My Vacation Time in Niagara Falls, Ontario In May 2017 - by Anne Shier

My Vacation Time in Niagara Falls in May 2017

From Sunday May 7 to Friday May 12, 2017

Very early on Sunday morning, May 7^th, I woke up and started getting ready for the busy day ahead.  This is the day of my departure by bus for Niagara Falls – a trip I have done many times before.  This time is different though - I’m doing it as a retiree.  That means having to plan ahead and watch what I’m spending.  In fact, I have always made it a practice to plan my trips ahead of time.  So, I’ve  booked my hotel room at the Days Inn, Clifton Hill, and then booked my bus ticket via Greyhound.  Since I am now a senior (62+) as far as Greyhound is concerned, I can take advantage of their seniors’ discount, which amounts to about 20%, I think.  I also got a good rate on my hotel room, mainly because I didn’t book any weekend days, which tend to be more expensive.  The only thing I didn’t plan well at all was the route I was going to take to get to the bus station at Bay and Dundas in time to get my ticket.

For example, I decided to go to Union station on the subway and take a taxi to Bay and Dundas from Union.  That did not work, however; there was a marathon race going on downtown and many of the streets were closed off at Union.  So, I had to instruct my taxi driver to drop me off, finally, at Front and John Streets, which was nowhere near the bus terminal.  I now had to walk with my suitcase, a big bag, a smaller bag, and my purse several blocks north and east until I finally arrived at the bus station.  As it happened, I was just in time to obtain my bus ticket.  It was already paid for though.  I just had to get the person at the Greyhound counter to print it off after she saw my identification and a reference number corresponding to my ticket.

After that, I had a quick lunch in the terminal, visited the bathroom, and boarded my bus without any further problems.  Although the bus left a little bit late, we were soon on the Gardiner Expressway and onto the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) westbound.  We were to arrive at the bus terminal in Niagara Falls by 1:50 pm, and I would then take another taxi to my hotel.  Once I did that, I got settled into my hotel room.  It was a nice room – not with a king-sized bed that I’d asked for initially – but, with two queen-sized beds, however, I only needed one.  There was a fridge and microwave included and so, I ended up paying a bit of a premium for those items.  And, of course, there was a coffee-maker – standard operating equipment for vacations as far as I am concerned.

I asked at the front desk when I registered as a hotel guest about the available TV channels, but they didn’t have HLN or the Discovery Channel or any of the sports channels that I was used to watching these days.  Oh well, no problem.  I knew then that I’d have to do some other things instead of watching my regular TV shows and, hopefully, fit the sports channels in by going to the bar at Boston Pizza around the corner from my hotel.  You see, the Stanley Cup playoffs are halfway done and I wanted to see most, if not all, of the games, specifically, the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Washington Capitals in Round 2.  If things go the way I expect, the Penguins will prevail and the Capitals will soon be out of the running.  That was Sunday.  Hopefully, Monday will be a better day for me.

But, before Monday could arrive, I decided to go for dinner at Boston Pizza on Sunday so that I could watch at least part of a hockey game.  There was going to be two games – one in the afternoon, which I wanted to see, and one at night.   The afternoon game was between the Nashville Predators and the St. Louis Blues.  I didn’t stay for the whole game, but apparently the Predators ousted the Blues from Round 2 and will advance to Round 3.  Now, the remaining three series have yet to be wagered this week, and the length of those series depends on whether there are six or seven games per series.  It should be very interesting.

On Monday morning, May 8^th, I woke up by about 8:20 am and made myself a pot of coffee.  I was going to watch a movie for the second time that I had already seen last night.  I had seen two movies for the first time last night:  “A Dog’s Purpose”, and “The Girl on the Train”.  Although they are both very good movies, I wanted to watch “The Girl on the Train” again.  It’s a deeply suspenseful psychological thriller, just the kind of movie I love.  I’d been reading the book, but still haven’t finished it yet.  The ending is what I wanted to find out about in the movie.  And, still, it surprised me.  That’s what all good movies do, right?  They surprise you.

