Open your eyes, put it in drive, get on the road, and just go.

Road trips make for fabulous weekends.

It rained very consistently all of Friday, which made for less than perfect driving conditions on my way to Sturgeon Falls. I managed to leave the city by about 4:15 pm, but I was slowed down by a lot of traffic while heading north on the 400. I think I drove for about 45 minutes at about 30 km/h.

However, even if the weather didn't improve, traffic finally did. I essentially drove straight north for about 400 km to reach my destination. I took a quick break at a Tim Horton's in Gravenhurst for coffee and a sandwich. My timing ended up to be perfect, because as I was driving by Huntsville, I was treated to some impressive fireworks for whatever random reason. They were in the sky just to the left of the highway, and were actually happening at the same time as some sheet lightning. It was cool, but then eventually I passed and couldn't see them anymore.

Even though I was driving toward North Bay at 8 pm - 9 pm in the evening it felt so much later to me because of the sheer lack of traffic on the road. Sometimes I felt like I was the only vehicle on the road. What a contrast to what I'd experienced leaving Toronto!

I made it to my friend Sandee's house before 10 pm, and we had a nice evening catching up and staying up late chatting.

After breakfast on Saturday morning, Sandee, her six-month-old daughter, and I headed to Leisure Farms so that I could meet Arnold the pig, and pick up some very delicious butter tarts. This farm had a lot of things going on at it: there were corn mazes, wagon rides, piles of pumpkins, bales of hay sculpted into various creatures, and a lot of yummy fruits/veggies and freshly baked goods for sale.



Unfortunately, Arnold the pig was nowhere to be found. We even asked around. I guess we should have booked an appointment? What a disappointment to go to a farm to meet a pig and not be able to find him. Luckily, I bought some strawberry jam and butter tarts to ease my pain. (Note: the butter tarts were unbelievably delicious!)

We drove around Sturgeon Falls a little bit so I could see the sights, and also went to drop off some mail at a friend of Sandee's. When we got back home, we got Sandee's husband Jason (yes, another Jason... there are now three Jasons associated with the group of 9) to pick us up some poutine and pogos from the best chip stand in Sturgeon. Yum!


In the afternoon, we all went for a small hike, because it was threatening to rain, past a cranberry bog to Lake Nipissing. Then, the skies cleared up a little bit, so we went back out to Leisure Farms to try our luck with Arnold again. Luckily, he was there that time! (Note: small town life is so different from Toronto life... I don't two trips to meet a pig have ever happened in this city.)


After our hike/successful Arnold meeting, I had a nice afternoon nap, and then went for a little walk in downtown Sturgeon. It has the highest concentration of francophones in Canada outside of the province of Quebec. Most of the signs are bilingual, and that fact might also explain the prevalence of awesome poutine.


Sturgeon actually has a sushi restaurant, so Sandee & Jason took advantage of having a true sushi aficionado in their midst to evaluate it. We ordered in some sushi for dinner, and I'd put it on par with any reliable sushi place in Toronto.

This morning I was treated to a delicious breakfast of French Toast made from raisin bread from Leisure Farms. Then, I had to hit road for 400 km straight south. Luckily, the weather was beautiful today. It was sunny and bright, which was perfect, since the leaves had already changed colour in the north (they've just started to turn a tiny bit here). I stopped at Duchesnay Falls outside of North Bay for a small scenic hike up a hill to see a waterfall.


I stopped at a different town at about the halfway mark for a break and an iced coffee. Bracebridge is a classic Muskoka town. I drove around the downtown for a bit, and stopped at a local coffee shop, the Muskoka Bean. Instead of eating there, I decided I would eat at Weber's Hamburgers just a bit north of Orillia. Sandee recommended it to me, and I have driven by it on other trips, but never stopped. It's always got a huge line up, and even though it's on the north side of highway 11, they built a bridge over the divided highway so that you can access it from the south side of the highway. Even though the line was long (as evidenced below), they have a pretty efficient system for getting you through, so I got my food pretty quickly and enjoyed it outside in the sun at a picnic table.


The drive back into the city was very smooth, thankfully. I think the trip home took the same amount of time despite the fact that I stopped for breaks three times, plus once for gas, along the way.

I had such a great time catching up with my friend Sandee and her husband Jason. I was completely spoiled by them: poutine, pogos, pig meet and greets, sushi, french toast, and I was sent home with vegetables from their garden. I left them with a celebrity magazine, and I lent Jason the CDs that I brought with me, so at least it wasn't only me being spoiled, ha-ha.

I love having friends spread out all over the place, because it gives me an opportunity to experience places that otherwise I never would. I really do like the north. I love the fact that I passed what Sandee and I have coined the "moose line". The moose line is the point at which you begin to see moose crossing signs. It's pretty exciting to cross, even though you have your fingers crossed that you don't actually have a moose cross in front of your vehicle.


Despite the fact that I love living in a big city, I love being able to get away from it all. Yay for roadtrips! Hopefully I can take another this fall before winter takes over.