The area around the train tracks in Niagara was one of my fave spots, truth be told. Niagara is kind of obnoxious, really - it's very glitzy and has a Vegas sort of feel to it. Bright lights and big city, far more touristy than any of the other places we had been on the entire trip. This is of course as much a part of the fun as it is a drawback - throngs of people tripping over one another to get to the mini-golf and buy fake Niagara Falls license plates that read: "Gr8 Lay" and "4:20" doesn't really scream "I'm next to one of the most amazing natural wonders on the planet..."
There were numerous rundown buildings in what was originally downtown Niagara,many many moons ago. Left to rot when everything moved closer to the falls, the locals have been trying to revitalize it into something of an arts district, but there are still a goodly number of ramshackle houses and weathered stone buildings, rusting bridges, and several defunct businesses bordering the station. I particularly enjoyed the once-was-a-convenience-store that was filled to the ceiling like a hoarder's paradise - maps, old ledgers, string, a rocking horse and a sled, yellowed newspapers, etc.- and a sign on the front door that said they sold stamps and lottery tickets there, and had free kittens, too...
We rode an Amtrak to Union Station in the t.dot, where we had a couple of hours to kill before boarding the final train. We were looking forward to just sitting and relaxing for a bit, and had been told by a few people that there were showers. Apparently, no, not in steerage, which we discovered the hard way. Having walked through Niagara for an entire super-hot day was a grungy way to start the trip, and after being cooped up for another 24 hours you could identify group odours as you passed the seats. I don't even want to know what our area smelled like - I just know that I can't imagine life without a daily shower.
We passed the time by watching movies, playing cards and Angry Birds, and sleeping. Watching the landscape whiz past us was surreal - the Canadian Shield is so diverse and untamed and achingly beautiful. It was almost a shame to be on a train where the luxury of being able to pull over and smell and touch and explore was denied us - we passed by countless pastoral fields, crazy-looking rock formations, quaint little lakes, and weird sections of land where dead trees stood like stubble in glassy ponds. It was especially eerie being up at sunrise when the plethora of random little bodies of water and partially harvested fields would have a wispy blanket of fog hung over them, the sun not quite high enough above the horizon to burn it off, but high enough to stain the sky shades of red and yellow and pink. We passed through countless dead or dying towns, automobile graveyards and collapsed buildings and abandoned farmhouses sprawled out on both sides of the tracks.
The second thing we found out a little too late was that we were stopping in Winnipeg for a 4-hour layover. This would have been a golden opportunity for us to have had a hotel room booked to take showers and freshen up for the last day and a half on the train, but as it wasn't noted on the ticket and it was 8:00 am, we had no luck finding a hotel room so last minute. However, in spite of being cranky and dirty, we managed to have an OK time anyway. We ended up grabbing breakfast at Tim Horton's then walking around in a sweet little area called The Forks. There was a great skate park and a beautifully landscaped walking trail. There was also a candy store called "Sugar Mountain" which we all laughed at because of the easy connection to Candy Mountain... there was much "Charlie, we're on a bridge" laughter to be had. We went into the artisan market, too, where the girls got cheapie dresses, picked up a few last-minute souvenirs, and bought pretty coffees and locally-grown organic cinnamon buns that were so fresh from the oven they were burning my arm as we walked back to the train.
The last discovery I made is that I don't sleep well on trains. While it was easy to nod off for a few minutes at a time, actually sleeping was impossible. The last night on the train was particularly treacherous for me. Feeling cooped, tired, dirty, and decidedly homesick, I almost burst into tears when I saw a John Deere sign glowing in the night sky just outside of Watrous, SK. When the sun rose a few hours later, my spirits lifted. Wil & Kaelan had slept in the dome car, and I went up to wake them and I darn near peed my pants with excitement when I realized from my GPS that we were going to go over one of my favourite bridges ever - the train bridge over the North Saskatchewan that is just north of Highway 16 on the east end of Edmonton. Since I was a kid I have admired it every time I've headed east of Edmonton, and when we got close enough to see it actually squeals, and I'm pretty sure as we rode over it I was vibrating!
