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Published: July 19th 2011
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Point Pelee
Point Pelee boardwalk and marsh So, our big adventure has started. We hope our family and friends will enjoy reading! Entries by Beth or Aled. This first one is written 8 days into our trip, so we shall try and recall the last week or so with family.
The flight (Heathrow to Toronto, with airtransat) was okay but had lots of turbulence, or "mild....to moderate.......and also severe" as the flight attendant described it. It was also very cramped, and being only 5"1 I can only imagine how cramped someone of normal height would have felt. The food was actually okay, and films, iPods and books made for a more enjoyable flight.
Aled's cousin Paul picked us up from the airport after a rather lengthy wait at customs and getting our year long canadian work visa issued (yay!) and we started the 3 hour drive to Chatham (southwestern ontario). It was very hot and muggy so we very much appreciated the air conditioned truck. The drive was highlighted some of my first impressions of Canada; it was hot, the roads were very straight, there was no traffic and everything is very spread out. We stopped at Wendy's for dinner and the infamous Tim Horton's for
Pool
In the pool with Rees and Carys coffee on the way home, and took ages ordering whilst trying to decipher which coins were which! We got back pretty late (around 10:30pm, but 3:30am UK time), quickly said hello to Shannon and headed straight to bed (guest room in their basement). On the Monday morning we met Aled's adorable little cousins; Rees (4) and Carys (3) playing games with Paul out in the front garden. They were very shy at first but this was only short-lived! We spent most of the first day having a driving tour around Chatham, we visited the local mall, went swimming in their pool, went to the park and ate lots of food! That evening we sat in the garden (very hot, even into the evening!) and talked and talked with the addition of many Bud Light Lime's and margaritas, evenutally turning into Barenaked Ladies singalongs and Aled and Paul partaking in a few tequila shots at 1am.
For the rest of the week we spent half our time chilling having lazy days around the pool and the other half having days out (and trying not to burn in the heat! Around 30 degrees most days with added mugginesss!) We visited Point
Tequila!
Shot time for Aled and Paul Pelee (about 2 hours away) which is a national park and is the southernmost point of Canada, with Pelee Island not far away (coincidentally my parents have wine from Pelee Island!). There was a beautiful marsh with boardwalk running through it, visitor cente, many beaches and picnic areas and the tip itself. There were lots of mosquitos and thankfully Shannon took us on a much needed trip to Walmart to buy AfterBite! We also visited the nearby town of Erieau and spent the morning on the beach and swimming in Lake Erie. Our chilled out days included a lot of time in the pool, playing with the kids, listening to music or catching up with the family. Most people we came into contact with commented on our accent and how much they loved it, we hope this is the start of a long line of people willing to buy us free drinks for the love of our exciting English accent. Aled & I even started to speak in the local slang, putting things in the "garbage" and playing "soccer" as to not confuse the kids! On Thursday night Shannon's parents came over to babysit the kids for the evening and
Beach
Us at Point Pelee the four of us went out for a meal at a local Italian restaurant called Rossini's and then to the local coffee place afterwards. Was a lovely evening and was nice to talk to Shannon and Paul properly without the interruption of little kids! On Friday evening Chris and Dave arrived and we all had dinner together and then I went out for a few drinks with Shannon and her friends (part of their "dress club"), it was nice to have a girly evening and the tropicaltini and pina colada went down very well.
It was a very relaxing and fun first week and eased us into our trip nicely. Our last day with Shannon and Paul was Saturday 16th July which we spent celebrating Carys' 3rd birthday party with a lot of their friends and their children and a lot of tacos, swimming, ice cream and cake. We really had a great first week and we both loved bonding with the family and especially being around small children.
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Shannon
non-member comment
I am glad you had a great start to your holiday/trip. This is a fantastic blog, and the kids love reading about your adventures. You are welcome anytime, and we are a phone call away! Next dress club is FRIDAY!!