Day Six and Seven (Canada)

When I last wrote, I had a terrible time getting to my friend's house in St. Catharines because of my lack of preparation. The reason, of course, is I wasn't using data on my phone since it is much more expensive unless you buy a foreign plan or change sim cards, etc. But I was only going to be there two days, so I just had to go without.

I did write down the directions google gave, but they screwed up a Louth. They told me to turn right on 5th St. Louth but it was really Louth street I needed. What is a Louth? Here is picture of an intersection.

Now, if they took off the Louth, it would be much less confusing because any stranger to the area is thinking: "What the hell is a Louth?" Turns out it is an old township but is now part of the amalgamated St. Catharines. So, I am guessing in horse and buggy days, someone who saw "Fifth Ave" would not know which township they were in, thus the Louth. Hey, memo to St. Catharines - those days are over! Get rid of the lousy Louth.

But that brings up the whole problem of cities who do the numerical avenues one way and the numerical streets the other way. Oh, come on! That is just too irritating, particularly when the roads are exactly the same size and in the middle of nowhere - as many of the Louths are. In some cities it works - Manhattan. It's a rectangle. The avenues are huge, the blocks very long, they run north/south. The streets are small, blocks short, they run east/west.  Anybody can adapt pretty well to that. But for most places for a grid city, please do something else like the alphabet (Davis, CA does that - never got lost there) or street names in alpha order (San Francisco in the 19th avenue area), or something in alpha order - anything other than the intersection above!

Moving on.

I went to Saint Catherines in Ontario to visit Diane, who has become a friend as she is a Hilo snowbird who visits her daughter, my good friend Rachel, each winter. Diane and I share a love of bridge, opera and a good drink. The scotch pictured earlier in the blog was for her.

Throwing drunk shakas with Diane.
I didn't even remember this picture being taken.

Rachel is not your average person. She has inexhaustible joie de vivre with a preternatural energy level along with a confidence to go for things that are not in her wheelhouse. Here we are together.

I wanted to meet others in her family to see if there were others like her, or if she was just a sport. Well, the short answer is in this picture:

That's her sister Becca, and I can safely say - on the energy front - there is more than one.

But the whole family is impressive. I only met about half her siblings, (and assorted nieces and nephews) but I got the full run-down on all the clan from Diane. They do all seem to have confidence in their ability to navigate the world. Basically, I was told that their father - he has sadly passed away - taught his kids to be self-reliant. In essence, a Canadian Yoda: "There is no try, only do."

Diane, Becca and Marguerite. The kids and grandkids are Marguerites.
(Ok, I forgot all their names but I really liked them.)

Trish and her boys (yep, forgot their names - but I really liked them, too!)

And just cause: a little song for everybody a little different performed by Becca's good childhood friend. I have, of course, forgotten her name.

I just have to brag on my friend a bit. Rachel and her partner Jacqui our naturopathic doctors who own Hilo Naturopathic Clinic.  With that Yoda-like confidence and crazy energy, they took a run-down, tear-down, disgusting house in Hilo and are miraculously transforming it into their beautiful, spanking clean new clinic. They did have the help of a good carpenter, Ashton, plus his crew, and lots of friends (including me!) But they have been working their asses off for months on nights and weekends to get this thing together. I wish I had a "before" picture. This one was taken in June. They are moving in as write this. Can't wait to see the finished clinic!

Returning to St. Catherines - beyond the Louth problem - is a charming, pretty little city near Niagara Falls. A few little highlights.

I got to see Lock 3 in action at the Welland Canal (from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie). Fun to watch the ship slowly raise.

The top of the ship with the lock-filling process just beginning

Risen and ready to go

After a nice steak dinner at The Keg, we went to see the Looff  hand carved and painted Lakeside Park Carousel in the near-by small town of Port Dalhousie. It costs a nickel due to somebody! Or a group of somebodies! (Diane told me but, yes, I forgot who.) Who wouldn't like that?  The Santa Cruz Carousel, which is also a Looff and is considered to be one of best in the nation costs $1.50 on cheap nights - and $5.00 other times.  Now the Lakeside Park carousel doesn't have the rings to throw into the clown's mouth, which is THE thing that makes the SC carousel so special.  (Interesting factoid:  Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk has to buy 70,000 rings per year due to theft of them.) But, still, a nickel for a Looff is amazing!

I spent two nights there, but headed off for Detroit via the Canadian highway system. It isn't as nearly as well-marked as California highways, but I drove without incident in what was mostly rural areas beyond a city here and there (Hamilton and London).

The border crossing took about an hour. My conversation with the border officer was brief:

Him: Where are you from?

Me: Santa Cruz, California

Him: Where are you coming from?

Me: St. Catherines. By the way, this is my 49th state!

Him: What is the one you are missing?

Me: North Dakota

Him: Well, that's a hard one. Welcome home and have fun.

I can't tell you how relieved I was to be back in the USA!  I turned the phone back on.  The Google lady was talking to me.  I knew what 37 miles actually meant in terms of time and distance. (It's shameful but I have never learned kilometers so really had no idea how fast I was going or when the hell I might get somewhere when I was in Canada.)  And then, like magic, "12 mile road" was the exit and I thought - wow, I know exactly what that means, how far to downtown Detroit, how far to Linda's house and the land of Louth was over. 

How I screwed up during this period:  I somehow accidentally deleted 2/3rds of my first blog and can't find the original text.  For those keeping track: 3 spilled drinks, wayward text, ill-planning to cross into Canada and inept blog handling. Plus memory loss is evident on this one, but that's just constant so it won't repeat on the list.

Book I am listening to: Jill Lepore's "These Truths" about American history - the tension between our ideals and the reality. Great so far. She's a really fine writer. (She often writes for the New Yorker if you are trying to place the name.)