Toronto 2018

Interesting day going through the Colorado Rockies.   Since we have the same room we had going to Illinois we got to see the view on the other side of the train. Winter Park Fraser River Colorado Rockies Colorado Rockies Colorado Rockies The landscape kept changing in fascinating colors. We had the same experience, though, going through Moffat Tunnel - uncomfortable to say the least! What a lovely surprise to get off the train in Grand Junction to 73 degrees!  Wonderful!   Looking forward to spending a couple of days in this small town and Norm is thrilled that he is now officially back in shorts. Grand Junction  - with statue of John Otto, Man with a monumental vision

Gotta love the attitude!

We just hung out at the hotel until check out time then got a Lyft to the train station. Next door we discovered a pub so went in for an early lunch and ended up staying a couple of hours.   Very entertaining. Now we're traveling to Grand Junction CO where we will arrive tomorrow at 4:10 pm. Just having dinner then time to sleep.

A meandering drive to Naperville this morning through what seemed like the underbelly of Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. When I saw that we could go through Gary Indiana I just couldn't turn that song off in my head so we went there. That's actually our car rental Rob Howard - Gary Indiana   (click on link to play) Well, I have never seen such devastation in my life!  In a very large section of the town at least every other home had something: burned out, boarded up, collapsing, destroyed . . .  Couldn't even take photos it was so awful to see; you'd think you were in a third world country that was in the middle of a war or something.  The area from the bottom of Lake Michigan to close to Naperville was distressing to see. Finally got to Naperville, turned in the car and got to the hotel where we had planned to do as laundry but soon discovered there was no soap in the laundry room and there was nothing walking distance where we could...

Didn't get very far today.  We did try to drive along Lake Michigan but couldn't see it so finally gave up trying. We made some stops before leaving Holland this morning.  We stopped to see the De Zwaan windmill at a distance as the Windmill Island Gardens doesn't open until April 10.  It is the oldest authentic, working Dutch windmill in the United States. It's a shame that the Windmill Island Gardens was closed as it is a replica of a Dutch village and we would also have been able to tour the windmill and watch them make flour.  The website says: Making Flour the Old-Fashioned Way The mill uses stones powered by wind to grind grains from local Michigan farmers. The resulting whole wheat flour is sold at Windmill Island Gardens’ gift shop and is used by many local restaurants and shops. Crawford said she’s proud to make flour in the traditional manner, which is healthier than refined, processed flour. The process preserves all three parts of the gra...

A bit drizzly and cloudy today but surprisingly warm!  Maybe we're getting used to it. Spent the morning at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.  We got outside for a short while but mainly did the touring inside.  Amazingly beautiful spot.  As soon as you walked into the building, you could smell the flowers; it was lovely.  We were particularly impressed with the Butterfly Garden and boy, were they active in there! On the lower right you can see the chrysalis (a little out of focus) One of many feeding stations for the butterflies Amazing number of chrysalis Winged pitcher plant (carnivorous) Winged pitcher plant (carnivorous) Ceiling lights in the cafeteria Entrance to the garden Then we meandered along and ended up here for the night.  It's a really nice little city.  Hope to explore some in the morning. Just love the paint job on our hotel!

We were driving out of Frankenmuth and saw a large building on the left which we figured was a hotel but attached to it was an even larger building of all glass.  We had to stop and see what was going on there.  Turns out it's the Zehnder's Hotel and Water Park.  Unbelievable!  It was packed with families, of course, since it's spring break. There was an arcade and many other entertainment options for the kids.  I'm sure they have a blast there. Then we headed for Bronner's Christmas Wonderland.  This place is not to be believed.  The grounds are huge and covered in various Christmas decorations but the store itself is immense.  I've never seen so many different personalized Christmas ornaments, by hobby, by interest, by gender, on and on.  Their website says: The sights, sounds, and spirit of CHRISTmas completely surround you at this amazing store, which is the size of one and a half football fields. Bronner's is overflowing...

A driving day today and we are still so glad that while it is cold, it is dry and clear. We pulled off the highway at Sarnia so we could pick up some butter tarts before we left Canada! St. Clair River in Sarnia, Ont.  You can see the ice flowing down river on the opposite side.  Note the fisherman on the lake.  There were actually three boats out there. A closer look at the ice flow as we cross the bridge to the US When we crossed the country in the RV 5 years ago we explored Michigan's Upper Peninsula and really loved it.  As we came south we came across Frankenmuth and were able to do a little exploring.  Since we were so close we decided to come back and this time spend the night here.  So c ute!  The town is already decorated for Easter.  We were very surprised at the number of visitors here at this time of year. From our room at Marv Herzog Hotel This is where the Bavarian Belle Riverboat starts and ends its one...

Met up with my brother Rob and Margaret for breakfast this morning and they then went off to downtown. We spent a great part of the day watching the coverage of the March For Our Lives coverage.   We were very impressed and proud of all who participated. Corner of Yonge and Sheppard (was just fields when I lived here) Then it was time to go to John's Celebration of Life.  Wonderful turnout and had a great evening chatting with quite a few Brits, of course. Site of the Celebration Norm with John, Doug and Linda Norm giving his speech With Linda

A day of nostalgia and lots of driving around to old haunts. Pickering Beachfront Park Lake Ontario - very cold! Pickering Nuclear Station where I worked before going to California My first professional belly dance job-used to be called Stone Cottage Inn Stopped to say hello to mom and dad at Resthaven Memorial Park Then we had to drive the Danforth and Norm got to revisit the myriad of places where he lived, along and near the Danforth, before making our way north to our hotel.

We drove around Whitby and Oshawa today marveling at all the changes since we were last here.  We spent quite a while walking around the Oshawa Center, a two-storey indoor mall with more than 230 stores.  Really enjoyed walking around indoors since it's quite cold and windy outside. Oshawa Center Got a big kick out of this - great way to keep two kids under control at the mall! Then we met the family for dinner at Montana's. If it hadn't been so cold we would have had a walk around but these California folks couldn't handle it! Looking out our hotel window we can see what looks like a miniature village and when we looked into this further we found out it is: The Kids Safety Village of Durham Region is a kid-sized version of a real town located on the grounds of the Sir William Stephenson Public School in Whitby. Set on 1.2 acres, the village features small buildings, detailed roadways, traffic lights and road signs, an operational railway cro...