Toronto

Toronto (Destination Z)

     We’ve heard that Toronto is a great city.  But what do you do with 3 little ones and a strict no dairy, no gluten, no corn, no sweeteners (natural or artificial), and no additives diet? (We are doing Whole 30)  Normally if there aren’t kid friendly activities we would find a cool restaurant in the heart of the city to experience.  Children’s museums don’t really give you a feel for the culture and walking around looking at the architecture just isn’t of interest to our kids. So, I did a little research and found that Toronto is one of the most bike friendly cities in Canada.  Meaning they not only have well designed bike lanes, but they also have completely separate bike trails that go through the entire city!  So, we threw the bike trailer and tandem bike attachment in the truck, packed a lunch and plenty of snacks, and hit the highway.  About a 30 minute drive from our campground was the heart of Toronto.  We found $15 parking, (our only expense other than gas for the day) and got the bikes ready to go.  They have a really nice trail that lines the water with a view of both the high-rises of the city and the green space of the Toronto Islands.  They have a number of amazing parks and gardens along the trail.  We ate lunch in the Music garden while the kids played with a little girl that was their “new friend”  before hitting the bike path again towards the outskirts of town where the natural space of Leslie Spit meets the urban streets of Toronto.  The views of the CN tower from Leslie Spit were beautiful.  The kids got a kick out of seeing the electric trolley, sailboats and trains all in the same place.  The NHL Hall of Fame and a trip to the top of the CN tower were two pricey "tourist" options we passed on without regret, as our bike ride was surely high up on our list of growing memories.  

Ottawa (an unplanned destination)

     Meant to break up the drive between Toronto and Montreal, I didn’t expect to do or see much while in Ottawa.  But, with an extra day planned we decided to head downtown and see the sights.  This one would be easy.  Our campground, Wesley Clover, was about 7 km from the nearest park and ride.  We thought the kids would enjoy riding the bus into town and we enjoyed saving on both gas and downtown parking costs.  I had read about the canals that Ottawa used to route water from Lake Ontario and its intricate lock system, but to see it for myself was so cool!  Check out the video below.  The lock system, which includes over 40 locks in total are all done by manual labor.  Men work the locks all day just cranking away while boats patiently wait to be raised or lowered enough to make it into the next lock.  Oh and to our pleasant surprise Canada has the Xplorer program, very similar to our own National Parks Junior Ranger program.  The kids loved it!!  We stuck around to see 2 boats make their way through two of the locks before heading over to our parliament tour.

Fortunately, Baby A fell asleep just before the tour started.  I wasn’t sure what she was going to do during the 45-minute tour of a government building, so her nap was perfectly timed.  The boys were so well behaved and curious about everything.  Did I mention that by the time we got to the ticket office all the English tours were booked?  Yes, we got a tour in French.  Fortunately they have pamphlets that explain a lot of it, and I was able to decipher a few words here and there from the guide (with my 2 years of  high school French from 15 years ago) and the information in the booklet to make sense of the tour.  We ended the tour with an elevator ride to the top of the Peace Tower.  It gave beautiful views of the surrounding area, including the other side of the river where Quebec lays.

Montreal (Destination AA)

     Though I just mentioned we tried to avoid such destinations as Children's Museums when in a new, and very unique, city for only a day, that's just what we did in Montreal.  And surprising to us was the culture was evident in this Children's Science Center as much as it was in the city.  For example, there was an exhibit in the anatomy/biology section that automatically played a video on a monitor when someone walked by.  This video described the changes both boys and girls endure during puberty, with video evidence.  And there is AJ, staring at the screen trying to make sense of two naked bodies as we walk up behind him.  Shocked at what we saw, we quickly hurried him along to join his siblings in the "climb inside" womb, where children could experience what it was like to once be in their mothers.  There's wild stuff in French-Canada, for sure.  
     We also made our way to the entry of the Notre Dame Basilica, unfortunately 5 minutes after closing.  If we ever make it back, we'll be sure to see in person what we our told is an absolutely extraordinary interior.  
     We finished off our visit with a short bus ride to the Monument to Sir George-Étienne Cartier and its Friday evening drum circle.  This is where thousands of people gather to hear the off beat combination of a dozen or more hand rapped drums while clouding the entire park with various forms of pot smoking.  Everyone seemed to be having a good time, but it wasn't exactly a scene for the kids.  We made our way across the street to the park with a large playground and let the young ones do what they like best - play.  
     Montreal ended up being a day very much geared toward pleasing the kids.  And while we don't feel we really got to see the city beyond walking its streets for a short while, we did very much enjoy watching the smiles on the faces of our children.