A Celebration Vacation to Toronto

Some people go all out and spend hundreds, if not thousands, on their child's first birthday. Us? We decided to take that money and go on vacation! Graham won't ever remember, and we deserved a kid-free vacation.

Chris actually had a work conference in Toronto, so I decided to tag along for a few days so we could make a vacation out of it. I've never been to Canada and had an image in my head that ended up being so far off from the reality of Toronto.

For one, Toronto is a melting pot. I've been to New York City three times and that is nothing compared to how diverse Toronto is. We were shocked to only meet a handful of people who were actually Canadian.

Other things we noticed was the amount of smokers, the lack of ice cream shops, and how delicious their water is. Dallas has the worst water. Canadian water is good. But, they give you three tiny ice cubes, which was weird at first, but their water is so cold that it didn't matter. I couldn't imagine drinking water in Texas from a restaurant without ice. No. thank. you.

We ventured out of our comfort zone and had authentic Ramen one night. Chris is not what I'd consider an adventurous eater, but I convinced him to try Ramen with me and he totally loved it! We also ate Italian one night and I had the best mozzarella cheese I've ever had in my life. Seriously, I should have brought some back with me because my mouth is watering now.

For this trip we didn't have much of an itinerary. We wanted it to be relaxing and go with the flow. The only thing I really wanted to do was see Niagara Falls. Other than that, we just wandered.

Saturday we went up the CN Tower. I believe it is 1,122 feet in the air and there is a glass floor. I literally almost fainted when Chris made me walk across it with him. I feel woozy just thinking about it now! After that we just wandered around the Eaton Center and the surrounding area. It was a fun a relaxed day.

Sunday we wanted to go to Niagara! We had some trouble renting a car. We reserved one online, but when we got to the place they had ZERO cars available, even though I made the reservation well in advance. Ironically, though, it turned into a fun situation where we met a guy from Scotland who lived in Toronto. He was in the same situation as us and he ended up being our mini tour guide of downtown as we searched for the other rental car places. Hearing his story and learning about his life was fascinating!

We finally got a car (a Nissan Note, which was quite comical seeing Chris drive since he is so used to his very Texas sized truck) and drove the 1.5 hours to Niagara. It lived up to every expectation and I can't wait to bring G (and all our other future babies!) back someday!

Monday we ordered room service for breakfast and I caught a cab back to the airport.

Now I'm ready to tackle the week ahead! Just kidding...bring me back to vacation, but this time with our G baby!

Happy Tuesday!