August 21, 2001, Tuesday- a better ride today. 230 miles but half were on four lane expressways. Arrived in the Toronto area and our campground, Milton Heights, and lucked out with a site away from trains, and hopefully, highway noise. With 50-amp service we're ready for any hot spells that may be thrown our way.
August 22, 2001, Wednesday- well, some of yesterday's hopes were dashed. The highway noise at night did become noticeable last night. Since Susan didn't hear it, maybe she sleeps better then I do. We decided to, as the commercial goes "head for the border". Two reasons…..one to try to guesstimate how long it will take to cross on Friday when we pick up David and Paula at the Buffalo Airport, and second, to pickup some power ball lottery tickets. At $200+ million, even though the lottery is for fools and idiots, we thought that that amount of money might change our lifestyle. Crossing at the Buffalo crossing, as opposed to the two Niagara Falls bridges, no traffic was in our way at US Customs. Good news. But, stopping at a lotto store, in a poor neighborhood, aren't these the locations that always win(?), we learned that our information source was incorrect. NY State isn't in the power ball.
 |
|
|
Returning Debi's phone call, now that we got back to cell service, we found out that Colorado has the power ball, and she will get the family some tickets. After an hour plus of phone calls over the better part of the day, she is getting ready to make an offer on a two-bedroom condo in Denver. The place sounds fantastic, new, secured garage area, and we even got to preview it on the website set up by the listing broker. What a great world. Steve was going to do a walkthrough with Debi and the broker after work. Hope it works out for her. A big and expensive move.
To reenter Canada, we drove north to Niagara Falls and crossed with 8 open lanes to choose from. Hobbes stuck his head out of the window, and immediately we had 3 or 4 customs officials, all women, checking him out. No questions about us, just Hobbes. What else is new? Driving around the falls area again revealed the majesty of the Canadian side of the falls, with lush gardens, inviting hotels and restaurants, and of course, the Horseshoe Falls. Magnificent! Saw an interesting sight- a tandem bike with the two riders side by side. Never saw anything like it before. Can't see how anyone could ride it by themselves, or even with two different weight riders. Too bad that we passed by without having the camera at the ready.
August 23, 2001, Thursday- time to finish the car and coach cleaning from the tar and sand disaster of the prior days. Also got everything ready for David and Paula to join us tomorrow for a few days of fun. Shopped at a food store, Loblaws, which was on a par with the Whole Foods in Denver/ Cherry Creek. Great store with abundant fresh fruits and veggies, and custom meat and fish.
August 24, 2001, Friday- drove across the border and picked up David and Paula at the Buffalo Airport. On time, what a strange feeling to travel by air and not be delayed. As a treat to Paula, we drove through the University of NY at Buffalo, where she attended college a few seasons ago and hasn't been back in something like 30 years! Needless to say, many things have changed. Her campus is now the "South Campus" for the medical and dental schools. Lunch at a Wegman's Market provided such a choice of gourmet items, it was hard to decide what to feast upon, not like just any grocery store!
A stop at the duty free shop into Canada produced gin and perfume at unbelievable savings. Should have thought of this years ago. Sapphire gin was selling for about half of what we paid for it in Michigan.
Some seasoned lamb chops on the grill finished a great day.
August 25, 2001, Saturday- an action packed day by anybody's standards. Left the campground and drove about ½ mile to Kelso Park where Susan, Hobbes and I rented a canoe and David and Paula rented a kayak. The hour's paddling went quickly. A walk over the hill produced the base of the big ski area. Imagine 5 chairlifts, the largest a four person quad, but the vertical is only about 300 feet.
Drove into Milton for a lovely outdoor café lunch on Main Street. Next, into car and over to Oakville. This town turned out to be one of the cutest ever. Along the harbor front were marinas and more marinas with both power and sailboats. Fronting on the land side were lovely little townhomes.
 |
 |
|
|
|
Continuing down the main drag we passed a 20 block plus long downtown filled with trendy shops and lovely restaurants. Driving further to the east we passed block after block of upscale new construction, mansions of 7 to 10 thousand square feet, three car garages and great stone, stucco and brick finishes.
Returned to the downtown drag for dinner at a trendy bistro for the most enjoyable dinner. With soup to nuts costing under about $40 per couple (US), what a deal!
August 26, 2001, Sunday- time to drive into Toronto. It was our first time since 1990. Significant differences, all for the better, in a great city. Our maps didn't have neighborhoods listed, and it took a while to find China Town, but is was worth it. For our first time, we had dim sum, grabbing dishes, some known, some unknown, off of the various food carts that wandered past our table. Lots of excellent dishes that we wouldn't have ordered from a regular menu.
 |
 |
|
|
|
Next, over to the Casa Loma Castle, a 3.5 million dollar mansion/castle, built by the owner of the private electric company in 1911. Unfortunately for him, the government decided to monopolize electricity, and his fortune dwindled, forcing him into bankruptcy. In current dollars, it would have taken $30,000,000 US. The interior great room had a ceiling over 70 feet high. Originally the pool table alone cost $75,000 in 1911, and in bankruptcy brought only $40.
