So we make a brief pit stop at Timmies. In Dhs defense it was quick. I declined getting anything to drink as I had my homemade Tea and if my calculations were correct my Tea would require us to stop in an hours time anyway. I didnt need to add any more liquid to the mix.
As Im pulling away Dh casually mentions the Toy store around the corner.
You know the Adult Toy Store is just around the corner.
Ahem.. I answer as casually as Dh.
There are open until 9. Did you want to stop in? Hes smiling now.
How do you know how late they are open to? I asked.
He just shrugged and continued smiling.
We bantered back and forth teasing each other until we
I think I will just leave you guessing what became of that conversation. The imagination is a wondrous thing.
Although, I will tell you that even the mention of that store was enough to push Dh over to the Happy Side. He was in a great mood after that.
As we pulled back on to the 401(our major highway) I turned on the radio. The radio is usually a source of conflict between Dh and I. You see I like to listen to music while driving. Ive been known to barrel down the freeway belting out dance tunes like I was auditioning for Canadian Idol.
Dh on the other hand prefers talk radio. He especially enjoys the show Leaf Lunch. As you can probably infer from the name it is an hour-long program at lunchtime devoted exclusively to the Maple Leaf Hockey Team. He will listen to podcasts of it.
Now, I havent gotten around to listening to podcasts on Disney yet. One of the main reasons being that-I often cant get access to a radio. You see, I cant stand more than one sound medium on at a time. So if the radio is on, I cant have the television on as well.
Frequently as it is the case at my house that the kitchen computer will be playing one of Dhs podcast, he will have the kitchen radio on and in the adjoining room the kids will have the television on. On a good day, I can hear Dhs bathroom radio (he showers in the Manroom downstairs exactly under the kitchen) while Im at the kitchen computer too. Its just too much for my ears.
I find it funny that Dh will run around the house turning off lights to save money but ignores the sound outlet fact. How he can ignore me harping on him about it is yet another mystery.
Should any of the radios let out some static I go completely berserk. Static physically hurts me. You might as well be stabbing me with a knife. I cant ignore it or work through it. Static drives me totally crazy. Driving up north to the cottage we start to lose radio stations to static. Its a problem for me. I make sure its a problem for everyone else too.
So, in case you couldnt tell, the ownership of the radio while driving is a sore spot between Dh and I. Often the driver gets to do the choosing. So I often choose to drive.
Since it was my birthday trip and since I was driving, I decided to take command of it. I switched it on to one of my favorite pop music stations.
Just starting up was the song I want to take a ride on your disco stick by Lady Gaga (I believe). Dh hadnt heard it before. He listens to the words in songs. Me, I just sing them. I hadnt really paid attention to these words. So when Dh starts questioning the wording and in light of our conversation about the Adult Toy store it all seems so very very funny. We head into Toronto breaking out in laughter about our marketing plans for a disco stick.
The ride through Metropolitan Toronto was uneventful. We got a little somber passing the Ford Plant in Oakville. We live close enough to the GM plant in Oshawa to have friends and neighbors that have been laid off already from there. Years ago Dh worked as a computer programmer in a factory that made car parts for the big 3. No matter how I feel personally about the politics behind the automotive industry its hard to deny the depression that many people who are no longer employed by the industry and its offshoots.
Around Hamilton, my Tea starts talking to me. We find another Tim Hortons to stop at. This time I use the facilities and get myself a Hot Chocolate.
Dh doesnt even bat an eyelash at this. Of course he doesnt offer his money either. But I can scrounge up enough coin to cover a small drink. He drives this next round.
There are three bridges you can take to cross into the States. We opted for Queenston-Lewiston. Its usually the busiest but since it was almost 11pm I figured we were safe. We pull into the Duty Free. We decide to get the double pack of Baileys. Its got two bottles (in a lovely clear beach bag) for $40 Canadian.
I say we decided but really it was I. Dh really wanted to get some beer. I convinced him we needed the Baileys for my parents. They love it in their coffee in the morning at the cottage and this way we would be done with a present for them. He took the guilt bait and walked away from the beer. Dh doesnt like coffee (I know I already mentioned this but just in case you forgot) and he doesnt like Baileys either. I knew I had a good chance of scoring some of this Baileys while I was at the cottage so the idea was much more appealing to me.
