#162: Post summer trip round-up

 Jesus, where did the summer go? Summers are never very long here, granted, but this year's has been a real blink-and-you'll-miss-it-too-late-it's-about-gone. I mean it. Seems like I woke up yesterday and it was March. Today is September 4th. 

Of course, it definitely feels like autumn is heading our way. The leaves are just beginning to show yellow, just a tiny bit, because of course the majority of the deciduous trees here turn yellow. Today we're under a wind advisory, which makes it even more fall-like. There's that general feeling of things going for that last gasp, can you make it? Even the vegetation looks tired. 

So I figured this go-round I'd post some highlights. 

What's that? You want to hear about my trip, too? All in good time my friends.

Spring started like normal. So we had the usual suspects: violets, and the other little flowers that make an appearance. And of course we had the usual assholes who insist on picking them. 

Do me a favor folks, and quit picking my flowers. Please.

In short order, summer arrived and with it, the bugs. One nice thing about SD is there aren't too many mosquitoes, at least where I work. Sure, there's a few here and there, but the water moves too fast really for the larva to stick around long and the ones who do manage to hatch get eaten by the fish. 

I think I can count the number of ticks I've found on my person on one hand. Seriously. 

August was the 85th Sturgis Motorcycle rally. These bikes weren't from that, but I preferred these over what normally shows up. Sorry, Harley riders. 

Of course, there are more than bikes. There was a Corvette rally as well as a Mustang one. I was somewhat saddened that I didn't get to see the Mini Coopers this year. 

Which brings me to my trip. All I can say is that I survived, and that I can scratch Toronto off the list of places that I will ever live. I dislike big cities to begin with, and Toronto has like a couple million people in it. I was very glad my friend drove, and that we were able to make a road trip out of it. 

At the border crossing, the lady in the booth gave us the third degree. In all fairness, I can hardly blame her; we were a couple of dumb Americans who drove up in a van and we probably looked pretty shifty. 

Nonetheless, we were finally allowed to enter .

Of course, that was just the beginning. Idly, while I thought the traffic was bad, I had no idea it would soon be getting worse. 

As we approached Hamilton, which is just west of Toronto, we slowed to a crawl.. it took an hour to go 8 miles! (or, 12.87 km if you prefer!) As I said, I was VERY glad my friend drove. 

After checking in to our hotel finally, we settled in for a good snooze. Of course, this is Canada, so breakfast was, of course, Tim Horton's. It seems to be their answer to Starbuck's--there was one on practically every corner (in fact, there was one within walking distance to our hotel room...) 

The one near us also had pizza, which was pretty tasty.

Saturday morning rolled around bright and early. I donned my special shirt that I got for this occasion. I was feeling pretty spiff.

We arrived at the place, a bit early as my friend wanted to park close and there weren't many parking spaces. He also wanted to buy some beer to take home and didn't want to have to lug it too far back to the van.

"You're going to have everyone thinking you're an alcoholic", I remarked as I helped him carry his flat of beer out to the van. 

Beer acquired, we settled down at the gate to wait. While we hung out, we chatted with a few folks who had shown up even earlier. 

I have to say, I've never seen so many Rush shirts in my entire life. Some of them were even tour shirts. A lot of them I've never seen before. A few, I think, were even custom ones. 

I'm not a fan of crowds, but this one wasn't bad and we were outdoors, so I managed not to lose it. 

They had stuff on display from some of the tours. 

The tasting room or whatever was pretty cool too.

.......and of course, the beer. or one of them anyway. There were several to choose from. 

The return trip over the border was much easier. The gentleman in the booth was much nicer and didn't charge my friend any taxes or anything on the beer. 

All in all I would say it was worth the trip. Perhaps we can go again next year--maybe plan it a little better, so we're not driving for days at a time. 

Last weekend was Lead Luge. Where us crazies get together and slide down the hill on a piece if plastic. Well, I didn't do it, I'm not THAT crazy, but...

And so draws my summer to a close... next up, fall stuff. My volunteers are packing up and leaving Sunday, and my days will shift so that I'm working both Saturday and Sunday. Not unexpected, but I am certainly not looking forward to the "leaf peepers" showing up. They're already trickling in, in small busses and passenger vans. I suspect a lot of my weekends will be spent avoiding the traffic and working on the trail itself. It needs to be done, and will keep me from stressing too much, I think. 

I've already got a "fall tree" (photos to come!) and some of my winter stuff washed and hung up in the closet.  First snow will be soon, or so they tell me. Stay tuned!

Aye, Kraneia