Road Trip!

The car was packed and ready to go the night before which is typical for anyone who knows me.  We were all pretty excited by the prospect of the open road and what adventures it might bring.   As I checked the weather the night before there was a major winter storm headed our way (just our luck I thought to myself as we packed the car).  It put me a tad on edge but after a reasonable nights sleep we were up and out the door a little before 6:00 am.

It’s a two-hour drive from our place in Toronto to the US border crossing at Fort Erie near Buffalo, New York.  I was expecting a rough trip, especially with the impeding weather but we made it to the border before the storm and things looked great until we arrived at the customs booth at the crossing.   Apparently my new NEXUS card, which I got in June 2012 hadn’t yet been activated even though I had been to the US at least ten times by plane this was the first time by car.

Zach and Sami at the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame
with the Lombardi Trophy

 After a quick pit stop with US customs we were off again and headed down the south shore of Lake Erie to our first destination – Canton, Ohio.

The storm (Super Storm Draco – I love the US media when it makes such a huge deal of a winter storm :-), hit us just outside Cleveland, Ohio which made the driving a bit tricky  (lots of snow and ice) the last hour or so as we made our way into Canton.

After checking into our hotel and a quick lunch we headed over the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame, which Zach was desperate to see, not so much Sami although she was a very good sport about it.  We spent the entire afternoon soaking up the museum before heading back to the hotel for a swim. 

I made sure that each of the hotels on our trip had a swimming pool so that the kids could get some exercise and relax after our day of driving.  This was a brilliant idea, even if I say so myself…   We all took full advantage of this each day after our drive, it was so good to stretch out and relax in the warm water!

Ohio State vs. Kansas - NCAA men's basketball game

Day two saw us hop down to Columbus, Ohio a mere two hours from Canton for our second big activity – we had tickets to watch an NCAA basketball game at Ohio State University (Ohio State vs. Kansas).  Both were top ten ranked teams before the game so it was sure to be a great game.  We arrived about an hour before game time to soak up the atmosphere, and find our seats, which were in the very last row high up on corner – not prime seats, but it was fun all the same. 

The terrific first half left them close at the half, but Ohio State completely chocked in the second half shooting 9-36 from the field and so lost easily to the more seasoned Kansas team.  We decided that for dinner we would find a Cracker Barrel to see what it was like, after seeing sign after sign for it on the highway.  

We found ourselves in the burbs (not the boonies, bush, black stump or never, never….which the kids found hilarious) eating huge portions, in fact too much to even contemplate dessert which was a first for Sami (dessert is the main part of the meal!)

Back home in Australia there are a series of imaginary geographic boundaries, which I was educating the kids about and it goes like this.   To try and determine where you are or how isolated you are is dependent upon answering the following question – Are you in the city, the burbs, the boonies, the bush, near the black stump or in the Never, Never?  

The kids laughed hysterically every time I brought this up on our trip, clearly thinking that I was in someway making it up….until we went to the source of all knowledge….Wikipedia!    Low and behold it explained each statement much to my satisfaction.

Paul Brown Stadium - home of the
Cincinnati Bengals

 Our next destination was Hilton Head, South Carolina but to get there we had to first drive through Cincinnati then onto Knoxville, Tennessee (about 6 hours from Columbus). 

Zach is a huge Cincinnati Bengal football fan, so no trip to Cincinnati would be complete without a stop at Paul Brown Stadium and the teams pro shop.  Even Sami got into the act and had a sweatshirt picked out shortly after browsing the store.  Zach was loaded down with jacket, t-shirt and socks, his allowance and savings were almost completely spent (but that’s what its for – right?) but the huge smile on his face said it all.

The afternoon drive to Lexington, Kentucky was making us all a little stir crazy especially as the weather had now turned a little nasty again.  So it was with great relief that we made it to our hotel and chilled out for a couple of before dinner.

The next morning after breakfast the drive from Knoxville to Columbia, South Carolina took us across the Appalachian Mountains and through North Carolina.  The weather was horrid as we pulled out of the parking lot just after 8:00 am, strangely both raining heavily but also extremely foggy – didn’t think it was possible to have both at the same time given that the rain clouds were around us vs. above us :-)   We had lunch in Columbia before making out way down to Orangeburg, which was much closer to Hilton Head Island but still in the pouring rain.  

