Sunday, June 18, 2023.

6:00am: Wake up! Grab a brush and put a little make-up!

6:45am: Leave the hotel and walk to the local IGA grocery store in light rain. Pickup breakfast and lunch supplies for the day.

7:25am: Arrive at the HopOnBanff meeting point at Moose Hotel and eat breakfast while we wait. HopOnBanff will take us to the most interesting places in Banff National Park without the drama of driving ourselves. One of the locations is now only reachable by licensed shuttles like this one.

7:40am: Meet one of our hosts, Tyler and get some early details about the day before boarding a big yellow school bus.

7:45am: The bus leaves Banff and we immediately spot an elk at the side of the road. Take some silly selfies.

8:20am: Arrive at our first stop of the day, Johnston Canyon. We have just under two hours to see as much as we care to see. Take a quick bathroom break, then hit the trail through the canyon. It’s nicely paved, but we have a long way to go. It’s also raining steadily and we’re all getting soaked. We reach a fork in the trail and choose to go to the further upper falls first and possibly catch the lower falls on the way back.

9:10am: We make it to the upper falls just before the halfway point of our allotted time, and take it all in. The trail ends on a little platform out over the river with a great view of the falls. As we leave the platform to make our way back, Ellie realizes we have to do it all again in reverse and has a bit of a breakdown. Amber decides to distract her with the alphabet game, which does work after a little while. We reach the fork to the lower falls and Amber and Ellie decide to skip it. Mackenzie and I check it out, snap a few pictures, then hustle to catch up.

9:55am: We make it back to the pick up point and do a little shopping in the Johnston Canyon resort shop.

10:10am: Meet our second host for the day, Dominque, and depart Johnston Canyon on another yellow school bus. Learn some fascinating facts about bears, their diet, mating habits, and delayed implantation.

11:15am: Arrive at Lake Louise. It’s still raining, but not as heavily as it was earlier. We head into the gigantic Fremont Chateau Lake Louise hotel and feel very out of place walking through this posh place in our wet hiking gear (at list it wasn’t muddy). We go through the hotel and toward the lake then start down the trail on the northwest side of the lake. We work on some EarthCaches as we go and learn (again) about rock flour and how it affects the perceived color of the water. After the caches, we eat our packed lunch as we walk, and are pleasantly surprised that we all chose something tasty. As we return to the hotel, Amber and the girls head inside to find a place to rest while I do a bit more exploring.

1:40pm: Meetup with Tyler again and Depart Lake Louise. Start learning about the Valley of the Ten Peaks, and note that the weather has cleared up reasonably well to see it all.

2:05pm: Arrive at Moraine Lake. Start by heading up the rock pile for what Tyler described as the million dollar view. Explore the top of the rock pile and take some great photos. Then head back down for the $20 view (the Valley of the Ten Peaks used to be on the Canadian $20 bill). Two more EarthCaches and a little shopping at the gift shop.

3:15pm: Depart Moraine Lake. Admire the scenery on the drive back to Banff.

3:45pm: Our driver spots two black bears at the side of the road!

4:55pm: Arrive back in Banff. Start the walk back to our hotel.

5:05pm: Arrive at Charltons Banff to drop our stuff, change our shoes, and choose The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner.

5:30pm: Learn it’s a 30 minute wait even though it’s not really dinner time. 🙁

5:55pm: Get seated for some tasty food.

7:30pm: Get back to the hotel so we can change and hit the pool. The girls have almost waited patiently.

9:00pm: It’s bed time for Amber and the girls.

9:30pm: I go back out for some caches! But I only find one out of two, and spend so much time looking for the second that I decide to call it a night without attempting any more.

10:25pm: I return to the hotel and write some stuff for the blog.

11:30pm: The longest walk is finally over. I finish the day with about 29,000 steps and nearly triple my move goal for the day. I’ll probably still wake up at 6am.

Saturday, June 17, 2023. Despite the delay scare yesterday, the train made it to Jasper within a few minutes of the scheduled time of 6:30am. We made sure we were up a bit before then so we could pack up the last of our things, then disembarked into light rain. We hung around the station waiting for our checked bags which appeared without a problem despite the initial tagging oopsie.

We had about two hours to kill before we could pickup our rental car, so we grabbed breakfast at Tim Horton’s again and planned to go for some caches and adventure labs. The breakfast part went off without a hitch, but we only made it through one cache and one AL before Amber decided she wasn’t interested in tromping around in the cold and rain with all our stuff (totally reasonable). So she took the girls back to the train station to wait inside since it was also the rental car location, and I continued with the original plan. I found a couple more in the rain (including one near Jasper the Bear) and learned some interesting Jasper history before my time was up and I headed back to the train station, too.

