Sudbury Summer 2006

I had meant to post this post on Monday, but Blogger was being incredibly slow... and then Tuesday I took the day off work and went to one of my favourite places on the planet (a.k.a. WSC, the camp I worked at previously to the camp I currently work at), and then yesterday we didn't have any internet due to a lightning strike on Monday night. And then this morning the internet was unbearably slow, but now it seems to be up to speed.

So, without further ado, I present to you some photos from my weekend "vacation" to Sudbury with my friend Laura. We left after work on Friday and drove to my aunt and uncle and cousins' house for a weekend of adventure, intrigue, and mystery. ;)

First stop. Well, actually this is the second stop. We stopped first at McDonald's in Parry Sound for supper, but then later I thought I would surely perish as I had to go to the bathroom so badly. Now, you should probably understand that along the highway on the way north to Sudbury, there really isn't all too much. But we did find this lovely place:

Surprisingly, it wasn't the scariest bathroom I've ever been in, but it was definitely up there. I particularly like the big sign leaning behind the Coke machine.


When we got to Sudbury, we decided to go to the cheap theatre to see "The Lakehouse" with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. But, on the way, the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me whilst riding in a car. My cousin's brand new car, well, rather new-to-her car, that she just got two weeks previous, was hit by a rock or something, and the passenger side window completely shattered. But held together. The sound was very bizarre, and it kept crackling for a good long while (20 minutes or so I believe). So, in the end, we ended up not going to see the movie (poor poor Keanu, sorry we couldn't come!), and rented a movie to watch at home instead rather than leave a car with a broken window in a sketchy part of town.

Saturday morning bright and early, Laura and I ventured off for a day at Science North. This lady was on her way as well (check out the hair bow!):

The pass we purchased entitled us to visit their special summer "Grossology" Exhibit, so we started out the trip there with a whole lot of small children. Well, actually the whole place was full of a whole lot of small children.

I made Laura stand in front of this. How can you not love a big wall that says "ZitsBlistersScabs" in huge writing?


And here I am in the big nose. There was a bunch of stuff written in there (although it was a little dark for reading), and every half a minute or so there was a big "sneeze" and blowing air. Right above my head there were a bunch of spikey nosehairs too.
Here I am playing "Urine The Game". You had to separate the appropriate body by-products out of the blood vessel on the right and into the urine stream on the left.
It was very fast paced!
I tried to get a shot of both of us on the tv screen...
Only 4000 more points to go to tie the day's high scorer:
In the live butterfly room this little guy landed on my capris:
In the Anato-ME Centre, we had to strap on a vest-type-thing and then velcro on the appropriate organs:
Laura lies on the bed of nails:
I built the good looking car on the right. Okay, maybe not good looking, but it was faster than the other kid's car.

Our ticket also included 2 IMAX films each (we each picked one to watch, Laura chose Roar: Lions of the Kalahari , and I picked Mystery of the Nile, both were very good). There was a whole boatload of small children to see Lions, all roaring the whole time. Very humourous.

Also at Science North we saw the "3D Bush Plane Adventure", which is a 3D movie with 3D glasses and moving seats, and you get wet from "landing" and "taking off", and the wind blows on you and then a snake escapes on the plane and you can feel it around your feet. I'd say it was the highlight of Science North overall. Quite neat and educational and also very funny at the same time.

Here's a picture of Sudbury at night, from the Catholic Grotto/12 Stations of the Cross overlooking the city. I'd never been there before. It was kind of neat.
Sunday morning, after going to the service at the church I attended back in the day I lived in Sudbury, Laura and I headed off to Dynamic Earth for a mining tour. Sudbury is a big nickel producer.

We headed down 65 feet below the surface with a group of a lot of old people, some German tourists, and a family or two.

This Harley Davidson man picture I took for Jodi.

The tour took us through an "Early Century Mine" with wooden ceilings and supports, and fake candles. Very squishy. One kid started barfing and almost fainted, so her and her family ended up going back to the surface. From this first mine we ventured through a (much improved) 1950s type mine, with stronger wooden supports. We experienced a "dynamite" blast and saw lots of different mining machines. The tour ended going through a modern 2000-era mine, with much larger tunnels and safer rock supports.

Laura's not listening to the guide, she's smiling too big.
After the tour we went back up to the surface and took the obligatory pictures with the Big Nickel.

Sunday afternoon we drove home and I think I had a nap maybe? I can't remember. I was very tired though. All that touristing tuckered me out.