We pulled into the station a few minutes later, jumped in a taxi, and went home to shower, do laundry, nap, get our dog home... and upload the 6000 or so pictures from the trip so we could share them with all our friends and family.
Those will be coming in a few day - I managed to whittle it down to about 1400 images. I'll separate them by location, but won't be adding captions - if you want to know what it is or why I took the picture, just ask...
Thanks for coming along on our journey. I've now been in every province and territoty in Canada except for the Yukon and Newfoundland & Labrador, and all I can say is PLEASE make a point of seeing as much of this vast, amazing and beautiful country of ours. From the haunting beauty of the Maritimes to the plush urban niceties of Montreal, the beautiful architecture in Canada's older cities to the bustling modernity of Toronto, from farms to factories, from rocks and oceans and waterfalls to mountains and fields and caves, from icefields and glaciers to deserts and rainforests, Canada has so much to offer.
I. Am. Canadian.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Staycation
My dear friend Lynda moved to Toronto about 7 years ago. She was one of the first people to know that Bill & I were pregnant with Serejane. I was very sad and angry when Lynda moved away, and it was very exciting to be able to crash her house. The boys had spent the previous day with Lynda at Canada's Wonderland, but she had never actually met either of the girls. The girls had been really excited to meet Lynda, but only because Lynda happens to have a chihuahua. (Though, the chihuahua is only one of 3 dogs, the other 2 being a pair of deaf white Great Danes...) We met up with Lynda on Monday at the train station and while we had some sort of plan to do something productive, we instead ended up checking out but one church then hanging out in the park for the rest of the afternoon.
Side bar: I have to talk about my allergies here for a bit. Tannis has a cat, and Lynda has the 3 dogs, plus 2 cats and a parrot; I had been sucking back allergy meds like they were tic tacs since arriving in Toronto. However, it didn't stop me from being congested and itchy, and from developing a huge nasty sty in my eye that made it impossible for me to wear my contacts with sunglasses, which made for some very uncomfortable touring about. However, I did manage to survive, so long as the allergy meds kept on keeping on...
We cooked dinner in (pasta - yum!) then played a game called, "Let's Dance" on Lynda's Wii system. Poor Bill had pulled something in his hip/neck/back and wasn't feeling up to much of anything, but with all 4 kids it was a HUGE hit, and within literally an hour, I had found a Wii system on Kijiji to buy. After the girls went to bed, Lynda & I had some beergarita and (you'll notice a theme with the beergarita thing here...) stayed up late talking and catching up.
We got up ton Tuesday morning and the girls indulged in a little cable TV before we headed out to take in some more of Toronto. Lynda booked a couple of days off so she could have a staycation and had said she wanted to be a tourist with us so we hit downtown, the CN Tower, and rode on the Hippo Tour Bus before retiring back to the house to have pizza. Lynda & I stayed up late again, watching horrible reality TV and crappy late late late night talk shows; poor Bill still had a sore back :(
The plan for Wednesday was to go to Centre Island with the dogs in the morning, then head over and hop on the Go Train to Niagara. But I woke up in the morning with a throbbing sinus headache. After popping my antihistamines it dawned on me that I was no longer treating the symptoms but I thought great - what a perfect time to get my annual sinus infection. Bah. So I borrowed Lynda's bike, which was WAY too tall for me, and rode to the closest Dr.'s office. Which I actually rode past twice on the way there because I had NO idea were I was going... After getting my prescription filled and getting lost on the way home, too, we packed up and started walking to Union Station. Lynda was heading to Niagara in her car to meet up with us later.
On the Go Train I started feeling truly horrible - aching joints, sore skin, headache, and of course a dry, itchy cough... I was SO mad! I was cranky, tired, sore, and not much fun to be around. What a horrible horrible way to end the trip. There was no stopping though, so we checked into our suites (which had the most AMAZING view!) then had some dinner and headed down to the Falls. There had been some sort of incident at the Casino, so one of the security guards (who talked like he had a mouthful of sprung safety pins) told us to walk in the wrong direction and ended up turning into a freefall down a steep hill...
