Leah finds her pink bottle openerAt some point while getting out of the van and taking a time out to get a bit tanked, because you can't go into a post game roller derby party totally sober apparently, Leah lost her pink bottle opener somewhere on the leaf covered ground. According to her, I, at some point said when she wanted to give up the search, "'We didn't leave Philadelphia without your pink pen and I'll be damned if we're leaving Albany without your pink bottle opener!".
I vaguely recollect those words coming from my mouth with such determination but apparently the words made enough of an impact on Leah that they've been immortalized on her facebook account as one of her favourite quotes. Losing of the pen was my fault as Jenna had passed the pen over to me to fill in the wavier at the prison. Not looking at the pen or giving it much thought I placed the pen into the cup with all the other pencils where we picked up the waivers. It wasn't until after we had joined the others at the Bishop's Collar that Leah figured out her pen was missing and I had realized where I put it. Needless to say, I trodded back to the prison I managed to get the pen back.
NOTE: The pink pen was from Leah and Craig's trip to Japan. If it were a standard BIC pen I probably would have just bought her a pack of them.
Which brings us back to the bottle opener being lost was. It seemed like since I was on a roll for finding lost artifacts that finding a bottle opener couldn't be that much more difficult. In a way it was. The leaves provided perfect camouflage for the item in question. At one point everyone that was in the van got out to help look. Marybeth even moved the van so we could search using the van's head lights. We eventually found it. Leaving my find to lost ratio unscathed.
Why is everyone drinking except Trevor?
Checking out the program
Leah seems like she's in Zombie mode.
Melanie with the "Bubble Lens"
Perky with some of the Hudson girls.
Torinado with a note
The note.
Melanie, Lorraine, and Marie-Chantal
Coconut ShrimpOriginally intending on spending just a few minutes with the Montreal team we ended up spending a few hours. For me that wasn't a big surprise. After all how often do you get to party it up with a team in another province in another country. Not often.
I ordered some coconut shrimp. Amazing. Fat succulent shrimp surrounded by fried fat chunks of coconut. At some point I'll have to learn how to make this dish myself. How hard can it be? Doing some research I've found this link. (
shrimp recipe).
Trashy and Perky share a funny moment.
American CheeseAt one point Adam, one of the refs, pointed out that there was an American Cheese with Cheese. Cheese Grater, one of the jammers for the HCRG, was talking to another girl who seemed to resemble her. At least enough that Adam thought to call her American Cheese and flag me to take a photo of them. As it turns out this American Cheese person was someone that had fallen out of touch with another friend of mine on Facebook. Because I uploaded the photo to facebook Jelena and the American Cheese have now reconnected.
"Hey everybody, Happy Birthday!"
Scotty gives the birds
Adam gets a tongue lashing
Darby O'Gill's and the HCRG
"They went that away."
Montreal team with Cheese.
Georgia W. Tush and the Cheese Grater
Bitch Slap Barbie and Scotty Ho ficial.
Cheese hams it up.
Lindsey trying to get something from under the seats
Cheese makes a choice
There's no one here... Where are we?
Bitch Slap gets a candy barOn our way back to Hamilton we stopped at a rest stop that was kind of deserted with the exception of a few people standing in front of the McDonalds. I had wondered over to the candy machines to see if there was anything there worth having. Nope.
On my way back the the McDonalds I noticed a large line up, mostly the van's contigent, waiting. They had ordered already so I placed my order for a couple of fillet-o-fish sandwiches. I asked around what people had ordered. Adam "Two cheese burgers", Laurie "A cheese burger", Melanie "Cheese burger", Trevor "Eight cheeseburgers", the two strangers in line "cheese burgers". I was sensing a common denominator here.
What there a coupon I didn't know about? Were the other orders of food crap? Was there some but one get one free or some other special offer that I didn't know about? I looked at the signage. Nothing out of the ordinary. No cheeseburger for sale signs. I was a bit perplexed. After asking it just turned out that people wanted cheeseburgers. They are snack-like, not as big as a big mac or quarter pounder but had cheese unlike the regular hamburger. The explanation seemed too simplistic to me. I walked away with my fillet-o-fish a bit unhappy. I should have gotten a cheese burger as well.
Waiting for a dozen cheese burgers
Still waiting.
"Close the door Carl, it's cold."By the time we had to stop again for gas or maybe it was food... I'm a bit fuzzy here because I fell asleep. My only real memory is waking up to find it freezing in the van. Squinting out I could see the cold air rushing in from where Carl had opened the door asking if anyone wanted to come out.
The gas station as seen through our fogged up van windowsSince I was now awake and feeling my bladder being squeezed I decided it would make good sense to use the facilities. In the bathroom I noticed a bin on the wall for sharp objects. This was odd to me. Were we in an area that had a drug problem? Or maybe a large population of diabetics? Images of responsible adults throwing their used razor blades into the bin after doing their line of coke snorting came to mind. After all you don't want the razors getting into the hands of kids. It's amazing how my brain works when it's half asleep.
Located in the bathroom
Dunkin' Donuts
Lindsey with tea
The ice cream machineOn the way back to the van I noticed an ice cream vending machine and for no reason in particular had a craving for a strawberry shortcake ice cream bar. Most likely from eating them on a regular basis back at the hotel. It wasn't until after eating the ice cream bar and looking through the pictures that I noticed there was a ice cream taco available. Crud! I should have gotten that instead.
My selection
Mel in the Duty Free store
Adam and Col. Sanders?Our last stop in the USA was the duty free store just before the border. Another smoke break, another washroom break, another chance to spnd money before going over the border. Once over the border I checked my phone. It has a GPS built into it but I noticed that as soon as we went State side the GPS didn't work. As soon as we crossed the border it started working again. I thought GPS devices worked anywhere in North America? Hmmf.
Hey, My GPS works!
Last stop HamiltonWe left the van at Leah's place in Hamilton, stopping to rest a bit then made our way to the GO bus station to get into Toronto. Leah had to work that morning. As for me I just wanted to lie down and sleep.
The GO bus back to Toronto
