Sep 20, 2007

The Great Ontario Road Trip

I spent the last week in Ontario, visiting my bestest friend, Dawn. It was my first time to Ontario, so it was a busy sightseeing week... and it was fantastic!! We had so much fun touring Toronto and Niagra Falls, then we headed north to Sudbury and hilarity ensued.

In Toronto we walked around downtown and ate in cool restaurants, we even went to a show at The Second City called 'Facebook of Revelations', which ended with a song containing the line "Jesus has added you as a friend. Will you accept the request?" So funny.

We went to Casa Loma and were surprised to see the castle all Hollywood-ed up. ET Canada had rented it every night that week for celebrity parties because the Toronto Film Festival was going on. We had fun posing on the red carpet and pretended to be much more important than we are.

We also went to the CN Tower and ate lunch at the cafe overlooking the city. I had a really hard time stepping onto the glass floor, I only did it long enough to get one picture of my shoes over the city, then I jumped back.

Another day we drove to Niagra Falls. I think TV has ruined me. I was expecting it to be huge and incredible, so it was quite underwhelming. We did the 'Journey Behind the Falls', also a let-down. In hind-sight we should have done the Maid of the Mist, but we though going behind the falls sounded cooler. We put on yellow ponchos and walked down a concret hallway with 2 windows/sewer grates where you could see a wall of water. Thats it. There was one lookout area where you were standing right at the base of the falls, so that was ok... and wet.

While in the Niagra area that infamous commercial jingle from our childhoods kept playing over and over in our heads so we headed to MarineLand. Turns out its more 'Land' than 'Marine'. But, visiting an amusement park on a weekday in September is a great idea. We didn't wait in a single line and we could go on most rides as many times as we wanted. For dinner we drove into Niagra-On-The-Lake and ate and bought fudge. Mmmm... fudge.
The next day we got back in the car and headed north. Sudbury is about 4 hours from Toronto so we took a little side trip to Parry Sound. We played around taking pictures and being stared at by all the old people who had just got off a ferry. In Sudbury we visited the World's Largest Nickel, went down in a mine, went to the best science center ever and attended Dawn's baseball banquet. Fun. At the science center I held a snake and rode a Segway. Cool. And I got to visit with an old friend from Grande Cache and her family who I hadn't seen in years. It was hard to leave, but I'm back in Calgary to relax and enjoy my last 10 days in Canada before I ship out again.


To see more pictures from the adventure you can click the link to my facebook albums:

Part 1:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=53786&l=04e6a&id=798630540

Part 2:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=53792&l=2d527&id=798630540

An Epidemic of Fugly


I had no idea how much of a problem you in Canada were having. I mean, yes, I've seen it in Asia, too, but not to the extent that it is here. I'm talking about Crocs.
Since I got here about a month ago for my vacation I have seen every size and color imaginable. I understand the function of Crocs for gardening or mowing the lawn, but they are not formal footwear,. And if you think the 'MaryJane' style ones are dressy, you are wrong. And then to see fur lined winter Crocs... ridiculous.
The ugliness alone was enough for me to stay far, far away, but then I saw the price. Why would anyone in their right mind pay that much for styrofoam shoes!?!