Christmas Day saw us get up early and drive to Hilton Head Island, arriving around 10:00 am (two hour hop).  We were all feeling a little tired of driving so we unpacked and all went to the gym for a workout.   It was sooooo good to work out after being cooped up in the car for days, we all really enjoyed the treadmill and weights.  To round it off we shot hoops for the best part of an hour, then after lunch we went to the indoor pool and spa to just relax!

 Zach researched our dinner plans that night, which took us to a rather cool place called the Old Fort Pub for an impromptu Christmas dinner including a big dessert, which Sami loved!   Each dinner time the conversation centered around our day – what we liked most and what we were looking forward to for the next day, and it was these times that I will cherish most about our trip.

Shells on the beach at Longboat Key, Florida

The next leg of our journey was going to take us via Savannah, Georgia to Daytona Beach, Florida but after an early start and the torrential, and I mean torrential rain (I’m not sure how it could rain for four solid hours with such intensity – windshield wipers on double…)

With the weather clearly against us we decided to continue driving across Florida and so take out the night at Daytona with the strict understanding that we’d come again when the weather was better!

We arrived into Longboat Key, Florida that is about an hour south of Tampa on the Gulf of Mexico almost 8 hours after he had set off from Hilton Head earlier that morning, but we were all thankful that the drive was now done!  Road trips are great, but nothing better than arriving into brilliant sunshine (finally!!!!) and wonderful temperatures with nothing ahead of you but days of beach and pool.   We had left Toronto with the temperature gauge hovering around 0C and arrived into Longboat Key, Florida some 30 hours later (driving time not elapsed time) with it now just over 22C…. Hhhmmm!

The kids were immediately into shorts and down to the pool to catch up with their friends who they see each year from all over the US and were enjoying their new found freedom of being outside and free of the car :-). 

As I write this weeks blog I’m on my journey back to Toronto (a little quicker this time) but without my trusty accomplices / navigators to keep me company….:-(    It’ll give me time to reminisce about the fun trip down and begin planning our next adventure!

Zach - TW - Sami at Longboat Key after our epic
road trip to end 2012

Happy New Year and all the very best for a safe and prosperous 2013!

Hitchcock at his best

As many of you know this past summer I had a three-week sojourn in Italy that can only be described as brilliant!   A couple of my summer blogs dealt with some of the activities and my misadventures during my trip, but there is one particular day that truly stands out from the rest.

The Artist colony at Dolceacqua
is definitely worth a visit! 

I remember thinking to myself as I exited the hotel Europa in downtown San Remo that it was another gorgeous day in paradise (Italy truly is – no question!  :-)  and that adventure was in the air!    My sights were set upon exploring the host of medieval hill towns inland from the coast.   I’d heard from a number of people who I’d met over the prior week that this valley was one of the hidden gems of this region.

It’s a short drive from San Remo to the turn off toward Camporosso at Bordighera, the road leads up the Nevia valley, which skirts the French and Italian frontier. Like most of the hill towns the first thing you notice is the impressive and imposing church towers which are generally  located at the highest point within the village (commune), clearly dating themselves back to 14^th and 15^th century.  Each commune was complete with heavily worn and cobbled streets that weave this way and that, quickly turning the visitor in circles and disorienting them completely.   I’m not sure if this was purposeful, but it’s truly effective as every alleyway looks the same no matter which way you turn!  

Dolceacqua is the home of a thriving artist colony for which I was treated to a host of craftspeople painting and drawing outside their studios, I sat transfixed for sometime as I watched painting after painting emerge from the series of canvas’ skillfully created by these contemporary masters.   Apparently Dolceacqua has more than its fair share of well-known artists residing year round in the village – who knew???

Now that I’d had my artistic bent satiated I was looking to find other treasures on my adventure…  

The further I ventured into this extremely mountainous region the narrower the roads became until it was little more than a path, which the car straddled precariously.  A couple of times the road was so narrow that when I actually encountered another vehicle one of us had to reverse back along the path until we found a place wide enough for two so that we could pass one another.

