It started out with a delightful 8 hour plane trip first from Alert to Resolute Bay, then from Resolute Bay to Iqaluit followed by Iqaluit to Trenton. Then, in my sleep-deprived state, anxious to catch the taxi which would take me to the Howard Johnson Inn and the 3 AM bus to Toronto, I left the AMU (Military airport in Trenton - acronym to be deciphered at a later date) without my checked luggage. Two taxi rides later with the same cab driver kind enough to stop at Tim Hortons for some bagels and french vanilla, I was back at the HoJo in time to catch the bus. When I reached Pearson airport a couple hours later it took a few rings but eventually Pops came and picked me up and after 6 months in the Arctic I was finally home again.
The first few days back were uneventful although still enjoyable, after all that's what vacation is for. Between loafing sessions I did manage to get my passport renewed, hangout with the bros and go for drinks with friends, low-key stuff before my birthday. In preparation for said day, I booked a few condo suites at Blue Mountain and rounded up a dozen people to occupy them for what was sure to be an awesome weekend.
Despite a few hiccups in getting Andrew and Lucas here from BC, the weekend came and off set Chris, Dave and myself to break in the condo Friday night. That day, after a few wrong turns, I learned the importance of having a good co-pilot (no offence Dave!). What he lacks in navigational ability he more than makes up for in Magical card ability though as he handed Chris and I a beat down in a draft that night. Before that, the three of us met up with Irene who was fortunate enough to tag along a university snowboarding trip and the four of us hit the slopes for some boarding goodness.
The next day we were joined by James, Fran and Crystal, then later by Andrew, Pete, Vicram and Holly. While Chris, Dave and Crystal stuck around the condos to enjoy the amenities, the rest of us hit the slopes and enjoyed perfect conditions (had there been fresh snow). Unfortunately after only a couple of runs Andrew's method of spinning around and falling on his knees made him an early exit from the hills. The real fun, however, was later that night when Andy and Stefania arrived at Blue and we began to play various games whilst enjoying beverages. First the crew was split in half with one group playing the exciting yet time consuming Battlestar Galactica boardgame, the other, joined by myself, playing Kings, Horse Races and a few other games. We then decided to all play a make-shift game of Taboo where everyone writes down six names (any names at all) and places them in a hat (or in this case a collander), and then we pair up and get a couple minutes to get our partner to say as many of the names we draw from the hat as possible. Needless to say this game got very loud and exciting and, not surprisingly, precipitated a visit from Blue's condo staff asking if we could please keep the noise down. Although we tried our best, there is no way it got much quieter that evening and throughout the night I was half-expecting another knock at the door but fortunately it never came. We enjoyed ourselves into the wee hours of the night at which point we split up into our respective rooms and beds and called it a night.
Sunday morning we woke in rough and tired shape, went our separate ways and this time with Andrew the driver and myself the wingman, we got back to Toronto without a hitch.
When we arrived back in Etobicoke on Sunday the house was empty much to our (the 4 Felske boys') surprise. After a quick chat with Mom on the phone we discovered that my nephew, Andrew's son, Lucas, along with cars loads of other kids, and parents and grandparents would be gracing our home in a matter of minutes. Looking to avoid a confrontation with a house full of people after a long weekend, we quickly ducked out of the house and proceeded to Chris and Irene's place for some Magic cards, movies and Turkish pizza (yum!). Later that evening, after we had been assured the crowd had died down, David, Andrew and myself returned home where I was greeted with a big hug from Lucas before he went off to play with the few other kids remaining at the house. Before long it was time for all the boys to pass out.
Over the next little while of my vacation a lot of time was spent with Andrew and Lucas after I had the bright idea of getting a CityPass. First on our agenda was a visit to the Royal Ontario Museum.
After not having been to the ROM for several years I was shocked by the number of renovations which had been done. Overall I was pleased with the new layout of exhibits and my spirits were high until we reached the much-anticipated bat-cave which was under renovation. Fortunately, 60,000,000 years after their demise, the dinosaur bones were around and still a ROM favourite for myself, Andrew and Lucas.
Although he appears very well behaved, Lucas gave the elderly volunteer tour-guide more than a hard time while she was trying to explain to us the different features of the bones
Next on the agenda was our trip to the CN Tower. While I had gone several times in the last few years Andrew hadn't been since he was a young'un. Although Andrew was a bit afraid to traverse the glass floor, Lucas had no problem with it!
Lastly, our trio took a trip to the Toronto Zoo. Even though it was the dead of winter and two hours before close, we had a great speed-visit and managed to see some cool stuff.
The animals which were on display were definitely excited to have some visitors.
Overall, the vacation was a success but after all that time spent with the Energizer-Lucas, I was pleased to find myself back on my way to Alert.
Byron
Arctic Adventurer Extraordinaire
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