Buffalo to Toronto

I totally neglected blogging in Buffalo. I thought, oh I'll do it tonight. Then oh I'll do it in the morning. Now here I am in Toronto, Canada!

I am in Toronto with Caroline and Gary. I've known Caroline online for well over 10 years. Probably the oldest online friend pen pal. We've been through so many stages of life together, and fluxes of conversation and no conversation. Seeing her in Toronto was one of the main uber goals of this trip. One of those "if I can accomplish this, it'll be amazing" and here I am without a hitch! My phone does not work in Canada, but I let her know before hand it might not so we just planned for me to park nearby and for me to hollar at her through open window and she came down and I found better parking for my car and yay here I am in Toronto! There seems like much to do, and I'm only here for one full day and Caroline and Gary work that day (Gary is Caroline's boyfriend, who is really nice), but we'll have the evening and I get time to roam but it also might be raining. Still, I'm here. Toronto is one of those cities I should visit again on its own for a few days properly. But driving up was painless. Just over two hours, and that was more due to a weather delay than traffic. Crossing the border was all sorts of questions about how I know Caroline, how much money I have, what sort of trip I am on, what I have in my car, who the car belongs to, does this person know I am visiting. I told the truth but it was one of those things where it's like, dang, I should have just lied. "Oh we went to college together". Boom! Easy! But I was let through and on I went. I was treated to dinner and we had several pints and gabbed (the three of us) and it was perfect. Like old friends catching up, which it was in a way. I'm wearing my most American shirt, which is a graphic of America where each state is represented with typography of the state name.

I don't know where to state with Toronto! It might be easier if I had good access to my phone and maps, but I don't. So I'll probably just walk a whole bunch tomorrow and draw a map. I don't know what exactly I want to see, but then again that would be better probably for a Toronto specific vacation.

But yeah! Whooo, Canada!

So, Buffalo? I guess I'll sum that up.

I got in to Janet and Mark's house and was let in by Maddie who is a friend of Kat, who is a summer intern of sorts who is staying at their house. Janet and Mark were else where. I took a shower and put on pajamas and M & K left, so I had the house to myself. I snacked and relaxed. Janet and Mark came back and we ate popcorn on the back porch while catching up. Janet and Mark, for the uninformed, are the parents of Leanne who I stayed with in Florida. Family upon family. Roaming the country.

Breakfast was aebleskivers, a Danish food, with bacon and eggs. Perfectly delicious! After breakfast, we three went to Niagara Falls. We parked on Turtle Island and walked, for we are good walkers! And we arrived during a perfect break in the rain. Well, it still rained, but lightly. I got some good views of the falls, and ANNDDD they treated me to a ride on Maid in the Mist, the boat that goes to the falls. We all got commemorative ponchos...which were needed to keep our torso dry in the mist, which was really just rain from the waterfall. My feet and pant legs got soaked. Still, what a blast! Just torrents and wind and mist and the falls RIGHT THERE! It was great. Absolutely wonderful. And Mark provided lots of insight about the falls.

We slogged our wet togs to Anchor Bar and met Kat and Maddie, and we were treated to a bucket of wings! Legit Buffalo wings. Mmm so good. That sort of usurped dinner plans, so hours later at home we went straight to dessert with strawberry shortcake, and card games.

Come morning, Mark picked up Great Aunt Doris, and we all went out for breakfast. Doris remembers that the last time she saw me, I was playing with Beanie Babies. I got some good stories about Grandpa, and just life way back when. Doris at 95 is still sharp and very mobile. There is a strain of longevity in this family, well a strain if we try to take care of ourselves. So I guess I need to start doing that.

After breakfast, I cleaned my car. I took everything out of the front seats and vacuumed. I reorganized. I tidied up. I made an effort to not make my car look totally shady when it comes to border watchers. Was there ever a time when you didn't need a passport to get into Canada? Seems like there wasn't, these days. There was some lunch after I cleaned, and then I packed up and off I went! Weather was good, but there was a bit of a storm, but it cleared up when I got into Toronto proper. Now I'm here! And that was what you've been missing. It's a top floor apartment and it's very warm.

But it isn't Florida.