To Ontario, and Beyond!

So, last week Rin and I travelled back to our homeland (well, where we lived before we moved here, at least): Kingston, ON Mostly because my parents wanted us to visit them, but there were several detours as well.

First off, we flew into Ottawa, ON. When we got there, we decided to head to the National Gallery of Canada. I;m not really an art buff, but Rin loves all of that stuff. She paints, she makes masks, she's recently started making jewellery, she's very artsy in general, so this was really just for her. As soon as we walked in, the gallery started to taunt her with an exhibition that ended the week before we got there: Van Gough. Sadly, even though the exhibition was done, none of the galleries pemanent Van Gough pieces were back on display. So not only did they taunt her with a massive show she couldn't see, but she didn't get to see a single Van Gough. She enjoyed her time there though, and touch one of the marble statues on display (even though I kept yelling at her not to). She was giddy as a school girl after that.

After that, we drove around Ottawa a bit, but basically just headed to Kingston. A relatively long, boring drive. The evening was good, chatted with my parents, had supper, etc, etc.

The next day we went to Five Guys for lunch (which if you read my Florida Trip Report, you'll know we fell in love with in Tampa). We forgot how massive their fries are, and ordered a large. We left the majority of the fries at my parents house. Still as delicious as ever though. Then, we had a large bbq, with friends and family all coming to see us. Good times were had.

Nothing at all happened on Monday, other than we went to Sakura for supper. If you're ever in Kingston for any reason, go to this place. I don't care what you're doing in Kingston, go to this place. It's a Japanese all you can eat restaurant (they have Teppanyaki as well, but we don't care for it very much), but instead of a buffet, you give them a list of items (all of the menu items are numbered), and it's all cooked to order. Delicious. And I'm not even a big fan of Japanese food.

Tuesday was the first of two 'trips-within-a-trip,' and we headed south of the border to Syracuse, NY. We've always enjoyed going down to the Carousel Center to shop, so decided to do the same. Little did we know that the Carousel Center is now Destiny USA, and has gotten much, much bigger. Apparently it's now the biggest mall in the Eastern USA.  When we were there, they were actually still expanding, and in the process of adding a Wonderworks (familiar to fans of Orlando), indoor go-karting, and like 5 full size restaurants. And maybe a few other things that I can't remember. So we shopped for many, many hours, much longer than we had planned, and Rin walked away with a few really nice (and inexpensive) finds.

But Wednesday, that's the day I'd been waiting for. We were headed off to Toronto (well, Vaughan, but it's essentially Toronto), which is easily my favourite city in Canada. We stayed at Aloft Vaughan Mills, which I was very excited about. I'd never stayed in a Aloft Hotel (which are kind of like W's funky little brother), but I'd heard a lot about them, and was looking forward to my first stay. And I got the room on SPG points, which was a bonus. We only stayed one night, which I don't think is really enough to give a hotel a fair shake, but I enjoyed our time there. The one thing that really bugged me (and a lot of hotels do this) is that the pool closed at 11:00pm. There's no need for that. There's no lifeguard on duty at any time anyway, so why can't I swim at 1:00am if I want to? But, that was the only low point of the stay.

After we checked into the hotel, we headed to the Monkey Vault for some parkour. This is something that we've both wanted to try, but we didn't really know how to get started. So when we found out there was a proper parkour gym in Toronto, we jumped at the chance to try it out.

Our instructor for the day was William. He taught us vaults, wall climbs, tick-tacs, cat leaps, under-bars and it was awesome. We spent about three hours at the gym, throwing ourselves at walls, up walls, over boxes, through ladders and more. Rin came away completely black and blue from the legs down, but I fared better, with only a few scrapes. I don't plan on throwing myself off buidings anytime soon, but if I'm ever back in Toronto, I'll definitely be back for some more advanced instruction. And if you have a parkour gym near you, check it out. Even if all you do is a beginner class like us, it's a lot of fun, and really neat to see what you can do once you convince your mind that there's no danger here.

Supper was at Jack Astor's, which while it's a chain restaurant, it's a chain restaurant we don't have in Newfoundland, and which is absolutely delicious. Their Cheese Pan Bread is amazing, though probably greasy enough to give you a heart attack.

The next day, we checked out Lucky Strike Lanes in Vaughan Mills, which was a nice place, but very expensive. It was about $22 for the two of us for a game, but it was nice to go 10-pin bowling again. We only go 5-pin bowling here, and I'm far, far better at 10-pin. After the quick, expensive bowling session, we wandered the Vaughan Mills outlet mall. Nothing special in our opinions, not really any cheaper than regular stores from what we saw.

We had a bit of time to kill after the mall, and a whole lot of Scene points to spend, so we went to the Colossus theatre to check out The Amazing Spiderman. Glad we did, although it almost made us late for the main reason we came to Toronto: Amaluna by Cirque du Soleil.

The show was hard to find, and we managed to wander onto a film set in the process (not sure what they were filming), but it was well worth it. It's the first show I've seen in the Grand Chapiteau, and the venue alone is worth the price of admission. It's not really anything special inside, but I marvel at the fact that this thing actually moves with the show. One day it's in Toronto, the next it's torn down then set up in Montreal.

The show itself was good, but not the best Cirque show I've seen. I think the biggest thing that bothered me about this show was the clowns. I usually love the clowns in Cirque shows, especially John from Quidam, but these two just bothered me. Extensively. Every time they came out, I was disappointed. But the rest of the show made up for it, so I stuck it out. Afterwards, we wanted to get souvenirs, and I like to get a t-shirt from each show I go to, but the only one I liked was $69, so Rin got her obligatory shot glass, and we called it a night.