After drinking two cups of coffee and watching the movie again, I finally decided to get up, get washed and dressed, and go down to the restaurant, Applebee’s, which is attached to the hotel, and have a good breakfast.  While I was eating, I started writing a short story, an original one that I got an idea for yesterday.  It’s going to be dedicated to Sidney Crosby, No. 87, the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team.  After that, the waitress, Lauren, and I started talking and I told her some stuff about my authoring career and activities.  We had a very interesting conversation about drug addiction, something I like to write about.  I promised to give her an autographed book whenever I see her next, which I am able to do since I brought only one book with me on this trip.

I plan on going to do some fun things today:  go to Louis Tussaud’s Wax Works, a museum just down the street; and to Ripley’s Moving Theater (the American spelling of theatre) – two three-dimensional movies that you need those special glasses to view.  These are really fun activities that I’ve done before here – nothing new.  After that, I decided to walk down to the falls.  It’s a rather lengthy walk along the escarpment, but it’s very beautiful and picturesque in the spring and I love to take pictures with my camera phone. 

When I got tired of walking almost to the Canadian Falls, I turned back and on the way, picked up a chocolate sundae at Dairy Queen, took it back to my hotel room and ate it while watching a third new movie, “Sully”, which is also very good, a fictional movie based on a factual account of an airplane accident that ended up with everyone, crew and passengers, staying alive.

Now, after journalizing my way through the last two days, I plan on going back to Boston Pizza tonight for dinner, this time to watch the Pittsburgh Penguins win Round 2 over the Washington Capitals; that’s what I hope for tonight.  Then, I’ll come back to my hotel, maybe watch another movie, and get ready for bed.  Tomorrow, I’ll do some more creative writing and journalizing and, of course, watch movies.  It’s really easy and enjoyable watching them on my brand new portable DVD player, which I just bought before this trip began.  And, in the afternoon when it’s nice and sunny out, I will do some more fun things on Clifton Hill.  That’s the thing about Niagara Falls – there are literally hundreds of activities to do here, so I will never get bored during my Niagara Falls holidays.

Well, after watching Game six between the Penguins and the Capitals, I could see very clearly that Pittsburgh was outclassed by Washington until the closing minutes of period three.  Then, the Penguins scored twice, but Washington had already scored five times, so the outcome was obvious tonight.  Too bad for the Penguins.  I felt especially bad for Sidney Crosby who was targeted throughout the game.  On Wednesday night, game seven will determine who advances into Round 3.  I only hope that the Penguins will prevail as I know they can.

On Tuesday morning, May 9^th, I got up fairly early again.  These things are never predetermined for me.  I made my customary pot of coffee and drank two cups before considering breakfast.  Then, I got washed and dressed and was going to go to Applebee’s downstairs again, but I found out it’s closed till Wednesday afternoon.  Why, I do not know.  Anyway, I had my usual substantial breakfast at Perkins restaurant nearby, and then left to go back to my hotel room, put on my makeup, and got ready to go out.  Today, I plan to do some fun things again on Clifton Hill.  I am going to go to Ripley’s Believe it or Not Odditorium (a museum with various oddities displayed in it), and then to Movieland (another museum with movie stars and famous musicians in it). 

After doing these things, I returned to my hotel and on the way, picked up another chocolate sundae at Dairy Queen, took it back to my hotel room and ate it while starting to watch “Law and Order: LA”, which I have never seen before.  I am trying to pick movies and shows to watch this week that I’ve never seen so that I am doing something different from my daily activities at home, and this is different enough for me.  There are six discs so it’ll take me a few days to get through them all.  For now, I’ll stick with discs one and two. 

Tonight, after journalizing my way through the last two days, I plan on going back to Boston Pizza tonight for dinner for the second time, this time to watch the Ottawa Senators win Round 2 over the New York Rangers.  That’s what I hope for tonight.  And, I was not disappointed.  Against all odds, the Senators vanquished the Rangers in Game six and have now earned the right to advance to Round 3.  Hurray!!!  At least one Canadian team is in Round 3 this year.

Now, it’s Wednesday May 10^th.  I did pretty much the same thing as yesterday, except that, in the afternoon, I went to the Imax Theatre to see the “Niagara” movie, and then visited the observation deck at the Skylon Tower, and finally, saw a relatively new movie:  “The Falls:  3D/4D Movie”, which was very well made; I’ve only seen it once before, so that experience was also different for me this week.  And, I’m also onto “Law and Order: LA” discs three and four at my hotel.

