The Ray Adventures: Toronto & Niagra Falls

Thursday, July 2 We left Suzanne & Jeff's around 10, crossing over the St. Clair River on the Blue River Bridge about 10:30. It was a bit of a tight squeeze getting the coach through the immigration booth. No problems getting into Canada. We stopped for lunch at a service center, gas, restaurants etc , different than our rest areas. We picked up our first Ontario geo cache here, it's a good thing, we soon lost cell coverage. We arrived in Toronto at a good time, the traffic was busy but it kept moving. The Pan Am games are scheduled to start July 10 with over 10,000 athletes, I'm glad we'll be gone by then. Toronto is a BIG city with a population of 2.615 million. You could see the city was readying for the influx of athletes and spectators. Locals are not too happy, they made HOV lanes for 3 or more people, really snarling traffic. The weather was almost perfect, partly sunny and 70ish. We got to Glen Rouge Campground 3:00 a trip of 216 miles. (I'm not even going to try to convert to kilometers) Glen Rouge is a city park on the NE edge of town, nice roomy spaces with walking trails along the Rouge River. We took Luci for a walk after setting up but cut it short, the mosquitos were hungry. We are roughing it, no satellite TV, internet or phones. It's amazing how we depend on our electronic gadgets.

Friday, July 3 We left the campground to catch the GO train into downtown Toronto. We were pleased, the senior rate was 1/2 price, $6.55 Canadian. No one checked for tickets on the train. It took about a half an hour get to Union Station, the route took us along the lakeshore for several miles before turning west into downtown. We walked from there to the waterfront to the tourist center. We walked past Rogers Centre, home of the Toronto Blue Jays, bringing back good memories of my trip to Toronto 20 years ago, I had won the trip through Penneys. I stayed at what they called the Sky Dome Hotel, the stadium is attached, the building would rumble when they retraced the roof for a game. Right next to Rogers Centre is the CN Tower. We had several lines to pass through, the first, bag search and metal detector, then a long line for tickets, (not quite an hour), next the mandatory photo (we never buy) and finally the elevator. At the top we had to wait in another line for a strange check, similar to a metal detector but it puffed air at you starting at your head and moving down. Whew, we made it to the observation deck. The CN Tower is 1,815 feet, the tallest building for 10 years. They say you can see Niagra Falls on a clear day, it was clear but didn't see them. There is a revolving restaurant like Seattle's Space Needle, very expensive. We were starving, we checked out the café on the observation deck but didn't want to pay $19.00 for a hamburger. Just down a flight from the observation deck is the area with a glass floor, you can look 1,122 feet straight down. I didn't "dally" long, it made me dizzy but Gary enjoyed looking down. They have an attraction called the Edge Walk, a hands free full circle walk around outside of the roof.   No Thanks!
On our way to the subway we grabbed a quick bite. We caught the subway at Union Station, what a maze, us country folks aren't used to things like that. Casa Loma is a medievil style castle surrounded by 5 acres atop a hill overlooking what is now downtown Toronto, it reaches up to 300 feet high, built in 1911 the 96 room castle cost at that time 3.5 million dollars. Beautifully decorated in mostly original furniture and furnishings. It was much easier walking down the hill to catch the subway for Union Station, navigate through the station to catch our GO Train back to Rouge Hill. Our timing was perfect, we only had to wait about 5 minutes. The GO Train and Subway cars were nice, the train had 3 levels, we rode on the top for the best view of the city and Lake Ontario. Again, no one checked our tickets. Luci , as usual, carried no grudge and was happy to see us. On our walk through the park we met Jeff and Carol, they also have a 2014 Discovery and had just come from Decatur Indiana. Hmmmm.
Jeff showed Gary how to connect the TV antenna for local channels, we were able to watch a little TV, mostly Canadian stations with one US channel.

