Now updated with a few pictures.

 

While attending the British Grand Prix, my cousin & I chose to try out the Porsche Driving Experience. It was great event made even more exciting because the cars were all right-hand drive! It's SO weird shifting a manual with my left hand! Along with taking one of their 911's onto their test course, we were able to hang out at the Porsche Experience Centre (yes... UK spelling) for the rest of the afternoon. They served breakfast (that we missed), lunch (photos in a future food post) and afternoon tea (we took advantage of the open bar instead.) More importantly, we had a place to stay warm & dry during the deluge of rain. What is up with me and rain at F1 races? Haha!

It's late here and we don't want to miss breakfast again so I'll have to post some photos next time. Until then here's a short vid of part of the handling circuit.

 

 

Just a little window shopping before heading back to my room. (yawn)

 

I meant to post this soon after I got back from the race. As you can see, this didn't happen. I'll fully update this post when I get back from my current outing. Until then, here's a short summary of my first Formula 1 race.

The pits were open to the public Thursday morning and I got as close as I had ever been to current F1 cars and drivers. It was exciting to see the actual cars being prepared and tested. The team garages were roped off but one team (Force India) allowed fans to get behind the rope to take pictures with the cars.

Friday was a perfect day to watch F1 cars practicing while cars from supporting race series were practicing and qualifying for their races. This continued on Saturday with the weather turning cloudy and damp.

Sunday's F1 race was interrupted by a nice downpour. My seatmates and I got soaked while hoping the rain would stop and the race would continue. We waited for over 2 hours but we were rewarded with a few crashes, actual race passing and an exciting surprise finish.

Pictures will come later...

 

UPDATE: Photos added. I took some pics of a couple of supporting races along with the F1 race

F1 Pits with a video of the bus ride on the track to the pits.

 

 

Porsche GT3 Cup

 

Historic F1 Cars

 

Current F1 Cars

 

I had only been to Montreal when I was very young so this was like coming here for the first time. While I came to see the F1 race, I decided to stay a couple of days longer so I could see the sights. There was so much to see in a short time that I mostly ended up hitting tourist spots. I definitely have to come back to see more of what I missed.

 

 

Before the race they close off Rue Crescent and Rue Peel for Grand Prix festivals.

 

Olympic Park where some of the events of 1976 Olympics were held.

 

Basilique Notre-Dame de Montreal in Old Montreal

So I ended up taking a ton of photos while I was in Montreal. Most of the photos had to do with the with the Formula One race but I also took a bunch of shots while I was out and about the city. Rather than dump everything I did into one post, I thought I would separate my experiences into multiple posts. This first one will cover my food experience.

When I travel, I try to avoid the major restaurant/fast food chains that I find at home. Why travel hundreds of miles just to eat the same Whopper from Burger King? So I did some research. I found that one of the foods for which Montreal is famous is smoked meat and the place to go is Schwartz's Deli. I went late in the day and was able to avoid the lines. When I walked in, I was seated at the counter where the friendly guy behind the counter asked if it was my first time there. I said yes and asked what he recommended. He gave me a smoked meat sandwich, fries, pickle and black cherry soda. I wasn't disappointed!

I thought Schwartz's was really good but I thought I should try a smoked meat sandwich from another place to companre. Dunn's Famous was the place I chose. Their sandwich was tasty but I thought Schwartz's version was better overall. I also tried something originally Quebecois, poutine. Basically poutine is french fries with cheese curds and gravy. It wasn't bad, but just like chicharon bulaklak (among other rich filipino dishes) it's not something I'd eat all the time.

One of the city guide lists had a something on Meatmarket. It looked interesting enough to try out. I tried the French Pepper burger with the regular & sweet potato fries. It was good but no better or worse than any other gourmet burger I've had. I ended the evening by getting a couple of bagels from Fairmount Bagel.

Piri Piri was a place I passed on my way somewhere else. It was different from the smoked meat & burger places I tried so I stopped by when I passed it again. I had planned to have some of their barbeque chicken but ended up with the "Steak de porc a la portugaise et Frites." This was definitely NOT a week for healthy food. Haha!

Not every meal I had was out of some "Top 10" list though. For the times I got back too late to try restaurants closer to downtown, I went next door to Harvey's for burger. Complementary breakfasts were included with my room so I ate at the hotel instead of trying some breakfast places. They were basic meals but filling. The smoothie was probably the healthiest thing I ate while I was in Montreal. I was only there a short time so I didn't get to try all the places that looked interesting to me. When I go back, I'll definitely have to cover more places.

 

Before Montreal, I had started off my extended vacation with a short trip to South Lake Tahoe with some of the guys. The reason for the trip was to lament the fact that my cousin was getting married.*

We had hoped to cheer ourselves up by doing outdoor stuff like hanging out by the lake, ridng jetskis, eating BBQ, and getting some sun. Unfortunately, the weather decided not to cooperate and we were forced to seek "indoor entertainment" in the casinos, bars and nightclubs. Anyway, we tried to make the best of it.

The weekend wasn't a total loss as I learned how to play Pai Gow Poker. I normally stink at gambling but I ended up having good luck this time around. I was able to break even for the whole weekend. This was surprising considering the amount of time we spent at playing. It was also fun because there was enough of us playing that we took up the whole table. The dealers were really patient with newbies like me and taught us the best hands to play.

 

 

A gloomy June day in South Tahoe.

 

* In case Gina reads this, I'm just kidding! I'm glad that you're making an honest man of Roe and happily welcome you to the family!

I got back from Montreal and the Canadian Grand Prix very late Tuesday night. The city was a great place to visit and the race was exciting to watch.

Still recovering from my time away but I hope to post more details from my trip by this weekend. Until then, here are some random images from my trip.

...way too long... over 2 1/2 years since I last posted here. I originally created this blog to post adventures I've taken, big or small. Unfortunately, a couple of things happened since then: I stopped having big adventures and I lost the motivation to post even the small ones.

That's not to say I didn't do anything at all. Weddings, anniversaries, baptisms, graduations and milestone birthdays were some of the many things I did in the last couple of years. I was honored to be invited and loved spending time with my family and friends. Here's a tiny sample of events.

With all that happening, I realized there was something missing. I forgot how to relax. Looking back, I now see I was getting so caught up with the details of what I was doing that I stopped truly having fun. This may be an over-generalization but it's more accurate than not.

This summer I plan to fix this problem. I've been able to take an extended time off from my job to.... not work! What will I do? Well...  I have a list of goals to meet that I plan to post here as I check them off.  In between achieving goals, I also need to rest physically and recharge mentally. The point of it all is to remember how to unwind and really have fun again.

Here's to the start of more adventures!

 

 

 

This ride was kind of short notice so only three of us were able to go. That just means all the others missed out on a super ride!   This time Dawn, Dave and I took a trail recommended at the MTBR.com forums. The trail was familiar until we hit the Enchanted Loop Trail. This trail included a nice, slightly technical downhill singletrack into a shady grove of trees. We paid for the fun ride down by having to climb up a rutted fire trail with the sun beatng down on our necks! Dawn and I had to walk the steepest part of that climb while "Mountain Goat" Dave rode off to the top. Just when I thought I was getting fit enough to keep close to him, Dave shows me I have a ways to go. Haha!