Day 4 St Lawerence Market and High Park

 We had amazing hosts in Max and Zielika. One evening Max came out and we sat around a lovely bottle of wine discussing all things Toronto, Canada, and families in general. Those conversations are some of the most special aspects of Airbnb/VRBO. When you can connect with local people in wherever you are staying, the sense of community and adventure happens!

We ventured to the St. Lawerence Market today. They had a special Farmers Market that morning. I managed to come away with some Maple Syrup lollipops, berry jam, and strawberries. Yummy. 

We did a City Cruises tour of Lake Ontario, lovely way to learn more about the city and the lake. 

Finally we ended the day exploring High Park. Another highlight. Think a somewhat smaller version of Central Park. Beautiful green space to explore. Taking an ice cream break we met the friendliest woodpecker you can imagine. I think Erik could have captured it with his hat.  Before we left we saw the calmest beaver I have ever seen. It swam up to a reedy area on a pond and then begin to have its dinner, not at all bothered by the Texans excitedly taking pictures.  The park was a nice 20 minute walk to where we were staying. We enjoyed some great Thai food and hit the hay! Next day on to Niagara Falls!

Day 3 Museum of Toronto and Casa Loma

 Pancakes, bacon, and coffee (thank you Erik!) and longer street car ride to Museum of Toronto we started our morning. Museum was under some construction but we still enjoyed a great experience. We managed to tag onto a Docent Tour of the Chinese exhibit on the ground floor. WOW. Amazing to contemplate what the development and invention of this ancient culture. 

Lots of cool bones!

Casa Loma was a real surprise. It looks like a castle, because Canadian energy mogul/financier (trains, early hydro electric, etc) named Sir Henry Pellatt wanted it that way. He basically spent as much money as possible at the time importing the most elaborate and beautiful furnishings he could. He had a staircase made in in his native Scotland and shipped over to Canada -- it never made it due to sinking...but seriously didn't Canada have enough trees! Anyway, gorgeous beautiful historic ... castle. It has been used in many movies and tv shows so you might recognize some of the hallways. Also has a somewhat unusual WWII history. Supposedly the basements, etc were used for training the British secret service and making various gear for British spies.  

Oh man this library!

Marveling at the level of indoor plumbing. Better than ours

Top of the castle view

Day 2 : CN Tower and when a City Pass is worth it

 Same day! But after doing a ton of walking on the Island I (Lilly) was ready to head back on the street car for an early night. Erik made the great point that Toronto, being super spread out, we should see everything we can in one area. The CN tower, once the tallest man made building in North America, mad with the influence and money of multiple train companies is considered "must do!

While I was resting my tired feet, Erik found a great deal on the City Pass attractions-- CN tower, Museum of Toronto, and Casa Loma. I was in with the Museum!  CN tower was really cool with incredible views of the entire area. So ... yes... worth it 

Day 2 Toronto Island and the CN Tower

 I would like to say my hubby is great at making pancakes for breakfast. Even if it is odd Canadian corn pancakes that stick to your ribs all day. We managed to figure out the street cars (basically busses attached to cables), busses, subways. We realized Toronto is really spread out. REALLY spread out. So knowing which line was going which direction was tricky. It meant longish rides but we were usually tired from walking so it was a nice break. 

So we made it out to one of the most recommeded activities -- Toronto Islands. You can take on of three ferries out and then enjoy your day. At one time these islands (really all connected and about 5-8k across) housed homes, then the city of Toronto decided to take it over as a public park. Civic back and forth in sued, so now a few homes (lots of boats) are still there with the rest of the island containing a small amusement park (think Grandma and Grandpa taking the kids) surprisingly clean beaches, and lots of nice walking. 

View of Toronto Skyline from the ferry

On the dock of Center Island

Lake Ontario looks like the ocean to this Texan

We talked with a few of the life guards who seemed to feel it was an easy gig. There typically aren't as crowded of beaches as we would expect on a "lake". 

Our biggest takeaway is we should have rented bicycles at the beginning of the day. By the afternoon (when we were pretty foot sore), most if not all of the bikes had been rented out. There were some very cool houses on the island that made us marvel at how difficult it would be to update, rehab, etc older homes (think 50+ years) on an island. 