We went to the Journey Under the Falls and yes, I admit, I totally climbed over the fence and got some rocks for my collection. Blah. We hung out at the Falls until they lit them and set off the nightly fireworks which yup, were a total let-down after Montreal... I'm totally a fireworks snob now...
While Lynda went to the casino for her traditional mini-gamble, Bill & I left the kids for a few minutes and went for a walk to find snacks, then headed back to the hotel room where I crashed hard, praying with all my might that I would feel better in the morning, or at least well enough to make the most of the official last day on our trip.
I woke up birght and early feeling more human than I could have hoped for. We met up with Lynda and headed for IHOP to have brekkie. The girls had chocolate pancakes for breakfast, which they still site as being one of the high points of the entire trip... weird kids...
We went back to the hotel and packed our stuff up so we could check out and leave it at the hotel until it was time to head for the train station, then ventured off to Clifton Hill. We went on the Skywheel, visited Tussaud's Wax Museum, said a tearful goodbye to Lynda, went on one of the Ripley's rides, bought fudge, rode on the Maid of the Mist, had lunch, an collected our bags from the hotel to board the train from Niagara to Toronto where we would transfer to Train Number 1 which runs from Toronto to Vancouver. We were tired, hot, sticky, and ready to go home.
Side bar: I have to talk about my allergies here for a bit. Tannis has a cat, and Lynda has the 3 dogs, plus 2 cats and a parrot; I had been sucking back allergy meds like they were tic tacs since arriving in Toronto. However, it didn't stop me from being congested and itchy, and from developing a huge nasty sty in my eye that made it impossible for me to wear my contacts with sunglasses, which made for some very uncomfortable touring about. However, I did manage to survive, so long as the allergy meds kept on keeping on...
We cooked dinner in (pasta - yum!) then played a game called, "Let's Dance" on Lynda's Wii system. Poor Bill had pulled something in his hip/neck/back and wasn't feeling up to much of anything, but with all 4 kids it was a HUGE hit, and within literally an hour, I had found a Wii system on Kijiji to buy. After the girls went to bed, Lynda & I had some beergarita and (you'll notice a theme with the beergarita thing here...) stayed up late talking and catching up.
We got up ton Tuesday morning and the girls indulged in a little cable TV before we headed out to take in some more of Toronto. Lynda booked a couple of days off so she could have a staycation and had said she wanted to be a tourist with us so we hit downtown, the CN Tower, and rode on the Hippo Tour Bus before retiring back to the house to have pizza. Lynda & I stayed up late again, watching horrible reality TV and crappy late late late night talk shows; poor Bill still had a sore back :(
The plan for Wednesday was to go to Centre Island with the dogs in the morning, then head over and hop on the Go Train to Niagara. But I woke up in the morning with a throbbing sinus headache. After popping my antihistamines it dawned on me that I was no longer treating the symptoms but I thought great - what a perfect time to get my annual sinus infection. Bah. So I borrowed Lynda's bike, which was WAY too tall for me, and rode to the closest Dr.'s office. Which I actually rode past twice on the way there because I had NO idea were I was going... After getting my prescription filled and getting lost on the way home, too, we packed up and started walking to Union Station. Lynda was heading to Niagara in her car to meet up with us later.
On the Go Train I started feeling truly horrible - aching joints, sore skin, headache, and of course a dry, itchy cough... I was SO mad! I was cranky, tired, sore, and not much fun to be around. What a horrible horrible way to end the trip. There was no stopping though, so we checked into our suites (which had the most AMAZING view!) then had some dinner and headed down to the Falls. There had been some sort of incident at the Casino, so one of the security guards (who talked like he had a mouthful of sprung safety pins) told us to walk in the wrong direction and ended up turning into a freefall down a steep hill...
We went to the Journey Under the Falls and yes, I admit, I totally climbed over the fence and got some rocks for my collection. Blah. We hung out at the Falls until they lit them and set off the nightly fireworks which yup, were a total let-down after Montreal... I'm totally a fireworks snob now...
While Lynda went to the casino for her traditional mini-gamble, Bill & I left the kids for a few minutes and went for a walk to find snacks, then headed back to the hotel room where I crashed hard, praying with all my might that I would feel better in the morning, or at least well enough to make the most of the official last day on our trip.
