The holiday "really" begins

Since Kev was officially on a business trip while we were in Portland, our vacation started properly on Saturday. We woke up at 3:30am so we could be at the airport by about 4:30am. Yum, three full hours of sleep on Friday night.

The flight to Vancouver was quick and painless, flying Air Canada Jazz. When we arrived the staff announced that for some reason they had been sent a 37 seater plane instead of a 50 seater, and therefore they were majorly overbooked. We offered to volunteer our seats as we would received US$200 for this grand act of generosity. The plan would be to fly through Chicago to Ottawa two hours later, on a different airline. However, they ended up rejecting our offer and used volunteers whose fallback plans would be cheaper to implement. Boo.

Vancouver Airport is ranked way up there in my ever-growing list of airports. Very nice, clean, well laid out, etc. Plus I got my first taste of the charming Canadian... "work ethic". They are very particular about security and bureaucracy, but it doesn't stop them letting their own personalities shine through. Unlike, say, the US who tend to sound like robots. I first noticed this change of approach when we were waiting for our delayed luggage at Vancouver, and when it finally started appearing we received an PA announcement espousing that the arrival of the luggage was representation of "your tax dollars at work". In Canada's place Australia would have apologised repeatedly, and the US would have left us in the dark...

We hoped to meet some of Kev's rellies at the airport but ferry and boat issues meant it was not to be. So Kev and I had breakfast alone, a scone for me and a cinnamon bun for him, each with a glass of OJ which cost twice as much as the 'meal'. Even on the same continent as the land of oranges, they still overcharge to squeeze the little bastards.

We had a long wait for our Air Canada flight to Ottawa, even though the stopover wasn't as long as originally thought. We found a Tim Horton's but their range of Tim Bits was not up to Kev's standard, so my initiation there has not occurred yet. Once on the plane we were STARVING and we hung out for our in-flight brekkie. But it was not to be - Air Canada does not serve complimentary food during domestic flights anymore, so it seems, and instead we had the option of buying reheated pizza, General Tao chicken, or some teeny sandwich wraps. These meals were $5, no matter whether you used Canadian of US funds. Boo. The flight attendants were interesting though - both were bilingual of course, but it was still stunning how effortlessly they could flick between English and French. One was stunningly beautiful, and judging by the way she over-used facial expression, she's bound for a career in children's TV should she tire of the mile-high life.

We were met by dense heat and Kev's mom at Ottawa airport, and both whisked us off to the cottage at Hawk Lake - a good hour's drive. It was dark by the time we arrived and I was barely awake so I didn't appreciate the beauty of the cottage and its surroundings until the following morning. Kev hadn't mentioned to me that the lake was surrounded by dense forest... I was initially worried that I hadn't brought enough 'damageable' clothing, but I think I'll be ok if I don't fall over too often. Lucky that Kev is the klutzy one on this trip...

We spent Sunday fixing the dock - or the boys did - and touring the lake. Kev and I went out in the canoe for a lap around the area close to the cottage, and then later we went on a proper tour in the motor boat. Hawk Lake is huge, with many many cottages and cabins attached. We saw lots of other lake-goers and some of them had dogs! So cute... We went to the island, which has a large rockface on one side, great to sit on and since the water is deep immediately around the rock you can safely dive off it. We had some fun on the island, dodging the area where someone had held a campfire and had graciously left their grills and eggshells on the ground.

Inside the cottage it was jigsaw puzzle central. The family had been working on a puzzle of a deer before I arrived, so I helped them finish that on Sunday. We then started a complicated Van Gogh jigsaw which we'd half-completed by midnight. Both Steph and I seem to have difficulties extricating ourselves from the puzzle table once it has begun. I had the great/crap excuse of wanting to wait for Kevin to finish his work so we could go to bed together. This meant that I was overtired and had a bad night's sleep with nightmares and the like, so I stayed in bed until almost noon the next day.

I woke up to a stinking hot day and everyone inside doing 'cool' things like puzzling and researching mp3 player prices (yep, that last one was Kevin). I puzzled for a bit and then got toey to go swimming, so after managing to detach Kev from the laptop, we went for a lovely noodle-swim (i.e. swimming while using pool noodles to keep us afloat). I know that there are slimy weeds in the bottom of the lake so I've been doing my best to avoid them, and have so far succeeded. I know that eventually I'll put a foot wrong and have to endure the mucky sludge, but Kev's friends will probably be around by then so I'll have to be cool... Internally, I'll be squealing like a Barbie.

We debated whether to stay at the cottage by ourselves for the next two nights (yes please yes yes!) but Kev wanted to go to his parents' new house... I don't know why. Broadband Internet? Yeah, that's probably it. So we're here in Cumberland, after dropping in on Kev's grandad last night. This house is HUGE. Still some teething problems like hot water but they're being quickly sorted. Meanwhile it's supposed to be 35 degrees out today so we might stay in as much as possible. I'd like to get out and explore the local Tim Hortons etc. We were also thinking about heading to Ottawa to look at the fancy architecture of the Parliamentary Buildings or some such, but perhaps not on such a hot day. While I write this, Kev is absorbed in his new Java Puzzlers book (what do you think this bit of code does? Bwaha, it actually does THIS!) and I fear the task of separating them. But since this is all up-to-date, I better crack my knuckles and get to it.