FIRST ROAD TRIP OF 2009 - ALLISTON, ONTARIO, CANADA & All Aboard the G-Scale Train

I had the ultimate idea for Bob's birthday present back in January 2009 -- after the fabulous birthday gift he gave me I knew I had to come up with something just as special. I placed a request through Etsy and had three replies and picked one. The man on there told me he could have it done and to my doorstep before Bob's birthday. I heard from him around Valentine's Day to say basically he was working on two projects for someone else. My heart sunk, I had a feeling that my "ultimate present" wouldn't be arriving any time soon. I didn't want to be a pain in the neck to the guy, but come on, I requested this early enough and he said it would be done. I could of had one of the other guys did it. When Valentine's Day came around I presented Bob with a card stating that we could take a trip to a train store in Alliston and we could buy a train car for his garden train set. Bob was super excited, but we had to put those plans on hold because other obligations came up. Well, on Thursday I emailed the guy on Etsy only to have him not reply until Friday basically saying he would have the present done this weekend and would be mailed out on Monday. There is no way I'm paying AIR postage for a present that should have been done well before so I should have been able to only pay regular postage to have the present arrive on time. I'm very disappointed. I wanted this to be Bob's ultimate gift. So, it was decided on Friday evening we would take a road trip (2 1/2 hours away) to Alliston, Ontario to a train store where they have Garden Train supplies. We slept in (ahhhhhhhhh, so nice) and headed to Timmies for our breakfast and hit the road around 10:30am. Bob decided we should stop at an outlet mall in Cookstown where he knew there was a Lego store. (Bob is a Lego Train Nut) but we found out it was closed - since June 2008 -- seems to be full of stock, all the lego still on the shelves, everything inside, there was a note something about the buyers not purchasing new stock in time or something. Very strange. We had some lunch and then carried on to Hockley Valley Railroad train store which was another 15 minutes up the road.

Once we were inside, Bob went into shock. So many LGB train cars, so many G-scale buildings and accessories. His brain was on overload. lol I told him I was willing to purchase him a train car or building. Thing about G-Scale is it is very expensive. The cheapest car in stock was $69.00 plus tax all the way up to $250.00 plus tax. The buildings started at $65.00 plus tax all the way up to $300.00 plus tax. He couldn't decide. He suggested we go for a coffee at a local Timmies and discuss the options. Off we went. Once at Timmies it was decided the best course of action would be to purchase track. He doesn't really own any. Train cars, he has some, and no more shelf room to display at the moment. Buildings, as nice as they are and worth every penny, he has plans to make his own. Track, something he definately needs!!!! I said I should get him enough track that if he wants to set the track up in the house whether it be upstairs on in the "standing room" that he could and when money permits, we pick up more track at another time when he is ready to put the train outside. He seemed VERY excited. We hopped into the car and off we went back to the store where we purchased two boxes of track. So fast-forwarding to the end of the day, here is Bob with his track in the standing room. lol

Backing up to Alliston -- once we were done purchasing Bob's present we decided to head for home. BUT, we came all this way, which means it was time for a little Geocaching. Bob and I are geocachers. Scratch-n-Win that's us! You may ask, "WHAT THE HECK IS GEOCACHING?" As Bob once said to some fellows who asked the same question "Ever wanted to be a Pirate searching for treasure?" Definition: a type of scavenger hunt for waterproof containers bearing treasure using the containers' exact geographic coordinates and Global Positioning System devices. It's VERY addictive and we use to do it every day we could, finding 6 - 10 a weekend day. We've slowed down quite a bit since we bought the house and got married Sept. 2008 -- to the point that other "geocachers" have asked us if we retired. lol We told them we were hibernating. Prior to the trip we loaded up the trusty GPS. We found 3 actually. Small micros (equalling pill containers, key holders, etc..) but had to cut it short because 1 1/2 hours from home Bob's car decided to start making funky (scary) noises that we thought we might have to call CAA - but Bob said "let's just go and if we break down at the side of the road then we'll call CAA" Thank God the car stopped making the noise when we hit the highway, he thinks it might of been mud and stones in the tire area of the car.

So the following picture is one of the cache area's we stopped at. (Click on the photo to read about the cache)

Here's some pictures of things we saw while we were travelling home. Jets taking off from Toronto's Pearson's International Airport.

The Weather Network Building The Burlington Skyway and Stelco And now for some Train video's taken this evening....

Now, I'm off to go post some funny photo's Bob and I took of his G-Scale Passenger Train Cars -- CLICK HERE TO SEE THEM

NOTE: WE HAVE NOW MOVED ALL THE G-SCALE TRAIN ENTRIES TO OUR NEW BLOG: www.gscaletrain.blogspot.com