I woke up birght and early feeling more human than I could have hoped for. We met up with Lynda and headed for IHOP to have brekkie. The girls had chocolate pancakes for breakfast, which they still site as being one of the high points of the entire trip... weird kids...
We went back to the hotel and packed our stuff up so we could check out and leave it at the hotel until it was time to head for the train station, then ventured off to Clifton Hill. We went on the Skywheel, visited Tussaud's Wax Museum, said a tearful goodbye to Lynda, went on one of the Ripley's rides, bought fudge, rode on the Maid of the Mist, had lunch, an collected our bags from the hotel to board the train from Niagara to Toronto where we would transfer to Train Number 1 which runs from Toronto to Vancouver. We were tired, hot, sticky, and ready to go home.
zoo, dandiyas, bindis, oh my!
We woke up bright and early on Sunday morning. One of the former professor's in our dept relocated to Toronto last year. I had been taking pictures for her for a couple of years, so when she found out that I was passing through town she asked if we could figure out a way to get together for a visit/session. Her friend from Uni also wanted in on the pictures. It ended up working out really well as my other friend Lynda had wanted to take the boys to Canada's Wonderland, which was not really the right place to take the girls; so off to the zoo we went.
Now, I don't really care for zoos - they're OK but I don't find them particularly exciting. However, we were treated to one very cool sight, besides the giraffe with his slobbery black tongue. While we were stopped at the gorilla enclosure, the baby started climbing up the fence. When it got too high, both the Mama and the Dad swooped in to pull him down. After having what can only be called a tantrum, Mama put Baby on the boob and after a few minutes she switched sides. It was pretty neat to see Mama cradle the baby - the girls thought it was pretty trippy.
After we finished up at the zoo, we zipped over to Little India, where we shopped till we dropped, had some uber-yummy food, and picked up some super-sweet secondhand saris. T grabbed some bindis, too, and so we went back to the apartment to have Indian Princess night, complete with make-up and Bollywood music. We called it a night relatively early so we could head out to meet up with Lynda for Day 4 in Toronto.
Now, I don't really care for zoos - they're OK but I don't find them particularly exciting. However, we were treated to one very cool sight, besides the giraffe with his slobbery black tongue. While we were stopped at the gorilla enclosure, the baby started climbing up the fence. When it got too high, both the Mama and the Dad swooped in to pull him down. After having what can only be called a tantrum, Mama put Baby on the boob and after a few minutes she switched sides. It was pretty neat to see Mama cradle the baby - the girls thought it was pretty trippy.
After we finished up at the zoo, we zipped over to Little India, where we shopped till we dropped, had some uber-yummy food, and picked up some super-sweet secondhand saris. T grabbed some bindis, too, and so we went back to the apartment to have Indian Princess night, complete with make-up and Bollywood music. We called it a night relatively early so we could head out to meet up with Lynda for Day 4 in Toronto.
t.dot: Tannis
Some of you may have heard me talk about T. Probably a lot. T is best described as my oldest, dearest, and truest soul sister. Separated by years and miles, sometimes both, we never seem to have the ability to shake the feeling of perpetual cohesion between our souls. We've been through marriages, divorces, kids, countries, and to hell and back both together and alone, many times over, and it was such a treat to be able to bring my family to Toronto since she usually brings herself to us, once every 6 to 18 months. Considering the last time I was in Toronto Serejane wasn't born, it was definitely my turn to make the trip :)
We were originally supposed to catch the train from Montreal to Ottawa at the downtown station, but when we realized that the Dorval station was right beside the airport where we had to drop off the rental van, I called and asked if we could save ourselves the time, agony, and expense of hauling all our gear back downtown and just board at Dorval. This was no problem, as the seats were always assigned on this particular commuter stretch, and after dropping off the van we were even luckier to learn that there was a free shuttle from the airport right to the train station - bonus!
