Day 8 - Thursday April 28

We made the long ride home, from Kingston Ontario to Bethel Connecticut.  It rained a little ... but, once again, we missed the heavy rain.  Yeah!  We got home in time for a late dinner.  When I get a chance, I'll organize the photos and post more online!

A great Indian dinner

We went out tonight in Kingston for Indian food, and had a lovely meal of mildly spiced "Kashmiri Chicken", a very spicy "Dahnsak Lamb", and herbed rice.  This was great ... one of our best meals of the trip.

We had walked a quarter mile to the restaurant, and then it started raining heavily during our dinner ... and we had no rain gear with us.  But this turned out to be an advantage in the end.  Leslie convinced the proprietor to loan me an umbrella ... and I walked back in the rain (but with the borrowed umbrella) and brought the car to take Leslie back to the hotel ... but this gave Leslie a chance to talk with the proprietor while waiting for me.  She managed to learn from him that the Dahnsak Lamb recipe probably originated in Iran and then was brought to India and adapted there to Indian tastes.  He gave Leslie some of the secrets ... the sauce is based on red lentils, cream, yogurt, fenugreek leaves, and lemon juice.  He even said that Dahnsak Lamb is traditionally made with five types of lentils, but they cut corners at the restaurant and used only red lentils.  Who knew?  I gotta experiment with this and see if I can duplicate it!

Day 7 - Wednesday April 27

Today we drove eastward across the north side of Lake Ontario, taking the "scenic routes" and "long cuts" on back roads and stopping frequently.  We had good weather for the entire drive.  Yeah!  We've been lucky on the weather, relative to the rainy forecasts that we've been hearing!  One of our side trips took us through Omemee, Ontario, where Neil Young was born.  And I photographed Leslie in front of the Rock and Roll Museum there.

Day 6 - Tuesday April 26

We checked out of Toronto and drove north to the Muskoka cottage country.  We visited my long-time friend Ellen in Orillia, Ontario ... it was fun to reconnect.  Ellen took us on an afternoon tour further north.  It rained all day, so it wasn't photography friendly!

Photos

There are a few photos in the right column ... and we'll post more photos in coming days.  We've taken about 1000 photos and 50 short videos, so far.  But I have limited time and limited bandwidth to upload photos while away.  So there are just a few representative photos up so far.

Weather

The weather forecasts have called for rain for the last three days ... but we have been lucky!  It didn't rain during our Niagara Falls visit, despite the prediction ... and it also didn't rain during our first full day in Toronto, again despite the prediction.
But today it did rain.
We both have rain jackets with hoods ... so we trooped around in the rain this way.  It never poured, so we were fine.
Now it's supposed to rain for the next two days.  We'll take it as it comes.

Day 5 – Monday April 25

Today we covered a lot of ground.  We bought all-day passes on the Toronto public transportation system, so we were allowed to use unlimited rides on the subway, tram, and bus.  We used all these varieties.

We went from midtown, where we’re staying, to Chinatown for breakfast … then further west to the Queen West district to window shop … then back to the east end of the city to the Distillery District, where we wondered around looking at historical buildings and art … then back to the hotel … to the weight room and whirlpool … then off again by tram to Little India, where we found an Indian food buffet.

Day 4 - Sunday April 24

We trooped around Toronto today!  This was my first visit ever to Toronto.
Geez, it's a big city!  It feels like Manhattan.
We came upon an Indian Festival, called the Khalsa Day celebration in honor of Vaisakhi Day.  They had free food, and we indulged!
And we went up the famous tower here ... looked over the city.

Day 3 - Saturday April 23

We visited Niagara Falls on the Canadian side.  (We didn't even bother stopping on the American side, what with Love Canal pollution etc.)
It was great!  We were lucky with the weather ... it was supposed to rain, but the cloudy skies cleared as we arrived!  I had not seen the falls since I was a boy.
I posted a few pictures.  I'll post more after my return home.

Day 2 - Friday April 22

We drove from the Eldred area north to Buffalo ... this was an interesting drive through miles of scenic farmland. We took some interesting photos along this ride.
In Buffalo, we arrived at the home of Leslie's friend Wiz.  He showed us around Buffalo ... we saw many interesting buildings and architecture ... and saw Leslie's college ... and ate fish fry for dinner.  And took lots of photos!

Day 1 - Thursday April 21

We drove from Connecticut west to Eldred, PA, taking I-84 and Route 17 mainly.  This was a long a boring ride ... just a lot of pavement.  No problems.  The weather was sunny but windy ... had to keep a firm hand on the steering wheel to keep the minivan going straight despite the wind.
We arrived at the home of my cousin Dale and his wife Tracy at 6:20 PM.  This was the first time that I had visited their house.  We also could not avoid meeting Tucker, their (very large) labrador.  We went out of dinner to Dale's favorite restaurant ... and most of us ate fresh turkey dinners.

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog ... created to follow our roadtrip around Lake Ontario.  Our route starts in Connecticut ... and takes us:

• first to Eldred, PA (near the PA-NY border) where my cousin Dale lives
• then to Buffalo, NY where Leslie attended college and where we visit her friend Wiz
• then to Niagara Falls, NY and Niagara Falls, Ontario
• then to Toronto, Ontario
• then to Orillia, Ontario where we visit my friend Ellen
• then eastward across the north side of Lake Ontario to Kingston, Ontario
• then back home.