Our Adventure up North

A few weeks ago Alex and I had the opportunity to join Ben on one of his many trips up north into Buffalo, NY. Around these parts my husband is now known as the "Buffalo Soldier" because he has been up there so often and he actually does come from Africa!

We flew into Buffalo and then took a hired car to travel further north to the Niagara Falls. First we had a look from the American side and then we crossed the border into Canada to have a look there and also to spend a night in a hotel right by the falls.

Although the surroundings feel like you've stepped back into the 70s and there is no beauty there (actually it is pretty ugly) the falls are spectacular. And I'm sorry America, but the Canadian Horseshoe Falls are better! 

The next day we had special reservations for a helicopter flight over the falls. This was a surprise for Alex, who had been wanting to fly a helicopter ever since Ben got to fly one in the summer. But I think when it did happen, he was flabbergasted for most of the experience. 

I had enjoyed the same flight in probably the same helicopter 15 years ago - never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd be doing it again in my lifetime, let alone with my husband and son! I am so blessed! After the adrenaline rush of the flight, we drove towards Toronto but stayed in Oakville outside of the city with friends, who were kind enough to offer us their spare bed. 

We really enjoyed the Toronto area. One day was spent sightseeing around the city. We enjoyed a city tour in the Hippo Bus, which is a unique 40 passenger vessel that offers land and water tours of Toronto. Super cool! 

Once I had cleaned up my camera after an unfortunate pigeon poop incident (Can you believe it! Thank heavens for disinfectant wipes!), we had lunch in a teeny-tiny Japanese Restaurant, which we just happened to stumble across - absolutely outstanding!!! You couldn't swing a cat in that place but still they had about 9 small tables that were busy all the time.

After lunch we took the subway to Union Station, which is undergoing major renovations. It is a beautiful building! And I love the experiment in the subway with the moving trains and the weird lighting. From there we went to the CN Tower (via a little detour where we almost landed up in a sex expo, with our 4 year old in tow!). Alex loved and still loves the CN Tower! He had no issues standing on the glass floor. Ben on the other hand...

We had a lovely time on our mini-tour, I'm glad we had this opportunity to show Alex another part of the world and add another country to his repertoire.


Enjoy the many, many pictures!