Narrow Italian mountain roads in the Imperia region

You might think I’m exaggerating but really it was little more than a goat or donkey path, and likely the original track used by travelers for the past 4 to 5 centuries, if not longer!   Often the “road” (if I dare call it that), was cut into the side of a mountain, this generally was not equipped with side rails or actually anything between you and the bottom of the valley.   It was one of those days that you dare not get too close to the edge of the road or dwell on it too long lest it freak you out completely.

By mid afternoon I had eventually made my way up an ever narrowing valley until I noticed a small hill town set way up high on the pinnacle of a small but steep mountain.  Parking on the side of the road I thought that the views from the village would be spectacular so grabbed my backpack and set off up the road toward the commune some 400M above me.  

The sun was baking hot that afternoon and it wasn’t long before the rivulets of sweat were beginning to bead on my forehead and run freely down my back.   Although it was only 400M up the mountain, combined with the heat it was exhaustingly steep, this was the part where I was now glad that I had packed a large water bottle and hat.  

Another alleyway with the
omnipresent Vespa

Entering the town at a small stone gate I made my way up the cobbled street toward the commanding church tower.    After a couple of minutes of weaving my way through the confusing alleyways I stood trying to get my bearings….   I realized that I still hadn’t seen a sign of life yet – not even a cat or a dog (usually in abundance, mostly lying lazily on a front step or in a doorway) but so far I hadn’t seen a single thing that would convince me that this town was even inhabited, no tourists or even local inhabitants?!.

I nervously looked around and although there were doors open, they squeaked and groaned in the afternoon breeze not a soul was to be seen.   Trying to put anything untoward out of my mind I tried to shake it off and find the main square and associated church tower.  

Eventually I located it and quickly sat in its shadow taking a break from the heat and a drink of water, while I tried not to think about the fact the town was officially spooky…. (I could definitely imagine Alfred Hitchcock making a movie in a place like this).  The more I thought about it the more the hair on the back of my neck began to stand on end and an uneasy feeling passed over me, strange because I’m not easily rattled but for some reason this place did it for me.

Castel Vittorio would be the ideal location 
for a Hitchcock movie set - no need to do anything

Now the trick was to find my way back to the stone gate and my car.   Damn it the alleys all look frustratingly the same, and nothing but the sound of the wind blowing through the alleyways and the doors creaking open in the breeze really started to get to me.

Eventually after a number of attempts I was able to locate the gate and make my hasty exit from Castel Vittorio.   Unnerving would be the best way to describe it!

The day was one of contrasts – extreme beauty of the coastline, classical mountain scenes, the artist colony, narrow mountain roads and finally a completely deserted hill town….   Wow, Italy certainly was surprising!

Epilogue:

Apparently Castel Vittorio has a population of 397 inhabitants (Castellesi)!   Who knew???

A Touch of Kindness

I thought about this topic all week as I sat on my various planes, taxi’s and airport lounges during my west coast swing.   This week I ventured out to Los Angeles then up to Seattle before making my way to Vancouver and now heading home.   So this week I’m writing my blog form the airport lounge in Vancouver as I wait for my red eye flight back to Toronto…glamorous some would say, but after 14 hours on planes this week plus being stuck in the middle row for my flight later tonight (5.5 hours) I’d just like to dispel that myth!

Anyway, this week I was reminiscing back to when I was raising money for my hike in Papua New Guinea last November.  Initially when I had the idea of raising money in dad’s memory for Cancer Research I thought that if I was able to raise $5000 – what a great idea I thought!   Dispatch two birds with one stone, as I’d always wanted to hike the Kokoda Track and now I could piggy-back on this and raise money in dad’s memory.  

TW and Basil (the strongest man I've ever met) at Brigade Hill
Papua New Guinea - Nov 2011

When I approached the Canadian Cancer Society they were thrilled that I wanted to embark on this fundraising initiative and they helped me by providing a secure website so people could make taxable donations.   I have to tell you that the Canadian Cancer Society have really got it together, because within an hour I had a fully functioning website that I could personalize including my target goal, photos and most importantly my tribute to dad.   Very impressive!

At first I felt a little strange asking my friends and co-workers for donations, but many of them had heard of my dad’s passing and were extremely generous and willing to donate – in fact I was a little embarrassed that I actually was able to reach my initial (and now somewhat paltry) goal of $5000 within the first 24 hours!    Okay, can you say think bigger TW?

