Ontario Trip with my Mom

 Well it's been awhile!  November has flown by.  I'm not even sure what I did for most of it.  I did get to start it out with a little fun though.  I flew to Rochester, NY and met my mom there.  We crossed the border and spend a long weekend in Canada.  It was really fun to see my mom and chat with her.  We did a lot of driving, but that just gave us lots of time to talk.  it was a bummer Drew didn't get to come along, but I think he knew it wasn't really his kind of trip.  If he had been there these pictures probably would be a lot nicer! While we love living in Alaska and doing the things we do, we are very far away from family.  Visits like these are special treats.  We chose Toronto as the basis of our trip mainly so that we could attend a concert.  Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul, and Mary did a show there:

I have always wanted to see Peter, Paul, and Mary.  I was pretty bummed when Mary died a few years ago. So I decided I better see them before the other 2 were gone too.  They still sang really well even though they are in their 70s.  They played a lot of old favorites and they also each played a solo set.  I was particularly impressed with the new songs that Noel Paul wrote and played.  I hope they continue to record their music!  Now if I can just see Pete Seeger live...

While we were in Toronto for the concert we took a tour of the city, at the request of my mom, toured Casa Loma, a super fancy mansion and saw the Bata Shoe Museum.  My mom got to participate in a little Harlos family tradition of finding a great restaurant to splurge at one night on our trip.  We ate in Toronto's Little Italy at The Standard.  Oh, and we also did some shopping! There are hardly any good stores in Alaska.  It's even worse than Utah.  The downtown Eaton Centre Mall had EVERYTHING.  I found a great Canadian brand called TNA that had some really cute casual things.  We had to leave after a few stores because I was just finding too much great stuff.  While Toronto itself was great, we were glad to leave it because their traffic and freeways were totally crazy.  It was the most difficult place I have ever had to drive.  Pictures from Toronto:

Inside Casa Loma- I guess they used this library for the X Men movies.

Casa Loma

Stained Glass ceiling in Casa Loma

View of Toronto from one of Casa Loma's towers

My Mom outside of Casa Loma.

Little Italy

Train station in Toronto

This wall is in Toronto's City Hall.  It is all made of nails.

Toronto's old city hall.  Much prettier than the new one.

I have only seen bank vaults like these in movies!

Anglican Church of Toronto, which was allowing
Occupy Toronto to  stay on their property.

Old Town Toronto

Torontonians are very proud that this flat iron
building is older than the one in New York.

On our last full day we left Toronto and headed for a town my parents love called Stratford.  They haven't been there in awhile but they used to go up regularly for their Shakespeare Festival.  It's the kind of place with good theater and a big pond with swans in it.  It was nice to walk around and spend an afternoon there.  We also crossed the border at Niagara Falls and got to tour the Canadian side of the falls.  It wasn't crowded at all and we did the Journey Behind the Falls tour.  I had mixed feelings about Niagara Falls because it was so cool to see, but it was so touristy compared to seeing most other natural wonders.  It kind of made me sad.  Still, I'd love to come back with Drew sometime for winter.  The pictures of the falls frozen look spectacular.

Outside the theater in Stratford

Stratford

Beneath Niagara falls.  The sound of the water above us was incredibly loud!

 Although it was a lot of travel for a few days, getting to see my mom was totally worth it.  It was a great trip and I'm grateful she made the long drive to see me.  Thanks mom! :)