We put the Baileys under our seats in a stow and go compartment. Totally love the stow and go. The rest of the van pretty much sucks but the stow and go rocks. At this point I had forgotten that we were now over our alcohol limit. I had an open bottle of coconut rum in my bag to take with us. Dh had a couple of beer in his bag. Actually at the time I didnt know he had brought the beer. It was one of the few things he packed himself. That and his toothbrush and he is good to go. Sigh
We decided I would be the one driving when we crossed the border.
Im better at the smooching thing. We double-checked that we had our passports, and our hotel and airline printouts. We were good to go.
Im not fond of the narrow bridge thing. I have some vertigo issues. I try not to look down. There is another bridge we take in Kingston across the thousand islands that is worse though. Too high and too much water. At least it was dark so I tried to keep looking straight ahead. Dh did his little speech when we crossed the flagpoles at the top.
No mans land coming up. Get ready to commit a crime. Its coming
its coming
Okay do a crime
. NOW! Opps we lost our chance.
Every time we cross over he does a variation of this. Is there even such a thing as no mans land? Maybe I need to bring up the subject on the next open mike on a talk radio show.
We ascend back down the bridge and can just make out the border gates. Its always a surprise what you will find. It might be busy. It might not be. Now I was pretty sure it wouldnt be busy but you never know.
I was right.
It wasnt busy.
One guard was open and one car ahead of us. At least once Id like to skip my usual picking the slowest lane ritual. But there was only one lane. By default it was the slowest lane.
The guard did his best not to be in a good mood.
How many people in the car and what are your nationalities? doomed the guard.
Two. My husband and myself. Were Canadian. I hand over our passports.
He swipes them. I cross my fingers. I have been pulled over many times. It was a faulty student visa I had a few years ago. Last year I bit the bullet and registered myself with Homeland security. I filled out buckets of paperwork. I got a letter back in the mail that could neither confirm nor deny that Homeland security had deemed me a security risk. They could only confirm that they got my paperwork. They already had my fingerprints.
Ive crossed enough times to know the drill by now. After the guard swipes my passport, if he manually types in something then Im doomed. Its off to the Big House for questioning. If he just holds the passport and continues asking questions then Im okay.
With batted breath I watched him swipe my passport computer code. I waited to see what he would do next.
He read something on the screen, furrowed his eyebrows and then swiped again.
Oh No.
They might have changed the process. It looks like this is an extra step and I resign myself to a couple hours wait next door.
I look longingly at my Hot Chocolate. Id better not drink it. They dont let you go to the bathroom while you wait in detainment. I guess they are afraid you might leave, ingest, hide, or otherwise destroy some evidence while you are waiting.
Mr. Double swipe moseys on out of his guardhouse.
Where are you headed and what is the purpose of your trip?
Its my 40th birthday and were going to Disneyworld! Im a little over excited with my response.
How long are you staying and do you have anything to declare? Mr. Im in capable of asking one questions at a time asks.
Just the weekend and we picked up two bottles of Bailey at duty free as a present for my parents who are looking after our children
Here comes the shocker. The guard smiles. Yes, he did. No guard who has ever sent me in for questioning has ever smiled at me.
This is a good sign.
Let me get this straight. You are going to Disney and you arent taking your kids? He asks.
Yup I replied.
Well, I guess you better be buying them some big gifts cause I know my kids wouldnt be speaking to me if the wife and I did that.
With that remark he handed me back our passports, patted our car and sent us on our way with a Have a good time and Happy Birthday and a wink at Dh.
We made it through.
Yeah!
I waited until I was out of sight to do my happy dance of relief.
In truth there is not much time for it. For we didnt have much time before we had to pull out the mapquest and look for the I90 or 290 or whatever. There are a bunch of exits on a bunch of roads that all have the same numbers in them and it confuses the heck out of me.
A minor spat with Dh took place over the GPS. I wanted to use it. He didnt. He hasnt spent much time with it. I won. It was my birthday trip after all. He started up the GPS. The calming tone of Richards voice was soon heard.
Turn right and take the Highway, coos Richard. All is well again. Or at least for a while. We cross the two bridges. Narrow one-lane bridges. We pay our toll too. I am familiar with this part of the drive.
