Road Trip to Canada!

Last weekend, we took a fun road trip up to Canada with one of my best friends and her husband!

Sometime back in the spring, she'd asked me if I would go to a skating show with her in London, Ontario, because she is a huge fan of the Canadian ice dancing team of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. I quickly agreed for two reasons: 1) I love this girl and any chance to hang out with her is a no brainer; and 2) it was happening in Canada! We initially considered going without our husbands, but decided to invite them along – a smart move on our part because they did ALL of the driving on the trip!

We left on Thursday morning, stopping only for delicious treats in PA – chocolate from Sarris Candies, lunch at Primanti Bros., and coffee at Tim Hortons (even though it isn't located in Canada, it is the first location along our route that C and I have found on all of our previous trips to Canada and we always stop there!).

We arrived at my aunt and uncle's house around 7:00 pm and went to dinner with them and my cousin, who happened to be there as well! We stayed at their house both Thursday and Friday night, so we had lots of time to chat and catch up, as well as play with their awesome dogs!

On Friday, we stopped at C's parents' house to visit for a couple of hours before heading in to Toronto. We were only in the city for about five hours, since our friends had never been there and we just wanted to show them a few highlights. We did have dinner at a place downtown and we were able to introduce our friends to the Canadian delicacy that is poutine (yay for vegan gravy!)!

Fun fact: C and I performed
here at Roy Thomson Hall
with out high school band!

We did not go up
the tower because
it was too cloudy!

Canadian Walk of Fame
Dr. Roberta Bondar

Saturday was the day of the skating show, so we drove to London and got settled at our hotel, which was actually on the campus of Western University, before grabbing some dinner at Harvey's (Canadian fast food at its finest!). After the guys dropped us off near the arena, they went to hang out while we went to the show.

Incredible is the only word to describe the performances. Seriously incredible! Admittedly, I am not particularly knowledgeable about ice dancing or figure skating, but I got swept up in my best friend's enthusiasm and the overall Canadian patriotism! We had so much fun!

On Sunday, we drove through Niagara-on-the-Lake on our way to Niagara Falls. I don't even know the last time I visited the Falls, but it had been at least 25 years (and probably longer than that!). Gorgeous, breathtaking, amazing…I really had forgotten just how magnificent the Falls are. It was very windy and pretty chilly, so we ruled out a boat ride, even though that had been our original plan, and just enjoyed the view from the top.

During our drive home, we stopped once again for lunch at Primanti Bros., which was a perfect ending to a fabulous weekend.

My TWO Countries
<3

Such a fun adventure! We drank copious amounts of Tim Hortons coffee and never ran out of things to talk about throughout the entire trip (including the 20+ hours of driving!). That speaks to the depth and quality of our friendship and to how similar our husbands are and to how comfortable the four of us are with one another. One of my favorite things about the trip was the time we spent with our family because our friends seamlessly fit right in with everyone! 

All I can really say is thank you to my awesome friend for loving skating and Canada and making this weekend happen! We will have to come up with another reason to go away together again soon!

As the saying goes, friends are the family you choose!

Happy Tails to you!