Yep, in Toronto. What a lot of people don't realize, and neither did I until last week, is how urbanized Canada is compared to the States. It was one of those wire stories trying to explain the blue and red states voting patterns. It turns out that 60% of Americans dwell in rural areas and the percentage is even greater in the red states. In Canada, 80% live in cities, which probably accounts for our more lliberal attitudes, and almost all Canadians (90%) live within 150 miles of the U.S. border. 33 million people, sort of hugging the boundary line, trying to get warm, I guess...
Wayne, you should go to Montreal. My son goes to university there and it is one of the most interesting European-styled cities you'll ever see on this continent. You should be able to get a bus or train ticket for less than 50 bucks. Toronto's cool, too, really diverse, with 100 languages spoken and people from 150 countries living here. My other favourite Canadian city is Vancouver, which you'll understand if you've ever seen a picture of it.
Travel, oh yeah. Been to Florida about 15 times, twice driving, mostly to Siesta Key off Sarasota, some Fort Lauderdale for a change, been to Cozumel twice and Costa Rica twice, two road trips to Cape Hatteras and the near-south, lot of visits to the inlaws in Indianapolis.
In Canada, I've fished for trophy lake trout in Great Slave Lake (find Alaska and look southeast) hitch-hiked through the Atlantic Provinces, done lots of camping in Ontario and have had many business trips to Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, etc. Recent highlight: my wife and I spent 10 days touring Vancouver Island in September. The western coast of the island between Ucluelet and Tofino is stunningly wild, with some of the best hiking trails I've ever seen. A lot of people go to Tofino for the surfing.
European stuff: hitchiked for 9 months throughout southern and middle Europe when I was 20, worked picking grapes in France, beachbummed in Greece, went to bullfights in Spain, smoked hash in Amsterdam and Turkey, you know the usual stuff. Took my family to England, France and Norway for a month eight years ago. My wife and I plan to tour Newfoundland (known as the Rock up here) this August and, our next dream is to drive Route 66 through the States.
For the record, I like the OT aspect of the General Discussion, you learn about things other than crankshafts and gaskets. Good work, Simon.