After the show, it was back to Kingston, the off to Ottawa the next day to fly home. I didn't mention earlier, but we flew Ported on the way there and back. One thing I had forgotten about was that Porter has a lounge in YOW. So we hung out there until our flight. The lounge was great. We had drinks, snacks, and someplace to plug in Rin's phone to charge. The flight home was uneventful, and the service was what I expect from Porter, which so far, is the best service I've ever had from an airline.

Now, we're home, back to work, and bored again. But, I'm keeping myself busy planning more trips that will probably never happen :-)

Photo Dump 3 - Days 5-8 (Including Rin's Birthday)

Rin's first time in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area.

Time to leave the play area.

The Osborne Lights were starting to go up.

Getting our picture taken in the sleigh outside of the Christmas Shop. Little did Rin know that her birthday scavenger hunt was about to begin.

And here's the letter from Tinkerbell.

Searching for the next clue.

And the next, back in the Christmas Shop.

After finding a clue in the Haunted Mansion, the Town Crier decided to tell everyone in the park about Rin's birthday. Called her Princess and everything. She was mortified. And loved it at the same time.

Getting our picture taken after the scavenger hunt.

Part of the construction wall around Fantasyland. I like that they dressed it up a bit. Beast has always been a favourite of mine.

We happened across Mr. Pan later in the day, so Rin had to get a picture.

One of the few redeeming qualities of Tony's Town Square - This was on Rin's dessert.

I'm a sucker for Hidden Mickeys.

Lady's and Tramp's paw prints out front of Tony's. If you can't find them, ask a CM. The CM that helped us actually had to move several strollers to get to them.

The line to see these two was non-existant. Sadly, we didn't see the moving posters I had heard about though. I guess we just went through too quickly.

The Main St Philharmonic. First time we've ever seen them.

First time we've seen these guys too, but I'm not sure what they're called.

Rin went to get a FastPass for Winnie the Pooh, and this popped out. The park was quiet, so it didn't really affect anything, but it was a neat surprise, being on her birthday and all.

I forgot how psychedelic Winnie the Pooh is.

There was some serious discussion going on about Rin's hair. Well, serious gesture making.

Apparently, the gestures were hilarious.

And sometimes, the characters just go above and beyond. I think we spent close to 5 minutes with them.

I can't remember if I put up a picture of us with the Castle, so here we go!

Ok, can someone help me out? I have no idea where this picture is. The pictures immediately before and after are of the Castle, so it myst be relatively close to the Hub. Anyone know what/where this is?

Double Castle POWER!!!!!!

Towel Mickey at GF.

Rin really liked this lamp. Plots were hatched to get it out of the hotel, but we thought they might notice when they cleaned the room.

The view from our room at GF.

A zoomed in shot of our view.

On our Segways. One of the big highlights of a trip full of highlights. I'd love to get back on one next trip.

Coming down from our para-sailing adventure. Rin was terrified, but quickly got over her fear of heights and loved every minute.

So, those are all of the pictures I plan to put up. I know we have more (from Universal, WWoHP, SeaWorld and Busch), but I'm not sure where I uploaded them. If I find them, I may one day put up some more pictures. Likely sometime in November, given my current track record.

Photo Dump: Part 2 (Day 4)

OMG! A new post! With pictures!!!! Well, it's all pictures, really. I won't be adding any food pictures, unless anyone requests anything specific. Here goes!

The gates to the Magic Kingdom, folded up and hidden away. You'd be amazed how hard it is to get a picture of these without people in it.

Walt and Mickey. What more is there to say?

Hey you! What are you doing up there? Imagine the view!

Me and Pooh at Crystal Palace.

This is what happens when I give Rin the camera. Artsy pictures.

And another one.

Rin and Piglet.

Rin made a Mickey head out of the Mickey heads. How artistic :-)

Tigger's Rin's favourite.

I had to get a picture just because of the tiny little dogs behind. The CM kept telling them to keep up. He was worried he'd lose them.

See Ya Real Soon! Taken as we were leaving to get ready for MNSSHP.

Us with the Dwarfs. In our costumes. Rin took so much time making mine perfect, she didn't have time to properly finish hers. I was Captain Jack, and she was Elizabeth Turner in her Pirate King garb.

Rin on BTMRR, I think I upset another guest while I was taking these, the flashing and what-not. So I stopped after this picture. But I think it's the best of all of the ones I took.

Taken with Prince Phillip and Sleeping Beauty (Aurora) after a very serious conversation about where my ship had gone. It's amazingly difficult to be serious when you're out of breath from running everywhere. We get a touch too excited at Disney.

It's true, you know.

The Jacks meet.

Discussing the hierarchy of Captains and Kings.

I feel like I've almost found my ship.

Sadly, the tavern was closed, and the rum was gone.

The start of the Boo to You Parade. Sadly, my camera started acting up at this point (possibly because I had previously taken 1098 pictures [seriously] during the fireworks), so I didn't get as many pictures of the parade as I wanted.

The gravedigger from Haunted Mansion. His dog was so beautiful. And so loud. I love hounds.

These guys were amazing, the dance with the shovels was awesome. But again, camera issues, so only one picture.

Big fan of seeing the villains out and about.

Dr. Facillier, I presume?

Crystal Palace is so bright! Admittedly, I over exposed it. But really, Crystal Palace at night looks amazing.

Taken from street level. The street was smokey from the effects being used, so the shot wasn't as clear as I'd hoped, but I like the way it turned out.

This is the night that Rin and I were the last people in the park. I really like the colours of the Castle in this one.