Woodstock/Kitchener Ontario - Waterloo Region Museum

We didn't wake until after 8:00 AM, when we got a call from Robyn saying that they had our activity planned for the day. It seems there was a Waterloo Region Museum (news to us) and it was hosting a space exhibit. We agreed to meet about there about 1:00 PM.

Heather called to say they would be out of church about 10:00 AM and, since we enjoyed it last weekend, we agreed to meet them at Dean Michael's Griddlehouse for breakfast. Tom was still busy volunteering at the church, so it was just the five of us.

 Well worth a visit if you are in Woodstock for breakfast or lunch

 This weekend, we had a booth

 Jasper's opinion of my skill at taking selfies

Yes, we are amused

As usual, the breakfast was very good. It was nice spending two consecutive weekends visiting all the grandchildren after a winter apart. We need to make an effort to visit more often.

About 11:30, we wrapped up breakfast and headed for Kitchener. It was still early, so I took advantage of the time and headed for the nearby Golf Town store. There used to be one in Sudbury, but our population and season length were not enough to sustain it. The reason for my visit today was to look for Skecher's golf shoes, which Golf Town's website said they carried. These shoes have a reputation for comfort. You may recall I spent last year visiting several Skechers outlet stores across the US, only to find that  none of them carried golf shoes. I also visited some Dick's Sporting Goods stores, another authorized outlet, only to find that they had just a few pair of off size Skechers.

As we approached Golf Town, we saw a modern looking light rail vehicle with "Testing" written on the side. It turned out this was a test vehicle for the ION light rail, part of Waterloo Region's rapid transit system, that was supposed to commence operation between Waterloo and Kitchener later this year. Eventually, it should connect all the way to downtown Galt in Cambridge.

Golf Town had hundreds of pairs of Adidas, Foot Joy and other brands of shoes, but only four pairs of men's Skechers. Of course none of them were in my size. The young lady said they were expecting a new shipment but did not know when they would arrive. I explained the geographical problem and she said that if I sized Skecher running shoes, the size would be the same and I could order on line.That I could do. (UPDATE - She must have been wrong about the shipment because, by the end of April, Skechers had disappeared off the Golf Town website.)

It was eight minutes from Golf Town to the Waterloo Region Museum. Mike, Jolene and Robyn arrived shortly after we did, while Kim had stayed home because she wasn't feeling well.

Waterloo Region Museum

 The museum did, indeed, have a Journey To Space exhibit on display. It featured hands on and other examples of what it would be like to live and work on outer space.

Mars explorers

There were also many permanent exhibits of local history, science, technology and commerce.

Hazel the steam engine operated at Kaufman Footwear 1908 to 1990

An original Conestoga wagon

Threshing machine manufactured locally between 1890 and 1900

Coming of Age traces teenagers from the 1920's to today

My favourite vector graphics video game

The Mezzanine provided an overview of the main floor as well as a Hall of Fame for notable local people and a memorial to those folks who gave their lives in defense of our nation.

The museum is the entrance to the Doon Heritage Village, which includes examples of historical buildings and lifestyles in the area. Although the village wasn't open at this time of year, there was a good view of the St. Petersburg (Waterloo County) train station and CPR steam engine 894.

Our final stop was at Hazel's Snack Bar for a quick bite to eat.

Behind the scene

What Mike saw

My overall impression was that the Waterloo Region Museum was pleasant, informative and well worth the afternoon visit. It called for another visit when Doon Village was open.

We headed back to Woodstock about 3:45, stopping at McDonald's to get some food to take to our room. Then we went over to Heather and Tom's at 6:00 PM to visit with the kids for a while  We had been wearing shoes all weekend, but had to put boots on when it was time to return to the hotel due to fresh snow on the ground.

Woodstock Ontario - Jasper's Birthday Party

We were up at 7:00 AM but did not get up until 8:00. Heather and Jasper picked us up to go shopping at WalMart, where Heather picked up some party favours for the afternoon and we got Jasper booster seats to replace the little person car seats he had outgrown. Then we stopped by McDonald's for breakfast before going back to the house.

Heather and Sandy went to pick up the birthday cake and, after they returned, Tom took Jasper to a friend's 1:00 PM birthday party. Lucky kid, two parties in one day. Heather and Fiona came over to our hotel room for a while before we headed to Jasper's party.

Hanging out at the hotel

Fiona looking especially cute

The birthday cake

We headed over to C&D Lanes for 2:30. Ostensibly a bowling alley, they seem to cater to a lot of kids birthday parties. There was another one just wrapping up as we got there, but our table was already all set. Family and friends gathered, and some adults and kids actually bowled. Then the staff served a lunch of burgers and hot dogs followed by a very nice cake and the gifts. I avoided the lanes because every time I play, I screw up my knee. Sandy just doesn't like bowling.

Trying to keep shoes from wandering away?