Once the National counter opened, they gave us a Honda H-RV which they classify as a compact SUV. It’s definitely compact, but it holds a surprising amount of luggage in the back and was roomier than I expected. With the key in hand, we loaded up and hit the road for the roughly three and a half hour drive to Banff. Since it’s only a few hours from Jasper, we decided when planning the trip that it was too close to pass up the opportunity to see both. There’s really only one logical route to get there, and that’s via the Icefields Parkway. We planned to take our time and make several stops along the route. We had a list of options so we could hit some of them today and some of them on our way back to Jasper in two days.

Stop number one came pretty quickly: Athabasca Falls. It’s not the widest or tallest waterfall, but it was pretty impressive all the same. The girls helped me find the answers for an EarthCache by reading all of the information signs. It was only sprinkling by this point, so we had fun exploring the area and it’s various observation points. We found a physical cache on our way out, then hit the road again.

After climbing up several thousand feet and coming through the Sunwapta Pass, our next stop on the list was the Parker Ridge Trail. It was quite a bit colder by this point due to the change in elevation, but the rain stopped shortly after we hit the trail. This hike goes from the Icefields Parkway and climbs up the side of (surprise!) Parker Ridge. The first half of the trail is a series of switchbacks through a gorgeous forest of fir and spruce trees, while the second half tops the tree line.

The parking area sits at around 6600 feet of elevation, and hiking all the way to the top of the ridge requires climbing another 1100 feet or so. We figured the girls wouldn’t get that far, so we targeted a bench just below the halfway mark instead. The sun came out for a while as we walked through the trees, which translated to lot of removing and re-adding layers as we alternated between shade and sun. Once we reached the bench, we decided to keep going a little further. We ended up clearing the tree line and stopping right around 7200 feet of elevation. Let’s just say there was a fair amount of huffing and puffing from Amber and me, but it was worth it.

When we were about halfway back down, it started raining lightly. We were mostly prepared for that, but got a surprise when the rain turned to graupel which continued for the remainder of our walk back to the car. We really are getting a little bit of everything in terms of weather (unintentional foreshadowing).

I think my planning for this stretch was pretty good overall, but I neglected one thing: lunch. The Icefields Parkway runs through Jasper and Banff National Parks which are mostly wilderness with relatively few places to stop for food or supplies. We were pushing mid-afternoon when we finally reached The Crossing. This facility is basically it’s own small town since it has to be fully self-sufficient. For us, it was a welcome spot for a late lunch before we hit the road again.

Our third and final stop before reaching Banff was Peyto Lake. We took a paved, but sometimes very steep trail up to an observation platform for great views of another blue/green lake. Then we went off the paved trail to a higher observation point that was much less crowded. I grabbed the details for an EarthCache and a virtual, then we moved on.

In our last stretch of driving, we came upon a bunch of cars stopped at the sides and in the middle of the road. What the heck is going on? Oh, of course there’s a black bear at the side of the road. And people are the worst.

We finally rolled into Banff around dinner time. We got checked into our hotel, Charltons Banff. It’s got a strange indoor/outdoor layout, but it was pretty nice overall and we had a view of the mountains.

We finished off our evening with dinner at Alberta Wing Shack. We were looking for something simple, and this fit the bill nicely. Amber got the Toronto Maple Leafs flavor (apple butter mesquite), while I went with Smokey Blue, and we got Honey BBQ for the girls.

Friday, June 16, 2023. Good news: The earplugs helped! Bad news: I was woken up out of my doze at about 11pm by Mackenzie shaking me to indicate that she was going to puke! Boy, that killed any sleepy vibes that were settling in! Thankfully, our berths are right beside the bathrooms and I was able to get  her into the bathroom far enough that she at least made it to the sink. After loosing all of her dinner, I was able to get her and the bathroom all cleaned up, and left her sitting on a stool in the bathroom hugging a trash can while I hunted down some saltines. Thankfully, some of the staff was still sitting up in the dining car and happy to oblige. After some nibbles of the crackers and a dose of Dramamine, she was back in her bunk and I put my earplugs back in for some real sleep. 

The next morning was pretty uneventful. Mackenzie was feeling better and I had a little more productive night’s sleep. 

