Cedar Meadows, Timmins, Ontario

There's not much point in writing about Timmins. It's shitty. Blunt, but true. There's nothing interesting there, I tried but failed, completely, to find anything to do there.. for six days. Justin Beiber was in town, even that didn't help. I saw a lot of french fry/poutine/hamburger stands, a bar advertising 'amateur stripper' night and a street festival comprising a few plastic patio tables and a 'Heart and Stroke Foundation' booth. I ate at generic chain restaurants and drank at generic sports bars.

That's it.

I did stay at an interesting, although second rate, spa/resort called Cedar Meadows. The hotel sits on a bunch of acres (really.. what the hell is an acre?) of wildlife preserve. The property houses a herd of deer, a trio of clydesdale work horses, a dozen moose and four buffalo along with ducks swans and all the usual bird suspects. Deer and horses 'pen up' in yards within sight of the hotel and I spent several evenings sitting on a plastic chair on the small patio outside my room watching them. Mosquitoes the size of flying rats feasted on me as I tried to enjoy the animals, the big sky, and the beautiful setting.

The horses especially were friendly and would run right to the fence between us as soon as I approached. The deer were less sociable and retreated with their young fawns to the farthest corners of their field.

Luckily I was kept busy at work and had my full team to keep me company during downtimes as well as a surprise encounter with a former colleague who joined me for a horrible dinner at a local all you can eat steakhouse run by a friendly, but completely daft, Sri Lankin fellow who said he specialized in Jamaican food, of which their was none on the 26 page menu. Usually you can rely on the locals to recommend some interesting and decent quality places to eat.. this time they wrong.

With the team scattering across country on the fourth day, I was left alone for 80 hours in Timmins with little to occupy my time outside of my four hour work days. The spa at the motel which offered massages, steamrooms, hottubs and sauna's was open funny hours and needed appointments in advance so that didn't work out and all though there was a beautiful open air courtyard with a hammock that I longed for, but I couldn't quite rationalize the $35 fee if I couldn't take advantage of any of the other facilities.

At least Timmins has some very nice walking paths, one that followed a 3km loop around the Mattigami River. It was a pleasant path that would've most likely encouraged me to actually start the daily jogging regimen that I have being trying to psych myself into for the last month or so. Unfortunately (depending on the perspective) I had no shoes for jogging. In fact I had neglected to bring any shoes other than my flip flops and Chuck Taylor classic hi-tops. This oversight resulted in a franctic drive around town before the first day of work to try to find something appropriate for work. (I ended up buying the only pair of black mens shoes in town, an ugly pair of mesh covered slip ons that I'm sure I will never wear again!) The only problem with the paths was the existence of bear warnings every 100 meters or so, leaving one to be on constant alert for hungry bears.

The only activity I had an interest in was a 90 minute wagon ride, courtesy of the Clydesdales, into and through the reserve to watch the animals in their more natural environment. With camera in hand I was excited for the experience until I saw the wagon and about a dozen kids and a few odd parental figures waiting on the crowded wagon. N'uh uh.. I said discouragedly. The quiet horse drawn drive through the thick woods to see bison and moose would not pan out the way I envisioned and I decided not to go. As I sat with a can of beer outside my room a half hour later, the bird-sized mosquitoes attacked me in swarms and I imagined the young delicate skin of the dozen children on the wagon being eaten alive as the moose hid behind trees and laughed.

Driving down the highway on my way to and from work I had caught glimpses of the moose and buffalo in the dense forests and on the last evening in town I went for a drive around the perimeter of the resort to see if there was a way to sneak in to take some pictures. I pulled off the side of the highway but was disappointed by a high bard wired fence that rang in both directions as far I could see. I guess I shouldn't have been suprised as any opening would've exposed the animals to the traffic. The moose that I had seen grazing in the fields earlier in the week were nowhere to be seen but a pair of buffalo ambled around the property tearing chunks of grass from the ground as the shuffled slowly. I had never seen buffalo before and I crouched in the mud for a long time watching the huge cratures eat.

Checking out of the hotel at the end of the long week in Timmins I realized that this would be my last trip to Northern Ontario and I had mixed feelings about it. I consider myself remarkably lucky to have had the opportunities to work in all the Northern communities that I have visited over the last four years. I have stories to tell about Rainy River, Dryden, Kenora, Thunder Bay, North Bay Sudbury, Kapaskasing Sault Ste Marie, Timmins.. the list seems endless. I have seen crazy things in these towns, things weird and wonderful, amusing and confusing. and experienced incredible highs and lows as I worked in and explored the towns and cities of Northern Ontario.

One final trip in Southern-West Ontario to  Niagara Falls represents the final stop in Ontario before I start spending extended periods in Western Canada. I'll be travelling to places like Humbolt, Alberta and Grand River, SASK in the coming weeks. But first I will spend a week at the Crowne Plaza  in Niagara Falls on the company dime.

...I can't think of a much better send-off.