#CANADA2017
(Yes, we know we are doing the USA too!)
It was a rather uneventful drive from Kitchener to Windsor, Shane continued taking photo’s of numberplates and we tried to get a few of the signs etc. It was a rather long stretch (3.5 hours of driving straight along the 401) and apart from the odd barn there weren’t many sights to remember.
We got to Windsor around 4pm and discussed what we would sort out for dinner. Our hotel (Comfort Suites) was in the centre of Windsor and only a few blocks from the Casino and downtown attractions. We had tried to make a stop at the Visitor Centre but had missed it by a few minutes, so we had to make plans to come early in the morning for our Windsor souvenirs (It also meant a fight with the GPS and data on my phone, so that we wouldn’t end up in the Detroit Tunnel a day early). Our hotel was decent, with a sofa bed and two doubles, which gave the kids their space. However it was then an argument of who got to sleep in the beds with Shane and I (we got split up again) and who was the unfortunate one on the sofa! I had done a search for nearby takeaway joints- the kids were keen to go drive back up to Burger King as we hadn’t tried it, but I was keen to try Poutine again seeing as we were leaving Canada the following day. We skipped trying the nearby diners and jumped back in the car, driving in the miserable weather towards the main street again. The poutinerie was a quaint little store, right next door to a bubble tea joint! While our poutine cooked (Pork lovers for Shane and I, original for the kids) I ducked next door to the lovely Asian man and ordered my Litchee (Lychee) bubble tea. The kids stuck to their soft drinks and we enjoyed our dinner. Unfortunately it wasn’t as great as our first experience at Smoke’s in Toronto, but it was still pretty nice, and the kids loved hooking in to our pulled pork, sausage and bacon topped dinner.
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We scored yet another amazing breakfast this morning. One thing we look back on and realise is that not only is Australia expensive to travel in terms of cost of hotels, fuel, car hire etc., but there are very limited hotels that offer a free breakfast- and if they do it’s just a cereal bar! We enjoyed sitting together eating waffles, pastries, sweet cereals and drinking our cups of tea (with half-and-half!) while the news was on (they were still discussing the change in timeline at the Vegas Hotel Shooting). We weren’t in a rush as the tourism centre didn’t open till 9, and the Henry Ford not opening until 10am. Our hotel manager was a lovely guy and very helpful, it’s funny how certain people stay in your memory!
We woke up at the standard 7am alarm and made our way down to the breakfast area at the Kitchener Inn and Suites. Although I had only booked in for 2a and 2k, it was one of the open continental kitchens that we didn’t need any tickets or vouchers for. We still double checked that we could feed the extra kid though, and they were happy to! We really liked this hotel and would happily stay there again, a perk being the friendly staff and the huge range of breakfast options- many cereals, oatmeal, pastries, hot food and waffles. We definitely got our money’s worth that morning!
Wednesday morning started off like any other day- overcast and yuck. We got up, packed all our stuff back in the bags, hoarded our takeaway breakfast from the downstairs restaurant and shovelled it in in the room, and checked out. Earlier on I had realised that we had not picked up our Toronto souvenirs- I had been collecting Christmas decorations, shot glasses and magnets at every other city that we had visited. I had found one in Vaughan Mills the day before, but had skipped it thinking that it was too expensive. Next time I travel I'm just blowing all my cash, no more of this delaying to find something cheaper- it never works out! So, instead of jumping straight onto the 407 and heading west towards Cambridge, we decided to head back down towards Toronto, cutting across the back roads before joining back on the Expressway, hoping to find a small souvenir shop nearby. We found one on Google, but after 20 minutes of driving towards it, then apparently driving past it, I gave up and just decided to find my Toronto souvenirs in another city. If only I had known that all of the screwing around meant that we were now stuck in a three hour back log of traffic later in the morning! It started off as a rather uneventful trip, backtracking across some of the scenery in Mississauga and the expressways that we had seen a few days beforehand. We put our Canada spotify playlist on, and enjoyed a bit of karaoke. About half an hour later everything came to a stop. A truck had crashed earlier that morning as we were delaying our getaway looking for souvenir shops, at one of the main intersections of the motorway. Even though it was about 80km west of where we sat, the traffic slowed to a crawl. It was just a sea of trucks- Canada is still very reliant on the trans-Canadian highways, and the entire right hand lanes were just full of the double trucks. Every lane had slowed to a crawl, and we edged along bit by bit for nearly 3 hours. I started to get stressed, knowing that we were supposed to be at Elise’s for lunch, but knowing that this was NOT going to happen we risked overusing our roaming Internet and jumped on messenger to make other plans. It was a great relief to reschedule our lunch to a dinner, and made the very, very, very slow trip a bit more relaxing. We literally just spent the time singing along to soundtracks, taking photos of number plates, making fun of trucks (eg. a “THIS TRUCK IS GREEN” sign was rebuffed by Shane- “No it’s not, it’s black!”) and trying to figure out ways to get around and in front of other ‘marker’ cars (eg. Zach seeing a Jeep we were passing- “They bought a Jeep, and before you ask, it was Green!”).
