A Cross-Country Driving Trip in Our Morgan
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The Hendersons A visit with Kathie and Brian and a trip to Niagara Falls |
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A Cross-Country Driving Trip in Our Morgan |
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Thursday, July 20 - Skaneateles, NY to Toronto, ON My cousins Kathy and Brian and their mother, my Aunt Isabelle, live in Toronto - we had never been there before, and being so close, this was an excellent opportunity to see them and to see the city - and a bonus was Niagara Falls. I had told Kathy that we would arrive by about 3:00 pm. Ah, but I hadn't counted on another thunder storm (again?), the border crossing and the terrible rush hour traffic in Toronto. All of these resulted in our arrival at about 6:30 pm. I'm not sure we've ever seen traffic as bad as Toronto. Kathy has a lovely condo in downtown Toronto (with parking!) and enough space for road weary guests. We had a wonderful evening with Kathy and Brian - Kathy fixed dinner of pasta with shrimp, broccoli and tomatoes. It was delightful seeing my cousins again - we last saw them at the Yeo reunion in 1999. Friday, July 21 - Toronto, ON to Niagara Falls Obviously, three of us couldn't fit into Moggie, so Kathy got driving duty to Niagara. Fortunately, the traffic wasn't all that bad. We arrived at the falls on the Canadian side, parked the car, went into the Visitors' Center and bought tickets for the various sightseeing options. The first was a trip 'behind' the falls. Dawning little slickers of light weight plastic, we took an elevator down several stories, into a series of walkways that lead out to observation decks at the foot of the falls - and it is wet! Then, a tunnel leads to a portal which is behind the falls - the roar of the water is incredible. Because there is so much water, you really can't see anything, but you get an appreciation for the hugeness of the falls. Our tickets included use of the 'people mover' shuttle system, so we went to the next stopping point, the famous "Maid of the Mist." Actually, there are several boats by that name, the number of tourists making it necessary to have several boats in operation. Wearing our flimsy slickers, we boarded the boat which faithfully chugged out to the foot of the falls - the 'mist' was more like standing in a very fine, but very heavy, shower. We were soaked to the skin. We loved it! Our next stop was the Skylon Tower that overlooks the falls and has a rotating restaurant. The view of the falls was spectacular - the view of the various parking lots and 'family oriented' attractions that are outside the park area wasn't nearly as nice. The commercial establishments outside the park are really tacky - not unlike Gatlinburg, TN. However, the park service has effectively screened the tackiness off with trees, so when you are walking along the river, you don't notice the Ripley's Believe It or Not and other gems. Finally, we drove out to the Butterfly Conservatory, which Brian said was really interesting. It was fantastic! A large, glass building, with waterfalls and tropical plants and thousands of butterflies darting here and there, or resting on leaves, or eating well ripened fruit put out for their consumption. There were so many colors and sizes, nearly all of them unfamiliar to me, except the blue morpho, which we saw in Costa Rica and is one of the most brilliantly colored of all the butterflies. The return trip to Toronto wasn't as bad as the prior night, but it was still bad enough - my goodness, what traffic this city has. Kathy and Brian took us out to dinner - in the summer there are several restaurants that serve dinner outdoors in courtyards. The weather in Toronto was quite warm, so this was a very pleasant way to spend the evening.
Saturday, July 22 - A free day in Toronto Kathy and Brian have a standing golf game on Saturdays, so while they were out, Tom and I walked around Toronto. Our first stop was the St. Lawrence market. It has a collection of permanent and temporary stalls, with every sort of food imaginable - fruits and vegetables, bakery items, meat, poultry, fish, ostrich. One of the things I liked the most about the market was the many different languages I heard - Toronto is a very cosmopolitan city with a large immigrant population and a fair number of tourists. I heard Russian, Swedish, German, French and several languages I couldn't identify. From the market, we headed to the waterfront where there was a Tilley shop (Tilley is a Canadian firm that makes and sells travel clothes - I have several Tilley shorts, pants and socks, plus my trusty Tilley had that has seen me through several trips). I had packed too many long pants, and too few shorts, so I wanted to round out my wardrobe, plus we are planning our next big adventure - to Africa in 2007 and I needed some clothes for that. Tom bought a Tilley hat to replace his shabby Tilley imitation. We walked back to Kathy's condo through the main shopping area on Yonge Street - parts of Yonge are definitely counter-culture. We were among the few without tattoos and body-piercings. Brian had invited us over to his house for dinner - so Kathy drove over to Isabelle's to pick her up (and Caesar, the beloved King Charles spaniel), then to Brian's. Brian's daughter, Barbara, joined us for part of the meal - she is headed off to McGill in August, and Ray, Brian's son, was there too. Brian and Ray are going to New Zealand and Australia in a few weeks - lucky them! Dinner was a lovely barbeque steak (and some great New Zealand wines). It was so good to be able to spend so much time with some of my Canadian cousins. |
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