Saturday, July 4! Happy 4th of July. it seems strange being in Canada for the holiday. The good thing is we don't have to listen to fireworks all hours of the night.   Canada had their day July 1st.
We left Luci in the coach again, poor baby, catching the 10:35 train into downtown. Still no one checked tickets, we wondered if they ever do. We walked from the station to the historic distillery district, a bit of a walk, the largest preserved collection of Victorian brick buildings and brick streets. At one time there were quite a bit of spirits produced there, now mostly "artsy" shops, galleries and restaurants. The usual high end tourist fare. The oldest and largest structure, a stone building, opened in 1861 and produced whiskey until 1990. We had lunch at El Catrin, I suppose you would call it high end Mexican cuisine. I had the Caltrin salad which was yummy, Gary had 3 tiny pulled pork tacos that looked delish! After lunch we walked to the St. Lawrence Market, only about 1/2 mile walk, located also in the industrial area, a large marketplace selling produce, gourmet food, tourist fare, meats and seafood. Saturday afternoons are the wrong time to meander through, it was really crowded. To finish our tour of Toronto we walked back to the waterfront to enjoy an adult beverage, soak up the sun, watch people and enjoy the scenery. It also felt good to get off our feet! We dragged our weary behinds back to Union Station to catch the GO train. I enjoyed a revitalizing nap. This time someone checked tickets, must be random. On the way back to the coach we stopped at a market to spend the rest of our Canadian money, after we took one apple out we had 20 cents left.

Sunday, July 5th We left Glen Rouge Campground about 10 for our (supposedly) easy 110 mile drive to 4 Mile Creek Campground near Niagra Falls on the shore of Lake Ontario. Traffic was light, we passed up the Express Lanes because traffic in the Collector Lanes was moving at speed limit. The Express Lanes are fed by the Collector Lanes to keep the flow moving. We missed our second opportunity to get on the Express, oh well, still moving along. Then: We stopped. Stop and go for over an hour! After getting out of the construction the freeway south to Niagra Falls was also jammed up with heavy traffic. After we started moving at a good clip again, someone came alongside with a note our chains were dragging. We stopped while Gary fixed them with duct tap. Off again, we made it to the border crossing, waiting about 45 minutes. We got through with no problems. at least one thing went right. Finally made it to 4 Mile Creek CG, we unhooked the Jeep so Gary could back in. I smelled something funny, the wires he'd duct taped were smoking. (and we're not even in Colorado) Good grief! I see a trip to the RV service in our future. We needed to move the picnic table to make room for the coach, Gary stubbed his toe on the runner. An adult beverage was in order after this day. The campground is very nice, the spaces are quite roomy and if you hold your head just right we have a lake view. We are still roughing it, no sewer, water or satellite TV but now thanks to Jeff we can watch local channels.

Monday, July 6, I walked Luci in the morning, G is nursing his sore toe, we don't think it's broken but still hurts pretty bad. We are planning to go to Ft. Niagra today, he thinks there will be less walking than if we went to the falls. The fort is only about 10 miles from here on the mouth of Niagra River and Lake Ontario, located in the corner of the 504 acre park it's been restored to 18th century times. Our visit started with a 15 minute movie then, to our surprise, we had a tour guide take us to the fort with historical commentary and a little humor too. FN is the longest continuously military site in the country. It began as a French military post in the late 1,600's the oldest building on the Great Lakes the French Castle was built in 1726 and remained active until 1916.
The oldest lighthouse on the Great Lakes is located there and was active until the Coast Guard took control. The fort was under control of the French, British and US. We headed back to the coach for lunch before heading out to Lockport to a quilt shop. What a surprise, we stumbled upon part of the Erie Canal, at 363 miles long, was the first all water link between the Great Lakes (Lake Erie) and the Atlantic Seaboard. It was originally 4 feet deep and 40 feet wide, 83 locks in all and mules pulled the barges on a track, (like we saw in Ohio) now is a multi use trail. We picked up our first New York geo cache on one of the widest bridges in the world at 399 feet and 129 feet across the canal. People have put padlocks on the fencing, one of which was the gc (see picture). We got to see a couple of boats traverse the locks. We are so glad we happened upon the canal. Oh and the quilt store was nice too. After dinner we rode our bikes around the park catching a glimpse of sunset, the sun was a big red ball and no camera.