The highlights:

• Lunch: ginger beef
• Dinner: prime rib
• Ellie nearly skunked me at cribbage! She managed two back-to-back hands of 24 points! I still think Carson was helping her cheat…
• Stopped to stretch our legs in Saskatoon and grabbed a cache just outside of the parking lot.

But here is where our day got interesting. Once we were all boarded and ready to go, they closed all the doors but the train wasn’t leaving. They went ahead and started serving lunch. (This wasn’t supposed to happen until we were moving again.) During lunch, the train finally departed and we were on our way again without any word on why we were delayed.

However, this advancement was short lived. As we made our way into Unity the train came to a stop and we were not sure what was going on. We took this opportunity to hang out in the Skyline car to read and maybe learn more about our delays. After sitting for a bit, we received word that a freight train had derailed not far in front of us! Details were coming in slowly, so we were not sure how long we would be stalled nor what our next move would be.

After about a half hour, the train left the station in Unity. But this again didn’t last very long before we came to a stop. Without any additional information, Ellie and I went back to our berth to take a nap and Mackenzie and Carson stayed behind in the Skyline car playing Zelda. After about another half hour, the train started moving again. Seeing as I was asleep, I am not sure how long we had been moving, but I woke up sometime later and saw that we were passing a freight train slowly. Ellie was still asleep and I went to the bathroom. When I came back our berth mate had just finished videoing the passing train. I made some comment about wondering what was going on and he informed me that the train we just passed was the derailed freight train. 

What we learned later is that a freight train (not sure what it was carrying) derailed in a section of the line with two parallel tracks. When the freight train derailed, it happened in the center of the train, so the front and rear portions were still on the tracks. Thankfully, it appeared like the engineers may have been bounced around a bit, but should have been able to walk away okay. Unfortunately, there were several mangled cars and the tracks were torn out of place. It’s going to take some time and work to repair that stretch. However, the other parallel track did not appear damaged and the derailed cars fell away from the second set of tracks, leaving them in operation. Because of this, the RTC (Rail Traffic Control) allowed our lighter passenger train to traverse this section at a slow speed; I’m not sure if they were allowing other heavier freight through. Very scary all in all, but also very fortunate as it could have been a lot worse!

We ended our day tucking the girls into bed and heading up to the top of the Skyline car to catch the setting sun. Editor’s note: We had a longer scheduled stop in Edmonton, but we were getting in so late due to the delay that we both decided to stay on the train.

Thursday, June 15, 2023. Our first night sleeping on the train was a bit rocky (pun fully intended here). As we were planning this trip, we read in multiple places how the rocking of the train would lull us to sleep. Well, WHOWEE! There is nothing about the rocking, jostling, bouncing, rattling, squeaking, shaking of a train that could be mistaken for lull! The girls seemed to have slept pretty okay; Carson struggled a bit; I slept in 45 minute increments with 10 minute breaks in between naps, giving up in the morning to a stiff-all-over body. I’m gonna need to figure out a different sleeping strategy for night number two!

Despite our exhaustion, the day must go on… Breakfast was just as good as dinner last night. Then, we proceeded spending our day bouncing between the upper and lower decks of the Skyline car improving our Cribbage skills, playing other various games, reading in our berths, and eating the best food that Via Rail had to offer.

The highlights:

• Lunch: tuna melt, burger, and chicken strips
• Dinner: pork loin, chicken florentine, mac & cheese, PBJ sandwich
• We’re all getting better at Cribbage but Carson is threatening to teach us all Spades
• Inadvertently ended up in a chair yoga/stretching activity in the Skyline car
• Attended a beer tasting in the upper level over looking the tree tops
• Won Canada trivia against some Canadians. This came down to a double tie breaker question about which 4 Canadian provinces produce wine. Yes, we got all four of them; the Canadians only knew three. 🙂
• All 4 of us got off the train in Souix Lookout, Ontario to stretch our legs and found a geocache in a bush by the parking lot.

We capped off our evening by tucking the girls into bed just as we pulled into Winnipeg. Here we were allowed to leave the train station for a bit to walk around outside while new passengers boarded and got settled and they changed crews. Since we had access to Wi-Fi in the station, Carson was able to add books the girls’ Kindle and update the time on all of our watches. And, with the last 10 minutes of freedom, Carson found a couple of geocaches just outside the station. 

Once back onboard, Carson took the iPad and the Switch to the Skyline to wind down. Meanwhile, I popped in some ear plugs and settled on my bed to read and attempt my second night on the train. Wish me luck!

Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Our home away from home for the next three days is the Via Rail train The Canadian. Here’s a breakdown of the 21 cars on our train from front to back.

• Two engines do the work.
• A baggage car holds all checked bags. We do not have access to them during the trip, so we had to carefully plan what to pack in carry-on bags. (No mistakes so far!)
• One or two economy class cars offer the cheapest tickets. You get a seat with an outlet and access to a Skyline activity car. Neither Amber or I was interested in sleeping for three nights in a reclined seat, so we knew we needed to go up at least one level.
• The first Skyline activity car is reserved for use by economy class passengers. Each one is a two-level car. The lower level has a game room with tables and chairs, an area for snacks/drinks, and a lounge area. The upper deck is an observation dome with seating for 24, including two tables.
• The first set of sleeper plus class Manor cars. The front of each sleeper car has two bathrooms, followed by three berths and a shower. Each berth section has two benches that face each other, and the section gets converted into bunk beds at night. Next is a section of double cabins, then a few single cabin roomettes at the back.
• Sleeper plus Skyline A car, the first of two available for sleeper plus class.
• Dining car A with a full kitchen and seating for 48.
• Another set of Manor cars.
• Sleeper plus Skyline B car.
• Dining car B.
• Another set of Manor cars.
• Two prestige class Chateau cars. These have larger luxury cabins and a personal concierge. For a hefty price tag, of course.
• One Park car containing a bar, a “bullet lounge” with wrap-around windows at the end of the train, and an upper deck observation dome similar to the Skyline cars but with nicer finishes. Use of this car is reserved for prestige class passengers during the day, with sleeper plus passengers having access after 4pm.

Amber and I had no intentions of sleeping in a reclined seat for three nights, so we agreed to splurge for sleeper plus class. But the cost of private cabins combined with the fact that we’d be split into two anyway convinced us that our best option was upper and lower births. The girls were thrilled to get to sleep in bunk beds, and we were happy to take the lower berths with window access.

For this leg of the trip, we ended up in berths one and two, opposite one another and right behind the bathrooms. We met our car attendant Sidney as we boarded the train. She sets up our beds each night and takes them down in the morning, and is available to answer questions if we need it (we haven’t).

It took each of us a while to get used to the motion of the train. No one ever really felt sick, just a little off. The early route has lots of trees right next to the tracks, which makes it difficult to focus on anything when looking out the window. Dramamine helped us feel a bit more normal.

Our first experience in the dining car was pretty amazing. They offer four options for each meal, and do have separate kid options available as well. We opened the first menu to see shrimp and scallops looking back at us. Three of us said, “Yes, please!” It turned out to be served over an Asian salad which was super tasty. Even Ellie agreed. Mackenzie decided to go with kids chicken tenders and she seemed to enjoy them as well despite them having a different breading than what she’s used to having. Dinner options were tasty as well. Mackenzie chose broccoli stir fry, Amber chose chicken in a mushroom sauce, Ellie went for PB & J, and I picked beef tenderloin. Yum!

When we weren’t in the dining car, we spent most of our time in the Skyline playing games or reading. We decided to get a kids Kindle before the trip, and the girls have been trading on and off, burning through way more books than we expected (not exactly a bad problem to have). Mackenzie re-taught me how to play cribbage, and crushed me in the process.

By the end of the day we were all more than ready for bed. So, the girls and Amber embarked on the next adventure of train life: Showers! I decided to wait until morning, but I can imagine it was a challenge to shower while the train was in motion.

About 8 o’clock we asked Sidney to make up our beds for the night. It was pretty interesting watching her climb all over the births to set everything up. Once we were each cocooned into our own space, I wrapped up the evening writing blog posts and playing Zelda before finally giving up and calling it a night.

Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Today we started the leg of the trip that Amber and I have been most anticipating: the journey across the country by train. This leg will take us from Toronto to Jasper over the course of three full days. I did my best to research ahead of time what this part of the trip would be like and even played some YouTube videos for the girls to give them a better idea of what to expect. But nothing is ever quite the same as seeing things in person.

Before we got to the train, though, we had a morning of silly maneuvering in front of us. You see, we had to get from our condo rental to the train station. It sounds so simple until you start putting all the pieces together. Since we flew into Pearson International Airport, we of course rented our car from there as well. And I setup the rental car to be returned to the airport without even thinking about it (I don’t actually know if there were any other options anyway). However, the airport is not close to our condo nor the train station. They are both mostly downtown, but not really close enough to walk with all of our luggage.

