A month later

Tonight I had a strange set of emotions flood over me. They came as I surfed the web looking to ease the pre bedtime boredom. I started thinking about Canada, and the road trip that is just now 1 month behind me. It brought such a feeling of Nostalgia. Yet I feel weird to admit that I'm already nostalgic about a place I was just only a month ago. I always thought Nostalgia only could come with larger amounts of time, yet I cannot deny what I'm feeling.

I'm not certain why but I loaded up Google maps, I focused on northern Indiana. I zoomed in several times until I saw the very small dot of Ossian Indiana. I began panning north with my cursor, following highway69 with it all the way through Michigan into Port Huron. Images of the drive were flowing through my brain. The wide open road, the sunlight beating down, the radio, the trees, the farms, the hills, Kim sitting in the seat beside me. The sheer amount of freedom that I felt. I remember the feeling of not knowing when we would arrive, not knowing exactly what Canada would look like, or what road would take us there. But just knowing that hours away there was a destination, and the drive to me (being an armature traveler beamed with adventure) I miss that road, and I miss that feeling. Google Maps says from Ossian to Winsdor is only 3 1/2 hours. A little longer than it takes to go to Bloomington. I fantasize Naively about taking a day or two trip there.. Yet a fantasy only goes so far, and I'm left to focus back on the small microcosm of the U.S. that is Ossian.

It's crazy.. really, I've even been having dreams in my sleep about Canada. I think that makes me miss it even more. Looking back on it I say to myself "Wow did we really do that..." It is the weirdest thing to take a trip out of adventure, and naive wonderment and yet maybe that is what remains to haunt me in my memories. Haunt however is such a negative word, but it emphasizes the weight the trip still holds on my mind. Yet I'm left asking myself if it is not Canada its self that I miss, but rather the adventure, and the feeling of doing something that at a glance might be absurd but in the end pays off with such experience and memories.

While in time these feelings might fade, I hope they never completely disappear. There are so many places to see, and so many roads to travel, and behind every one is a destination, an adventure, a story, and memories.

I think one of the most Important things I bring from this trip is the desire to do it again. I think I've taken a personal vow to myself to not let this be the last travelogue I write. It is one of the few things I'm pretty sure about.

The Finale

<<<<< The view from our hotel.


Bonjour Friends and Family, This will be the final blog of our journey through Canada. Tomorrow Morning Kim and I will hit the road for a 7-8 hour drive back to cornfields Wells County, and of course; home.

Today was our day in Toronto. This was arguably the most stressful day for us. Being both from rural Indiana, being in a massive city was a little overwhelming. The great thing about Toronto was not the sights though, it was the fact we managed to work together to figure out how to navigate our way around and not get lost. I think we are both really proud of ourselves that we managed to figure out the public transportation system and make it to our number 1 destination the CN tower.

The Pictures featured below were taken in transit to, in, and around the CN tower. For those who don't know the CN tower has the tallest observation deck in the world. The view from the top was frankly magnificent. It was similar to that of the sears tower but even more so in my opinion. The pictures simply don't do the grandeur justice.

Today definitely had a lot of walking and waiting involved. The CN tower took us about 2 hours wait in total. There is actually two observation decks in the CN tower. The Main deck, and the Skypod, which is the tallest in the world. We paid extra money to go to the skypod but unfortunately it kind of turned out to be a rip. It took almost and hour to reach to reach the skypod and we only stayed up there for about 5 minutes. The view was better but we both agreed it really wasn't worth that much extra.

We ate dinner at a place called 7th street cafe or something to that extent. It was one of the recommended spots to eat in our book we checked out from the Library about Toronto. It was a really nice cozy cafe located downtown. It had an actual chef unhand. We ordered sandwiches which were amazing but it of course was expensive. I'm pretty sure were both gonna die when we see the credit card bill from this trip.

I think we both wish we had another day In Toronto. One day just wasn't enough to see all that we wanted to. We wished we could have gone to a couple museums.

Tomorrow we begin the trip home and were both ready to come home. Honestly I think were ready to come home but were also sad to leave Canada behind. Our stay here has been really nice. Everyone we have ran into has been extremely nice and never once did we feel like we had anything to be worried about. We took the necessary safety tips everyone gave us but overall I don't think we had a lot to worry about. Toronto was so clean and nice compared to even Ft. Wayne. We never once felt like had to watch our backs and we never saw many signs of poverty and crime. I think Canadians do pretty well for themselves.

This trip has taught me a lot, but I think the best thing I have gained from it is confidence in myself. From Day one Kim and I were alone in the planning of this vacation. There were definitely cheaper and easier places to go to but in the end I think it was worth it to do something like this. We learned to rely on ourselves and independence and maturity to handle alot of situations. I know it sounds weird to say this but I really feel like have gained a lot from this trip.

I will be sad to see it go but it was worth every penny. I would love to go back again someday.

Goodnight from Etobicoke Toronto...

-Sam

Niagara Falls

These pictures pretty much speak for themselves. As you can see, Sam and I explored the Falls this afternoon, along with tons of other tourists. The Maid of the Mist was amazing and unlike last night's dinner production, we were actually not disappointed with spending the money on it.
We are now outside of Toronto in the suburb of Etobicoke and very nervous about using the public transit and leaving our car behind. We still need to look at the maps and our plans for tomorrow so this is the end of this post. Hope you all are doing well and enjoying these last hot weeks of summer.