We had a GREAT trip! DD and DH want to go back next year.
Left NC on Friday, 7/1. Arrived in Buffalo 10 hours later and spent the night there. Got up on Sat. morning and drove 30 mins to Niagra Falls. Beautiful! Didn't do any paid activities, just went to the US side welcome center and the observation area. DD was impressed with the rapids leading up to the falls, and when she saw the actual falls, she was really excited.
After leaving the falls, we headed across the border. Checked in with the really nice Canadian Border Guard guy- we almost threw DD out of the car, though. She made a little joke about firearms when he asked if we had any (we do not own any). She piped up from the backseat, "We left all our dangerous firearms at home!". We laughed it off and shushed her, and let her know that is NOT something to joke about with people who can detain you at the border (or airport, etc)!
3 hours of driving later, we arrived at our resort in Collingwood. It was very nice, and Collingwood is beautiful! We stopped for lunch along the way in Orangeville- loved it, too! The country was so pretty on the drive- we were surprised at the number of vineyards near the US border.
We really just relaxed and enjoyed the peace and quiet in Collingwood- went to the grocery store and stocked up on food for the week (we were amazed at milk in a bag!!)- DH also just about died with happiness at The Beer Store. He was like a kid in a candy store, picking out fun Canadian microbrews to try.
We did a lot of swimming at the resort. We also hit the beach one day- very nice!! DH and I liked just strolling along the waterfront at the marina across the street from our villa. The weather was BEAUTIFUL!! Lows in the 60's, highs ranging from the upper 70's to mid 80's. We did a lot of just sitting outside, hanging out and enjoying the weather. We grilled out for dinner almost every night and really enjoyed our lazy time.
We did head into Toronto 2 days- drove both times. We were going to try out the GO train, but the Barrie North station only had trains running at really early rush hour times. Quite limited stervice. We decided to just take the car in. Went to the Zoo one day- arrived, after a bit of a GPS adventure, at around 11am. The GPS wanted to direct us to the Administrative Offices rather than the public entrance, so it had us trying to enter the back of the zoo on an unmarked gravel road. We found our way to the main entrance after a bit of confusion.
The zoo was fun- it was much bigger and more spread out than we expected. We decided we needed to head out by 3pm so we wouldn't get stuck in bad traffic- we only made it through about 1/2 of the zoo before we had to leave. What we saw was really nice- DD loved the polar bears and DH and I liked the African pavilion very much.
Our other Toronto day was spent mostly driving around the city, taking in the sights. We had originally decided to go to the ROM, but changed our minds that morning. We ended up driving through a lot of downtown areas (saw the Easton area, CN tower, old residential areas, etc) and walking around the St. Lawrence Market and surrounding area.
We really loved our Canadian adventure- everyone we met was so nice! We definitely want to go back next year- thinking of trying Montreal.
"Canada cold"..every day...
Many of us Canucks have to be at least semi-fluent in Imperial as well as metric, because this country never fully metricated. I work in a grocery store (I manage the milk-in-a-bag department as well as the frozen foods) and every week we get people asking for a quart or a pint of milk. We haven't sold milk in that exact size since the 70s...but we do give our meat prices per pound. The deli meats might be per pound or per hundred grams. As for temperature, you'll often hear it expressed in Fahrenheit. And unless you're under twenty years old you likely have no idea of your height in centimeters or your weight in kilos.