Well, Game six on Tuesday night was a wash for the Penguins, as we all know, but tonight, in Game seven, one of these teams must advance to Round 3 and I hope it’s the Penguins that prevail this time.  So, tonight, after journalizing my way through the last two days, I plan on going back to Boston Pizza tonight for dinner for the third, and maybe the last time this week, this time to watch the Pittsburgh Penguins finally and decisively win Round 2 over the Washington Capitals.  Sidney Crosby must play a pivotal role in this game, as well as other hot players, like Jake Guentzel and Evgeni Malkin, who can each score a lot of goals.  But, the Penguins will also need good, solid defensemen who don’t back down from a fight if that’s what it comes down to.  I am positive that it will not be an easy task to win this series – it will be a fight right to the bitter end.  Do the Penguins want the Stanley Cup badly enough?  We’ll see.

As it happened, the Pittsburgh Penguins pulled out all the stops in Game 7 and managed to score twice vs. the Washington Capitals who could only score once.  So, now Pittsburgh will advance to Round 3 vs. the Ottawa Senators.  This is going to create a kind of conundrum for me though.  I like Sidney Crosby very much (and not just his ability on the ice), but I am a true blue Canadian hockey fan, so my allegiances will have to lie with Ottawa in Round 3.  However, I will be keeping my eye on Sidney for the duration to see how his abilities stack up against the best of the Ottawa Senators, No. 65, defenseman and captain, Erik Karlsson.  Again, we’ll see.  Round 3 will start this Friday night and it should be very interesting indeed.  I’ll be back home in Toronto by early Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, in the late game last night, the Edmonton Oilers were ousted in Round 2 by the Anaheim Ducks, which means that only one Canadian team made to Round 3, and it wasn’t the Oilers, although I had hoped it would be.

On Thursday morning, May 11^th, I woke up at a more reasonable time, but I hadn’t gotten to sleep until the early hours, so I’m still kind of tired today.  During breakfast at Perkins restaurant, I am contemplating going on the Maid of the Mist boat ride under the Canadian Falls, but still haven’t made up my mind on that yet.  By 2:00 pm, if I’m not too tired, I may decide to go.  If not now, I will try to do it during the summer when I’m here with Brent and James.  But, we haven’t decided to come to Niagara Falls then either.  Today, Applebee’s re-opens at 4:00 pm.  That’s when I will drop off a copy of my book to Lauren, the waitress I met on Monday morning when I was there for breakfast.  Also, I’ve been invited for a drink by one of the managers at Boston Pizza and I may go there once more tonight, this time to see the Toronto Blue Jays play and maybe I’ll stay for an hour or two.

I didn’t end up going on the Maid of the Mist boat ride this afternoon after all.  Instead, I watched a few of my old standby favourite movies:  “Overboard”, “Obsessed”, “Pacific Heights”, and “Fatal Attraction”.  All I really wanted to do today was to relax on my last full day in Niagara Falls.

Brent just called me at my hotel this afternoon to invite me to dinner this Saturday night for Mother’s Day.  Dinner would be with James and Dave and Brent.  These guys are my core family members even though Dave isn’t related to us.  He’s just been around for the last twenty-five years or more, so that makes him family.  I think we’re going to eat dinner at East Side Mario’s like we normally do.  Brent, James and Dave will pick me up at Yonge and York Mills and, after dinner, drop me off at a bus stop on Eglinton near Victoria Park (at my request).  I’m looking forward to spending Saturday evening with them.

Tonight, I went to Remington’s of Niagara to have dinner.  That was a treat for me.  I had two lobster tails, with wild rice and cooked vegetables, a glass of Wayne Gretzy’s Pino Grigio white wine, and dessert, which was crème brule and a hot chocolate drink called Peppermint Patty.  It was a pricey meal at $81.96 before tip was added, but since I don’t go there very often, I didn’t mind.  As it happened, I went to Boston Pizza after dinner to get that promised drink and ended up staying for a couple of hours.  And, I also chatted for a while with Jamie, the manager who’d bought me my drink.  He’s very nice, young, and attractive.

On Friday morning, May 12^th, I will be checking out of the Days Inn, Clifton Hill and boarding my Greyhound bus at 11:30 am to return to Toronto.  I only hope that my trip home will be much better than my trip to the Greyhound bus terminal in Toronto and then to Niagara Falls was six days ago.

