Where has time gone? We went to California beginning of June and had a great time. Soon we’ll go camping. I’m sure Molson will enjoy it a lot.

Molson went on a road trip. He wanted to know all about our country so we took him to Ottawa.
The first thing he came through was the Byward Market:

He thought it was a charming little place with lots of restaurants and shops.
Then he did a tour of Parliament:

He looked behind the Houses of Parliament and, surprise, surprise, he found a place full of cats! The cats also live in some type of kitty-mansion.

And what a nice view of the Ottawa river from behind Parliament.

And the back of Parliament is round. And there’s a burnt bell from some fired that occurred some time ago.

And here’s Molson being totally touristy and posing in Parliament Hill.

The following day Molson decided to be active and took a hike in Gatineau Park, in Quebec. It was beautiful with streaming water that he wanted to drink all the time.

He also saw some granite rocks that he kind of wanted to take back home to make a kitchen counter top.

He posed for a nice picture.

But he started to get tired. For some reason he doubted this was the way to make it to the pub.

So he took time for some playing and another rest.

Molson was tired by the next day, but he did not want to miss the wonders of Highway 2. He saw the Air Force base in Trenton and the Brighton post office.

By the end of it he was knackered and he just had to take a nap.

I went to San Diego for Christmas. All we did was go shopping. I didn’t even buy much!
Here are some pictures of UTC, University Town Centre, the mall. I’ve been going to this mall since I was like 7 or even younger!

We went to Cabo San Lucas for a week. We flew Continental to Houston from Toronto. I just want to warn my fellow travelers that fly out from Pearson Airport to beware that if their flight is supposed to leave before 6:30 AM do not take a tight connection.
Apparently flights are not allowed to leave Pearson before 6:30, even if they’re scheduled for 6:00 or 6:05. The neighbours around the airport have complained about the noise of the planes taking off, and that is why 6:30 is the earliest planes will take off. Which is all good, except airlines should just schedule starting at 6:30, this will prevent people from having REALLY TIGHT connections and having to run from one gate to the other to catch their Houston-Cabo flight. We could have been scheduled for the later flight, if we had known that planes never make it on time due to the time restriction (apparently it’s the same in Washington DC, again, hopefully airlines do not schedule flights for earlier hours when planes can’t take off).
In short, we made it to Cabo, but our suitcases didn’t! Yes, we were in Cabo with no clothes. James’s suitcase made it in the afternoon but mine didn’t get there until late at night. I just want to commend the ground personnel of Continental in the San Jose del Cabo airport. They were amazing, I mean they didn’t do anything that was not the standard (report the missing luggage, take our name, etc.) but it’s just the manner that makes a difference. They were super nice and courteous and in this day and age of bad service by earlines and airport employees, the good manners and pleasant service makes a BIG difference.

James at the beach

Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto

No, he does not wear a Speedo!

El Medano beach, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. February 2008.

When going to the washroom, make sure you don’t have your beloved digital camera in the pocket. It may “accidentally” fall in the toilet.
This is what happened on (luckily) my last day in Cabo San Lucas. The Memory Stick was savaged, but the camera is caput. Now I have to get another one.
Photos coming soon.

OK, so you may be able to take a charter for a direct flight, but you will have to take it from Wednesday to Wednesday, or from Thursday to Thursday, or whatever the charter company organizes. They’re usually once a week only. So it doesn’t quite work out if you have a different schedule for your trip.
We are taking a connection flilght in the US, it takes longer, but it doesn’t cost more than said charter flight.
I’m so excited, we’re going to Cabo San Lucas!!

The story so far: Back in October we went to Mexico City and James got a piñata, sadly it had to stay in Mexico City because there are no piñatas allowed on Air Canada.

This time James came prepared and brought an extra suitcase, one that looked big enough to hold a pinata and bring it in checked luggage. The last day, after our trip to Tepoztlan, we went to the market and bought a Chapulin Colorado Piñata. Sadly, the pinata was too big for the suitcase and extreme measures had to be taken.

There was a sawing session in my parent’s kitchen where James “took care” of the Chapulin Colorado.

The head had to be chopped off, and an arm too. We were finally able to pack it in the suitcase and put it in checked luggage. It may also have helped that this time we took American Airlines.

There was a connection at Dallas/Fort Worth where we had to claim our luggage, pass it through customs and check it back for it to arrive to Toronto. Everything went according to plan, except that James’s suitcase was not appearing in the carrousel when we were waiting for it. Almost all the bags on the airplane were down and there was no sign of James’s suitcase, which had a hammock, apart from having the pinata.
Finally it came down with stickers that said that it had been opened in the United States for extra revision. All luggage goes through x-rays and I can just imagine the inspectors’ reactions when they saw something that appeared like a decapitated midget’s body. No wonder it got selected for further inspection.
I’m pretty sure the inspectors had a good laugh when they saw it was a pinata and a hammock a total tourist suitcase!

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img_1544.jpg
Originally uploaded by jait214

Here’s a picture of James and I with the famous Virgin of Guadalupe.

Xochimilco
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto

This is my favourite picture of the whole trip.