After our fiasco feeling sick on the train after the first leg from Moncton to Montreal, Wil and I were smart to dope ourselves up on Gravol BEFORE boarding... let me just say, two big thumbs up for not feeling motion sick! We had a nice train car that, while we were all facing forward instead of at nice tables facing each other, was a) air conditioned and b) had WiFi. It was a short 5-hour trip which was surprisingly enjoyable, with lots of eye-candy in the way of rusty bridges, graffiti, and derelict buildings. Yay!
We arrived at Union Station feeling sticky and sweaty, but I didn't actually care because standing there in all her sweetness and beauty was T and the adorable R, who I'll discuss later...
Now, for anyone who doesn't know, apartments in Toronto are ridiculously expensive. Even ones in unrespectable neighbourhoods run you into the $1000s. And for those who prefer to live in respectable neighbourhoods, even the funky apartments that haven't been renovated since the 70s or 80s are disgustingly expensive. If you're OK with parquet flooring and fake marble tiling, it might not be an issue. However, it's not for everyone, and by everyone, I mean T. T & R's apartment is not horrible, but according to T, it's like a form of punishment to live there. However, living there affords them the ability to save for more important things like buying a super sexy loft and traveling, and since traveling includes their every 6 to 18 months trip to see me, that's A-OK with me.
We spent the first night settling into the suite, which is I think about 500 square feet. (Read: tiny.) Wil and Kaelan fought over who got to sleep on the balcony/sleep on the NASA space chair and Bill and; I took an air mattress in the living room, which was invaded nightly by the girls who would vacate their spots on the couch in favour of our bed, not unlike what they do at home.
We slept late-ish the second day, then got dressed and ready to spend a day exploring t.dot the right way: by chance on the Metro. We started out with a train ride to Eaton Centre to visit the mac store (apple, not make-up.) This was prompted by two things: Bill getting wine spilled on his iPod, and Kaelan stashing his iPod under my purse in the drybag while we were kayaking. My purse contains several things, including besides the usual lipgloss, wallet, and spare change... a 200mm lens, a fisheye lens, a pancake lens, and a Pentax K20 DLSR, which, even when set gently down on a seabed of gravel and silt, weigh roughly a billion pounds more than required to successfully crush the screen of an iPod.
After we stopped by Eaton Centre only to find out we had to make an appointment, we shook our heads at all the people standing in line for the iPhone 4 and it was off to Kensington Market via Chinatown. While I went gaga over a bonsai tree (I swear I'm in love and if there were any reasonable way for me to take home the one I wanted, it would be here with me now...) the girls went gaga over the parasols and Wil got a veritable rainbow of t-shirts. Unlike Chinatown here in Edmonton where it's more like buying stuff from a Chinese vendor, the prices there are a) flexible and b) super cheap. 5 100% cotton t-shirt, any colour you want, $10. And the further you go into Chinatown, the cheaper the prices get, though I imagine seeing the fish heads on beds of ice, inhaling the strange scents, and checking out the odd-looking fruit is probably enough to stop lots of people from venturing in further than the first few vendors.
Kensington is best described as an eclectic mix of artisan shops, second-hand stores, designer funk, handmade one-of-a-kind goodies, and scary cool mannequins. Apparently the rage in hipsterville these days is cowboy boots and fluffy ruffly pettiskirts. I can't see me rockin' it, though I do recall Serejane wearing nothing but cowboy boots and a tutu for her 2nd birthday. We grabbed a few gifts, then had a horrible experience getting street meat for Serejane who refused to eat even the plain rice if it came from a taco or burrito. A brief stint in the park to run it off, and we were off to Honest Ed's to stock up on, oh, well - you know - everything and anything. This trip we happened to grab some wooden spoons, $.77 underwear, and Ling Ling bubble blowers, amoung other things. I also grabbed some fluorescent religious statuettes in the spirit of Cool Hand Luke - who doesn't need a glow-in-the-dark saint for the dashboard? After Honest Ed's, we headed home for beergaritas, stir fry, and movies before bed.
We were originally supposed to catch the train from Montreal to Ottawa at the downtown station, but when we realized that the Dorval station was right beside the airport where we had to drop off the rental van, I called and asked if we could save ourselves the time, agony, and expense of hauling all our gear back downtown and just board at Dorval. This was no problem, as the seats were always assigned on this particular commuter stretch, and after dropping off the van we were even luckier to learn that there was a free shuttle from the airport right to the train station - bonus!
