Tuesday, August 26th, Ontario, Canada
We crossed the international bridge to Canada. Once we left Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, it turned out to be a beautiful drive. It started off hilly, and then there were some rocks mixed in with the hills. It reminded us somewhat of Western Maryland.
I took a lot of pictures. The scenery all the way across to North Bay was beautiful. There were very few times when the scenery wasn’t attractive to look at. But most of it was gorgeous. Trees, rocks, hills, flowers beaches and lakes. Some areas were so rocky it looked like a giant rock garden with gigantic rocks.
We were stopped a few times for construction; but the delays were usually only about 5 minutes or so, very unlike the United States.
One thing we noticed was that the road signs had both English and French. The closer and closer we got to Sudbury, the more French we saw. It was neat, gave me a chance to learn some French. Est is East. Quest is West. Sud is South. Sortie is exit. Debut is begins. (as in the highway begins)
We arrived at the Clarion Pinewood Park Resort Hotel in North Bay, Ontario around 7:30. At 8 we headed to the dining room for dinner. Keith explained his food allergies to the waitress who checked with the chef to see what they could fix for him to eat. It scared me at first when she came out and said “the liver,” and didn’t continue with the list right away. Keith made a face and she also told him he could have the prime rib and they would be able to steam his veggies. That worked for Keith and I felt much better knowing he would be able to have a nice dinner.
While we were still in the room, Bob and I looked over the restaurant menu. It looked huge and Bob was all set to get some pizza. When we got to the restaurant, though, the menu was much smaller and didn’t have all the same choices as the menu in the room. He ended up getting a steak. He said it was good, but when Sarah asked him how he liked his Canadian steak, he answered with, “I’d rather be eating some Canadian pizza.”
Wednesday, August 27th
For breakfast the hotel was able to toast the bagels Keith could eat. (we carried some Keith-friendly bread with us) He had the bagels with jam and had some tea.
We checked out after breakfast and started off for Niagara Falls. We stopped once about 45 miles north of Toronto for a little break and for Sarah to mail a postcard to Jen. Jen wanted her to mail a postcard from Canada.
The closer we got to Toronto, the wider and more American-looking the highway became. The scenery was less attractive--less trees and more buildings. We also encountered more construction along this route and the delays were a little longer than the day before. Still, it was neat to finally see Toronto. After living near Canada for so long, it was nice to see some of the cities I had heard about for years.
We stopped again just north of Niagara Falls at a rest stop. They had a food court and we stopped for lunch. Keith found something he could eat at Wendy’s. (whew) Bob and I got pizza. When Sarah said he finally got his Canadian pizza, he said it wasn’t all that good. What a character he is.
After driving through Canada for two days, one thing I did notice was that Canada doesn't have nearly as many ugly billboard signs as the States does. There are some near cities to advertise hotels and restaurants, but otherwise, I didn't see many.
We got in the car again and didn’t stop until we got to Niagara Falls, Canada. We stopped and looked at the scenic views of the falls, walked around the town of Niagara; (a very nice town) stopped in the duty-free shop and then went across the border. Customs was easy both entering Canada and re-entering the US.
We found Niagara Falls State Park—parked—and headed to the falls. We walked around for several hours. Viewed the falls from several angles. All I can say is magnificent. Spectacular. You can feel the spray in your face. I loved it. We all took several pictures. After a couple of hours we walked across the pedestrian bridge to Canada. They call it Rainbow Bridge. You need your passports when you head back to the states. We spent quite a while on the bridge taking pictures.
After re-entering the states, Sarah decided to go back to the far side of the park to get some T-shirts she had seen earlier. Bob went back to the car since he was tired. It was close to 8 pm by this point. I walked back over with them, took a few more pictures while I waited. On our way back, a young lady stopped Keith and asked him how to get to Rainbow Bridge. We pointed in the direction she needed to go. She seemed a little nervous, so we told her to walk with us, we were going in the same direction. As we got near the car, I headed over so Bob wouldn’t start wondering where we all were. Sarah and Keith continued walking with the Japanese girl and took her right to the bridge. They chatted with her while walking and learned she lived in Canada for a year and she was back visiting. She came across the bridge earlier in the evening, but had gotten confused on how to get back. Since it was getting dark, we didn’t want her just wandering around. Keith, the language expert, was able to greet her in Japanese. He said “Ohio,” and something else that I can’t remember. He said she was surprised he knew a greeting. As they said good-bye to each other, Keith said they bowed and shook hands. Once we all got back in the car, Keith said, “We walked a Japanese girl all the way back to Canada.”
As we drove toward Buffalo to our hotel, we noticed the sunset was so beautiful. Sarah was able to turn around and get some pictures of it. It really was a gorgeous shade of red.
We found the hotel and checked in. By this point it was already about 9 and I know everyone was as exhausted as I was. Bob and Keith decided to go to Boston Market for take-out food. They were very nice and worked with Keith to fix food he was able to eat. Being so late, they just all took the food to our separate rooms rather than eat together. I took a shower while Bob was gone and felt much better.
It was a late dinner—but sure hit the spot.
It must’ve been around 11 when we went to bed.
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