So with all this in mind, I previously planned out the early morning to go something like this: 1) leave our condo and “check out” by returning the key to it’s hiding spot outside of Tim Horton’s, 2) drive to the airport, 2) return the rental car, 3) find the UP Express terminal, 4) ride the UP Express train from the airport to Union Station downtown, 5) check in for the train, and finally 6) board the train for our 9:55 departure. After I initially wrote it all out and backtracked to figure out when we should leave, I came back to double and triple check this plan to be absolutely certain I had allowed ample padding for Toronto traffic or any other unforeseen circumstances.

Luckily we got out of the condo right on time, and I’m happy to report that everything went pretty well according to plan. I thought we were going to end up being a bit early, but it turned out to be just about perfect given the steps we had to go through to check-in for the train. We did end up adding 1a) grab breakfast from Tim Horton’s to eat on the way to the airport, and our lone mistake was 5a) realize we told the staff at the train station handling checked bags the wrong destination (Vancouver instead of Jasper – yes, we want those bags during the stopover!) so our bags needed to be retagged. They had already disappeared into a baggage area, but the attendant assured me she’d get the tags switched. Hopefully that one won’t come back around to bite us in a few days…

The remaining check-in steps involved heading to the business lounge to meet the service manager for the first two days on the train, then meeting the meal coordinator for our dining car to choose whether we wanted the first or second sitting (first please!). Then we were shuffled down a ramp to stand in line for an escalator to take us back up to the platform where we could finally board the train!

Tuesday, June 13, 2023. This morning started off much slower than the previous few mornings. We were able to sit down for a bowl of cereal in the apartment and the girls got to catch up a bit on their morning TV shows. 

With our walking shoes on, we headed out to enjoy the morning on a walk over to the CN Tower. We managed to snag the opening time slot up to the cheeseburger (main observation) level and promptly got to enjoy a full panorama of Toronto. Then, at 9:40 we made our scheduled way up even higher to the macaron (skypod) level of the tower. Yes, we have cheesy nicknames, but what do you expect from Wisconsinites? After a little bit of hesitation, we all managed to settle in and enjoy an even wider view of the city. 

Once we made it back down to ground level, we continued our morning walk to the pier to catch the ferry out to the Toronto Islands. 20 minutes later we disembarked and headed for the bike rentals on the far side. As an alternative to walking around the islands, we opted for a 4-seater quadricycle. Despite 4 sets of pedals and 4 peoples worth of leg power, this thing was quite a bit of work. And in true Monroe fashion, we pedaled our way around the islands hunting geocaches 🙂

As we wound our way around, Carson would hop off the quad and take a girl with him down the random paths to find an adventure lab answer, then hop back on and we’d venture off to find the next one! After a couple of quick finds, we happened across a busy cafe and stopped for a lunch of breakfast sandwiches, hot dogs, fries, and hummus. Then, back onto the quad for a few more caches. Unfortunately, (or maybe thankfully?) quads were not allowed across any bridges. So, the girls and I took the quad over to a playground while Carson ventured across a forbidden bridge for a couple more caches. When we tired of the playground, the girls and I headed decided to just pedal around to kill some time. However, as we were passing the forbidden bridge, Mackenzie spotted Carson on the other side and decided that she wanted to help him hunt out the elusive Tupperwares while Ellie and I hung back goofing off with the quad. About 20 minutes later, Mackenzie and Carson emerged successful but potentially tromped through poison ivy. Fun.

With the gang back together again, we decided to call it a day and return the quad, then head back to the mainland. But not before we found a couple more caches (or maybe they were Adventure Labs? Or maybe Where-I-Go’s? Shoot, I can’t tell the difference!) As we stood out on the far edge of the fishing pier, we noticed the wind start to pick up and the dark clouds start to move in. Since we had absolutely no desire to relive yesterday’s misery, we started our walk back across the island to the ferry. Thankfully, we managed to dodge the rain and make it back to the mainland dry.

Finally back ashore, and I apologize if I’m repeating myself, we continued our walk, managing to find a couple more geocaches along the way. One stop in particular required us to count brass fish in the sidewalk in front of the Toronto Harbour Commission. After several attempts by all members of our family, we finally settled on 41, or maybe 37, or maybe it was 40? After enough time coming up with various totals, an employee took pity on us and asked if we wanted him to tell us the correct total? YES, Please!? For anyone interested, there are 41 brass fish in the sidewalk. 

