Shootingstar,

Yeah I always love Ottawa. A lot of people hate on it but I enjoy the Anglophone-meets-Francophone flexibility up there. Plus, I'm a doctoral student studying Canadian public policy so it's a playground. I will "force" myself to ride to Gatineau and buy pastries and speak French (even if it takes me a long time to get what people are saying due to accents). I know I can always fall back in and out of English but the people in that area are so fun to talk to. It's good to refresh my memory once a year with a Francophone trip. Last year, I was in Rwanda doing fieldwork. I am never done with French! I would love to get up to Montreal this time but I am hoping the people I will meet with will give me another chance to come back longer-term with funding so I am praying I can make another trip out of this. As it stands, I am going to Stouffville to meet a friend and her parents at their property out there. Staying there and then leaving for Ottawa for a couple of days, and then hitting Toronto proper to stay with friends on the way back. One of them is a cyclist who is going to show me around. Then, I'm stopping in London on the way back to my parents' to meet with another academic at Western.

I always have loved Canada since I was a kid and this year my team is in the finals for the Cup. I am hoping for a game 6 on top of ALL of this so I get to root for my Hawks at a proper hockey bar. It's gonna be a fun, crazy, and cheap trip. I'm really in need of a break and I will get data as well as good company and riding in on this trip. Usually, I fly. This time I'm taking the plunge and driving so I can stop more places and bring the bike!