Whirlwind

or

By the numbers



Dates out of town: August 4, 2006 to August 18, 2006, with a brief stopover in Atlanta August 8 & 9.



States visited: 12



State(s) visited for the first time: 1



Canadian province(s) visited: 1



Friends I hadn't seen in 4 years or more: 2



New friends made: Many



Atlanta friends who missed me terribly while I was away (official tally): 4



Bizarre hook-ups that occurred while I was out of town (excluding my own): 2



Weddings attended: 1



50th Wedding Anniversary celebrations attended: 1



Cost of the road atlas I purchased despite my father protesting that we didn't "need no stinking atlas": $4.97 + tax



Number of times we referenced said atlas: Innumerable



Number of Canadian border patrol officers who gave me a weird look when I said I was entering the country to visit my pen pal: 4



Number of attendees to the International Aids Conference in Toronto: app. 50,000



Number of available hotel rooms in Toronto during the International Aids Conference: 0



Number of unavailable hotel rooms my dad and I managed to plead our way into renting: 1



Number of times kind or not-so-kind strangers, including law enforcement, pointed out the fact that the car was smoking and/or on fire: 3



Canadian dollars spent at H&M: 160



Items purchased at H&M: 11



Cost to find out the answer to my burning question of just where exactly Canadian strippers put their Loonies: app. $50 Canadian (including tips)



Cost to park on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls: $18 Canadian



Non-stop driving hours from Buffalo, NY to Atlanta, GA: 18



Actual driving hours from Buffalo, NY to Atlanta, GA, including stopping at Bob Evans for dinner and all bathroom and gas breaks: 20

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