CANADIA!!!
Imagine my (Bri’s) surprise when I discovered that my dear dear Douglas had NEVER been to CANADIA! (see what I did there Nikki??) So, naturally, for his birthday weekend, we decided that a trip to Canada was a MUST, and, for good measure, we dragged along Sage (our eldest).
First, logistics, as I know some of you read for those details. Our plan was simple, leave Thursday afternoon after I finished work, drive as far as we could and then get a hotel for the night, and finish the drive in the morning, reaching Niagara Falls and the border by lunch. Stay in Mississauga (between Toronto and Niagara) for two night and then head home Sunday, stopping for the night if needed. This would only require two days off work, for a 4.5 day trip. Our drive from our home to the border is around 8 hours, so totally doable this way. For the “we will stop when we are tired” hotels, I always look for a Comfort Inn. Why? As much as I love Marriott, they are often further off the interstates, and at the last minute are often double their regular cost. I have found Comfort Inns to be clean, reliable and they offer AARP and AAA discounts that not all higher end hotels offer. So, even in 2026, you can still get a good, clean room with breakfast for less than $100. The hotel there was my normal, Marriott, in particular, the Courtyard Marriott Toronto/Mississauga West, which was $0 for us as I used my Bonvoy points to book for the two nights. Driving, of course, was cost of gas, and we took my Kia Soul to get good mileage (We spent about $160 in gas total, there and back, in a car toting all three of us). After that, our only expenses were food and souvenirs! Ergo, before considering those two, we were only in for $375 give or take total, again, plus cost of food and stuff.
For reference, those Stanley cups that were trendy were running $45, for a cup. Coach purses (which I hear are the purse, I guess, I don’t carry one) run $250-$500. A Labubu (I had NO idea what this was, so thanks to my friend Jenn) runs about $100-$130.
We buy things like this ALL OF THE TIME so we look like everyone else. For the cost of a purse, you can do a weekend in Canada, just like I do. No judgement, just a point that travel IS doable, you just need to prioritize it.
Now back to Canada. After stopping in Altoona, PA for the night, we made our way to Niagara, will the same lunch time goal and to head straight to the Hard Rock (for our shot of course!). We arrived at the border around 1:00 p.m. as promised and headed for Hard Rock cafe, where, much to my Canadian friends shagrin…
Doug and Sage got themselves a Molson Canadian!! *Dramatic pause for my Canadian friends to go NOOOOOOOOOOOOO*
They liked it.
Hush you.
Shots and Molsons consumed, we headed down to see the falls via Clifton Hill, which yes, is a tourist trap, but it’s fun. We spent most of our time enjoying the view anyway:
Despite the haze from the wildfires west of us, it was still breathtaking. We walked around for a bit, shopped, got a poutine (pauses for another sigh in stereotype) and then headed to St. Catherine’s for a kidnapping…
Yet another reason I love Science Fiction, please meet yet ANOTHER Stargate friend, Nikki, obviously from Canada, who I promptly stole from her husband (thanks Jay!) and took with us on the rest of the adventure.
We got dinner nearby at The Courtyard, a super good value and good food if you are nearby and need a bite, and then head to the hotel, as we had spent quite a lot of time at the falls. Then it was back to the hotel to rest and get ready for the next day, where I was able to visit another friend and party down for Doug’s bday!
For those who read the blog to see HOW you can replicate Doug and I’s deals-o-rama on travel, I stick to two brands of hotel, usually, Mariott and Hilton, just for their rewards points. While I have heard the argument “they are so expensive”, that is a myth, because both have purchased a number of moderate brands, and, they offer member discounts that using a number of comparison sites are often cheaper. This stay I paid a whopping $0 as noted above. And, our other way to save money, and eat what we want, is we walk EVERYWHERE!
And that is exactly how day 2 started. Now granted, it did NOT go as originally planned, as there was a tornado warning during breakfast at a cafe across the way, and we ended up trapped there for a while and then the hotel lobby. It was nice to catch up, but it hurt our ability to enter the city of Toronto until that afternoon. By the time we were able to make it, one of my friend could not join us, but kidnappee Nikki was happy to come! So, armed with our feed and credit card only, we headed into Toronto to let Doug and Sage experience the city.
We began in the at the HarbourFront, where we walked around, had a drink and then stopped for Beavertails… (which I could not have :(, stupid celiac). If you are not familiar, they are like flat funnel cakes with various toppings. Doug and Sage approved.
We then wandered around, snapping pics, and taking time to put our feet into Lake Ontario, keeping Doug & I with the tradition!
From there, we made our way to the Distillery District, which has AMAZING live music and art everywhere! Highly recommend if you visit! (I also snagged a really cool Frida Kahlo book!).
Other than a lot of laughs, and just stopping and finding fun, we knew we were running out of time and wanted to see one more thing before I ride came to rescue us, the famous Toronto Sign.
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And now, my friends, is my Google Maps warning. You see, you go to Google Maps and you type something. You see it appear at the top of the search and you click. However, Google has a REALLY BAD habit of constantly searching, so, in the time your finger is making its way to select the top choice, which you read and confirmed, it has given you “additional suggestions”, moved them to the top and your finger has now hit their NEW suggestion rather than the one you saw inititally and intended to select. So…a full 45 minute walk…carefully following the Google Maps directions…led us directly to…
Yep, you read that right. Toronto SIGNS.
I still made Doug pose for a picture.
Not to be deterred, I summoned and Uber, and got us there just before dark!
We ended our evening there, at the Vietnamese Food and Cultural Festival, and head back to the hotel.
The next morning we decided to make one more stop, to Niagara-on-the-lake before dropping Nikki at home.
Niagara on the lake is beautiful and bougie (think Carytown in Richmond if you are a Richmod Native, or the newer parts of Asheville) but we managed to find an amazing candy shoppe (and Irn-Bru for Doug!) as well as a fantastic Scottish shop, where a man from South of Edinburgh sold me a fantastic kilt jacket to go with his tarten he ordered last month (it was perfect!!) and even the historic Niagara Apothocary, a supercool and free museum to the history of pharmacy in the area.
With some tears, we dropped Nikki off (love you girl!) and headed back to the falls for a dinner, one last glance and to head home. And it was goodbye Canada, and we were headed home.
We made our way home slowly and safelty, stopping for the night, and honestly, I stopped with the pictures. In fact, I did not take as many, and why? As we continue to travel, I want to take pictures to remember, to share, but also, I want to LIVE my life and not see it through the lens of a cell phone. So, as we made our way through New York, as we stopped at antique shops on the way home, as we discovered that we need to go back to Bath, WV in the future, I just wanted to be there and present.
This trip was short. It was inexpensive, and used points, and chill, even interrupted by a tornado, but it was living. It was taking moments to appreciate sunsets, tossing cellphones into backpacks to have meaningful conversation, it was not worrying about performance or appearances and just living.
And that’s what life is about…living.
Until next time…