After our fiasco feeling sick on the train after the first leg from Moncton to Montreal, Wil and I were smart to dope ourselves up on Gravol BEFORE boarding... let me just say, two big thumbs up for not feeling motion sick! We had a nice train car that, while we were all facing forward instead of at nice tables facing each other, was a) air conditioned and b) had WiFi. It was a short 5-hour trip which was surprisingly enjoyable, with lots of eye-candy in the way of rusty bridges, graffiti, and derelict buildings. Yay!
We arrived at Union Station feeling sticky and sweaty, but I didn't actually care because standing there in all her sweetness and beauty was T and the adorable R, who I'll discuss later...
Now, for anyone who doesn't know, apartments in Toronto are ridiculously expensive. Even ones in unrespectable neighbourhoods run you into the $1000s. And for those who prefer to live in respectable neighbourhoods, even the funky apartments that haven't been renovated since the 70s or 80s are disgustingly expensive. If you're OK with parquet flooring and fake marble tiling, it might not be an issue. However, it's not for everyone, and by everyone, I mean T. T & R's apartment is not horrible, but according to T, it's like a form of punishment to live there. However, living there affords them the ability to save for more important things like buying a super sexy loft and traveling, and since traveling includes their every 6 to 18 months trip to see me, that's A-OK with me.
We spent the first night settling into the suite, which is I think about 500 square feet. (Read: tiny.) Wil and Kaelan fought over who got to sleep on the balcony/sleep on the NASA space chair and Bill and; I took an air mattress in the living room, which was invaded nightly by the girls who would vacate their spots on the couch in favour of our bed, not unlike what they do at home.
We slept late-ish the second day, then got dressed and ready to spend a day exploring t.dot the right way: by chance on the Metro. We started out with a train ride to Eaton Centre to visit the mac store (apple, not make-up.) This was prompted by two things: Bill getting wine spilled on his iPod, and Kaelan stashing his iPod under my purse in the drybag while we were kayaking. My purse contains several things, including besides the usual lipgloss, wallet, and spare change... a 200mm lens, a fisheye lens, a pancake lens, and a Pentax K20 DLSR, which, even when set gently down on a seabed of gravel and silt, weigh roughly a billion pounds more than required to successfully crush the screen of an iPod.
After we stopped by Eaton Centre only to find out we had to make an appointment, we shook our heads at all the people standing in line for the iPhone 4 and it was off to Kensington Market via Chinatown. While I went gaga over a bonsai tree (I swear I'm in love and if there were any reasonable way for me to take home the one I wanted, it would be here with me now...) the girls went gaga over the parasols and Wil got a veritable rainbow of t-shirts. Unlike Chinatown here in Edmonton where it's more like buying stuff from a Chinese vendor, the prices there are a) flexible and b) super cheap. 5 100% cotton t-shirt, any colour you want, $10. And the further you go into Chinatown, the cheaper the prices get, though I imagine seeing the fish heads on beds of ice, inhaling the strange scents, and checking out the odd-looking fruit is probably enough to stop lots of people from venturing in further than the first few vendors.
Kensington is best described as an eclectic mix of artisan shops, second-hand stores, designer funk, handmade one-of-a-kind goodies, and scary cool mannequins. Apparently the rage in hipsterville these days is cowboy boots and fluffy ruffly pettiskirts. I can't see me rockin' it, though I do recall Serejane wearing nothing but cowboy boots and a tutu for her 2nd birthday. We grabbed a few gifts, then had a horrible experience getting street meat for Serejane who refused to eat even the plain rice if it came from a taco or burrito. A brief stint in the park to run it off, and we were off to Honest Ed's to stock up on, oh, well - you know - everything and anything. This trip we happened to grab some wooden spoons, $.77 underwear, and Ling Ling bubble blowers, amoung other things. I also grabbed some fluorescent religious statuettes in the spirit of Cool Hand Luke - who doesn't need a glow-in-the-dark saint for the dashboard? After Honest Ed's, we headed home for beergaritas, stir fry, and movies before bed.
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