Post-Vacation Reflection

1. The panoramic setting on my iPhone is awesome! Take lots of pictures and sort out the keepers when you get home.

2.  Park in the cheesy, tourist section of Niagara Falls ($5) vs. in the Park ($20). That one hurt Brian's pocketbook.

3.  The Tripadvisor website is great for finding a rental apartment for your trip. We found this 2-bedroom, with our own private garden (and black squirrel) in the "Little Italy" neighborhood of Toronto for the same price of a hotel, but parking and Wifi (a must for the kids and helpful when planning our days) was included.

4.  Wear good walking shoes, and checkout public transportation. We got a family pass for the trolley for $10 each weekend and holiday (Monday was a civic holiday....which basically meant a day off for people, yet everything was still open) day. Great for zooming around the city and for seeing the sites too.

5.  Eat many small meals throughout the day. This gave us a chance to visit more restaurants and pubs.  Typically, we'd get appetizers or just two meals and split them.

6. Research what is going on in the city in advance of your travels. We didn't realize that there was the Carabana parade going on until I started looking for hotels and couldn't find anything decent and reasonably priced. It ended up working out alright and was fun to see. It was free, so we were able to go, even though we'd just found out about it.

7.  Plan your route if you are driving by researching where there is construction....especially nighttime construction. We had several stretches of one lane, where they were doing work on bridges at night.  Good news was that Our ipass works everywhere: Chicago, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York! This made all our toll stops faster!

8. Taking a snooze in a rest stop with people that can sleep through anything can cost you time! Brian wore an eyeshade and earplugs and the kids and I can sleep anywhere, anytime.....so, our 2 hour catnap turned into 5 hours, oops! We still made it to the apartment well before checkin time (we called and he let us in anyway).  So we unloaded and got an early start on our day of exploring the city. We were well rested (but a bit stiff from the cramped quarters).

9. The Canadian side off the Falls is better viewing than the American side. Well worth the stop, but glad we didn't spend the night. Think Wisconsin Dells on steroids!

10. Don't drink too much Mountain Dew if you plan to drive straight through from Niagara Falls to Home!!!!  We made many, many pit stops (which worked out ok for me;)

Trip in review

Home Sweet Home

Ahhhh.....I get to sleep in my own bed tonight (well, this morning anyways)!

Coffee and Mountain Dew

The drinks of choice to get us through the drive.  We figured out that our I-pass works on a the toll roads.  Sweet!

Start the Count

One Waffle House!

Good Pizza

Found a good wood-oven cooked pizza and cold beverage.......ahhhhhhhhh!

Getting ready to head home to the good 'ole USA.

Bye Toronto!

Had our last Toronto meal at an old-fashioned diner. We even sat at the counter!  Mag got her breakfast fix, Brian had lunch, and I had the "world's best cup of coffee" (Congratulations! You did it!).  Bruce is eating chips in the car...different flavours in Canadia!

The FALLS are Awesome!

Squirrel!!!

Bri's choices

Brian sampled various Canadian beer while on vacation.  His most favorite starts on the left.

Heading on

We are packing up (some faster than others) and will be headed to the Falls soon.  I think we'll take one last walk for coffee....I really love that we are sitting in this cute little garden, yet we are just a couple of blocks from the trolley and the bustling streets full of restaurants and stores.

We loved our "Posh Digs," but it is time to move on to the next adventure!

Fun day tooling around!

We bought a family pass for the trolley, so we hopped on/off to see different areas of the city today.  Loved the variety of gardens in the front of the row houses.

Happy Holiday!

Today is a civic holiday in Canada.....so happy day off. 

Trying the Poutine today.  Hhmmmm, could be interesting later today;)

French fries, cheese curds, and gravy....what's not to love!  Thank goodness we passed on the beans!!  Very tasty!!

Cheese!

Architecture Walk

We hopped the trolley and explored the historic and downtown areas.  Good food and beverages along the way.

In the Garden

Waiting for the kids to get ready, so we are taking advantage of the patio. It is nice to be in a neighborhood, with the sounds of foot traffic (joggers, families walking, bicyclists), but close enough to walk to the city's attractions. 

Squirrel!!!

We'll be off soon to catch a cup of coffee and a pastry of some kind (Greek if we can find the neighborhood, or Italian, as we are in Little Italy).  Then, it is on to the Historic section of town.  I believe the St. Lawrence Market is closed today, but the antique section might be open!

Carabana

We walked down to the waterfront for the parade.  Lots of music and people.  Good thing the weather was nice and we weren't in a hurry.

A quick bite in an open air bar and off to explore some more.

Toronto day 1

The day started out nice. We checked into our apartment early and hit the streets.  We are staying in a rented apartment (found it through Tripadvisor.com) in Little Italy.  We walked all the way down to the CN Tower and waterfront.  

Good thing we stopped in for a drink at Amsterdam Brewhouse, because it downpoured!  We slowly made our way back home, sometimes huddling under an awning when the next downpour stared.  

Posh Digs!

We are unloaded into our "posh digs" and ready to explore!

Where in the world is Karman sister #2?

We've passed signs for: London, Stratford, Woodstock, Avon, Delhi, Paris, Princeton, Cambridge.

Were all the good names taken that we had to recycle?

O Canada

They let us cross the border!  Just passing through London on our way to Toronto.