The Voyage - Part 2
Hello!
Clearly, we aren't too good yet at making this whole blogging thing a regular practice...
But we're back today with part two of the road trip!
...
Uriel: My biggest struggle with blogging is that I never know what to include. We were on the road for 9 days, made plenty of memories, spent time with so many amazing people as well as our respective families (cue laughter). If I included all of our favourite memories you'd be reading a novel, so here are the random big and small stuff that we decided to highlight.
I'll start with the first and most important consideration of any road trip... It's music and entertainment, coming in second only to the engine and gas that keep your car running. If you're at all curious to know how we survived each other's company in our private cross-country shuttle for 36 hours, here's a sample of our music and podcast selection we're both very grateful for.
In making my list I dedicated an entire section to Canadian Stand-up Comedians because they heckin deserve it. We discovered the huge industry of underrated and unappreciated but exceptionally funny Comedians. Most of the comedians on this list are Canadian which I latched onto as a theme for most of the trip. Exploring art and music made by Canadians. I'll let you enjoy this list of musicians and creatives and I leave you with the only piece of advice I feel is appropriate to give to anyone who's planning a multi-day road trip: Every long trip should include at least one stand-up special. Laughing and driving are indeed compatible, in fact, the latter makes the experience of driving a long distance so much better.
Comedy Specials
Jacob Samuel - Horse Power (2021 Juno award for Comedy special of the year)
Sophie Buddle - Little bit of Buddle (2020 Juno award winner and youngest winner ever)
Bo Burnham - Inside (The audio album accompanying his award-winning Netflix special)
Podcasts
The Debaters (CBC Podcast) Canadian Comedians go head to head debating various funny topics.
Armchair Expert with Daniel Kaneman: Nobel prize-winning psychologist talks about his upcoming book Noise and his last book Nudge.
Music
90's-20's Hit songs (a number of playlists on Spotify)
Nelly Furtado. A deep dive into her discography as an artist from her debut single to now.
Black Eyed Peas. re-visiting their most popular songs that made every dance playlist since grade school, as an upper-body dance workout routine.
Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten (imagine us beltching loudly as though no one can hear us)
TLC - Scrubs (obviously we were singing passionately as cars pass by. Many people left wondering why there's so much finger-wagging coming from that Jeep...)
I feel like I need to explain our music selection. First, we are road tripping across Canada and the former radio host in me felt it necessary to play Can-Con(abbreviation of 'Canadian Content' which is required in radio and television by the CRTC) and felt like we needed some nostalgia pieces.
I don't know how to explain the feeling of indifference you get after passing and being passed by what felt like thousands of cars. Driving past so many cars, and through many provinces, eventually, we felt untouchable, numb to the feeling of embarrassment you'd otherwise feel if you made eye contact with a driver mid-performance, when you thought no one was looking. Eventually, we started looking for attention, a drive-by audience or collaborator in your little cross-country-karaoke show. So we let the passerby's enjoy a complimentary show, we flailed about unironically... hence the belching and dancing songs in between the long and beautiful conversations that brought us closer than the 30-inch door to door girth of our jam-packed jeep compass we call "sh'qwayla" after the song by Shway.
For the record, I loved spending those hours cooked up in a car with Mel, it went surprisingly well. You should know that I have a particularly sarcastic brand of humour and writing. If at any time you think "what the heck is he talking about?" this is done intentionally, and that's exactly when you should laugh.
Mel: Following our stay at Auntie Pat's we headed to Winnipeg to see Uri's friend, Andrew, and for me to meet Andrew's partner Charlotte (Uri had met her on a previous occasion).
Even though we were well fed following our stay with Auntie Pat, we couldn't resist trying a cafe or two as we passed through Winnipeg. Of note, we indulged in some pastries from a place called "gâto." The breakfast potato croissant was so good. I'm still drooling thinking about it.
Left: Potato breakfast croissant. Right: Almond croissant. Both images were taken hastily in the car in between bites because we couldn't stop ourselves from devouring the tasty treats.
Later, Andrew and Char showed us the town, taking us to dinner and to check out the Forks Market. Funny enough, Charlotte's family is from PlaP, and (in addition to my mom and Charlotte's mom attending high school together), barely a month later Andrew and Char happened to bump into Auntie Pat at a wedding. Such a small world!
After our Winnipeg leg had drawn to a close, we proceeded onwards to our next destination: London, Ontario. After a couple of very long days of driving, which included a night at a campground, a ferry ride, and a deep longing to stop and properly enjoy the beautiful scenery surrounding the Great Lakes, we, at last, arrived in London to see Uri's uncle Jean-Paul (JP), aunt Jodi, and cousin Myles. There, we spent the weekend catching up with family, and sharing many stories and laughs. As the weekend drew to a close, we headed to Ottawa to enjoy dinner with Uri's family - aunt Grace, his Grandmother, and Audrey.
As our final destination drew closer, we felt ourselves itching to feel settled into our temporary home, so we keenly proceeded onwards to Montreal. There, we became acquainted with the city - both its good and bad features - as we learned about the nuances of parking in Montreal (i.e., know how the signage works before you look for parking), explored the Jean-Talon market, and discovered some more great places to eat (you'll notice a trend here, I'm sure. We like to eat...).
On August 31 - what we had intended to our second (and last) night in Montreal, our landlord messaged Uri to let us know that our apartment was ready for us. We glanced at each other, giddy to be so close to home, and made our exit plan from Montreal to Trois-Rivières.
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