That trip home turned out to be unlike my usual trips home from Niagara Falls.  For one thing, our bus driver seemed to be confused about where St. Catherines was located.  I guess he doesn’t do this route very often, if at all, because it seemed like he got lost.  There were two very full buses, so maybe Greyhound ran short of drivers for these two Toronto-bound buses.  Also, I met a very nice young man named Anthony from Switzerland who was doing a tour of Ontario.  He is a university student who had done a semester of study here in Ontario, then decided to tour around for a week or so before returning home.  We talked all the way to the bus terminal in Toronto, so it was a very pleasant trip for me.  He said he enjoyed our chatting too.

When I arrived back in Toronto, I decided to take the most direct route home – on the subway from Dundas and Yonge to Davisville and Yonge.  Fortunately, this time it was a smooth trip and I arrived home in good time.  I guess I should take this route to the Greyhound station next time I want to go to Niagara Falls on the bus.

ADDENDUM:  The Stanley Cup playoffs will continue in Round 3, beginning Friday May 12, 2017 with the Nashville Predators playing the best of seven games with the Anaheim Ducks.  That will be their Game 1.  On Saturday May 13, 2017, the Ottawa Senators will begin playing their best of seven games with the Pittsburgh Penguins.  I’m looking forward to watching all these games in May. 

copyright 2017 - Anne Shier

My Vacation Time in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.--Sept./Oct. 2017--by Anne Shier

My Vacation Time in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

September 28 – October 4, 2017

DAY 1 – Thursday September 28, 2017:

A brand new experience I had today was taking the “Union Pearson Express” train to Toronto Pearson Airport.  I had never taken this train before and I wanted to find out what it was like.  It’s a nice, smooth ride that takes 25 minutes from Union Station and drops its passengers off at Terminal 1 of the airport.  Only problem was that I left home too late and it took me an hour just to get to the train at Union Station.  I will have to plan my interim travelling time better next time.

As planned, I had booked and paid for my air fare on Air Canada online one month previously.  I wanted to find out if I liked travelling by air to Sault Ste. Marie this year even though I’d already been taking the Greyhound bus up here for years.  Turns out it was a great idea!  Only problem was that I’d completely forgot what my departure time was and, because of that, I was too late to take the 12:30 pm flight I’d booked.  That meant I had to change my air fare ticket so that I could take the next flight out – and that change cost me an extra $150.00!  Also, since I’d booked my air fare through Expedia, I did not automatically get a “free” bag to check in.  And that cost me an extra $75.00!  So, the flight that I thought I was getting so cheaply (at $234.18) was actually going to cost me over $400.00!  Still, it was a learning experience for me and you can never put a price on that!

The flight itself was on a turbo-prop (propeller) airplane, a commuter plane I’m told.  I’d never been on such a small plane.  It held maybe 40-50 people maximum and was a powerful machine.  The takeoff was smooth with very little runway needed.  And, when we landed at the Sault Ste. Marie Airport an hour and a half later, the landing was very smooth but short, as well.  I’d been used to jumbo jets that take a relatively long time to get off the ground during takeoff and take an equally long time to bring to a stop after landing.  This plane was clearly not a jumbo jet.  Besides, jumbo jets hold hundreds of people instead just a few dozen, so this plane was a relative lightweight in that respect.

As a result of flying to Sault Ste. Marie versus suffering that arduous 10-hour bus ride (one way) on Greyhound, I landed in the “The Soo” at about 3:50 pm.  We’d left Toronto at 2:20 pm.  After collecting my bag from the plane, which I was able to do right away, I took a taxi with another couple and we were dropped off at our respective hotels.  It only cost me $35.00 for the taxi ride into the city.  The plan to fly here gave me an extra 8 hours of vacation time, which I would not have had if I’d been on the bus.  That was a terrific bonus for me all by itself.

I unpacked at my favourite hotel, the Holiday Inn Express on Bay Street, after which I plugged in my Notebook computer and my brand new DVD player so that I could play some movies later on.  The hotel room I’d reserved was pricey at $230.00 / night, but for that price, I got a very nice king-bed suite, not just a room.  Then, I went across the street to the Station Mall, bought myself a dinner of KFC chicken and ate it in the food court,  After that, I took a walk over to the other side of the mall and took a brief look at the water – the St. Mary’s River, which connects Lake Huron to Lake Superior.  It looked really beautiful in the afternoon sunshine.  I only stayed a few minutes though.  I wanted to come back and watch some TV and a DVD movie or two.

