I have never been to Ontario...and since the ladyfriend's family lives there we decided to take 9 days and visit.
I must say, I was a bit apprehensive but that all disappeared when I received my first hug upon arriving! What a wonderful bunch of people. They really knew how to make me feel at home!
The sweetest addition to the family is little 5 year old K, she was just precious and sweet and darling the whole time we were there. Made me remember my own girls when they were little!!
The first full day there we decided to go to Kakabeka - for the life of me I can't pronounce it properly. It takes a windup for me to spit it out. Anyways, we spent the whole day swimming, playing in the sand, walking trails...and we saw the falls!! Being from BC, I have seen many very tall waterfalls, many beautiful winding through the trees falls, but NEVER have I seen something like this! If you have never seen Kakabeka falls I recommend it. It was like someone had used an ice-cream scoop and just carved a chunk out of a lake....and then sprinkled rainbows all over it. It was breathtaking.
The next day we walked around town, checked out little memorial parks and what not in Thunder Bay. It was very cool to see the Finnish and Italian influences in everything...I was so impressed with the monuments in the Friendship Garden that I kind of ran down the battery in our camera. Whoops. But seriously, so much work and attention had to have gone into those monuments! So worth seeing.
The third day we went to The Old Fort - loved it! Very fair admission, and we got to interact with all sorts of "people from the period", which was the mid 1800s. We spent the entire day there with M's mother, Little K and her friend. It was amazing and interesting...and we got to see piglets. And chickens. Squee! I think my favourite part of the experience though was seeing the native woman in the "native encampment" just outside the fort. She was amazing! Made me feel like I was actually talking to her back then...Then again, M's mother was getting very into it, replying to comments with "Of course we have furs to trade!" and "Oh, we must have left that in the canoe!" She was hilarious.
The next day we spent in doors, just relaxing. That is, until M's mother decided that we were going on a drive to "see the deer". I wasn't opposed to that at all, but it did remind me of what M told me about the Thunder Bay zoo - "We go to the dump to watch the bears." Really. I had a hard time not snickering in the car while we were driving around looking at deer. Oh!! We also saw a baby skunk. SO CUTE.
One of those days we also had lunch with M's sisters. It was really interesting to just sit there and watch them interact...I'd never seen her interact with both sisters before, so I got to see a side that I hadn't seen. It was very nice, and I felt so close to her!
The next day we went to the Amethyst Mine! AMAZING!! I love love love crystals and rocks and stones and everything you can think of along that vein (ha ha I'm hilarious) so actually going to the Amethyst Mine was a real treat for me! We got to dig around and explore the loose rubble for amethysts - $3.00 a pound. Not too shabby! I found some very nice pieces, some that really spoke to me. Totally worth it!
From our way back from the mine we went into Centennial Park...but didn't stay, as the gates were going to be closing right away. I saw a small train though. The next time we go I am SO riding that train. Give me a hells yeah!!
I also got to see the Terry Fox Memorial, what an amazing person he was. I was only a year and a bit when he started his run, so I grew up with the story of him and what he represented very fresh in Canada's memory. He has always been someone I have looked up to, and it was immensely touching to see this spot.
..What else? I started rambling and now I am all confused about where I was in my story...Eh, that's all good.
Needless to say, I had a fantastic time in Ontario! If I remember anything else I'll make an attempt to come on here (see Kyt? I will try ha ha) and write about it.
Kakabeka bitches!!!