Pennsylvania and Canada
Conner and Kerri's Summer Trip 2002
July 13-19
On Saturday, July 13, Conner and I left my house at 8:30 in the morning to go to Pittsburg PA to visit our friend Nick. After making a stop at Java Jo's,
we got on the highway toward Chicago. In all a pretty uneventful trip, we did get stuck in traffic for about an hour and half because of some dumb race in
Chicago that blocked all of the traffic. Never fear, we made it through unscathed, due to our ingestion of carrots and apples. We got on the Indiana Toll Road and
stopped at a Travel Plaza to eat lunch and stretch. While on the Ohio Toll Road, we figured out that much joy could be derived
from making my plush bear dance for cars as we passed them. Then we found even more happiness in making him wave as each car faded in the distance. Most people
did not notice, but some lucky passers-by did smile and wave in a pleasant manner, allowing the bear to brighten their otherwise dismal day.
Upon arriving in Pittsburgh, we went to find Nick at a theatre, but being confused and all in the big city, we just drove right by him and his friend Alisha.
We found a chinese restaurant to eat at, which was very good, and then got back in our cars to drive through all of the hills and look at the buildings which mostly
consisted of University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Melon campus. Then we headed downtown since the play wasn't going to be over until eleven or so. We got out of our cars
at the science museum and the stadium for the Steelers so that we could walk down by the river. As soon as we reached the road, fireworks started going off
and we ran closer to the river to watch them. Amazing, we finally make it to the city and we get to watch fireworks by the river. Then we had to find Nick and Alisha,
which was very interesting considering how much we kept getting lost. We all went back to Nick's house to watch a weird movie and talk until Alisha had to leave and
Conner and I went to bed.
Sunday, July 14 brought more fun as we slept in late and headed into the city for a day of fun and adventure. First was a stop at Mount Washington for some tourist-y
pictures and a view of the cityscape. Then we headed down to Station Square to walk around. After that we drove through a very interesting crowded part of the city to go
through Oakland and down to the Waterfront. At the Waterfront, we looked around at the shops and things and then walked a mile or so to Steak n Shake. I drank two tons of water
because we walked so far in the sun and I was quite parched. When we finally got back to the place where we had parked, we had a chance to watch a Minority Report at a gigantic
and very elaborate movie theatre. Then we got to drive around to find this gigantic bridge that crosses from one point in the mountains to the other across the highway. I wanted
to find the big pretty houses, which Nick drove us by and then we returned home, all being kind of tired and wanting to sit back for a little bit. Plus, it is a Sunday night...
Monday, July 15 we all woke up late because we stayed up late the night before. After showering and getting breakfast, we had several lengthy discussions with Nick�s dad about our plans for the day. At his suggestion, we decided to go to Ohiopyle, which was a little over an hour away to see if we could go rafting, canoeing, or hiking. Turns out we were too late for anything on the river, but when we were driving around the park, we did see a sign for dangerous, slippery natural waterslides. We didn�t think you could actually go down them but decided to check them out. Much to our delight, people were sliding all over the place, so we changed into our swimsuits and rode some of them with Nick leading us to make sure they were safe. Afterward, we sat in the sun to dry off and then went to Dairy Queen to grab dinner before we headed home. We picked up �Not Another Teen Movie,� took showers, and went to Brewster�s for ice cream before finally staying home for the evening. We watched the movie and then went to bed because Conner and I had to drive so far the next day.
Tuesday, July 16 Cons and I woke up early to get ready and packed for the long car ride. Then we said a sad goodbye to Nick and headed out of Pennsylvania for New York and then Canada. I slept a lot, trying to catch up from our late bedtime the night before, and we stopped at a nice rest stop in New York where we got tourist information from a nice old man and signed the guest book. After going through Mexico (Mexico, NY that is) we finally saw the most random sign ever : Canada 5. Haha, five miles to Canada. The crossing was scary because first we had to go over this humongous bridge that went straight up and straight down, and then we had the scary Canadian border patrol drilling us with questions. He scrutinized both my license and my birth certificate before finally letting us go. We almost ran over someone who walked right in front of our car as we were trying to get out. The Canada speed limits are slow. 100 kmh or 60 mph, but all of the Quebec people sped like nothing else. According to Conner though, they got pulled over later when I was sleeping. The fines are really expensive too�over $300 for speeding. When we finally got close to Montreal, there was another giant traffic jam, which meant more of the dancing bear and our book on tape. We went into a tunnel that went under the city but also made us completely miss our exit, so we had to come back all the way through the Latin Quarter to get to our hotel which was in the center of the city. Check-in was made easier because everyone switched to speaking English for us, and after we had dropped our bags in our room, we went out to try to find something to eat. We ate at a delicious little caf� and walked around some more until we were tired enough to go back to the hotel and sleep. The hotel room was awesome. We were on an exclusive floor, so we had to swipe our card in order to press the floor button in the elevator and we also had our own private lounge where we could eat a quiet breakfast in the morning. The room itself was huge, with a private balcony overlooking downtown Montreal, luxury bathrobes, feather duvets, a gigantic bathroom, and fluffy pillows.
Wednesday, July 17 we woke up and went shopping, but I was exhausted and didn�t feel that great so we kinda just looked around and grabbed lunch before finally going back to the hotel so I could take a nap. When I woke up I felt a little better, so we went to the Olympic Stadium, Biodome, Botanical Gardens, and Insectarium, all which were pretty cool. Then back to the hotel to grab dinner and walk around the city some more before watching our free movie (�Panic Room�) and going to bed.
Thursday, July 18 we got up early and packed everything up to leave for Toronto and Windsor. The car ride was pretty uneventful and we finally made it to the CN tower in Toronto. After going up and walking around, we got back to our car and tried to leave Toronto, but that took hours because there were traffic jams everywhere. You know what that means�more dancing bear!! We actually got honked at by two truckers who were very amused. We finally got out of the traffic jam and were on our way to Windsor. I made up another sign that said �We <3 your car� to hold up for some people and that amused us for a little while. After getting lost in dirty Windsor, Ontario, we made it to our hotel room, which wasn�t as nice as the Delta Montreal, and fell asleep.
Friday, July 19 we overslept, but got up just in time to get everything ready for the trip back and check out. We went through the tunnel under the river to get back in to the United States, and customs was really easy to go through. We got stuck in another traffic jam as we approached Chicago. I held up my signs and made the bear dance, and we got honked at by two people our age who were as amused as the Canada truckers. Finally, we made it back to good ole� central Illinois unscathed to find that my parents weren�t even home to see me. Oh well, they came back later.
The End of the Trip of Summer 2002