July 1st - Detroit to Ontario

A good friend of mine was getting married in Sarnia, Ontario on 3rd July and invited us to her wedding.

Because Dan lives in a small town in Oregon, and Sarnia being another small town, we had to travel to different cities for flights.

On 1st July, we drove from La Grande to Portland at night, parked our car at our friend Gabe's place, caught a taxi to the Portland airport. Flew to Detroit, got another cab from Detroit to Windsor (Canada). And from Windsor, we had to get on 2 trains to get to Sarnia.

With such a tight schedule comes 2 incredibly OCD planners.

We had planned this trip and booked everything from a few months in advance, so we knew exactly how to get to our destined locations and by when. (Sticking to our plans was all thanks to Dan. During all the exhausting walking and running around, my contribution had shrunken to "bitchin")

We had a really fun taxi ride to the Portland airport on the night of 1st/July. The driver was a really energetic, outgoing, and talkative individual who told us all about how he had a chance to stay in NYC for free because his ex girlfriend had booked them both to go on Sally Jessy Raphael's talk show.
Well, we get there early enough to grab some airport breakfast - expensive and disgusting as always. Jumped on our flight to Detroit, and had a bit of a nap.

After about 4 hours we arrive in Detroit. Headed straight out for a cab. The taxi driver assured us that he knew how to get to the train station in Windsor, and yet he didn't. 

We didn't write down the address, and we arrived before 7am, so we had to use travel maps in taxi magazines to find how to get there while the driver was constantly on the phone talking in his own language. Don't get Metro Cab at the Detroit airport. The taxi trip cost about $85 (pricey due to crossing the border).

We arrived at the train station a little earlier than we thought. 

 

So we walked around and took some photos of Detroit from Canada before hopping on the train for another nap.

Dan greeting our favourite rum. And just look at the size of that...
backpack!

We had our second breakfast on our first train ride. 

I had a tuna sandwich with orzo salad and carrot sticks and Dan had a bagel and coffee. It wasn't as expensive as it would've been at an airport, and the quality was better.

We get to London for another train to Sarnia. 

Empty station once every other train had left.

Checking our travel details and taxi info
I think Dan was just checking his Deviant Art account here.

So we unloaded our bags and had a rest at the train station for a while.

Outside of the London Railway station. 205 York Street

Catching up on sleep while waiting for our train to arrive.

Finally our train to Sarnia arrived after what seemed like hours. Off we go again!

There weren't enough cabs at the Sarnia train station, so we rang up Greg's Taxi company. $20 to our hotel Harbourfront Inn. The parents of the bride had kindly set aside a few rooms for the wedding guests at two hotels. Harbourfront Inn had better reviews on the net, so we decided to resort there. $87 per night.

Tired Dracula lurks in the dark hallway of the hotel!

It was conveniently close to a nice Irish pub/ family restaurant. And when I mean close, I mean a few steps.

So after a much needed shower and a change of clothes, we headed down there for some good food. I also couldn't help but taste their "Duchy Originals Organic Ale", while Dan went for his lady cocktails instead.

 

For dinner, I had Shrimp Linguini ($12.99, and totally worth it),

 

and Dan had his favourite Chicken Tikka Masala Curry ($11.99). For dessert, we shared a Lemon Tart ($5.99). Their menu can be found here.

 

After that we wandered about around town for a bit - and what a pretty town it was! But our exhaustion eventually took over and we retreated to our suite for some shut eye.

In the middle of the night (I think it might've been 9pm as we were old and drained) our friends came to visit and to pick up the table setting cards. I didn't get to see them as I was in the bathroom during their very brief visit. But Dan managed to sleeptalk and sent them home with the cards.

But first, a few more photos we took in Sarnia:

Does that sign say Bimbo or Limbo?

Dan's nice snapshot of this old pair

Canada has such nice architecture

Canadian McD's sign

Sweet dreams to us. For our well deserved and overdue sleep...
-----------------------

Day 2 in Sarnia
We went to have breakfast at a local cafe and spotted an awesome car boat on our way.

The weather in Sarnia was scorching hot and dry. Coming from the Oregon spring temperature to this was definitely unexpected. On this day, we woke up sweating. After breakfast, we got ready for our friends' wedding.

 

Just a couple of photos of us since we never look this good. Especially when Dan refuses to keep the good clothes on for the reception because he was apparently going to die from all the heat.

And then there was the wedding and a reception. Just look how beautiful it all looked.

The table setting cards I slavered for

We had to leave the partying bride, groom and guests to get ready for another early morning.

 

On our way back to the hotel, we power walked to one of the biggest lakes in the world - Lake Huron. It was all so beautiful. I would definitely love to come back to Canada. It a great start of our journey.