I could get used to this city! They have multiple recycling bins near every trash can as well as by crosswalks and along sidewalks making it easy to be green. They passed a law that requires the country to charge 5 cents per plastic bag at any shops, restaurants or retailers. Most people had their reusable bags ready and full. Canada is a beautiful country and I wish the USA would take a few pages from their book. The city was clean and quiet, yet rich with culture. We drove through little Italy, Little Portugal and China Town and all areas of downtown seemed to remain clean and lacked the typical pan handlers and homeless people that most big cities have.
The people throughout Ontario were incredibly friendly and very patient and helpful. It made me think about kindness more. Perhaps these people seemed to be in such a good mood, because everyone is pleasant to each other? I understand that this is not always the case, but I will say we were there for 3 days and 2 nights and every single Canadian we met was outwardly friendly and happy to help us if needed. This was a nice surprise since our time in Youngstown any establishment we went into the service was terrible and the people rude. Oh home…lol.
After check in we decided to get ready and go to dinner. We ate at an amazing Italian ristorante that had fantastic service and THE ABSOLUTE BEST Italian food I have ever put in my mouth. It was run by all Italians and everything was made from scratch on site. I had the gnocchi in a four cheese cream sauce with a few red peppers and mushrooms. We ordered the brushetta to start and we were both raving over all of the flavors that hit our tongues. It was so rich and flavorful I could have ordered just that-by the case. J After recovering from our amazing dinner experience we headed out to find the bar and restaurant Wayne Gretsky’s in downtown Toronto. We had our first experience with paying to park in Canada; everywhere in the city is pay to park. This first time we were only charged ten dollars. I thought that was bad until the next day when we spent thirty dollars at one place and then another twelve at the harbour. We had a few bottles of Molson Canadian and checked out all of Gretsky’s authentic memorabilia as well as a few of his trophies, pictures of his family and old junior league jerseys. He even has his own wine label (BONUS!). All of the proceeds from Gretsky Estate Vineyard go directly to his foundation to help children learn and partake in the sport of hockey. We followed the pathway upstairs to the rooftop terrace bar with patio couches, trees, lights and water fall. It was beautiful and relaxing up there. We walked around downtown for a while before deciding to head back to the room and unwind. I was so excited to have wi/fi! Communication with the world! I Posted a few of our many vacation pictures on Facebook. Oh yes and did I mention the awesome candy bars that are hard to find in the US? -Canada has ‘em! We indulged on Mars bars, Bounty, Wunderbar, and some other ones I can’t remember. J Mars is like a milky way and Bounty is pretty much a mounds bar. It was awesome anyway!
The next morning after breakfast we headed to “The Great Hall” – The Hockey Hall of Fame. It was the purpose behind our trip and it was worth every bit of money and travel time spent. I cannot say enough about the amazing exhibits on all of the historic inductees as well as the NHL Zone featuring memorabilia from today’s current players as well. I personally enjoyed the exhibits on Maurice ‘the rocket’ Richard, Guy Lafleur, Gretsky, Bobby Orr and, of course, Mario Lemieux among others. I learned quite a bit about historic hockey players and the history of the game and how it has evolved. It was truly educational for me and amazing. We were very fortunate, because the Stanley Cup Final had just ended a very short time ago and the new home of The Cup, Chicago, was not yet on display so we were able to view the Stanley Cup champion displays from last year which were the Pittsburgh Penguins! Seeing actual gear worn by the best players on the team during the finals last year was truly a wonderful experience. We also saw every medal from the Olympic games for hockey up to the late 90’s. It was great to see how the medals differed every year. We also viewed the trophy room where we were able to see all of the NHL Trophies before they were shipped off to the NHL Awards 2010 to be with their new owners and receive their new engravings. We entered the vault where the original Stanley Cup is housed and took pictures with the replica of the current cup. It was amazing to me that these trophies were actually held high by some of the best athletes in the sport and in the world.
After leaving the hall of fame we grabbed a bite to eat; I had an amazing falafel with hummus and fresh baked pita chips. Not only is Canada very green in practice, but it has a great respect for culture and for vegetarianism. Did I mention I love this country? Too bad it is a very pricey place to live and visit-taxes are high due to universal healthcare-I LOVE IT!
We headed to the harbour to catch a ride on a very large authentic sail boat. We sailed for an hour and a half on Lake Ontario and the day couldn’t have been better for sailing; Breezy and not hot or humid with decent cloud coverage. A beautiful day! I enjoyed a glass of cabernet while Jeff had a domestic, Sleeman’s I believe. We took in the view of the Toronto city sky line and enjoyed the day. Later we ate at a little bar down the street from our hotel and shared a pitcher of Canadian. I was so incredibly exhausted on this day-I think the trip just caught up with me. I almost didn’t go to eat I was just drained. Glad I did go to eat though. It was nice to share this experience with Jeff and now we can look back on our time there together.
All in all, our vacation home to Ohio has been an amazing trip and we still have a few days left. I will come home and be happy to see my dog and my house as well as my family and friends in Arizona, but not my scale. I have definitely gained a few pounds back and have been eating a lot of pasta and bread as well as sodium rich foods which have caused me to retain a bit of water and swell. Oh well, I will worry about it when I get back! I will hit the p90x for the second round and kick ass again! Haha.