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Continuing over to the world's highest building, the CN Tower, 1800+ feet high, we watched the film showing construction of this structure. Fascinating, and so scary that Paula and Susan didn't want to go to the top and stand on the glass floor looking down. Also, at $30 per head, it was, shall we say, a little steep price wise.
 |
 |
|
|
|
With a little luck we can work a deal with AT&T on my cell phone. A few days ago I tightened the four prongs on the external antenna so that it wouldn't fall off the phone. Bad move. Tightened too much and when I removed it from the phone, the phone antenna plug is now flopping in the breeze. Only when I should get be getting four bars of service, can I get one or two and get to use the phone. Being in Canada it will be interesting to see what they say. Maybe I'll get them to ship a phone to Buffalo and I'll pick it up when I take David and Paula back to the Buffalo airport on Wednesday.
August 27, 2001- Monday- and the beat goes on. Lox, eggs and onions for breakfast, just like the deli's do. To work off breakfast we drove to the Milton Falls Conservatory area for an hour and a half's hike. The falls, this time of year, are no more then a slow trickle, but walking through the shaded woods provided exercise without the sun beating on us. After lunch at the coach we headed over to the Andrew Scenic Acres winery and flower and vegetable farm. The head vintner explained to us how they made wines from apples, all kinds of berries, and also from honey. The wine from honey, called "mead" is the oldest kind of alcoholic drink going back thousands of years. Honey is filtered (it used to be cooked) to remove the proteins, and the remainder fermented into wine. In fact the term "Honeymoon" comes from this wine. The honey is from the alcoholic drink and the moon refers to the 30 days that the newlyweds used to spend drinking before returning to the real world.
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Afterwards we headed over to the Cambridge area but were disappointed that the tourist brochure and the town weren't the same page, and that it wasn't like the Oakville area that we experienced two days ago. So, back to Oakville we headed and did dinner at another neat little restaurant. There is an endless supply of fun eateries in this town.
August 28, 2001, Tuesday- a bad night. At 5 the thunder clap woke everyone up. Until almost 6:30 the skies were unrelenting. Thunder, lightening, torrential rain. Fortunately by daybreak the weather passed and by late morning we were heading into Toronto. First stop, at the Eaton Center to the 2 for 1 ticket center. Only Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap" was available so four tickets were soon in our hands. Lunch for some soup and salad at "The Lobster", then over to the Toronto Stock Exchange for a tour. It turns out that the exchange no longer exists as a trading floor, everything is now computerized. Anyway, it's the third largest exchange in North America, just following NY and the NASDAQ. Finally, over to the theater area, which turns out to be in a residential area. Unfortunately we left at intermission. The play was great and character development full, but my knee was so painful, that I had to get out and walk it off. Hope that by tomorrow it will be ok, but it sure was uncomfortable tonight.
 |
 |
|
NO CHARGE ON FIGHTING TICKETS UNLESS HE WINS |
|
Back at the coach we finished showing David and Paula our Alaskan photos. It was great to relieve the trip.
August 29, 2001, Wednesday- good news. After taking some prednisone last night, my knee was fine this morning. D&P packed up and we loaded everything into the car, and then headed for the Niagara on the Lake wineries. From Hamilton down to Buffalo, a stretch of about 50 miles, some 40 wineries provide wonderful tours, wine boutiques, and best of all, some have dining facilities. Based on recommendations, we stopped at Peninsula Ridge and were more then pleasantly surprised. Lunch, out on a sunny patio, adjacent to a home and barn restored from their 1885 construction, was perfect. By far the best food presentation, quality and ambiance since we've entered Canada. Glad that David and Paula were with us.
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
After lunch we headed over to Niagara on the Lake, a surprising high quality tourist area. This would definitely be an area that we would head back to at a latter date. Everywhere we looked were flowers and hanging baskets that would have done Martha Stewart proud.
Took David and Paula back to the airport, and watched as they got bumped into first class. Nice change of pace. Picked up my new phone from the FedEx facility at the airport…..and watched as it came to life with full service bars. Glad that the system sometimes works.
August 30, 2001, Thursday- on the road at 9, to Hamilton, 30 miles to the west, for a grease job and a fuel/water separator filter. Prices are so reasonable up here. Labor was $51, Canadian, or $35 US equivalent. Previous service in Denver was $85 labor. Left at 12:30 and arrived at almost 4PM at Quinte's Isle, some 180 miles to the west. Next week we have tickets, thanks to David and Paula, for Mama Mia in Toronto. We didn't realize how far out this park was…..some 2.5 to 3 hours out of the city. It will be a long ride back after the show.
August 31, 2001, Friday- wow, a campground without highways, train tracks or an airport next door. With some overnight showers and sprinkles during the day, we took it easy and caught up on projects. Nice to stop running for a day! Another month has flown by.
|
CLICK HERE TO: |
|
|
