Toronto Travels

Toronto Travels

Asher and I took a vacation last week to Toronto to visit our dear friends Erin and Will. Erin was a fellow study-abroad friend from my time in England. We've been in each other's weddings since then, and have managed to meet up in fun cities whenever we can. Erin and Will treated us like royalty, and we came home rested, rejuvenated, and with a bit of a longing to live in a big city. 

Our arrival corresponded with the G-20 summit in Toronto. The riots and burning police cars were just a bit too close for comfort, so we retreated away to Muskoka Lake, which was about 2 hours away. We arrived at the dock, and took a speedboat to the island with the picturesque cottage we were staying at. I felt like I should've been in a romance movie the whole time- it was beautiful. We dined on gourmet delights, dove off of the boathouse into the lake, walked the island, and boated around the lake looking for Goldie Hawn. Erin's excited face in the last picture isn't because she saw Goldie (who's cottage was there somewhere) but because she just got soaked on the boat. Cute, eh?

We spent the rest of the week relaxing in their sweet downtown apartment, bbq-ing with their friends, walking the city streets, shopping, picnicking, and exploring. I appreciate big cities and their diversity - mom and pop shops, languages, cultures, and restaurants. I also really began to love Erin and Will's way of life - walking. Walking to the butcher, walking to the corner store for groceries for a day or two, walking to the streetcar, walking everywhere! With no big box stores, we visited cute little shops everywhere for the things we needed to buy. Shopping was preplanned, life is simple, life is slower. I liked it.

Pictures below include the view from the Toronto Football Club, our quadricycling adventures on Toronto Island and brunch at the Drake Hotel. The Drake is THE boutique hotel in Toronto. With a sweet General Store, delicious restaurant, and great live music, it was the perfect morning. (Or early afternoon, let's be honest. We slept in.)

Vacations make me love Asher more. Here's us in love at Toronto Island. I especially loved him considering I lost my new iPhone there. He was very nice through the whole thing. Good thing Canadians are sweet and honest. It had been found within 45 minutes and Erin and I ran our guts out across the island to reclaim it from Bill and his cute little wife, my heros. His reward? He asked for a bottle of sand from the Great Salt Lake. Done. Thanks Bill.