This evening, I watched an A&E TV show called “The Murder of Laci Peterson”, about the trial of Scott Peterson, Laci’s husband, who was accused of murdering her.  Before that show was finished, the DVD player was charged up and ready to use, so I first watched “The Zookeeper’s Wife”, a brand new DVD movie I’d just bought at Amazon.  Then, I watched an old favourite of mine, “Obsessed”.  During that movie run, I got ready for bed, took my meds and then got into bed and tried to get some sleep.  After a couple of hours of pure restlessness, I got up and put on the first disk of “Planet Earth II” and played that till it was time to get up for breakfast.  The hotel offers its guests breakfast from 6:30 am till 9:30 am weekdays and 7:00 am till 10:00 am weekends.

DAY 2 – Friday September 29, 2017:

Today, my plan is to have breakfast downstairs early and then go over to the Agawa Canyon Tour box office to see if I can get a ticket for a ride on the train tomorrow.  This tour is definitely worth doing!  I did it a few years ago and it was breathtaking.  So, I decided that if it wasn’t overly busy, and they could fit me in, I would buy myself a ticket.  It happens to be very busy this time of year.  It’s a day-long excursion on a Canadian National Railway train, the kind previously used as passenger trains in Canada.  There’s a dining car and snacks and beverages available on the train throughout the day.  I am really looking forward to this trip. 

Other than that, I am planning on watching more DVD movies today and, when I go for dinner later on, taking another short walk over to the water.  It’s not as nice out today as it was yesterday, so I’ll have to see how I feel then.  I hope to do some reading this week or listen to some music DVDs I also brought with me.

So, after breakfast and having booked my ticket on the Agawa Canyon Tour for tomorrow, I put on another DVD, a brand new movie called “The Judge” and, while I was watching the early part of it, fell asleep.  I’m not surprised that I fell asleep though because this is something that happens to me fairly often after a night of sleeplessness.  However, I did manage to see a major part of the movie, enough to convince myself to see it again. 

Later on, after eating dinner and then having a much-needed bath, I settled down once again to watch an HD movie on TV called “Liar, Liar”, one of my old favourites.  Then, I watched two thriller DVD movies, also favourites of mine – “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle” and “Consenting Adults”.  I was feeling tired and was somewhat cranky due to an upset stomach, but it was still too early to go to bed for the night, so I just lounged around in my pajamas, did my meds as usual, and then got as comfortable as possible for the evening.

Tomorrow morning, I have to get up at 6:00 am so I can get some breakfast downstairs, take some food with me for the train, and then spend the entire day on the Agawa Canyon Tour.  I am really looking forward to it because the scenery throughout the trip is spectacular.  It’ll be an all-day trip and we won’t return back to “The Soo” until close to 7:00 pm.  Some people my age think it’s a long day, but I like it.  You don’t get to go on a tour like this very often, if at all.  I went on this tour once already a few years ago and it is definitely worth repeating.

DAY 3 – Saturday September 30. 2017:

The Agawa Canyon Train Tour was outstanding, as I knew it would be.  The leaves on the trees are just starting to turn colour and the scenery is wonderful.  The whole trip is 114 miles long due north one way, winding through some pretty mountainous and bushy terrain, sometimes climbing and sometimes descending.  At the end, we stopped for an hour and half, got off the train and spent time in the Agawa Canyon, walking around, taking pictures, and eating food we’d brought with us.  Then, at about 2:00 pm, we started back on the return leg.  The tour, altogether, was 10 hours.  We’d left “The Soo” at 8:00 am and returned at 6:00 pm, making for a long day, but a day well worth spending.  Today’s trip was my second time round, and I may even do a third time down the road in a few years.