From there, we headed straight back to the apartment for some well deserved time off our feet. So, up 32 floors and through the door that requires a legit key thingy, we mercifully found a sofa just waiting for us to sit on it! By now, I was ready to order a couple of pizzas for delivery and get the girls through showers, then off to bed. But a quick time check and we learned it was only 4:00!  Just a wee bit too early for dinner and bed… So, the girls turned on Croods 2: A New Age and Carson went back out for a couple more caches, while I pretended to read my book while dozing on the bed. 

Carson finally made it back, we ordered the pizza we were planning for, and finally got to make our way through showers and getting the girls off to bed. Unfortunately, Carson and I still needed to finish up the laundry that I had started earlier in the evening using a dryer that got plenty hot but didn’t really dry anything, as well as repack all of our bags in preparation for the start of the next leg of our journey in the morning: the TRAIN!

Prologue: When we first started planning for this day about a week ago, the forecast predicted sunny and 70s. So, we bought our tickets for Niagara Falls and planned out our activities accordingly (including go-karts and indoor putt-putt). The following day, the forecast shifted to rain and low 60s. Mother Nature sure was having the last laugh…

Monday, June 12, 2023 As forecasted, we woke up to steady rain showers. So we packed a bag with extra clothes to change into if needed because we knew we were going to get soaked. Then, we loaded into the car and headed for Niagara Falls. But first we needed breakfast!

Carson heard about Montreal-style bagels on one of his podcasts a while ago and decided that we needed to try some while we were in Canada. Except we never planned to go to Montreal. So he did his research and found a place on the way to Niagara that is known for being pretty close to true Montreal style in Toronto, Kettleman’s Bagels. We ordered ahead in anticipation of eating on the road and tried to add some padding to the pickup time to account for traffic. Then we had a 10-minute slowdown due to a new accident, which turned out to be a dump truck that had jumped over the center divider on a 6-lane divided highway. Despite that, we made it to the restaurant just after pickup time and made the decision to slow down the morning a bit and ate inside instead.

This was a good decision. We picked up our bag and found a table near the counter and watched them work. They make all of their bagels by hand, cooking them in a wood burning oven and using an 8 foot-ish wood turner to shift the bagels around in the oven. The girls each had your basic bagel fare (cinnamon raisin bagel, one with cream cheese and jam and the other with blueberry cream cheese). Meanwhile Carson had a salmon-with-other-stuff bagel and I had a breakfast bagel sandwich. I don’t know that I would say these bagels are worth going out of your way for but they were very tasty.

Back on the road, we finally made it to Niagara Falls, ON, and parked at the top of Clifton Hill. We all put on our rain coats, I grabbed the backpack, and we started down the hill to the cruise meeting point. We were all pretty wet by the time we found where we needed to be but in the spirit of the activity, we all put on the ponchos they were passing out and climbed aboard the boat that would take us into the mist of the falls. 

We tried to prepare the girls for the amount of wet that they would experience on this outing, but I don’t think they believed us! By the time the boat left the dock our pants were already sticking to our legs due to the rain and my coat sleeves had soaked through (I was the only one without a true raincoat 🙁). We quickly rode past the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls and started our approach to Horseshoe Falls. And here is where the misery really kicked up a notch!

As anticipated (at least by the adults in our party) the mist started to come across hard and the wind really started to whip around. As hard as we tried, we could not hold our hoods up tight nor keep our ponchos from billowing to provide any amount of protection from the onslaught of horizontal moisture blowing on us. But really, at this point in our morning, we were doomed to be soaked through regardless. 

After what seemed like an eternity to some small members of our family, the boat finally turned around and headed back to the dock. There we disembarked and proceeded to make our way back up the hill. Only this time, we made the trek soaked through to our socks and attempted two geocaches on the way. 

The first geocache required us to find information from a plaque that apparently no longer exists. So we took a picture as proof that we were there. The second geocache involved walking across a green space that was waterlogged. So, Carson and Ellie went for it while I hung back and tried to help Mackenzie see the fun in being soaked to the bone on a cold day (I don’t think I really made much progress…) Carson and Ellie returned with a success and we continued up the hill to find lunch.

After some back and forth, we spotted a Rainforest Cafe and decided that this might be the ticket to cheer up our group, and maybe give us a chance to dry out. So we stepped inside and started pealing off our wet layers of ponchos (yes we were still wearing them) and jackets. We were promptly seated across from a group of gorillas that periodically serenaded us with whoops, bellows, and tree swinging. After lunch, we headed back out to make the best of what was left of our day. 

