Canada Ehh?

This year we decided to take a short trip for our anniversary to Canada. We flew late Wednesday, August 17 and returned early Sunday, August 21.

Pre-Trip

Contessa (left) and Norman (right)

They were being super sweet and loving before we left. All the harder to leave them.

Thursday, August 18th

Technically we left on Wednesday night, but by the time we arrived to the hotel in Niagara (ON) it was about 1:10am... I think i woke up around 7:45am and Joe said 'I let you sleep in'. Which is true, 7:45am is pretty late for me to wake up, but not going to bed until at least 1:30am I was still pretty tired.

Canadian Dollars

This first thing we did that day was walk down to the Falls. It was only about a 10minute walk from our hotel room.

Walking down to the Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Behind us is the American Falls (including the Bridal Veil)

Lunch (Canadian Beer!)

What a great view during lunch! You can see the American Falls behind Joe.

Lunch

You can see the Horseshoe Falls behind me.

Journey Behind the Falls

This little adventure was totally worth it! We went behind the Horseshoe Falls to be up close and personal with the thundering rushing water! It was very misty.

Cheese!

Downtown Niagara

I was pretty shocked at how touristy and tacky the downtown area was. After a nice dinner at AG, we walked to the Casino (which you can see the tall building in the background). That's where we ended out night only down $5.00. I can handle that.

Friday, August 19th

Friday was our day to drive up to Toronto. The drive was only about 1.5hours north of Niagara. I must say it was a pretty awesome city.

Drive to Toronto

Distillery District

Our first stop was the Distillery District. It was a neat little area. I thought it was going to be more of beer stops, but it was more shopping, art galleries, and a few restaurants. Still very neat.

Toronto Eaton Centre

Of course Joe found shopping for me! It was def 3 stories of solid shopping. I think their may have been shops on the 4th floor but we didn't make it up that far.

Joe (sitting in chair in a shoe store)

Amanda (snaps and points to door)

Joe: 'Excuse me?'

Amanda: Did my hand stutter?

Dinner @ CN Tower

360 Restaurant on top of CN Tower

This place was really neat! At the 360 restaurant, the interior of the building rotated 360 degrees in 72 minutes to get amazing views of the city.

Image from the 360 restaurant

Glass View! ESHK!

I really didn't want to stand on top of it. Heights do freak me out a little.

Niagara Falls @ night

American Falls (blue through red) & Bridal Veil Falls (yellow)

Horseshoe Falls

Saturday, August 20th

This particular spot was right by our hotel entrance.

Saturday, we dedicated our day to a little more R&R. We visited 2 wineries in the area. Their wines are mostly french 'style'.

Chateau De Charmes Winery

Pellar Estates Winery

View at Lunch

Pellar Estates Winery

Chicks and Chocolates

We had never done a wine and pairing 'class' before. Pellar Estates offered one called Chicks and Chocolate (and yes there were other males). ;) It is quite amazing how the pairing process works and makes wine and chocolate taste that much better together. I'd love to do another one of these.

Return Home

The return home was absolutely exhausting. We had to wake up at 3:30am to drive back to Buffalo and catch a 6:15 flight that connected in D.C. We arrived back at RDU around 10am... Just exhausting...

Norman loves when I go shopping as he gets the bags as his Canadian present.