Another vacation come and gone… sigh.
This was the first Road Trip I ever took, and quite frankly I hope it’s the last. I LOVED Chicago, but next time I am flying. All that driving was a lot of wasted time and I did not enjoy it. It’s boring, there is nothing to see, and my husband is very “destination oriented” so impromptu stops along the way are out of the question.
Flying from Plattsburg to Chicago would be affordable (would not fly from Montreal – THAT is too expensive / Plattsburg is about an hour away by car), just look at the prices I got for flights when I entered random dates in July… ok, these are insanely long routes, but keep in mind it’s for JULY, when everything is pricey!
I rather pay 500$ for a flight that gets me there in a day, as opposed to gas, hotel and meals that would get me there in two. In fact, I am willing to wager it would be cheaper!
However, in this particular case, we did go to Niagara Falls on the way there, so it wasn’t SOOOOOO bad.
My aunt is visiting from Switzerland and she was keen on seeing Toronto and Niagara Falls, so the 4 of us (my husband and I & my mom and her sister) went for a visit.
We drove to Toronto on Saturday where we dropped them off at their hotel in Downtown Toronto, had lunch with them while they waited for their room to be ready, and then my husband and I went off to stay with his cousin in Milton. Ironically, his wife was in Montreal that weekend! – Go figure.
I like my husband’s cousin, I like his attitude. It seems every time I see him he is always in a good mood. Look at how pleasant he seems in this picture! What’s not to like!
We were very comfortable at his place. I was EXTRA impressed with the guest-bed!!! This looks like a normal wall-unit...
But look!! The bed folds down like a Murphy Bed, and the desk (now underneath) remains intact and flat, so no need to clear anything off! It's GENIUS! ... and was very comfy too.
Milton is a cute little town, but it just confirmed that I am a city girl. It’s too small for me… nevertheless, they had lots of nice restos and we had a great dinner at Casa Americo. A good Italian meal with live music. It was a really enjoyable evening!
Love this picture of my husband and his cousin:
On Sunday morning, we drove back to Toronto to pick up my mom & aunt, and headed out to Niagara Falls.
The last time I saw the Falls was in 1990, my husband was in the 70s and we both said it was nothing like we remembered it!
I found the little town around it a fascinating collection of American chain restaurants!! Quite amazing. As for the Falls themselves, kitschy or not, they are something impressive to see!
I liked the views from the Skylon Tower the best:
My aunt was blown away! She loved it and repeated mentioned she could not believe she was actually there. That was nice, it helped me appreciate it more myself!
We had lunch at The Edgewater's Tap & Grill, and because we were a little on the early side, we got a fantastic table on the terrace with a full-on view on the American Falls from our table. It was really nice… and infinitely better then being enclosed in an American Chain Restaurant!
When we were done with the Falls, we drove to Niagara On The Lake to see a what that town had to offer.
I have to say that for a place that is pretty much only shopping, I liked it anyway! We arrived and parked the car just in time to hear a band playing the Canadian and American National Anthems in honour of the 200 year anniversary of the war of 1812.
We walked around for a little while, then had drinks at Shaw Cafe & Wine Bar. It was really lovely!! My picture has too many distractions in the way, so I had to swipe this one from Street View
We decided we’d stay in town for dinner, which I think we all kind of secretly regretted because it was getting hotter and hotter and our motivation for sightseeing was fading!
We decided on a nice light snack at the Golf Club Patio overlooking Lake Ontario. It was really picturesque! The food was ok, I had some wine and cheese and my mom and aunt had nice salads…
I have very few shots because my husband was getting fed up and wanted to hit the road, but I did take this one of the view with my Ipod… better than nothing!
Afterwards, we dropped them back off in Toronto, and returned to Milton to rest before we hit the road for the U.S. on Monday.
End of part 1
I love road trips! But with my dad or mum they're fun. Lots of stopping off, checking things out. It also helps if it's somewhere with interesting scenery--love driving around Vancouver Island, it's beautiful everywhere you go.
ReplyDeleteWhen dad and France drove across the country I made them packages to open each day with a game to play, weather forecast etc. They're always talking about how great it was but I don't remember a THING I put in them.