Second to last day: Nipigon to Sudbury

Alright, we're back in the cowboy hotel in Nipigon...

Cut my bangs using nail scissors.

Very scenic driving--looked more like what I expected the Rockies to look like, than the Rockies did. Forest and lakes and steep hills. I stopped at a cute tea house in the hills and had Godiva Rooibos in a disposable French press cup! Look at that!

My colleague-friendies' Tim Hortons and Subway gift cards kept me in food through the whole rest of the trip.

This whole area of Ontario is lake lake lake.

Some frozen.

The first gas stop I made, in Kenora, it was all full-servicey which caught me off guard. I commented on it and the guy said, "This is Ontario." And indeed most of the gas stations were full service. Well, at least this way I got someone else to check my oil.

Doo doo doo traveling along!

We had fun, my stuffies and I.

There were a lot of Moose warning signs, so I was determined, I was SURE, I would see a moose. A moose moose moose! I was determined!

Huzzah! [These pics are all bigger if you click on them.] This truck and I stopped and waited for this moose who walked slowely and carefully across the road.

Then just when the truck was going to start again... bing! Out came a littler moose, running across! It hadn't learned yet that you're supposed to go slow. "Mommy wait for me weeeee!" 

It stopped at the side of the road and tap danced a bit, and then followed the mommy. Yay! Mooses!

This drive was beautiful, but it was challenging. Like, you couldn't do it on auto-pilot. Lots of twists and hills and construction.

Many times it was overcast, but that made for easy driving at least.

I listened to an audiobook, but the rest of the time I listened to music. I was really enjoying myself. Singing, driving.

 More of these mispelled-for-no-reason businesses. Cruz Deliveries.

Mohawk Motel. Dude with a headdress. Guys, we are not in the Prairies anymore, and that is not the kind of headdress a Mohawk wears. 

 Even though the Aboriginal community of Kenora is 15%, but half the townies I saw were Native. In fact I saw a lot more Aboriginal people throughout most of Canada, than I do in Montreal. Quebec has the second lowest population in Canada, and I would guess that many of them are North of Montreal.

Sunset! Time to find a town and a motel.

Kitties for sh*ts and giggles

[Cat warning!]

This used to be my view at work. This was at the end of winter when the sun was finally still up as we brought the furniture in at the end of the day.

 

And this THIS... is the little face I've been missing.



Evil Minion has been excited to see the return of softies. (With her hyperesthesia, Fernando didn't want to veer off course from her crunchies.) She meows this stressed out little meow when it's feeding time and I near the fridge: "Ah! Ah! Softies! NOW! Please. NOW NOW NOW."

We've begun playing her feather-stick game. Though I have to hide the stick otherwise she rips all the feathers off and I'm down $4. But this is a cat who needs a LOT of exercise and I have to remember that. For Haley's sake, if no one else's. When she gets in hunting mode her tail is thump thump thumping and she only stops when we make her cause she's panting.



So between softies and toys, I'm winning her back. ...She loves my yarn playing too, but that's another matter. Let's not tangle up her intestines like Tulip--her sister from another mother. (Mme Miroir's cat, whom we call the billion dollar cat because of her shenanigans. She and Minion can and will break into anything, just for shits and giggles. They were separated at birth.)

The last of my cartoon life!

Can't believe I haven't posted in a week! I had crappy internet in the most crapitudinous motel on my last night. And then some wifi fuzziness here at home, though I've cleared it up now. And basically I've been hibernating in fear of all the sh*t I have to do! Driver's license, health card (apparently I have to make APPOINTMENTS -- what the what!), prescriptions, insurance, bla bla bla. Plus decluttering the apartment. I just left my stuff in my car, lol. I don't want to add it to the chaos of the apartment until I've attacked it a bit. ...Though I did clear the front seat for Fernando.

I am very happy to home. I was a Nanaimo-sick the first day, missing my family and Madame Miroir. But I crocheted and spent time with my kitties. I was rewatching old Parenthood episodes and at one point a song* came on that normally would make me all homesick and weepy--and I was just about to feel sad when I remembered... I'm home! I'm here. Fernando's better. Cats is back to normal hissiness. I am here and can put my little family back together.

I still have my last pics to post, but I'm not yet that organized. So here's the last of the cartoon series:

 

[The following three frighteningly accurate...]

______
*Here it is. One of those songs that can no longer make me sad! Ha! Stupid song.