There and back again...

Well, my trip to our nations capital was awesome. (I can say that now that I'm back all safe and sound.)
Some parts of the trip were stressful, as in the 'getting there and getting back part'.
I'm not very knowledgeable in the airport department. This was the first time I've flown.
 First ya gotta practically strip down to your skivvies. Then the machine beeps when ya walk through, so ya gotta go back and remove your lace-up boots and get them x-rayed. (Along with all your belongings.) So then the machine beeps again when ya walk through and then the guard says you get randomly picked to 'swab'. (I'm thinking at this point about the comment my husband had made earlier about 'cavity searches'!!) Then the guard asks if I want a female to come and pat me down?
I said, " Whatever ya do.."....
Thankfully, a nice lady came over and wiped my hands and my purse with a piece of cloth on a BBQ lighter and said "Have a nice flight." and sent me on my way.
I was happy to go...
(Speaking of  going, do not, I repeat, do not use the bathroom on the airplane. I held it for so long, but eventually I had to use the facilities. Ooo, it was nasty! Small. Dirty. Icky. Gross. I will withhold liquids for a long time before my next flight.)
So now we all get on board, then we have 'ice on the wings', so have to de-ice. another 20 minutes go by... Finally, we get airborne and then Mr. Pilot says we're going to experience some turbulence.
Oh lovely, feels like the plane is going to shake apart!!
 I'm thinking of all those movies I've seen involving airplanes.....you know, the ones with only 2 survivors and I'm not one of them...
But after a while, it did improve and I could unclench my hands from the armrests. Looked out the window lots. I liked it better with no clouds.
And the transferring airplanes thing at Pearson was OK, but I'm sure glad I had a few minutes between flights to find where I was supposed to be going.
And after a harrowing taxi ride with a madman from the airport to the hotel, I finally checked in. That was a looong day, I was a wreck.
I Googled that swab thing when I got home to see what that was all about. HA, little did they know that I just hadn't shot my gun that day! LOL And I'm still not all that keen on air travel after only 4 different aircraft flights, but it sure is FAST in getting to where you're going, that's for sure!
Once I was there, all was well. Met some lovely people from all over Canada. The CTHRC treated us very well, nice accommodations, good food, tons of snacks, pop, juice, etc. Very accommodating for anything you needed. The office was 2 blocks away from Parliament Hill, 2 blocks away from the hotel too. Quick easy walk at 8:15 am. And I bet I saw 200-300 people in that short span! Wow, sure not used to that!! I felt kinda alone amongst so many....weird. Lots of traffic, tons of buses and taxis too. The buildings are so big, many old ones made from big blocks of stone.
 I visited the Royal Canadian Mint. Was 5 minutes too late for a tour of the facility, but visited the boutique. Bought a 25 cent Sasquatch coin and a 50 cent coin with 2 pictures on it. You look one way, see a picture, tilt the coin and see a different picture. Of course this 25 and 50 cent coin cost a lot more than 25 and 50 cents! But these are a nice addition to my collection. I also held a 28 pound brick of gold. They have a guard posted by it at all times. It sure was heavy for the size of it! Very pretty and shiny too. I liked it! HaHa!
I found a Geo-cache in Confederation Park, so I logged one in another province! Yay!! I left a Saskatchewan pin behind for some lucky person to find. I looked for another cache, but it was dark and raining and I was getting wet, so I didn't find it before I left.
Had a good meal at a really cool restaurant. One in our group had a seafood pizza. It came with a pile of cooked mussels in the middle of it. Still in their shells! That looked so cool!
 I had a pasta with tomato sauce, it was very good. Huge portion, I barely made a dent in it before I was full. Johnny Farina's if you Google it.
And speaking of food, I'm hungry now. So 'til next time!...

Denise's Grand Adventure

Well the 6th of March is here already. And today I leave for Ottawa. I am excited and nervous too. Never been on a big plane before. Never been to such a big city before. I don't know a single person there either. I sometimes wonder "why did I even sign up for this?"  But I do hope I have a ton of fun and experience some new things and see some new places. There are a few geo-caches around the hotel, so I hope to log a few, my first ones outside of Saskatchewan.
Short blog today, I must triple check my list and make sure I have all I need. And I'm gone in a half hours time.  Hopefully, I'll have a bunch of photos to share later this week. Wish me luck!!  :-)