After saying some tearful goodbyes and promising to get back together soon, we left Damon , Kim and the kids to head back toward our adventure in crossing Canada. We decided to cross the border at Sarnia which is by Flint, Michigan. The crossing took a while as there was quite a bit of traffic and we were singled out to be “inspected”. They requested that we pull the truck and trailer over to an inspection station and then asked that we open all the enclosures on the truck and trailer. After about five minutes, we were cleared, told to go into Immigration and have them clear our passports and then we were on our way. Seems like crossing the border on the east side of Canada is a bit more trouble than we have ever experienced in crossing on the west side.
Our first stop was at a campground in Toronto, Ontario, called the Indian Line Campground. It is run by a conservation group and appears to have most of the trailer residents residing long term while they work in Toronto. There didn’t appear to be a lot of travelers and what we did see had Ontario plates. Anyway, we decided to stay for three days so we could put Ontario on our map and get to see several of the sights that we were interested in. Toronto is a multi cultural hub. You can take a long, lazy walk with your pet in downtown parks, have a leisurely brunch on flower-filled patios and lively dinners in world class eateries. The Toronto Transit Commission makes Toronto easy to see, using subways, buses and streetcars. We walked across the street from the campground and caught the bus which was like a greyline coach, and rode the 12 miles down to the subway station. The cost was $4.50 per person per way. Once we arrived at the subway, we bought a $9.00 ticket which allowed both of us to ride the subways as many times as we wanted during one day (this is only good on weekends and holidays). You can get to most of the sights by taking the subway.
Our first stop was in downtown at Union Station (seems like every city has one). We decided to walk down to the World’s only Hockey Hall of Fame.
It is home to the Stanley Cup and has something for everyone: state of the art games, interactive exhibits, larger-than-life statues, a replica dressing room and rink zone, and hockey’s most precious artifacts. I only recognized a few of the names, not being a huge hockey fan. 
We got a first hand look at Gordie Howe’s skates that he had worn during the final few years as a member of the Detroit Red Wings, ending in 1971.
He retired as the NHL’s all-time leader in games played, goals, assists and points, but would return two years later in the WHA and play seven seasons with his sons, including one final year in the NHL with Hartford at the age of 52.
We also learned about Mario Lemeaux who was one of the most dominant offensive forces in NHL history. He amassed 613 goals, 1,494 points while lifting the Pittsburg Penguins from the NHL basement to consecutive Stanley Cup wins in 1991 and 1992.
And, of course, we can’t talk about hockey without mentioning Wayne Gretzky whose 20 year NHL career ended with his name attached to 61 individual records.
After four Stanley Cups with the Oilers, he was traded to Los Angeles, generating tremendous growth of hockey in the U.S. On January 29, 1998, Wayne Gretzky received perhaps the greatest achievement of his life as he was presented with the Order of Canada medallion from Canada’s Governor General, Romeo LeBlanc. 
George and I got to touch the Stanley Cup and admire its beauty.
The original Stanley Cup was given by Lord Stanley on March 18, 1892. His aide purchased the gold lined silver bowl for less than $50.00.
Once it was decided to engrave the names of all the team members of a winning team on the trophy, the looks changed from a bowl to the present day look with the stand attached to the bowl. Originally, a new band was added to the bottom of the trophy each year, but now, the top band in removed and placed in the museum and each remaining band is moved up to allow for the current year’s winner to be placed on the trophy.
After spending several hours in the museum, we decided to walk the city a bit and strode over to the St. Lawrence Market Complex, located at the heart of historic Old Town Tornonto. It has been Toronto’s Market Place for over 200 years. Vendors bring in every type of food, in-season vegetables and fruits, homemade bakery items, and all types of meats.
Outside tents are set up to sell one-of-a-kind jewelry, clothes, leather, etc. You can find all kinds of unusual items here.
The Distillery District is a national historic site and is widely regarded as Canada’s centre for Arts, Culture, and Entertainment. Once the largest Distillery in the world, it was built in 1837 to
convert surplus grain from an 1832 gristmill into whiskey. It now holds, critically acclaimed restaurants, internationally accredited art galleries and local boutique shops.
By this time, we had walked several miles and decided we’d make one more walk down Front Street and over to the CN Tower before calling it a day.
The CN Tower is the tall sphere looking thing in the middle of this picture and was originally only going to be an antenna, built to solve the telecommunications problems of a rapidly growing city. From this height broadcasters could send their unobstructed signals to just about every where in the region. It wasn’t til late in the building process, that the designers decided to turn the CN Tower into a tourist attraction. Over 2 million people visit the tower each year. In 1995, it was classified as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Engineers. To the very top of the skypod, is 147 stories or 1,465 feet. The Lookout area is 1,136 feet from the street and the “Glass Floor” is 1,122 feet. The total weight of the tower is 130,000 tons.
The Glass Floor was first opened on June 26, 1994. It gives you a very erie feeling to walk on glass at 1,122 feet in the air with nothing but tiny objects far below your feet. George and I both took a turn walking and sitting on it and decided we preferred concrete though the reinforced area for the
glass floor is comprised of 256 square feet of solid glass – five times stronger than the required weight bearing standard for commercial floors. It is able to withstand the weight of 14 large hippos!! (Guess we're safe after all).
Lightning strikes the tower on the average of 75 times per year. Long copper strips running down the tower feed into massive grounding rods buried below ground level to ensure the strike safely finds its way to the ground. And believe me, the ground is a long way down as you can tell from this picture taken from the observation deck.