On Saturday evenings, there aren’t many places open from which to select food for dinner (because the mall closes at 6:00 pm), so I stopped at the movie theatre in the mall for a hotdog, fries and soft drink.  It wasn’t very satisfying, but it was better than eating nothing.  I wasn’t really hungry anyway.  I just wanted to go back to my hotel and watch some TV and DVD movies.  I started out watching a bit of the TV movie called “Die Hard with a Vengeance”, but soon decided I’d rather watch one of my favourite DVD movies “Shall We Dance?” followed by another favourite “Point of No Return”.  Both are excellent movies, but by the time I’d watched them both, I was pooped enough to sleep for the night.  I’d done my meds earlier, but didn’t need to bother with my usual sleep meds tonight. 

DAY 4 – Sunday October 1, 2017:

I think I’m going to take it easy today.  I went for an early breakfast because I didn’t want to miss it by sleeping in.  Then, I came back up to my room to update my journal blog during the day, watch a DVD movie or two, do some reading, or maybe listen to some music DVDs of mine.  I also thought I might go swimming this afternoon since there’s an indoor pool in this hotel and it probably won’t be full of kids at this time of year.

I only have three full days left before I have to go home.  I have an early flight on Wednesday morning (10:10 am) and I have to be at the airport by 8:30 am latest to make sure I get checked in and get through security on time.  That should not be a problem here.  It’s a small airport; still, it could be busy then with outgoing flights.  As of today, I plan on making the most of the time I have left here.

After breakfast, I came back up to my room and lay in bed watching a brand new DVD movie called “Passengers”, and, of course, fell asleep for part of it.  When I woke up, I realized I had to make a couple of phone calls home – one to my Shoppers Drug Mart home store to request a renewal of my Tylenol # 3 prescription from Dr. Ching, and one to Amazon Visa card services to find out whether and when I’ll get my new Visa card since the old one has expired.  Well, as it happened today, I wasn’t able to talk to Amazon Visa’s credit department to find what happened to my new card, so I was asked to call back Monday during the day because, on Sunday, the credit department is closed.

After making these two calls, I finished watching my movie and then decided to go out to the water’s edge on the boardwalk and continue reading my book “A Stranger in the Mirror”, which I’d read before, but wanted to read again.  I started it a couple of days ago and made it to Chapter 5 today.  It’s a beautiful day out today – warm and sunny – and I really enjoyed sitting by the water’s edge reading and sipping my cup of coffee from Timmy’s.

When I came back to the hotel, I wasn’t sure where I was going for dinner tonight, so I asked Penny at the front desk if she could suggest a nice family restaurant for me.  She suggested Muio’s, which I could access by cutting in between this hotel and the Days Inn & Suites next door and then walking along Queen Street behind these hotels a block or two.  She also suggested that tomorrow (Monday) night, I could also go to another place for dinner called Solo’s, which isn’t open today. Going to the food court for dinner is just something I’m not keen on right now.  These two restaurants will help make my dining experiences in “The Soo” much more pleasant this time round and in the future.

For the rest of the afternoon, I lay in bed watching two of my most recently purchased DVD shows:  “Amazing Caves” and “Planet Earth II (Disk Two)”.  I’d only seen these DVDs once before so they were still new to me.

So, at just after 5:00 pm, I left to walk over to Muio’s.  I thought it was a restaurant I’d been to already a few years ago, but I wasn’t sure.  As it happened, it was the same place.  I ordered a New York striploin steak (medium), with sautéed onions and mushrooms, a baked potato with butter and sour cream, cooked-from-frozen vegetables, and a side-Caesar salad.  The waitress also provided me with some white bread, but I didn’t eat it then – I took it with me after I’d finished eating.  That was a terrific meal!  I also had a 6 oz. glass of white wine.  This meal was definitely out of the ordinary for me, so it was an ideal meal to have on my vacation here.  I like to eat food that I don’t normally eat except on vacation.

After dinner, I watched “Planet Earth II (Disk Two)” again and then watched “Miss Congeniality II” before going to sleep for the night. 

DAY 5 – Monday October 2, 2017:

Today, I’m taking it easy again.  After a hearty breakfast of pancakes at the hotel, I went back to my room and watched one of my favourite DVD movies “Green Card” while trying to snooze.  Then, I remembered that I had to call Amazon Visa card services again today because I still don’t have a new card renewal and have no idea why.  After my call was completed and they’d gotten their questions answered and done a quick credit check on me, they were still satisfied that I deserve a new card without changes to be made to my credit and cash limits, so everything is okay again.  I will be receiving a new card in the next 7 to 10 days in the mail.

