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valkryorI went on vacation!
It was a good experience all around, although I suspect I will need to go on more solo adventures to make it a great one. I did learn some things, though, like memory foam mattresses are the absolute fucking worst. I don't sleep in one position, I'm constantly shifting around. That is not a good combination. I also don't sleep well in new places (that's totally a me thing) and I apparently need more weight on me when I do sleep. It helps me feel cozy. Things to know for next time, I guess.
I got to see my beau!
I missed him. It sucks that we're five hours apart and neither of us have ideal living situations (as in, too many people, not enough private space). But, we still click, still desire each other, so not ideal, no, but I'll take it.
North Bay is weird!
I've never been to a place that suffered from such an obvious identity crisis. It doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up. Retirement community? Tourist trap? University town? It's like those all-in-one printers (you know, they print, fax, copy, make coffee, do your laundry, etc), where it has all of these functions and does none of them particularly well. That's North Bay in a nutshell.
You can't be a retirement community without a young population to support the retirees and students won't cut it. You absolutely need a state-of-the-art hospital and medical community for this to work. The kind of facility where patients are sent to you from Sudbury or Parry Sound or Calander. You can't be airlifting people to Toronto or London or Kitchener for care, which I suspect is the case now.
You can't be a tourist trap if you don't encourage tourists. There's this house on Cassells St. The CBC came out and interviewed the owner. The resulting article ran nationally. People started showing up in North Bay to see it. You know, TOURISTS. This annoyed City Hall, because how dare people come to North Bay to see something and then stay for a bit and spend money here! The very cheek!
Honestly. You have a good thing. Come for the house, stay for the beaches. Lake Nipissing is glorious to swim in. Very shallow because of sandbars. Bathwater warm. Glorious scenery because the Canadian Shield is right there. There's a ski hill and crown land and walking trails to waterfalls. They could rebrand North Bay as the Jewel of the North and it would WORK. But first they have to knuckle down and work with the community instead of fighting it to get it there.
You can't be a university town if you don't have adequate student housing or transportation options, either on or off campus. The rents in North Bay are stupidly expensive and the transit service is lacking. This is off-putting to potential students considering either Canadore College or Nipissing University. Infrastructure is a hard sell for some cities, and North Bay needs some serious rethinking if it wants to make things work. Not everyone has a car or can afford one.
Overall, I enjoyed myself. I'll post pictures and some other aspects of my trip when I feel more awake. I'm tired and I suspect I will be for a few days as I readjust to sleeping in my own bed.
It was a good experience all around, although I suspect I will need to go on more solo adventures to make it a great one. I did learn some things, though, like memory foam mattresses are the absolute fucking worst. I don't sleep in one position, I'm constantly shifting around. That is not a good combination. I also don't sleep well in new places (that's totally a me thing) and I apparently need more weight on me when I do sleep. It helps me feel cozy. Things to know for next time, I guess.
I got to see my beau!
I missed him. It sucks that we're five hours apart and neither of us have ideal living situations (as in, too many people, not enough private space). But, we still click, still desire each other, so not ideal, no, but I'll take it.
North Bay is weird!
I've never been to a place that suffered from such an obvious identity crisis. It doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up. Retirement community? Tourist trap? University town? It's like those all-in-one printers (you know, they print, fax, copy, make coffee, do your laundry, etc), where it has all of these functions and does none of them particularly well. That's North Bay in a nutshell.
You can't be a retirement community without a young population to support the retirees and students won't cut it. You absolutely need a state-of-the-art hospital and medical community for this to work. The kind of facility where patients are sent to you from Sudbury or Parry Sound or Calander. You can't be airlifting people to Toronto or London or Kitchener for care, which I suspect is the case now.
You can't be a tourist trap if you don't encourage tourists. There's this house on Cassells St. The CBC came out and interviewed the owner. The resulting article ran nationally. People started showing up in North Bay to see it. You know, TOURISTS. This annoyed City Hall, because how dare people come to North Bay to see something and then stay for a bit and spend money here! The very cheek!
Honestly. You have a good thing. Come for the house, stay for the beaches. Lake Nipissing is glorious to swim in. Very shallow because of sandbars. Bathwater warm. Glorious scenery because the Canadian Shield is right there. There's a ski hill and crown land and walking trails to waterfalls. They could rebrand North Bay as the Jewel of the North and it would WORK. But first they have to knuckle down and work with the community instead of fighting it to get it there.
You can't be a university town if you don't have adequate student housing or transportation options, either on or off campus. The rents in North Bay are stupidly expensive and the transit service is lacking. This is off-putting to potential students considering either Canadore College or Nipissing University. Infrastructure is a hard sell for some cities, and North Bay needs some serious rethinking if it wants to make things work. Not everyone has a car or can afford one.
Overall, I enjoyed myself. I'll post pictures and some other aspects of my trip when I feel more awake. I'm tired and I suspect I will be for a few days as I readjust to sleeping in my own bed.
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Date: 2022-08-03 11:45 am (UTC)I'm so glad it was a good experience all around, you got to see your beau, and explore a new weird city!
Sleeping away from home is often weird, and I hope you get caught up on rest and settling back into home.
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Date: 2022-08-07 02:40 pm (UTC)I haven’t been to North Bay since I was a kid, so interesting to hear your perspective. My grandparents owned a small tourist cottage type deal for a while, and swimming in Lake Nipissing is definitely something I remember… warm water and the soft sandy bottom. I also remember the vast quantities of shadflies and how people basically had to shovel them in the spring.