Tag archives for Toronto

Day 15: Toronto to Sudbury

By Chris Published July 31, 2012

So we managed to leave Toronto without being run over or being flipped the bird…

The weather went sideways on the 400 north as we headed to Barrie though as it started raining up, and hailing sideways! It was so bad that we had to pull over, and we weren’t the only ones as other vehicles on the road had to pull over as well due to the high winds and zero visibility! I tried to hide under some trees to wait for the insanity to stop, but that didn’t work as it was raining and hailing through the trees.

Arriving in Barrie!

The 15 minutes or so that we pulled over meant that we were late for the noon lunch meeting I had set up with the Simcoe County Chapter of the MS Society in Barrie. Even though we were about 20 minutes late, we were still greeted with a large group of representitives from the chapter, community members with MS, television cameras and reporters, as well as a newspaper photographer! The support we received courtesy of the Simcoe County Chapter was phenomenal! Thanks!

With members of the Simcoe County Chapter, A&W staff, and community reps!

Unfortunately not everyone could stay around for lunch and the photo (mostly since we were late), but we still had a great time at A&W in Barrie. Along with everyone already mentioned, it was very nice to see MP Patrick Brown greet us as well! Thank you for the warm welcome and support everybody!

Riding north from Barrie to Sudbury

The scenery from Barrie to Sudbury was amazing, and I think that this is the start of the Canadian Shield? Man I can’t remember my elementary school geography anymore… Regardless of whatever it was, the rocks that lined both sides of the highway were amazing. I enjoyed seeing all the little Inuksuk that people built along the side of the road and atop the rocks. Maybe Monst is interested in building one somewhere along the route?

We caught some more rain as we continued north, and by some I mean a LOT more. It’s funny how we could see the wall of rain in front of us… see it… see it… still dry… see it… WHAM! SOAKED!

By the time we rolled into our B&B in Sudbury we had dried out a little, and it was sure nice to be able to take off all the rain gear and go out for dinner. Tomorrow looks like it’s going to be a sunny day, so hopefully the rain gear can stay packed away now for a while.

Here are the points of interest from today’s ride:

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Day 14: Toronto to Niagara Falls & Back

By Chris Published July 30, 2012

This morning started off with me coordinating where I was going to buy a new tbag and gps cradle. I found some places, and also lucked out by finding a guy on kijiji that sold me the 35mm lens that I was after for a while. The lens came in handy today as we ventured out to Niagara Falls…

On the way there we almost both got run over on the 407. Here we were, riding closely staggered in the center lane, when some guy in a smaller SUV decides to start cutting in behind me out of nowhere. I had to accelerate so that he didn’t clip my back tire, and then looking in my mirror I see dad hammering on the brakes so that he didn’t get shoved into the semis in the next lane over. Shocked as to what’s going on, I take a look back and guess what… the guy gives ME the one finger salute!? Anyway, we made it out unscathed… and to the guy that almost took us both out, have a nice day.

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls was everything that I hoped it would be and more. I’ve travelled the world, and everywhere I’ve been people asked if I had been to Niagara Falls… embarrassingly I’d have to say no, but today I finally got to see this wonder.

Niagara Falls Rainbow

Niagara Falls Rainbow

As we drove in I saw the first side of the falls and thought it was fantastic, until we continued down the road and came upon the larger falls and it just blew my mind. I’ve seen smaller waterfalls before, but the mist, the rainbow, the sheer size of this place was definitely something that I wont forget.

Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls

Just awesome…

Niagara Falls on the Canadian side

We didn’t want to have to deal with rush hour traffic going back into Toronto, so we stayed at Niagara Falls for a few hours and just absorbed the wonder of it all. The well timed ride back went by like a rocket as we didn’t have to slow down once on the QEW or Gardiner Expressway.

Yonge Street Toronto

Once we got back into the city we went out for dinner and then a beer at Jack Astor’s. In my previous visit to Toronto I checked that place out, and fell in love with it. Why don’t they open one out west already?!

We also passed the 5000km mark today!

Here is today’s points of interest:

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Day 13: Ottawa to Toronto

By Chris Published July 29, 2012

Somehow I managed to sleep in until the whopping hour of 8am this morning before we started getting ready for the ride out to Toronto. We gassed up, had some Subway for breakfast, and then made our way out to the highway. I was contemplating the 7 vs. the 401, but we ended up taking the 401 as it was recommended to be the best route since it was the weekend.

From all the horror stories I heard about the 401, it really wasn’t that bad. We sailed along nicely, and didn’t get run over like we did in Montreal. Unfortunately along the route today my GPS mount broke and the GPS unit fell right off, but luckily the power cord held it on and it didn’t meet its demise on the pavement. Once again, add another thing to the “unexpected costs list.”

A good thing that happened was that we were recognized again. After stopping for lunch I heard “excuse me!” and when I turned there was a guy that asked if we were the guys riding across Canada! He said that he had seen the website (hey bud!) and was following the tweets. Good to hear that the message is getting out there!

Rolling into Toronto

The whole ride was hot, and it got even worse as soon as we hit downtown Toronto. With every light we stopped at we melted a little bit more. Luckily the traffic, while bad, wasn’t THAT bad and we made it to the hotel without too much screwing around.

Once at the hotel I googled around for a place that sells T-Bags (yeah, very funny all you tweeters) and ram mounts for the gps. I’ve sent a few emails off, so hopefully I heard back tomorrow and can get those two things picked up either on the way or to or back from Niagara falls.

Toronto shot from Milestones at Yonge and Douglas

We had dinner at Milestones on the corner of Yonge and Douglas courtesy of the fine folks at Kelsey’s in downtown Edmonton who provided us with the Cara group gift cards. We really appreciate it!

Elephant & Castle

After dinner we stopped in for a quick beer at the Elephant & Castle before shutting it down for the night. The above picture isn’t really a glimpse at Toronto, more of just me playing with this new lens a little bit.

Here are today’s points of interest:

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