Whirlwind Canadian Tour

I'm getting all out-of-order and out-of-sorts again... but here's a quick recap of our last hoorah in Canada before coming back to Indonesia at the beginning of November...

Martin arrived in Canada at the end of October (after a great long visit with his family in the Galapagos), with a small window of time just before we were set to head back to Indonesia. Because his summer visit had been cut short, and he didn't get to spend any time in Ontario, or visit his brother in Quebec, we decided a whirlwind tour was in order.





I picked him up from Pearson airport on the morning of the first snow in southern Ontario, and we spent a blustery day in Toronto. We met up with our friend Cecilia (it was the first time seeing here since all of our return from Indonesia), rode on the street cars, walked around Kensington Market, and had Pho for lunch. In the afternoon, we did a bit of a driving tour of the city, then headed further west to the great Canadian tourist attraction: Niagara Falls.



We only spent one night, and the better part of the next day exploring around the Niagara area before heading back to pick up my brother in Guelph (and have a great Indian dinner with cousin David), visit Martin's uncle and family in Toronto, and head back to Madoc. Thank goodness Jonathan was with us, and took care of the last leg of the driving (including a hilarious encounter with police just minutes from home)... we got home at about 3 am or so! We spent Hallowe'en in Madoc, and even went to a 'haunted corn maze' with the whole family!







Then it was off in the other direction... to visit Martin's brother, Carlos, and his wife Valerie, in Sherbrooke. We spent a nice few days with them, then headed back to Ontario.





We had a short visit with some good friends of mine in Ottawa, toured our nation's capital (and even did a few geocaches there!), then headed back home again.



We had a few last visits with friends around home, then had to get packing, and get on the road! It was wonderful to be home for so long, and spend so much time with family - how lucky!