Soon things stop looking familiar.
Where is Richard taking us? I ask. Dh hasnt been to Buffalo the amount of times I have. So it wouldnt look familiar to him.
We hit another toll road. I dont usually hit another one. I was confused. But I put my trust in Richard. Maybe its his English accent? He just seems so trustworthy, that I relax and just drive. It turns out he knew where he was going. We had to pay a toll of .15 cents though.
We had arrived at the Airport Hotel. It was 11:40 pm. So in case you havent guessed.
No Target for me. Sigh.
We checked in. I picked this hotel because it has a big breakfast. Dh is just that much happier with a full tummy from breakfast. And one that he doesnt have to pay extra for adds icing to the cake.
We unloaded the van and I skipped into the hotel lobby. Yes, me on the last day of 39th year skipped. Count this as Skip Number One. It happens again. I cant remember the last time I skipped out of joy. I didnt even realize I was skipping until Dh mentioned it. He probably thought I was skipping because we were checking into a hotel by ourselves. Sorry to disappoint him. It wasnt the thought of being alone with him in a hotel that had me skipping. It was the thought that my journey to Disney had started that had me skipping. But I didnt want to squash Dhs good mood and point that out.
Our room was okay.
Closer to the window you might be able to see my Hey's park bag. It's lime green. Dh carries a black one. I like it but lately have been noticing all the vera bradly bags. Not that I could get Dh to carry to one. I'm talking me. I like the look of them.
But back to my hotel description. Did I mention it was a Best Western? We had stayed here before so I knew what to expect. Not crazy about the smell of the cleaning products they use but since I wasnt paying a whole lot of money and it was clean (with the free breakfast) I was happy.
I got organized for the morning. Dh turned on the TV and lounged on the King Bed.
I laid out our outfits for the next day, packed up our carry on luggage and sorted through our paperwork.
I have a tinkerbell folder to hold all our Disney stuff in.
Inside it is a tigger duotang with our flight and tonights hotel information as well as mapquest to and from the airport and hotel and a piglet duotang for our Disney Hotel and magic express information. I also have turqoise lined notebook I use as my journal to write down each day as it happens and a purple disney photo album that has become my Disney Bible. It might have been meant to be a photo album at one time but had been used as my Disney Bible for all our trips. It holds all my print outs from Tour Guide Mike, our daily plans and possible back up plans as well as sample touring pocket guides from the Unofficial Guide.
Just looking at them makes me happy.
I wanted to go over tomorrow with Dh. I opened to tomorrows page and began.
Tomorrow we will drive to the airport and park in lot A. I started.
Why arent we parking here and taking their shuttle like we did last time? He asked.
Were saving $15 dollars by parking ourselves. And I have a coupon. I answered waving it in my hand with a twinkle in my eye.
A coupon eh. Dh said mischievously with more than a twinkle in his eye. Thats my kind of girl. Why dont you bring your coupons and such over here where I can see them better he suggested patting the bed beside him.
Knowing full well that it wasnt our Disney plans on his mind I answered in my best school teachers voice Not until you pay attention to the plans first.
With a resigned look in his eyes he said Fine.
So we went over the plans for tomorrow and went to bed. There was even some sleeping involved. Click here to read about the next morning
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32015691&postcount=113
My best friend Brenda, her daughter Kayla, Jasmine and I are are heading to Fargo on Sunday for a 3 day getaway
I am not going to lie to you....I get down on my hands and knees and kiss the floor when we walk into Target
And I do what I do, get out the 'ol credit card!!
It's not a true shopping trip unless you have to clculate your purchases, hope to God you're within your $400 limit each, remember to get the exchange rate the day you leave, god knows it makes a difference.....and get to talk to the wonderful customs officers
I would have been flipping out, kudos to you for seething on the inside. 
I'm telling you, you are WAY more patient than I am! 
I'm always surprised at how much cheaper Tim's is compared to Starbucks - I went to Tim's this evening to get English toffee coffee for me, a mocha for dh and a hot chocolate for ds#2 (so we didn't freeze to death watching ds#1's baseball game LOL) and the total was only just over $5.00! 
