Oh Canada

"To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it." - G.K. Chesterton

Sisters' Log - Day 7

This morning we awoke to rain. Between the humidity and the rain we've given up on any semblance of having hairdos. Sandy says she's going to send her hot curlers home tomorrow via UPS.

We wanted to try Bob Evans Restaurants, because we had heard that they're owned by the same folks who own Mimi's. So we plugged it into Mrs. Garmin and drove 20 miles to the nearest one. It was similar to a Denny's, but the food was good and very reasonably priced. Edie had stuffed hotcakes (stuffed with a sweet cream cheese filling & topped with blueberries). Two thumbs up from Edie. Sandy says why are you in her business? If you want to know how the food is, try it yourself. Sandy has been a little cranky lately.

Then on to Canada we went:

Breakfast for two at Bob Evans: $15.48

Passport to cross the border: $125

Tolls to get to Canada: $.45

The look on Sandy's ashen face as she drove on the bridge that crossed Niagara River: Priceless

As a point of information for those of you who don't know, Sandy hates the huge bridges that rise up to a point over large bodies of water and then descends to the other side. They make her want to hurl. She especially hates them if she's the driver. Edie doesn't much care for them either.

Actual conversation in car, when both Edie and Sandy wished that they had stunt drivers:

Edie, consolingly to Sandy: "It's not that wide of a river, Sandy."

Sandy, hysterically to Edie: "It's not that wide of a road either!"

Why didn't somebody tell us that there's so much water in the land of the great lakes and Niagara Falls?
Our first stop was Niagara-on-the-Lake, a small, quaint community in Canada just on the other side of the border. What a beautiful area. We highly recommend visiting. Horse drawn carriages with views of Lake Ontario and folks riding bikes and having picnics were common scenes. This is a picture of Lake Ontario taken from Niagara-on-the-Lake.

We left Niagara-on-the-Lake to head to Toronto, which is approximately two hours north of Niagara-on-the-Lake. The drive took us around Lake Ontario, which at most points is so big that we couldn't see the other side of the lake. What we didn't know is that Canadians think driving on the Queen's Way thruway is the same thing as the German Autobahn. Evidently posting a speed limit is just job security for the sign maker. We saw several police on the side of the road. They waved as the Canadians flew by. Also, Canadians have never heard of the rule of keeping one car length between cars for every ten miles per hour they're driving. If there's an open space between cars, they fill it. In the United States, it's rare to have a semi truck pass you on the road. In Canada it's all they can do to keep their speed down enough to not drive over the top of you. It's quite intimidating to look in your rear-view mirror and the only thing you can see out the back window is the grill of a semi. And it will stay that way even if both lanes on either side of you are open. Canadians also like to test their horns while driving, just to make sure they're still working from five minutes ago when they tested their horns. Evidently, Canadian auto horn makers need job security, too. A sign when we first entered Canada showed the speed limit at 100 kilometers or 60 miles per hour. We tried that speed for a few minutes, but quickly realized we were going to be run over if we didn't pick it up.

Mrs. Garmin took us to the Toronto LDS temple, which is in a suburb right before entering Toronto. We have posted a picture of it. It was exciting for us to get to see that temple, since we don't know if we'll ever get there again.

Then we decided to see sights in downtown Toronto, and we passed the Toronto Blue Jays stadium. That was about the only sight we saw. We got downtown, made a U-turn and headed back to the land of the free and the home of the brave. There was no place to park in Toronto. We couldn't even see where cars park in downtown Toronto. It was a mass of people on foot and on bike and of cars in motion. Suffice it to say we have no interest in returning to Toronto either. It made our heads explode. The nice man at customs when we entered the United States told us that parking in downtown Toronto is ridiculously expensive. He also told us the secret to getting to a Blue Jays game if we ever decided to go back and watch one. Edie says we don't need to tell you the secret. She's getting cranky, too. This picture of the Blue Jays' stadium was taken as we drove by on the freeway.

While we were driving to Niagara-on-the-Lake, we saw a bridge off to the west a little bit. We both commented that we were glad we weren't going on that bridge. Guess what! We got to go over it on the way back to the United States. Edie got to drive this time.

We don't know what we paid for gas in Canada, but we do know that Canadians grow corn.

Shout out to Canada for providing the backdrop for the cult-classic movie, Strange Brew.

Shout out to Amanda - Edie's short hair cut is wonderful.

Shout out to Tricia - The only curl Sandy has in her hair is from the perm you gave her.

Gladys - You could have come on this trip. Trust us when we tell you that we've made many stops, if you get our drift.

Kellie - You read the entire paragraph about our freedoms and the importance of voting in people who will protect our freedoms, and all you took away from that is that we watch Oprah?

Jami - We're keeping our Jewish friends in mind as we see the sights and eat the food. We'll keep you posted.

Savannah - Can't wait to see you.

Isaiah - Find the province of Ontario on the map, look for Lake Ontario, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Toronto.

Kobe - We haven't seen anybody play Play Station since we left.

Jonas - Quit trying to play with the Play Station. You're too young.

And so were the Days of Their Lives...