Something that I didn’t mention previously, Clifton Hill is pretty much a cross between Branson, MO and the midway at an amusement park. This place was also full of tourist groups and kids on school field trips. So despite the crummy weather, this place was pretty busy. 

Back to the story.

At this point, the rain had mostly let up and we continued up the hill to enjoy a round of indoor black light wizard putt-putt. We were given our putters and each picked out a neon ball and then head downstairs to the first hole. Given the weather outside, there was no surprise that this activity was busy. Impressively through, despite the entire place being back to back groups of golfers, play moved along pretty steadily. The atmosphere was pretty interesting. It was definitely on the darker side as it was only lit by black light, making it easy to see your ball but hard to see the head of your putter. Never the less, we didn’t keep score for the girls but Carson and I duked it out with him beating my by only 4 strokes; so not too bad. And, as we emerged back into the regular light, we noticed that the rain had finally stopped.

As we were contemplating our next move, the girls asked to do a mirror maze. We bought the tickets and after a couple of tries we finally find the correct mirror maze that our tickets were for (yes, there’s more than one mirror maze at this place!) Talk about a trippy experience! I’m not sure how long it took us, but we managed to find ourselves back at the start of the maze twice before we finally managed our way through the entire maze to the exit. Once out, we attempted to head for the car, but we weren’t able to make it past the ice cream. So we found a not-too-wet bench to sit and eat it that just happens to be directly in front of the giant ferris wheel. And of course, now we just have to go for a ride. As a nice bonus, the weather had finally cleared up enough that we were finally able to see the falls in all their glory!

Back at the bottom, we finally made our way to the car to start our trek back to Toronto. 

Ho ho! Not so quick! We still have a couple more caches to find on the way. The first of these was down a secret trail at the end of a winding road. I’m not real sure that we were supposed to park where we were, so Carson and the girls went after the cache while I waited in the car. After a few minutes, they returned with a successful find and several bug bites. (Glad I stayed behind for this one!)

The second cache was a different kind of adventure. The GPS attempted to take us down a road with a big chain link do not enter fence across it. So we tried going down a little further and ended up pulling into a driveway for another super secret something with tall fences and gated entrance. Google maps says it was a General Motor plant but I think it looked more fortified like Area 51 or something. Anyhoo, we called it a wash on this one and finally made our way back into Toronto.

Editor’s Note: We stopped for one more old cache, but the only exciting thing about it was that it was nearly 20 years old!

We had one more stop to make before calling it a night: dinner. Carson found us a very convenient parking lot and we walked over to small restaurant called Wilbur Mexicana. Maybe we were just really hungry, but these tacos and my salad were super tasty! I would highly recommend this place if you happen to be in the area. 🙂

We finally made it back to the apartment, got showered, and went off to bed. I think we were all asleep before our heads hit the pillow.

Sunday, June 11, 2023. “Daddy, I’m hungry.” Hmm…there’s no food in this condo. I guess we better fix that.

After briefly discussing our options, we settled on something that should have been obvious. Our first truly Canadian experience: a trip to Tim Horton’s for breakfast! Yes, the same one where we picked up our condo key, only this time we went inside and placed an order. Amber and I each got a breakfast sandwich and a donut, and we both agree: the sandwiches were fine, but the donuts were pretty tasty, especially their sour cream glazed.

Now fully fueled, our next stop was Loblaws for some early trip snacks and breakfast items. As we explored the store and overloaded a small shopping basket, I wondered to myself: Are these prices any good? Who cares! We’re on vacation. We left the store to discover it had started raining steadily. Luckily we didn’t have too far to go to get back to our condo building.

The main item on our agenda for the day was a Toronto Blue Jays game against the Minnesota Twins, but it wasn’t until the afternoon. We decided we had enough time for a trip to Ripley’s Aquarium which was also convenient because it’s right next to the Rogers Centre. It’s a pretty modern place with a lot of fun displays, but the best part for me was the glass tunnels that take you through the main tank on a moving walkway. They also had a tank where guests get to touch stingrays, at least in theory. In reality, most of the rays swim too deep for anyone to reach, but we did each get to cop a feel at least. (I didn’t feel too bad about the abbreviated attempt, as this is something we did get to do in Chicago not that long ago.)

After the aquarium it was time to cross the plaza for the baseball game, but not until after we grabbed a humorous picture for the CN Tower virtual cache. We were supposed to take a picture of ourselves at ground zero, with the observation level of the tower (but not the needle) and something to prove today’s date visible in the photo. How did we do?