Tuesday, July 7th Will get to cross another thing off my bucket list, I'm going to have to start adding things to the list or I'll finish my list before I'm ready. Today was the day we plan to go to the Falls, Gary's toe is much better. Where to begin? We bought the $38.00 Discovery Pass that gives you admittance to the Aquarium, Maid of the Mist, Cave of the Winds, Niagra Adventure theater and the Niagra Gorge discovery center, plus unlimited rides on the trolley. We started at the Niagra Gorge Center, it was a bit "hokie" but gives you information on how the area was formed. Next the theater, a 30 minute film tells about Indian legends, explorers and the true story of a boy who survived a plunge down American Falls in 1960. Finally we get our first glimpse of the falls on the way to the Cave of the Winds experience. As we all know, the Niagra River flows between the US and Canada, the falls are divided in 3, The American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls on the American side and Horseshoe falls on the Canadian side. Horseshoe Falls is the widest, Bridal Veil, the middle and smallest is separated by Goat and Luna Islands. The American Falls, at 184 feet is the tallest. Massive rock slides over the millennium have shortened them by 7 miles. The Cave of the Winds experience was a real kick in the pants-you get a pair of lovely souvenir sandals and a yellow plastic poncho which were necessary. After an elevator ride down to a stair case, taking the stairs down (?) for views up to the top of Bridal Veil Falls. The noise was thunderous, you could hardly hear anyone talking I got pretty wet, Gary stayed off the very top deck, aptly named the Hurricane Deck. After shedding our lovely rain gear and another elevator we walked to the overlook of BVFalls.   I asked the elevator operator about the stairs, he said they are torn down every fall and replaced in the spring with a new set. A job I don't think I'd like, you'll see from the pictures how dangerous it must be to build. Instead of waiting for the trolley we walked back to the observation tower and entry to the Maid of the Mist boat ride. The tower was packed with tourists (those darn tourists) so we headed to the elevator down to the river. We donned our blue plastic poncho's for the boat ride, we lucked out, we were one of the first ones on the boat so we were right up front on the bow. Good news, bad news I suppose. What a different perspective of the falls from the river. It was breezy spreading the mist more than normal. The trip took us past the Cave of Winds giving you a look at the stairs. As we got closer to the Horseshoe Falls the mist got thicker and thicker until it was more like a heavy rain. We got pretty close, I think, my glasses were so wet I couldn't really see anything. Wow, how fun, I'd do that again. I tried to do something with my hair, haha, it was hopeless. We caught the trolley back to the aquarium, which was so so. We got back to the coach about 4, I BBQ'd chicken then vegged. What a day!

Wednesday, July 8, We drove into Buffalo, about 30 miles, to visit the Ralph Wilson Stadium where the Buffalo Bills play. Talk about bare bones and in an "ugly" part of town. The population is over 200,00, a mix of old architecture, new and crumbling. We had lunch at Pearl Street Grill and Brewing in the downtown area. After lunch we walked to City Hall's observation deck on the 28th floor Built in 1931 it has been maintained to keep the original 30's art-deco look. After walking around downtown checking out the old buildings and fountains we drove out to a complex designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1903. We missed the last tour of the day, we were able to visit the gift shop which originally was the carriage house. The historical society is just completing a 50 million (yes million) restoration. After 3 days of non-stop sightseeing we were pretty tired. I did get to go into the city of Niagra Falls to the Laundromat. Wah Hoo!

Oh and it's a little under a month until football starts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, that's it for this week, enjoy the pic's, I had hundreds to choose from.

TTFN,

Gary and Pam

PS I didn't publish this until Friday eve. Lousy service at park. Now at Watertown NY