Well, it looks like we’ve had enough for one day, so we trudged back to Union Station and caught the subway back to the bus station. Tomorrow is another day and we have some interesting things scheduled, so check back when you have a moment and see what else we’ve found here in Toronto.
Our first stop was at a campground in Toronto, Ontario, called the Indian Line Campground. It is run by a conservation group and appears to have most of the trailer residents residing long term while they work in Toronto. There didn’t appear to be a lot of travelers and what we did see had Ontario plates. Anyway, we decided to stay for three days so we could put Ontario on our map and get to see several of the sights that we were interested in. Toronto is a multi cultural hub. You can take a long, lazy walk with your pet in downtown parks, have a leisurely brunch on flower-filled patios and lively dinners in world class eateries. The Toronto Transit Commission makes Toronto easy to see, using subways, buses and streetcars. We walked across the street from the campground and caught the bus which was like a greyline coach, and rode the 12 miles down to the subway station. The cost was $4.50 per person per way. Once we arrived at the subway, we bought a $9.00 ticket which allowed both of us to ride the subways as many times as we wanted during one day (this is only good on weekends and holidays). You can get to most of the sights by taking the subway.
Our first stop was in downtown at Union Station (seems like every city has one). We decided to walk down to the World’s only Hockey Hall of Fame.
It is home to the Stanley Cup and has something for everyone: state of the art games, interactive exhibits, larger-than-life statues, a replica dressing room and rink zone, and hockey’s most precious artifacts. I only recognized a few of the names, not being a huge hockey fan. We got a first hand look at Gordie Howe’s skates that he had worn during the final few years as a member of the Detroit Red Wings, ending in 1971.
He retired as the NHL’s all-time leader in games played, goals, assists and points, but would return two years later in the WHA and play seven seasons with his sons, including one final year in the NHL with Hartford at the age of 52.We also learned about Mario Lemeaux who was one of the most dominant offensive forces in NHL history. He amassed 613 goals, 1,494 points while lifting the Pittsburg Penguins from the NHL basement to consecutive Stanley Cup wins in 1991 and 1992.
And, of course, we can’t talk about hockey without mentioning Wayne Gretzky whose 20 year NHL career ended with his name attached to 61 individual records.
After four Stanley Cups with the Oilers, he was traded to Los Angeles, generating tremendous growth of hockey in the U.S. On January 29, 1998, Wayne Gretzky received perhaps the greatest achievement of his life as he was presented with the Order of Canada medallion from Canada’s Governor General, Romeo LeBlanc. George and I got to touch the Stanley Cup and admire its beauty.
The original Stanley Cup was given by Lord Stanley on March 18, 1892. His aide purchased the gold lined silver bowl for less than $50.00. Once it was decided to engrave the names of all the team members of a winning team on the trophy, the looks changed from a bowl to the present day look with the stand attached to the bowl. Originally, a new band was added to the bottom of the trophy each year, but now, the top band in removed and placed in the museum and each remaining band is moved up to allow for the current year’s winner to be placed on the trophy.After spending several hours in the museum, we decided to walk the city a bit and strode over to the St. Lawrence Market Complex, located at the heart of historic Old Town Tornonto. It has been Toronto’s Market Place for over 200 years. Vendors bring in every type of food, in-season vegetables and fruits, homemade bakery items, and all types of meats.
Outside tents are set up to sell one-of-a-kind jewelry, clothes, leather, etc. You can find all kinds of unusual items here.The Distillery District is a national historic site and is widely regarded as Canada’s centre for Arts, Culture, and Entertainment. Once the largest Distillery in the world, it was built in 1837 to
convert surplus grain from an 1832 gristmill into whiskey. It now holds, critically acclaimed restaurants, internationally accredited art galleries and local boutique shops.By this time, we had walked several miles and decided we’d make one more walk down Front Street and over to the CN Tower before calling it a day.
The CN Tower is the tall sphere looking thing in the middle of this picture and was originally only going to be an antenna, built to solve the telecommunications problems of a rapidly growing city. From this height broadcasters could send their unobstructed signals to just about every where in the region. It wasn’t til late in the building process, that the designers decided to turn the CN Tower into a tourist attraction. Over 2 million people visit the tower each year. In 1995, it was classified as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Engineers. To the very top of the skypod, is 147 stories or 1,465 feet. The Lookout area is 1,136 feet from the street and the “Glass Floor” is 1,122 feet. The total weight of the tower is 130,000 tons.The Glass Floor was first opened on June 26, 1994. It gives you a very erie feeling to walk on glass at 1,122 feet in the air with nothing but tiny objects far below your feet. George and I both took a turn walking and sitting on it and decided we preferred concrete though the reinforced area for the
glass floor is comprised of 256 square feet of solid glass – five times stronger than the required weight bearing standard for commercial floors. It is able to withstand the weight of 14 large hippos!! (Guess we're safe after all).Lightning strikes the tower on the average of 75 times per year. Long copper strips running down the tower feed into massive grounding rods buried below ground level to ensure the strike safely finds its way to the ground. And believe me, the ground is a long way down as you can tell from this picture taken from the observation deck.
Well, it looks like we’ve had enough for one day, so we trudged back to Union Station and caught the subway back to the bus station. Tomorrow is another day and we have some interesting things scheduled, so check back when you have a moment and see what else we’ve found here in Toronto.
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