Day 24: Toronto

Welcome to Canada, eh? Today we crossed the border for the only time on our trip and watched the Blue Jays host the Washington Nationals at the Rogers Centre. The Jays had their #1 man, Roy Halladay, on the mound tonight, so Ben went with the Blue Jays (minus 1.5). Halladay was effective, and solid relief kept the Nats silent late, as the Blue Jays bats pounded out an 8-4 victory. Ben gets the win and now trails 12-6 in picking games against me on the trip.

We were on our own for buying tickets tonight, which meant the cheap seats were in order. We sat in the upper deck, directly behind home plate for $10 US per seat, not a bad deal at all. We sat by the world’s biggest Blue Jay fan in section 524b. A woman with a thick Caribbean accent was the consummate fan, and was adamant that I give her a high-5 anytime the Blue Jays made a good play. It was quite the experience.



The Rogers Centre was a very impressive complex. It had a very new feeling to it, despite it being the same building that was used when Toronto won their World Series titles in ’92 and ’93. The hotel rooms that overlook center field looked amazing, unfortunately, they were a little too pricey for our tight budget. Getting into the city and finding our way around was a little difficult, as my ever reliable map program, and Ben’s trusty street atlas had limited information on the roads in Canada. After a short while, both before and after the game, we were on the right track without too much delay.



Crossing the border was not as difficult as we anticipated. In fact, on our way into Canada, we were only asked the following questions: 1) Are you U.S. citizens? 2) Where are you from? 3) Where are you going? 4) Do you have any goods with you besides clothing? After we sufficiently answered those questions, we were free to continue on, just like any other toll booth. On the way back, it was also rather easy. Although, after informing the officer that we had 1 birth certificate and 2 social security cards to prove citizenship, he replied, "Your Social Security card isn't worth a darn!" and then proceeded to let us go without any more questioning.



We had to buy some gas while across the border as well, and since we did not have any Canadian currency with us, we ended up paying a little more than usual. They are glad to take American Dollars, but they still charge the same price as Canadian Dollars. So, the approximately $34 dollars that was charged to our debit card, took $34 American Dollars out of our account, but we only got $34 Canadian Dollars worth of gas. The conversion is about $1 US = $0.71 Canada.

The drive up from Baltimore was a mental grind, as we were on state roads or US highways, for about 90% of the drive, as opposed to the much preferred Dwight D. Eisenhower Interstate System. Dwight must have gotten his idea for the Interstate System after driving north on 219 through Pennsylvania and New York. After leaving at 8:06 from the Crook’s, we made our 1st stop for lunch in New York around 1:30 at Burger King. Ben and I both agreed that Burger King’s hamburgers seemed better than usual, so maybe Subway will have a bit of a challenger for the remainder of our journey. Then, the drive continued north until we our car was parked by 5:45pm.

Here are the statistical updates:
1-end of day odometer: 25,780
2-miles traveled today: 670
3-miles traveled total: 9,137
4-states/provinces traveled in today: Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Ontario, Michigan
bonus stat: teams are 4-0 on our trip when they score at least 1 run in both the 3rd and 6th innings

*pictures and all loose odds and ends should be fixed for the entire blog by tomorrow night...thanks for all the support everyone!