I don’t have much motivation to do anything right now except maybe read my book or do some swimming this afternoon.  It hasn’t been very sunny today.  I’m still planning to go to dinner at Solo’s tonight because it’s different and new to me.  I only have two full days left in my vacation, but I’ve been enjoying it a lot, doing some new things and watching some new DVD movies that I haven’t seen before.  After all, that’s what vacations are supposed to be all about – doing new and different things that I don’t normally do.  Otherwise, what would be the point in going anywhere on vacation?

The sun finally seems to be coming out and now, I’m contemplating going over to the boardwalk to do some reading again this afternoon.  So, that’s what I did, and I got almost to the end of Chapter 8 while I sat at the boardwalk with my coffee from Timmy’s.

For dinner, I went to Solo’s (a.k.a. Solo’s Trattoria) and ordered an entrée called Wild Mushroom Chicken, which is cooked in a marsala mushroom sauce.  This meal came with mashed potatoes, cooked-from-fresh vegetables, and a side-Caesar salad.  I also ordered a glass of white Pino Grigio wine with dinner.  It was a really terrific dinner, which I enjoyed enormously.  There was also bread provided, but I took that back with me to the hotel.

After dinner, I came back to my room and continued watching a brand new DVD TV series called “Ice Road Truckers (Season 7)” that I’d started to watch this afternoon.  Before dinner, I’d gotten most of the way through Disk 1 and now, I am into Disk 2.  I’ll probably end up watching Disk 3 tomorrow or back at home next week.

I had another restless night tonight.  So, instead of trying to sleep, which was not working, I played my 3 music CDs:  Enya, Dirty Dancing, and Adele, and tried to relax.  It was one of my first times listening to Adele.  She is a mesmerizing singer to hear and I will probably be buying some more of her music.

DAY 6 – Tuesday October 3, 2017:

Today is my last full day of vacation here in “The Soo”.  It’s been great fun, as always.  Hopefully, I can come back again next year.  I’ve learned my lesson about the best time of day at which to book my departure air fare (late in the day) and how much time to give myself to get to the airport, get checked in, and go through security (at least two hours, depending on whether I’m travelling in Canada or abroad).  I had to do everything myself this year, including getting myself to the airport.  Maybe next year, I can get a ride from someone instead, or take a taxi, or maybe I could stay at a hotel close to Pearson Airport the night before leaving.

This morning, after breakfast, I went back to my room, lay in bed, and started to watch one of my favourite DVD movies “Employee of the Month”, but, again, fell asleep during the movie.  I may end up watching this one again, since all I did was listen to it.

After a while, I got up and got myself ready to go out to the mall and the water’s edge.  This time, I wanted to get some photos of myself done at the photo booth in the mall, then get a coffee from Timmy’s, and go out to the boardwalk one last time to do some reading.  I am now up to Chapter 10.  Then, I got a slice of pizza for lunch and ate it at the mall.  Finally, I came back to my room.  I still might go swimming this afternoon even though I haven’t been swimming in the hotel pool yet this week.  I guess I’ll make it up at home instead.  After all, by this time tomorrow (1:45 pm), I’ll be back at home in Toronto again.

I’ve phoned the taxi cab company, SYC, to please pick me at 7:30 am tomorrow morning so that I will make it to the airport in “The Soo” with time to spare this time.  I’ve also asked the front desk for a wakeup call at 6:00 am so that I can get myself dressed, packed up completely, and then have a light breakfast before being picked up by my taxi.

DAY 7 – Wednesday October 4, 2017:

Just as I’d planned, I woke up at the appointed time, 6:00am, got washed and dressed and packed up the last of my stuff.  Then, I went downstairs for breakfast for the last time at about 6:30 am and then waited for my taxi to appear at 7:30 am. 

The trip home was smooth and seamless.  I checked in at the Sault Ste. Marie Airport’s Air Canada counter at around 8:30 am since no one was manning the counter until then.  I then put my checked bag onto the conveyer belt that would take it to my plane, and I only had to pay $25.00 plus tax this time to check one bag in.  We boarded the plane at 9:40 am, after going through security smoothly, and took off on time at 10:10 am.  This time, my check-in and security checks were both seamless with no problems.  The trip took an hour and a half and was very pleasant.