It was nearing lunchtime when we got close to one of the main exits. Apparently a lot of people had the same idea, and we joined a horde of other people that had stopped in a nearby service station to grab some lunch- A & W. The kids were rather excited as it was another takeaway that we haven't tried yet. With found out the hard way that mass amounts of people stopping in at one service station is never pleasant, with every single toilet backed up, full of toilet paper and God knows what else. We tried to complain to the customer service people at A&W, who retorted bitterly that it was the job of the service station next door, and quite often unkept. Apart from that she was quite pleasant, even if I wasn't our meals came to $53! The giant steins of root beer certainly helps soften what the huge expense of lunch! We checked in on the traffic again and decided to take back way, even though people are starting to talk about the interstate accident clearing up. We were getting close to Kitchener, where we had decided to stop in and drop our bags at the hotel before heading to Elise later that evening. The truck crash had been cleared, and no more smoke from the fire was visible when we finally made it on to the overpass. Apparently earlier that morning another truck had crashed going the opposite way, so it seemed to be a very bad morning for trucks! We had spent all our morning in the car, and after our 90 min trip had escalated to over 4.5 hours, we were relieved to finally pull up to our accommodation carpark! Our hotel, Kitchener Inns and Apartments, was on the outskirts of town as you enter into Kitchener. It was directly across from a takeaway joint, and a shopping sports and home Consortium. Brock was rather excited to see a view of Under Armour, Adidas and other sporting stores from our hotel room After checking into our hotel and getting sorted, we got ready to go and visit Elise in nearby Cambridge. We were getting rather excited to see one of our favourite aupairs again, after she left us in 2013! We again followed the back route, finding beauty in all the fall leaf colours. The town of Cambridge was very cute, with older houses and buildings giving it plenty of charm. It didn’t take long until we pulled up in Elise’s driveway, and the nerves suddenly kicked in! Our big adventure in Vaughan Mills was finally over, we went back to the motel. The kids had been hassling us since we arrived as to when they could go for a swim downstairs. It was a great opportunity to let them play while I did all the washing- all four days worth. Shane took them down to the pool while I tried to cram as many clothes into one load of washing as I could.
Being back in Canada we were back to expensive washing machine charges, so it was very lucky that I found one of the broken machines only needed one dollar instead of $2. Little wins like this made me very happy- considering I was on one of the biggest holidays of my life I was surprised that it made such a happy, lasting impression! From what we understand, Canadians used the word “Mills” in the same way that we use the term mall or shopping centre. Vaughan Mills seemed to be a cross between a giant shopping mall and a DFO- it was MASSIVE!
Emme was very excited to realise that the Disney store was directly across from the Lego Discovery Centre as we exited. She had loved the one at New York, and I was surprised that they were actually quite common, not just a Times Square gimmick. We checked out all of the Disney items, now on a good special for Thanksgiving weekend and Halloween. The kids loved all of the additional Star Wars stuff at this store, and we picked up a cute mug for Auntie Sarah and Katelyn (our niece) for Christmas. The Tuesday was not a public holiday, so we decided to try the Lego Discovery Centre again.
We started the morning off with breakfast from the restaurant downstairs. Since we have been a bit cheeky and booked in as two adults and two kids, we were only provided with four free breakfast coupons. We cheated this by ordering all of our meals as take out- I went down by myself to order and collect all the meals on my own, so that we weren’t caught out having to pay the extra meal (or the additional person charge for the room!) Shane and I enjoyed the full cooked breakfast of hash browns, sausages, bacon & eggs with all the extra sides, and was enough to supplement the kids 2x shared pancakes and juices. We must have looked a right laugh (or quite suspicious), squatting down in the corner, pressed against the wall, behind the security stalls while streams of people waltzed past us in to the gates... After getting off the ferry from Toronto Island, we backtracked the way we came down which was straight past the Air Canada Centre. We were fortunate enough to go past as a game was startling, with people all over the street trying to get into the Stadium for the Toronto Maple Leaf's vs Chicago Blackhawks Ice Hockey game.
As we walked past, we asked one of the security guards at the main corner entrance if it was possible for us to get inside and purchase some authentic merch. He directed us to the next entrance a bit further up the street, so we pushed up through the crowds and entered the other entryway. It was ridiculously busy through the gallery area, with a security guard yelling through a megaphone, trying to get everyone into the stall gates to get into the game that was starting in just five minutes. In the main foyer of the hotel there is a stand right next to the lift, that had a variety of discount vouchers for the Toronto area. One of the discount coupons we found was for the Lego Discovery Centre at Vaughan Mills, and since we decided that we were going to go there already, it was handy having the extra discount ticket.
We finished unpacking at the hotel and piled back in the car. Vaughan Mills is only a 10 minute drive up the expressway, so it was nice and close and handy for us. The kids were very excited to be going to the Lego Discovery Centre, but once we pulled up the Mills precinct we had so much trouble finding a carpark- the entire lot was full! (We later found out that this is common for the Thanksgiving bank holiday). We drove around a few times trying to find a park but after having no luck we decided to change our plans. |
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