Heather and the sons-in-law (Tom's father Stan on the right)

All four of our grandchildren in one place

Tom's brothers

What's a party without balloons

Kim with Fiona (looking unsure) and Robyn watching bowling

Tom and Jasper with a kid's ball launcher

Fiona and Dad

They don'y need a launcher

The lanes were busy for a while

Heather is very good at party organizing

The colour of the day is purple

Of course, some people lost interest in bowling

Time for food

Birthday boy

Robyn and Jolene

Fiona and her other grandma, Zofia

What is this?????

No room at the table for the adults

It was an awesome cake, and not too sweet

It was almost a shame to cut it

And then there was not much left

Lots of presents

And cards, and money too

The party started to break up about 5:00 PM. We left at 5:30 and headed back to the hotel, stopping to get fuel at an Esso (we get Optimum points there that we use for groceries) first. The gas price was $0.959, 15 cents lower than at home. I have no idea what causes a disparity this great, but the government assures us time and again that the process for setting prices is legitimate. I have my doubts.

If I lived here, I would probably stop by regularly

Can't beat the price

We had planned to head back to Sudbury in the morning, but Jolene and Robyn wanted us to stay another day. Jolene was going to find something interesting for all of us to do, so were going to be here another night.

I would have gone down to the exercise room in the hotel this evening but I forgot my gym bag at home. Not unusual because I actually have not hit the YMCA since last fall. I need to get that fixed soon. Instead, we went to bed early.

Sudbury Ontario to Woodstock Ontario

After almost six months of staying in Sudbury, we were now heading south for the second time in two weeks. This time was to attend grandson Jasper's fifth birthday party in Woodstock. True to form, they were predicting not one but two "snow events" in southern Ontario over the weekend.

We left town just before 10:30 AM under partly cloudy skies and clear roads. Sudbury was approaching a record snowfall season, which would mean that over thirteen feet of the white stuff had fallen. Snowbanks were high but highways were clear and what clouds there were dissipated before we got to Parry Sound.

Before wed left, I had signed into the library and downloaded Robert Heinlein's Assignment in Eternity to my phone. This audio version of some old and somewhat dated tales by the master was narrated by Bronson Pinchot (remember Larry's cousin Balki Bartokomous?). When the phone was paired to the Equinox's entertainment system via Bluetooth, the dashboard buttons usually controlled the play/pause functions. Imagine my consternation when they did not do that today. I don't want to be touching the phone to control it because the penalty for distracted driving now included a three day driver's licence suspension in addition to a hefty fine. I pushed play on the phone and let it go.

 Seen north of the French River - no idea what it was

We stopped at Parry Sound to pick up lunch at Mickey D's. The sun was high in the sky and snow was melting, making it feel like spring was close. I searched on-line for any information on the phone/infotainment centre interface. I wish that people (and businesses) who post technical advice would date the post or mention what software version they are using. Even Google and Facebook forums are woefully inadequate in this regard. I tried deleting and re-pairing the device but that didn't work, so we headed on.

There was a stop at the Moon River truck pullout to add windshield washer fluid. The Equinox does not have a low fluid indicator, so the tank will always run dry at the least opportune moment.

The infotainment system finally lost the phone book as well, so I got off at the Duckworth exit in Parry Sound and found a parking lot. Again I unpaired and paired the phone with the car and, wonder of wonders, everything started to work right. I thought I did the same as I did in Parry Sound, so I have no clue what fixed the problem. By the way, gas at the Shell there was $.959 per liter compared to $1.109 in Sudbury this morning.

To try something different, we exited at 88 and then took 27 south to Highway 9 in Schomberg. There was almost no snow on the ground down here. We did find a Lexus and a Mercedes that seemed to like cruising the rural roads at 20 KPH under the posted speed limit and we noted that the Country Style Donuts outlet in Schomberg was closed down. Country Style makes donuts the way Tim Horton's used to before Wendy's bought them out and ruined the baking process, but they are slowly disappearing despite having what I consider to be a better product.

From Highway 9, we took the usual Airport Road/ Highway 24 through Guelph, where the car told us that the ambient air temperature was up to 34 F.

A tree between Guelph and Cambridge

Leaving Guelph, we got caught in a rush hour traffic jam on the two lane road. The Maple Grove cutoff that went past the Toyota plants took us to Highway 401 at Highway 8, missing what was usually a big tie-up and eternal road construction on the 401 through Cambridge.

We got into Woodstock just before 5:00 PM, the end of a good day on the road. Although there was still a little snow on the fairways at Cedar Creek Golf Course, there were also hundreds of Canada geese. I guess they got back early. With the mess they make, I have to wonder if starving countries in this world might be interested in some goose meat protein?

After checking in to the Best Western Plus, I checked my blood sugar. It had been a bit out of control lately. Now, after two Sausage McMuffins about 10:00 AM and a Double Quarter-Pounder With Cheese after noon, I was surprised to see it was 5.6 (101 in US measure). I wish I could figure out why I sometimes get surprises like this so I could do it more often.

When Heather, Tom and the grandkids got home, Sandy and I went by Subway and picked up supper on the way to the house. She got a sandwich and we picked one up for Heather, while I ordered a chopped salad with steak. After visiting for a while, we went back to the room for the night.

Today's Route (313 Equinox miles):

Interactive map