Northern Exposure

[katmai]

I don't want to hear about remoteness and isolation.

[Barrister]

I've packed my bags, I'm ready to go. Taxi's waiting outside my door.

You guys figure most/all places in Thunder Bay will take greenbacks, or should I change some dough?

Will be hors d'interweb for a week or so.  Say only nice things about me while I'm gone.

My now standard advice is to withdraw local currency (in this case loonies) from your bank card.  At *best* places in T-Bay will take greenbacks at par, at worst they'll turn you down.

Man, that takes me back.  I believe I went to a Model UN conference at Lakehead U ( in T Bay) in about '96.  Good times...

[Neil]

I doubt they take them at par anymore, what with the exchange rate being in our favour.

[PRC]

Dude, Thunder Bay is a fucking shithole.   Don't go there.

[Admiral Yi]

And he's back!

Thunder Bay was a fucking shithole, but that's one of the points of exploring the unknown.  On the upside I have a lot more insight into the whole Canadian First Nations thingy.  I didn't catch any crime, but I definitely got the stoic semi-sullen vibe and some of the mooching.  I was in one bar where an Indian chick was asking every guy in the bar to "buy a pretty girl a drink."  She ended up calling the female staff bitches and cunts and getting tossed.  Being in an urban area that's half or more Indian was definitely a new experience.

You know, Canadians get all high and mighty about crap American beer but Canadian beer is all mass market "American style lager" too.

It was also interesting, given the pretty constant comments about nasty US border crossing personel, that my interactions going in and coming back were essentially mirror images.  Virtually identical questions.  Maybe different for a Canuck??  Also it's weird to me that all the Canadian border control folks are so fucking young.  When I went to Montreal and this time they looked like they were in high school.  Whereas ours hatch fully formed at 35.

The Minnesota shoreline between Duluth and Canada was really lovely.  A big long string of resorts and cabins and B&Bs and craft stores and quaint restaurants.  Twould not be a bad place to spend a week in the summer.

Duluth was not at all what I expected.  Old iron ore port, but they've revitalized the old warehouse district into moderately upscale waterfront tourist trap.  Horse drawn carriage rides, tour the old ore carrier docked there, plus a lot of cruises on the lake. 

I just drove through Superior (and pulled over to recon their titty bars).  They've got an old business district on the north end of the main drag (by the water) which is pretty beat up and seedy (lots of empty lots, boarded up businesses, everything needed paint) then as you continued south it turned into a very unexceptional series of strip malls.  I've never seen a city that's developed like that before.

PBS reception was pretty spotty on the road, but the stations carrying Rush, Hannity and Savage always came in loud and clear.  So that's what I ended up listening to while driving.

[Ed Anger]

I wish I was going on a road trip this weekend. 

[Jacob]

After that review I don't think I'm going to return to Thunder Bay any time soon.

How did the titty bar recon turn out?

As for the border crossing - on the whole the Canadian and US guards are pretty similar, but I think amongst the asshole outliers the US ones have scored higher so to speak, which colours the perception of any other interactions.

[Eddie Teach]

PBS reception was pretty spotty on the road, but the stations carrying Rush, Hannity and Savage always came in loud and clear.  So that's what I ended up listening to while driving.

You must really hate country music.

[Admiral Yi]

How did the titty bar recon turn out?

Strangely enough there was a titty bar right in the middle of this Disneyfied waterfront part of Duluth, so I didn't have to deal with the cab over to Superior.

In Thunder Bay I talked with these guys doing water main repair work.  They told me there was a titty bar about 20 blocks from where I was staying, but they described it as shit so I didn't go.

[Admiral Yi]

You must really hate country music.

I like knowing what arguments the two ends of the political spectrum are advancing.  Same reason I read Mother Jones or The Progressive if they're lying around.

Rush had a good line about MSNBC being an entire network devoted soley to talking about his show.  Which overstates the case (if anything Olberman seemed to have it out more for O'Riley) but there is something to it.

[jimmy olsen]

Which side of the border is Thunder Bay on?

Ran into some girls from Thunder Bay in the Philippines.