Monson Summer Vacation 2024 -- Part 1 Erik and Lilly Go to Canada -- again Day one

 This is Lilly writing. Erik and I left for Toronto, Canada July `12 - 22nd. I titled this "Part 1" as Erik and Luke will be joining Boy Scout Troup 7 for the South Dakota Black Hills the end of June - Mid July. Then Erik and Luke will be going to Miami for Boy Scout Sea Base. Yes, Erik is a lucky guy. 😊

Early on in the year we decided upon Canada as we needed to use up an Air Canada voucher. I just didn't trust the airline for anything to Europe Going North it was. We began to realize with all of our Alaska adventures we may well have seen more of Canada than most Canadians.  Our itenerary

Fly into Toronto. Enjoy the metropolis that is Toronto and the Lake that looks like the ocean to this Texas gal. Rent a car and drive to Niagara Falls (bucket list item for me ... but no barrels for Erik). Finally drive to Kingston which is known for kayaking, fishing, and history on the St Lawrence seaway.

We flew in Wednesday night and one uber ride later we were lugging our backpacks and one inflatable kayak (you read that correctly) into a lovely airbnb - a basement efficiency owned by Max and Zielika. They left a lovely bottle of wine. So after a glass, we ventured down a few blocks in search of some groceries and swarma. We found this part of Toronto is very bike and walking friendly (lots of people out walking dogs) but not very car friendly. Our Airbnb host later told us, Toronto is such a spread out city with really bad highways, that people either ride bikes or use the public transit. 

More to come on our Toronto adventure. 

                                            49.5 lbs.  Just under!

Disorganized sports - Colorado Style 2014

From our Colorado July 2014 Vacation -lost, and now published:
I am guest posting for my fantastic husband while we are away on vacation. Just when it has become unbearably hot in Texas (end of July beginning of August) we are fortunate enough to be able to go north. This year we spent our first week in Colorado (Ouray and Gunnison). We visited with our wonderful friends, The White and Lehew families. The kids and dads got to do one of our favorite disorganized sports...Kayaking.  We use inflatable double seaters that are closer to canoes in size. We have previously lashed the two together to make more of a raft but this trip the dads and kids rafted in individual canoes down part of the Gunnison river next to the KOA south of the airport. It is right near what is called a "white water park". If you are in Gunnison you will know where this is immediately. Because of the rain Gunnison had prior to our arrival, the river was up and running.

So first trip out, immediately after setting up campers, I might add, was Shane and son (we'll call Flounder) in one Kayak and Erik and two sons (Friendly Bear and Rockin Raccoon) in the other.

Things started off well!
(pictures to come - we had three cameras with us this trip.Only one has worked consistently)

When I went to pick them up about an hour and half later at Wilson's Landing, things looked a little wet. Rocking Raccoon ( the 7 year old),steps out of the Kayak dripping wet, with only one shoe, no shirt underneath his life jacket. Friendly Bear, (the 10 year old), was also drenched and the hubs looked a little sheepish. The Raccoon stated " we tumpted! ".

(Finished out by Dad:) Yes they did. Shane and Flounder made it over the final rapid. Erik and the boys got a little side ways and tumpted over right in the falls having a full yard sale.  Some fishing stuff lost, both boys were baptized in the rapid more times than they wanted.  The rest of the river run went fine, but those two minutes are the big adventure and the story that must be downplayed to this day....

Mom was not given the full Gunnison rapid swamping details, but occasionally Rockin Racoon can hold back no longer and tells the tump over story as if he was there the day the Hoover dam broke!... Once upon a time, in a Rapid far too large, with an overwhelming force of water... The Texans had met their match!...   ;)

Chilli-Braised Pork Shoulder, smoked for 13 hours on the MUDSOG Smoker

Happy Memorial Day!  Overnight Ugly drum Pork shoulder for MM Day BBQ. Marinaded in Chili pepper paste, then fat side down for about 13hrs. Didn't even bring a thermometer. Used up maybe 1/3 a load of lump and ran at 1/2 vent open on bottom which is my go-to to get in the 220-250 range. These MUDSOG smokers are so cheap and easy to make I even made this one just to keep out at a friends lake house we attend twice a year.  Well worth the investment!