Day Six: Montreal, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Cleveland 476 miles
Au Revoir Quebec!
This morning I packed my bags and heading back toward the States, passing through the provinces of Quebec and Ottowa and the state of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
After a nice drive from Montreal I entered into Ottowa, and it was very bizarre how the language literally flipped from French to English in less than a mile.
Like this helpful sign that explains the fines for speeding. There where also ones that posted the fines for every ten kms over the speed limit.
I stopped in Toronto for Linner - my version of Lunch/dinner on my road trip budget! This is all I saw of the city except for where I ate...
This is the Queen Mother Cafe that was recommended to me by Willow, the helpful English-Speaking Chef who helped me on my quest for poutine. Her sister is the chef here.
This was the lovely outside garden that I had all to myself. Apparently there aren't many people who are fond of my linner idea.
Then I sat in traffic that made LA look like child's play, traveling only 1km in an hour!!!! It gave me plenty of opportunities to take multiple angle shots of the Toronto's most famous landmark. I seem to recall an Amazing Race road block that required team members to jump off of this thing. (Yes I love that show and will be a contestant someday. My need to be on this show comes from my obsessive watching of Double Dare as a kid!)
I was going to show a montage of the tower but instead choose to through in another picture of the maple leaf as there are also a hell of a lot of these flags EVERYWHERE in Canada.
Just before I left Canada I stopped in Niagara Falls.
The falls are very impressive, much more than I thought they would be. The falls were first seen by European eyes when Champlain happened upon the falls, claiming them for France. They were formed by glaciers during the last ice age, and consist of two falls separated by a small island, which pump over 6 million cubic feet of water off of the Niagara River ever minute. The Falls became a tourist attraction in the 19th century, and one of the visitors included Napoleon's brother Jerome and his WT American Wife. The Falls were also the site of the Caroline Affair, another blip in the special relationship between the British and the Americans, when the burnt ship went over the Falls. Weirdly in 1848 the Falls ran bone dry for 40 hours!
But the Falls are probably most famous for the stupidity they inspire in the people who attempt to go over the Falls in a barrel.
In 1829 Sam Patch, the "Yankee Leapster" was the first to go over and live, followed by Annie Taylor, a 63 year old school teacher in 1901. Many people have tried and many have died, but they were all pretty dumb to try.
So let's just think about this...I am bored one afternoon and I live by the Falls. I look over and see a barrel and think "Why don't I go over these (see above) in that!"
Keeping in mind the river is really shallow...
And hopefully miss the rocks to get picked up by the Maid of the Mist boats?! Like I said dumb!
But they are amazing to look at. And the constant rainbow isn't half bad either.
BTW I was here too.
But so was this lady with her rat dog. I thought this was too good not to share!
The Falls are much cooler from the Canadian side, so here is my last photo driving across the Rainbow Bridge. At the end of the bridge I went through customs. It was an interesting exchange. When the border guard asked me what my citizenship was while holding my American passport I confusedly asked him "I'm sorry what was the question." Then he asked me for a short personal and professional history, and then an outline of my travels. He wanted to know why I was out of California and why I had decided to drive across the country before conducting a visual search of my vehicle. BTW I am not kidding. FINALLY he let me go and I made my way to Cleveland.
Miles Traveled: 1724 miles
Provinces/States: Quebec, Ottowa, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio
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