Next morning, Andrea my contact at the Canadian Cancer Society called me with the ecstatic news, even though I had been watching the gauge inch its way rather quickly toward my goal it was hard to fathom the generosity being bestowed upon my cause.   Interestingly enough only a very small portion of the people who I had emailed initially had donated to date so….   What to do?   She enquired if I wanted to raise the goal and see where we ended up. 

Why not I thought?   What is the worst thing that could happen – I could raise some more dollars for a very worthy cause; even though I may not reach the lofty goal of $10,000 it would be a heck of undertaking so I readily agreed.   Again within the hour they had increased my goal and over the course of the next week I watched with astonishment as the donations continued to literally flood in.  

What surprised me most was the broad range of donors.   During my initial email blast I had sent it out to all of my business associates and colleagues, both past and present including customers and clients that I had kept in touch with over the course of my rather long and winding career… :-)  in fact some I hadn’t spoke to in quite a while.

However there were two distinct donors that I stick in my mind more than the rest, all donations were gratefully accepted but these two were special in that they were from people who I didn’t know.

TW out on the Kokoda Track - one of the most isolated places
on the planet...  Papua New Guinea (Nov 2011)

I had sent my initial email and canvas email to an ex-client who was based in Washington DC, apparently he received it during a business meeting.   I guess he was half listening to the meeting and scanning my email at the same time, but it definitely hit a cord with him and he stopped the meeting and relayed the story of my quest and the story of my dad’s battle with Brain Cancer to the group who he was meeting with.   Literally within minutes I had a host of donations from him and his business colleagues many of which I knew – wow, the power of email and the Internet!

However, there was an email that I received later that day that I didn’t recognize the senders name when I saw it in my inbox.  It was from someone who was present at the meeting (actually a third party attendee), whom I didn’t know except that he had heard my story earlier that morning.  

He had gone to the website and made a sizeable donation because his sister had the same type of brain cancer and had died earlier in the year, in fact eerily close to when dad passed away but on the other side of the world.   It was a very emotional email and certainly brought a tear to my eye as I read and re-read it.  He went on to say that he wished he had the courage to do something like I was doing in his sisters memory and that he applauded my goal, and hoped that his donation could help in some small way. 

Clearly it was his way of doing something tangible and positive in his sister’s memory, and such a wonderful gesture considering I didn’t know him.

A couple of weeks later I had a woman donate and email me from California who related the story of her late husband who had battled with, and passed away from brain cancer two years prior.   She was a neighbor of a colleague based in San Francisco and came upon my story during a conversation one Sunday morning.  

In both cases I was completely blown away by their generosity and encouragement.   It was therefore no surprise that I raised the $10,000 within a week of my initial email.

Again, Andrea was her usual enthusiastic self and strongly encouraged me (did I say strongly) to increase the goal once more – I guess that is her job after all. :-)  

I did in fact  surpass my goal of $15,000 and fortunately was able to exceed that goal the week prior to my departure for Papua New Guinea.

Arriving into the village of Kokoda on that first day of my hike I felt the love and support of all those folks around the world who had helped me collectively attain the goal.  It was now my turn to “put in the hard yards” and make them proud to have supported me.   I think I had the easier task to be honest!

I hope that when Zach and Sami look back on my trek along the Kokoda Track that they understand the true nature and level of compassion and kindness that had been bestowed upon me during this adventure and that inherently the world is a wonderfully generous place.

Thank you again to everyone who donated!

p.s.  An update on our house hunting activities – we made a deposit and have a home inspection scheduled for tomorrow late afternoon to make sure its sound and that we know of any issues before we continue with the purchase….one step closer to our new place!    Did I say Sami was excited!    OMG….

Decisions, decisions...

This past Sunday Zach, Sami and me went house hunting.   It’s not the first time, but it certainly had some interesting dynamics to the afternoon activities….   I had been pinging my real estate agent about some places I’d seen on realtor.ca from earlier in the week but he had been challenged in getting appointments, but me being me had just kept on sending him places I liked and asking for appointment.

He finally was able to secure us four of the multitude that I had enquired about…   Now convincing the kids that they should invest the time with me looking at houses – easier said than done, but really they were pretty good sports about it.