When my plane arrived at Pearson International Airport in Toronto at 11:40 am, I was easily able to locate and obtain my checked bag again, then to locate and board the Union Pearson Express train that I’d taken previously to the airport.  Now, it would return me back to Union Station.  After that, I took the subway from Union Station to my home at Yonge and Davisville.  Now, I know that I love flying to “The Soo” because it’s so much nicer than riding a bus for 10 hours one way.  So, I’ll probably be doing my trip to “The Soo” this way from now on.

The only difference from my first trip was that my plane was bigger.  This plane was similar to the first one (it was turbo-prop), except that it was big enough to hold up to 80 people instead of just 40, and, today it was a full flight.  Other than that, it was pretty much the same.   I enjoyed every moment of my trip up to “The Soo”, the time I spent there, and my trip back home.  This vacation has always been enjoyable for me, which is the primary reason I keep returning to this part of Northern Ontario.  “The Soo” is truly My Heavenly Place, and always will be.  The next time I hope to go up there will be any time between August and October 2018.

Thanksgiving 2017 – October 8 & 9:

This year, we did not have our usual extended family get-together.  So, Brent suggested that only he, James and I spend it together at his place in Janetville.  On Sunday October 8, with my weekend bag in hand, I took the subway down to Union Station and then boarded the GO Train bound for Oshawa, only I would get off at Whitby GO Station and wait for Brent to come down, pick me up there, and take me to his place.

On the way, we went to do some much-needed grocery shopping, which Brent did while I stayed in the car and wrote down the Proline football games scheduled for later today and the spreads (point differential for each game).  I got this football data from the Proline web site on Brent’s cell phone.  Brent and James were going to place their bets (James would place his bet via Brent) and Brent would then have to submit their Proline cards at the store before the games could begin.

After doing the grocery shopping in Port Perry, we went to pick up James at his mom’s place.  Brent does this every other week – picking James up on Sunday and dropping him off the next Sunday.  We would all spend today and tomorrow together having Brent’s Thanksgiving dinner, watching football all afternoon, and then watching a PPV (pay-per-view) WWF event on TV.  While I’m not crazy about either football or WWF, I watched these shows with my two boys because the idea was to spend time together.

On Sunday night, I went to bed at about midnight, hoping I would sleep through the night, but unfortunately, that did not happen.  In fact, I didn’t fall asleep until almost 5:00 am and then slept till maybe 10:00 am (not counting the 3 times I got up to go to the bathroom!).  Anyway, I finally got up at about 10:30 am on the Holiday Monday, got washed and dressed and went downstairs to see what Brent and James were doing.  They were playing Fantasy Baseball on the TV (on Playstation) and they were in the playoffs.  I watched them play for a while, had cereal for my breakfast, and then went outside to sit by the lakeshore and continue to read my book “A Stranger in the Mirror”, which I’d started last week in “The Soo”.  I am now into Book Two of that novel.

I spent a pretty lazy day on my own until we decided that we were going to go out for the birthday dinner that we had promised ourselves in August.  James had his 13^th birthday on September 2^nd and we have been determined to celebrate it among ourselves.  So, Brent called Dave because I’d been unable to reach him on his cell phone and we arranged to pick him up in Whitby at his home.  We would then go to Eastside Mario’s for dinner in North Whitby.

After dinner, Brent would drop me off at the Whitby GO Station, then drop Dave off at his home nearby in South Whitby, and finally, return home with James to Janetville.  It was a really nice dinner (my treat this time).  Dave gave me my cell phone back that I’d accidently left at his house just before my holidays in “The Soo”.  Fortunately, I had another cell phone that I could use in the meantime.  Finally, I got back on the GO Train at 8:17 pm, 20 minutes after being dropped off at the Whitby GO Station, and arrived back at my home at Yonge and Davisville just before 10:00 pm.

All in all, it certainly wasn’t the usual way we spend our Thanksgiving Day together, but it was outstanding, nevertheless.  Brent and James are my core family members and Dave has been part of my family for at least 26 years.  I’ve known Dave and his kids that long.  If that doesn’t make him and his family part of my own family, I don’t know what does.  Happy Thanksgiving Day!

copyright 2017 - Anne Shier