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Well, it finally happened. Mom asked me to go with her to visit Mike in Toronto last January. Toronto in January does not sound like fun. But we waited for the thaw, and we went in August. Gorgeous time to visit Canada.
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Mike and Brett in front of his house on the golf course. We took a ride in his cool Mustang. The house is so big there are rooms even he doesn't know about. I was there a week before I realized there are two front doors. |
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Dean (8), Mike (ancient), Evan(5). Fun boys! |
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What can I say - Brett likes to use the outdoor facilities (kidding). This is a nice fountain in his yard overlooking the fourth fairway. |
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This is what most of the houses look like in the area. WHY are most homes in the Northeast build with brick? I really don't know. |
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We spent 5 days at his "cottage" about 100 miles north of Toronto. Here is the living room. Through those windows is a beautiful view of the lake. Mike and others remodeled this place from a DUMP. I saw the 'before and after' pictures. Mike is a professional handyman. |
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Mike in his newly remodeled kitchen. We ate very well, with Mike at the stove/ barbecue. Of course, swim shorts is the uniform of the day - everyday. |
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The dock and boat on the lake. Beautiful! Brett and Dean hanging out. |
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Dean the tuber. |
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The weather was beautiful while we were there. But I prayed every night for a good old-fashioned thunder storm. Well, Wednesday night, my prayer was answered by a Doozie! Power was knocked out the rest of the time we were there. Here is a short video of the storm.
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Back in civilization, the CN tower from Rogers field, home of the Blue Jays, downtown Toronto. |
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The park, from inside the CN tower. This is looking through a 2" thick glass floor. Of course, people are welcome to walk on it. Just don't jump up and down. Someone's heel is in the upper right corner. |
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View looking west from the CN Tower. That is lake Ontario. Feeding the lake, all the way in this direction and south is Niagara Falls, about 100 miles. |
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We took in a game. The stadium has a retractable roof. |
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Mom, me, Brett, and Mike |
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We took a drive to Niagara Falls. The US - Canada border runs straight down the middle of this river flowing from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. This is called the Canada falls. The land to the left of the falls in this shot is an island. |
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This is the US falls, to the left of the previous picture. The island is on the right. Quite a spectacular sight. |
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This is a video of the boat ride to the base of the Canada Falls. Unbelievable!! |
After the boat ride, we had a bit of a walk back to the staging building. I was walking along, chatting with Mom just behind me. Without looking back, I slowed a bit until she came up alongside me. I casually reached out and put my arm around her as I finished my thoughts. After 10 seconds or so without her responding, I turned my head to see why she was being so quiet. I was STUNNED to discover that I had put my arm around some middle-aged man who just smiled and looked back at me. Mom, however, behind me and watching the drama unfold, was laughing so hard that I thought she was going to lose it. I was a bit embarrassed, but I had to laugh also as Mike and Brett, in front of us, wanted to know what was so funny.
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This pic was taken on the plane ride home. We went straight over halfdome in Yosemite. We all had a great time and Mike was the perfect host. Thanks Mike! |