While I didn’t love that the tickets were handled through TicketMaster, I much preferred the entry experience of NFC readers rather than scanning barcodes like we’re used to at American Family Field in Milwaukee. Once inside the stadium, we decided to keep lunch simple – chicken strips, french fries, nachos, and of course, poutine! We used the people mover ramp to get up to the 500 level and find our seats about a third of the way up in the top section on the third base side of the infield. Not bad seats for a spur of the moment purchase a few months ago.

Now what about that poutine? The fries were fine, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with gravy on fries. But the addition of the fresh-not-fried cheese curds that were slightly warm…well, we didn’t love it. Perhaps poutine is better when it’s not served from the concession stand at a baseball game? Or maybe it’s just not for us. Either way, we made up for it with popcorn and ice cream later in the game, and those were a hit.

Amber decided she wanted to score the game, so she bought a program and did the first inning or two. Then she asked Mackenzie to to give it a try, and I think that really helped her stay interested in the game. The three of us took turns scoring, though we missed a little bit in the middle while we at our ice cream. Ellie didn’t seem that interested in the game, but she was happy with the steady supply of baseball snacks. Though she did protest a bit about how long it took for us to get some popcorn.

As for the game itself, it turned out to be a pretty good one. We’re not exactly Blue Jays fans, but it was fun to root for the home team in their own stadium. Unfortunately, that was a bit challenging early on. The Jays starter had a rough first inning, with the first six Twins batters reaching base safely before a strike out and a double play ended the inning. By that time they were already down four runs. Both teams traded runs during the middle innings, and the game entered the bottom of the eight with the Twins up 6-4. The Jays must have decided they really didn’t want to get swept in the series, because they led off the bottom of the inning with two singles before a big fly gave them the lead for good and ultimately sent the hometown fans home happy.

Once we got back to the condo, we decided to keep it simple for dinner and make another attempt at the restaurant in the adjacent building. This time I made a reservation, but I don’t think we really need it. The food was pretty tasty, and I got to watch the winning putt on the fourth playoff hole of the Canadian Open. A Canadian won it for the first time in nearly 70 years. This may be the only time in my life I ever found watching golf to be exciting.

Saturday, June 10, 2023. After days of packing, weeks of prepping, months of planning, and years of anticipating, the day finally came for us to head to CANADA! For the first time ever, the cats were dropped off at the boarding place, the house was clean, and we were ready to leave on time! So we moved the bags to the driveway and waited for our cab. 5 minutes… 10… 15 minutes went by and still no cab. Carson finally broke down and called the company to get their ETA. Welp, it would appear that our vehicle was stuck in traffic out at the American Family Championship Golf Tournament in town and would be another 20ish minutes before they could get to us. So it looked like we would get to drive ourselves to the airport. First crisis of the trip averted! 

We eventually made it to the airport, checked our bags, cleared security, and still had time for breakfast (muffins) while we waited for boarding. 

We connected through Detroit and into Toronto without any issues. 

Customs was eerily efficient but no passport stamps for any of us. 🙁 Apparently they don’t do that any more? 

We picked up our luggage from the carousel, snagged a Ford Edge from National, and headed across town. We pulled up to the apartment building we booked and Carson dropped me off so I could run inside to figure out how to get into our unit. Welp, according to the not-very-happy security guard on duty, we were supposed to have received an email with all of the details regarding how to access the apartment and garage. So, back to the car, and sure enough, Carson found the email with a very detailed scavenger hunt for how to find the fob for accessing the building and garage (Hint: it was in a lockbox connected to the bike rack at the Tim Hortons across the street from the apartment building. A real life letterbox!). We used the fob to enter the underground garage where we begin scavenger hunt #2: a search for our assigned parking spot. Two u-turns and two additional garage doors later, we located our stall.  

Using the fob again, we gained super (not-so-secret) access to floor 32 of our round apartment building. Then, using an old-timey thing called a key, we unlocked the door and finally made it to our destination.

After the proverbial claiming of beds, we hauled back downstairs to try dinner at the restaurant in the adjacent building. We quickly learned that there was a 40 minute wait. So we added our names to the list, and went across the street to let the girls play while we tried to figure out a possible plan b for dinner. 

Plan b turned into dinner from a place called Bobo Bento Box. 

We took it to-go and ate it up in the apartment. The girls had the orange chicken, Carson had beef in a Chinese black pepper sauce, and I had chicken in teriyaki sauce. Very yummy! 

As we wrapped up our arrival in Toronto and started to settle in, the girls rotated through showers and into bed for some well deserved sleeps!