Sisters' Trip: Canada!

Last week, or was it a few weeks ago, Haley flew in, and we took our first ever sisters' trip!  Apparently we let Sarah decide where we were going, because we ended up going to Canada, in December.

Haley drove us across the bridge, since Sarah has a history of being detained.  [we managed to avoid that this trip]

Once in Canada, we had to track down somewhere to eat.  Canada did not treat us well with their fake drive troughs:

I ordered a Canadian beer:

And some fries.

But the waitress only gave us one napkin (for the three of us) so haley had to use a piece of spinach to retrieve the fallen cheese curd.

Also, the bathroom had no toilet paper.  I was forewarned, so I warned the next person.

Once we were fed, we headed to the beach at Lake Huron.  It was cold, and very sunny.  So, this is our official Huron picture.

It was a fairly sunny day, for December anyhow.

Sarah was being mean and wouldn't let us do anything touristy until we made it to Brenda's house.

We sat in traffic for an hour or two in Toronto... and then still had a bit of a drive left.

We stopped into a grocery store for a few provisions, and when we arrived were greeted with a delicious homecooked meal and the fluffiest, sweetest dog ever.  Brenda and Glenn were the most gracious hosts.  They fed us and spoiled us the entire time we were there!

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Day two was Niagara falls.  We started by a quick jaunt down to Lake Ontario.  So, our official Ontario pic:

It was sooooooo cold and windy on this beach.  I went and jumped back in the car. brrr.

Our next stop was niagra falls, sadly we had to go through Toronto.  Traffic was better, but the closer we got to the falls, the snowier it became.

These were my first pictures of the falls, in super low visibility from a moving car.

We ultimately decided that we should go down to lake Erie first, since there were only a few hours of daylight remaining.  It was another 25 miles, but Brenda was driving and was seemingly unfazed by the snow.

What I always pictured Canada to look like:

 

By the time we got into Crystal Beach, we were in a blizzard (okay, well maybe not quite, but it felt like it to me!)  Brenda got us safely into the park, that we couldn't make out because of the snow, and couldn't even see the lake from the parking lot!

A snowy, low visibility lake Erie:

Official Erie Picture.

So, that marked 4 great lakes for me!  I only lack superior, which I'm hoping to remedy next summer. = )

As we returned to Niagara Falls, the snow dissipated, and when we arrived it had almost completely ceased.

We parked in a public lot, and then Brenda treated us to a meal at the very empty, but massive, Hard Rock Café.  There were lots of napkins available once we had a Canadian with us....the bathroom also had toilet paper. We took our time, then walked down to the falls.

The parks were all lit up, Fred** did a great job with the lights!

The American Falls:

The Canadian Falls:

We made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel like William's name should be on this sign somewhere?

The lights change colors, thanks Ned*, so this is the Canadian Falls again.  It's very dark, but the water was sooooooooo close.  I could have easily tossed a rock into the water.  I totally get the hype, it is impressive!

After we had our fill of the falls, we made our trek back.

Brenda has a thing about lying about beavers, so she gets her picture taken by all the beavers.  forever.

The inside felt wet, so I couldn't get in enough to stand up, and put my arms through, so I look like a very short snowball. lol.

Corporate art!!!!!!

It was cold and dark, but absolutely perfect.  There were not many people about, so we could poke about, and just had a great time.  And visibility was so greatly improved from earlier in the day!  It was not at all how I would have pictured the trip, but it surpassed the expectations that I did have.

We stopped in at the gift shop and Starbucks.  I was able to pay with my American money and get back Canadian money!!!! Perks of being in a super touristy area. = )

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Our final day was a visit to Toronto, and we spent a leisurely morning lounging about.  After packing up the car, and saying goodbye to Bear, we dropped off Brenda's car at the nearest train station, so that she could come with us into Toronto, but not have to drive the entire way back.

We visited an awesome thrift shop in Coburg, but spent so long that we didn't have time to go to the others.

We got into Toronto around 3, in a very light snow.  We parked at a mall just off the interstate equivalent, to take the subway into downtown.

Their subway has lights, so that you know where you are as the train progresses!

Haley took lots of videos for Chris.

The St. Patrick station had green tile! = )

Haley's first Subway trip!

The train was open all the way down.  It was very neat to watch the people in the first few cars disappear around a curve.

We disembarked at Union Station.

For dinner we ate at a place where we could see lake Ontario, or at the very least a body of water that protrudes from it.  We were given plenty of napkins here, but we were still with a Canadian.  We have a theory about paper products and Canadians.

Our final stop with our Canadian host was to try a beaver tail.

This was our accusing face, as the beaver tail was the source of her lies.

She'd never even had one!

Turns out they were so good!

We were out eating just long enough that we got to see the CN tower all lit up!

By the time we made it to the station, Brenda had to catch her train, and it was then we learned that she does not know me from Haley.  Total fodder for our next trip.

The subway departs from the same station, and we were ready to head home, so we took the subway back to the mall, where we'd parked the car.

The traffic when we left Toronto was the lightest we'd seen, it was like normal traffic!

It was a quiet drive to London, we did hit a band of heavy snow.  We made it to the Casino, but not the one that Sarah wouldn't let us stop at on the first day.

When we got inside, you had to have an ID to check in, and Haley had left hers in the car, so we went back out to retrieve it.  After we got back in, there were two lines.  The line for people 30 and under, and everyone older than 30.  I left my sisters in the line, and tried to go in, but the guard sent me to the back of their line. = (  He said you have to "look 30."  Then, when security asked Sarah's age, she told him she was 3.  It was awesome.

We didn't play long, as the three of us only spent $20 combined, but we got some "free" sodas out of the deal.  = )  We left with our pockets lighter, but our hearts buoyant.

We did remember to take one last picture with our missing 'sister' Christin.  That's a Canada jacket, though you can't really see it in this picture.

When we got to the border, Haley drove again, and I was glad she did, because his line of questioning was angry and skeptical.  Especially since we crossed the border around 12:30.  His first question was "where are you coming from?" to which my initial internal answer of "from Canada??" probably would not have been acceptable. lol.

They dropped me off at home around 3am, but I took the time to lay out souvenirs , and unload the dishwasher. Since my children can make themselves breakfast, and will clean up better if the dishwasher is emptied. = )

It was a super fun trip!  We've already talked about the next one, and it might be back to Canada again.

later days

*Brenda saw him on TV, so in Canadian terms, she knows him.
**She knows him too.