Sami jumped at the chance to find a new house, and was especially excited to find one with a bedroom for her to decorate in her specific tastes (eclectic might be too strong a word but she has a strong sense of what she likes and doesn’t like which is brilliant!)   Zach was fine to go along, but I could sense that he was less than enamored with spending the afternoon with Sami and me traveling to and fro to see a bunch of houses rather than on the couch watching his favorite NFL team (Cincinnati Bengals) play.

Real estate portal that I use for looking in Toronto

So it was with this as a backdrop that we set out to meet our agent last Sunday afternoon.  The first house was across town in an area of the city that “yet to be discovered” (let’s put it that way), it’s an older neighborhood with a 60’s feel to it.    As we navigated our way, we were, for the most part traveling in relatively familiar surroundings (recognizable main roads etc), but once we turned off and drove deeper into this particular area both kids were “this neighborhood is not for us…”.  

So being the concerned dad that I am (;-) asked, “What’s making you feel that way?”   Sometimes too quick for his own good, Zach replied, “Well for a start there is too much public housing!”.   Okay, now that we had the niceties out of the way I explained that to get a real sense of what types of houses are on the market we need to explore a range of choices and options not just the “perfect place”, perhaps there’s a “diamond in the rough” that we might find or that we could renovate that would be perfect for us in the long term.

Asking them to keep an open mind we met our agent at the first house.  I could sense that the kids were a little uncomfortable as the family was still in the house as the agent showed us around…   There was a little exploration and to be fair they were good about pointing out some of the cool features of the house during our tour.

Clearly the house didn’t quite fit the bill, but a good starter to open our minds to the possibilities and ground us in the realities of our price range.

As we drove away following our agent to the second house, I began to ask for their opinion about the positives and negatives to the house, but before I could get through Sami was already starting on the things she didn’t like….    Let’s back up and start again, but this time with the positives, “okay then I’ll talk when its time to talk about the negatives was her response”!    Generally, Sami is not a precocious child by any stretch of the imagination, (more passionate than precocious!) but she struggled to come up with a single good thing to say about the first house.   The voice in my head was saying, “this could be a long afternoon” :-)    Zach was a little more circumspect but his positive was that he liked the layout of the basement with its large open games and TV space.

A healthy discussion ensued as we drove the four kilometers to the next house in a more trendy and up and coming neighborhood.   From the outside a slightly older neighborhood, but with a newly and fully renovated house that we would be the first occupants – now this got their attention.   They both breezed into the house and were exploring in no time flat, commenting on who would have which bedroom, how we could arrange the kitchen to accommodate our ongoing cooking extravaganza’s, what types of furniture would look best in what areas …   To say it was night and day is a huge understatement!

So many features but which to choose with three points of view?

We spent the best part of an hour opening doors, cupboards, up and down stairs plus checking out the garage and backyard – you name it we did it.   I must admit it looked pretty good, but we were only half way done!

As we drove away the chatter was all on the positive side of the equation – wow, what a difference an hour makes to the complexion of the conversation I thought to myself!   Clearly they were like me, in that they could see themselves living this house and creating a new family setting.

The small hitch was that we were only half way done our afternoon and with two more places to view.   The next two were, surprisingly on the same street in the northern part of the city so it was a 40 min drive to get to them from where we were.  In fact, I was starting to wonder why I had suggested this area in the first place, as it was clearly too far north to make sense.   I guess it was the attractive price point for both houses :-) 

They were both designed and built in the 1950’s and each needed a lot of work, (sorry did I say LOT of work?) – to label them a “renovators dream” is a bit of an understatement!  

The rooms were small, dark and well you get the picture….    The kids were really doing a nice job of staying objective and gave some great pros and cons to each place, but it was clear that they really loved the second house.

Amazing access to data based on your search criteria...

I guess the most striking thing about our house hunting expedition is the kid’s ability to get into an objective mindset.   I was surprised - yes, it did take a couple of places but once there they were absolutely terrific with great observations both for the positives and negatives.   I can’t tell you how much it meant to me to have them participate so fully in the process and their levels of engagement.   

So almost a week has pasted since then and every time I see, talk or text the kids they ask me about the second house and if I’ve put in an offer yet…. all I can say is that we’re still negotiating the deal, getting closer but not quite there yet.  

I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop if we buy it :-)