Road Tripping

For the travel day between Hartford and Toronto, I elected to forgo the company flight and drive. The reimbursement the company offered in lieu of the flight was sizable and both of the flight options involved changing planes with a considerable lay over. It was a 500 mile trip from Hartford to Toronto and a little road trip sounded like fun. David wanted to come along for the ride, making the whole thing sound even better - we could halve the expenses & I'd have someone to sing a long with...

I was up to see the sunrise in Hartford.

David and I were on the road shortly after 8 AM. Before lunch we had passed through Connecticut and Massachusetts (I can only imagine how beautiful the Berkshires must be in October) and were zooming across New York on the Thruway. As we zigzagged back and forth across the Erie Canal, singing our hearts out to the XM Broadway channel, our thoughts turned to food. It came to me in a flash - we needed to stop for Dinosaur Bar-b-que! Since we were mobile, it seemed only prudent that we should visit the original Dinosaur in Syracuse rather than the branch office in Rochester.

Dinosaur Bar-b-que

Dinosaur opened its doors in 1988 - founded by three bikers who made Syracuse their home after five years slinging bar-b-que at biker festivals. Originally, it was a take-out operation but it has grown into a full service restaurant and renowned blues club. While the show was in Rochester, I enjoyed the Dinosaur's Q several times - so I was anxious to try the original. David and I each ordered up big plates: mine was all ribs, his was a combo plate: pulled pork and chicken. When the food arrived, all conversation came to a halt while we dug in - a very good sign. While it's certainly not the best barbecue I've ever eaten in my life, it sure is tasty stuff (especially for barbecue in upstate New York)!

David with his Q

David and I vowed to return when the show makes its triumphant return to the States (we'll play Syracuse in October) and stumbled back to the car, sated. Once we had reached Syracuse, most of New York was behind us. Not too long after lunch, we were through Buffalo and at the border.

The que-up at the Canadian border

David and I were stopped briefly at the border by immigration officials. Most American citizens headed north of the border to work would need a work permit, but performing artists and their "necessary support staff" are exempt from this requirement. We had to pull over and visit the folks in the immigration office, but were soon on our way again.

Since we were making such good time, we decided to make a side trip to Niagara Falls. Both of us had visited the falls before, so we didn't feel the need to linger and when we saw that it would be $20 to park near the falls we hardly felt the need to stop at all! We ducked in a parking space of dubious legality, took a couple of photos and were on our way again.

The Canadian Falls (with the Maid of the Mist approaching)
No matter how many times I've seen them, the falls are impressive: their size, the volume of water that goes crashing over them, the noise, the clouds of mist, the number of tourist traps that surround them...

From Niagara, we headed west on the QEW across the farmlands of southern Ontario until we were slowed down in the suburbs of Toronto by a combination of rush hour traffic and torrential rain. As we neared Toronto, the sky turned black and the heavens opened on us. Fortunately, the rain lightened up as we got closer to downtown and by the time we reached our exit, the rain had become a fine mist.

I'm staying in a corporate apartment for the month here in Ontario's capitol city. It's a two bedroom that I'm splitting with Roy from Team Wardrobe. We're near the city's waterfront, spitting distance to the Rogers Center (nee the SkyDome) and in the shadow of the CN Tower. There are two legit theatres just outside the front door (The Princess of Wales - home to The Sound of Music and The Royal Alexandra - home to Dirty Dancing) and a whole passel of restaurants and bars surround us. It's a longish walk to Spamalot's home in Toronto (The Canon Theatre - nee the Pantages) but Toronto has plenty of street life to make the walk interesting.

TVFMHRW - Toronto
We're 20 floors above Toronto's "Entertainment District". Wayne Gretzky's sports bar is in the lower left of the frame.

The whole trip from Hartford to Toronto went very well. David and I had a great time singing and driving. The car was gassed up and returned with time to spare and we met up with Roy for a late dinner on King Street. Toronto was off to good start!

JV