After 4 days exploring Michigan, we moved on to Canada. Daddy-o was the only one of the 5 of us who had ever been to Canada, and he'd never been to this part, so it was a new area for all of us.
This would be us, crossing the border at Port Huron. It didn't make any sense for us to drive down to Detroit to cross because it would have tacked more hours onto our drive, but it would have been fun to say that we drove south to get into Canada, and that is the only spot in the U.S. where you do that.
Toronto was surprisingly large, both spread out, and lots of tall buildings.
First order of business in Canada, once we'd found our hotel and parked our car, was to find my long time friend and her husband, J&J who happened to be in Toronto for a wedding.
I was so excited when I found out that we were going to be able to hang out since we live on opposite coasts and typically only get to see each other every 3 or 4 years. It's a small world.
We grabbed some lunch at the St. Lawrence Farmer's market and then wandered around the city for awhile. My kids were thoroughly entertained by J.
And by the free sunglasses we picked up at a booth on the street.
What do they see?
It's a bird, it's a plane. . .
It's the CN tower!
We hung out in that area for quite awhile, looking around, talking and catching up, until J & J had to head off for the family events that brought them to Toronto. It was so fun to see them, and of course, never long enough.
Then, the 5 of us did a little more walking.
We seem to find trains wherever we go.
Good news because we have a few train lovers in our midst.
Bug is always looking for ideas for his model train.
Peanut likes to pretend he can drive anything with a steering wheel. After this, the kids were starting to get a little tired, and we were several blocks from our hotel, so we started the walk back.
Massive cathedral we passed on the way. There were a lot of beautiful buildings in Toronto.
The whole time we were in Canada, we were looking for things that were different (because I think the kids were a little disappointed that there were so many things that were the same.) So, along with the speed limits being posted in km and gas being priced as liters per Canadian $ (try converting that one in your head!), which we pointed out on our drive into town, we also found black squirrels! They seem so much more sinister than their brown cousins to the south.
We also heard a lot of French--more than I'd expected--and most of the signage was in French and English. And, we found English candy bars, which made my day. I LOVE Crunchie bars and the mint Aero bars and even if you can find them in the U.S., they are like $3 a piece. I hadn't had either of them for years, so finding them in the Canadian Superstore (one of a couple different Walmart type stores we saw) for less than $1 was really exciting.
The next morning, after getting some laundry done, and getting some sleep, we were ready for a little more Canadian adventure.
Same rock skipping, new lake. Lake Ontario was colder than Lake Huron, but had smoother rocks and lots of sea glass (lake glass?). We only had about an hour before we wanted to get going so we ended up staying at this beach and letting the kids play. I thought they were having fun, but when it was time to go, I found out that the challenge Daddy-o had given them to hit a buoy with a rock had turned into this massive source of contention and everyone was pretty angry when we had to leave. And then add in the fact that Bug, who wasn't getting out when we asked him to, ended up tripping as the rest of us were walking away and fell in, getting completely soaked, which made him even more upset. It wasn't our finest moment.
Another pretty garden--we seemed to find beautiful flowers everywhere we went. A couple block walk to the car cooled everyone down a little and then we said goodbye to Toronto and went to one last Canadian site.
Niagara Falls!
It seems like so many things get built up as being amazing and then, when you finally get to see them, it's a little disappointing, but I have to say that no matter how much I've heard about how big Niagara Falls is, it was still amazing to see.
It is just so much water.
I'm not sure what it looks like from the U.S. side because it didn't seem like you could get very close, so we didn't bother stopping after we crossed the border, but on the Canadian side, you are right there. And it is really loud and kind of terrifying.
Rainbow Bridge and the American Falls.
Horseshoe Falls--It's so crazy to see the water just drop off the edge of the earth. I don't know what the people who have gone over it in barrels were thinking.
We had a partially cloudy day, but a rainbow kept peeking out in the mist.
So much water!
We didn't do a boat ride this time, but I think that would be a pretty amazing way to see the falls. They get so close!
Peanut didn't seem very interested for quite awhile, but then he finally decided to get out of the stroller and look at one of the most amazing natural sights he's ever been to. And then he just made me nervous because he wouldn't hold still, and I have this irrational fear anytime my kids are up above something that they are going to fall, no matter how unlikely it is.
After spending an hour or so at the falls, it was time to cross the border back to "home".
