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!)!
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| Fun fact: C and I performed here at Roy Thomson Hall with out high school band! |
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| We did not go up the tower because it was too cloudy! |
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| 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.
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| 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!
