Because It's the Cup!

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Truly, this is just a continuation of yesterday. We drove through Chicago shortly before midnight, through light rain and gorgeous lightning strikes that thankfully did not come close. Jeff slept a little; I slept a little. The boys slept all night. It was beautiful, but we are too old for this.

I had planned to go to the Royal Ontario Museum as our first stop, but didn't count on how slow 100 km/hour is, nor on how many people there would be in Toronto. We drove along the runners for the Toronto Triathlon, saw the bikers and the swimmers. Toronto to Ottawa is also not a short drive, so we decided to only have one destination for the day: the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Jeff has played hockey for 38 years or so, with no plans to quit anytime soon. Surgical repair of a bucket handle lateral meniscus tear only took him out a month. The boys have each played since they were three, and L's spiral tibia fracture only took him out a month, too. This place might have been the absolute can't miss of the vacation.

We drove up to see a beautiful old building with parking right next to it. I love Toronto, because it has parking for bikes and for hybrids and plug-ins for electric cars, and the subway underneath. We found easy parking and then had to wait with dozens of other people. Our first viewing of the Hall, other than the French translation beginning Le Temple, was of dozens of goalie masks--the scary contraptions Jacques Plante and Ken Dryden wore, the very cool shark mask worn by *****. We then were able to get our tickets and visit the rest of the exhibits. Liam tried his hand at goaltending (and had an .840 save percentage), while Cole and Jeff tried shooting. Each scored two. Henrick Lundqvist mocked Jeff when he missed. We wandered through sections on the NHL developmental leagues, defunct leagues, college, major juniors, before visiting the Montreal Canadiens locker room. Patrick Roy's pads were there, so Liam had to take a photo. We then wandered through displays on the players. We saw the net that Wayne Gretzky scored his 802nd goal in, along with that stick and gloves. We saw the net that Sydney Crosby scored the gold medal winning goal of the Vancouver Olympics into. We looked at all the goaltending records, and Cole had his picture taken by Brodeur, whose name was on many of them. We spent a few more minutes reading about international hockey before finally heading to the Great Hall. It is a stunningly beautiful room, with very impressive hardware (called silverware on the HHOF website). We looked at the Conn Smythe and the Vezina and, of course, the Stanley Cup. It was incredibly cool.

I forgot to mention the other really cool thing we saw. The boys wanted to see a 3D movie, so we obliged. I noticed the three crowns on one goalie's helmet and mentioned it to Jeff. We carefully looked each time we saw it up close. Not only did it have the three crowns, it had the Gustavus G with the year the College was founded, I'm pretty sure it had Gus as well. We looked it up afterward, and it was Patrick Sullivan who played for Gustavus a few years ago. Wow! (For those who don't know, J and I met at, and were graduated from, Gustavus Adolphus College. Gus is the mascot, a lion.)

The boys were starving, so we took a chance and ate at Marche in the mall. There were a lot of people so we were a little timid, but they had dozens of food stations and really good food. The boys had blueberry chocolate crepes, which I thought sounded very strange.

After a bit more time, we decided to head out of town, which also took a long time. We learned later it is Pride Toronto. I'm glad we were making this a quick in and out.

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Miles Driven: 1171 (between the two days)

Steps Taken, According to Fitbit (for the two of us): 15928

Future Plans: Royal Ontario Museum

Memorable Meals: Tim Horton's (our first for a quick breakfast--C had an oreo donut), Marche (lunch, mentioned above).

We Learned: My phone sucks up a lot of data, meaning we have to be very careful about using it. Geocaching is not nearly as much fun without information.

We Wondered: What Canada's laws are regarding marijuana, as well as if the police really do ticket at 110 km/h. 62 mph is SO SLOW.

Geocaches Found: 8 (between the two days)

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Photos

The Grand Hall
This room holds all the trophies--Vezina, Conn Smythe, Lady Byng, and more. Oh, and the Stanley Cup.

Wandering Toronto
I really liked this image. I'm pretty sure those trees aren't still alive.

CN Tower
We visited here before and actually went up. This time, not so much.

My Favorite Jersey
There were many team jerseys around. The Florida Everlades were my favorite.

802
The stick, gloves and goal used for Wayne Gretzky's record-setting goal.

Liam Patrick Roy
When he was little, that's what he called himself.

Terry Sawchuk's Pads
Jeff's are in better shape.

Championship Ring
Chicago's from two years ago isn't even one of the bigger ones.

Bobby Orr
The skates he was wearing when he scored the game-winning goal in overtime to win the Stanley Cup in 1970.

Herb Brooks' Hat
He wore this during the 1980 Olympics.

Jacques Plante
Can you imagine wearing this standing in the way of a slap shot?