Oh Canada!

For all our worldly travels, I had never been to Canada before until last week. I've been to Munich, but I haven't roamed to our own bordering nations. But all that changed last week when Rich and I took off for the frozen north of Toronto. Rich was concerned about the weather as Chicago proceeded to get the shit kicked out of it while we flew over Wednesday. But our flights were super lucky. We landed Wednesday afternoon and made a leisure drive into the city.

I saw more snow plows in our commute from the airport to the mall than I think the entire state of Virginia has. Personal cars with blows on them. Sidewalk ATVs with plow on them. Little dog sleds with plows on them! Ok, maybe I made up that last one, but there were a lot.

With our AT&T plan at work, international phone calls are $.79/minute. But international data is $15.39/MB. Needless to say, we didn't use any data while we were there. The first day I was a bit fidgety but by Friday it was sort of freeing. I couldn't check work emails on the way to dinner because it would have been $472 per word so I had to just sit in the car and chat with my husband. It was good for us.

We stayed in Guelph since that was closer to our meetings and I was concerned when we pulled in to our hotel in the Middle of Nowhere. But we still managed to have two fantastic meals. The Borealis Grill offered local rainbow trout and wild rice from northern Ontario. And Sushi Choice, while lacking in atmosphere or much in the way of reliable heat, had excellent tuna! So we made the best of it camping up there.

One treat for me was a trip to the Tall Girl store in Toronto. I have been wanting some tall jeans that actually fit and wanted to be able to try on a few styles before picking them. They brought out a husband chair for Rich and delivered a variety of pants to my dressing room. I waffled between getting two or three pair but Rich convinced me to just get three since they fit well and how many times do you go to Toronto? As we were leaving, he said, "let me preface this by saying I don't care, but did she just say your total was $314?" I smiled, "That's why I was waffling! And it's $314 Canadian so that's more like $345 for us. But none of my jeans fit!"

We both got what we wanted, though, in that I have jeans with a 36" inseam and Rich is more interested in staring at my ass now that I have better fitting jeans. I am now going to take all my ill-fitting jeans and set them on fire in the front yard as a warning to other jeans that may think about shrinking 2" into high waters or stretching out into denim sweatpants.

Our work meetings were a great success and we still had enough time to stop by the Hockey Hall of Fame. It was interesting but not something I would have made a special trip to Toronto for. But I did get a Finland hoodie for $15! It's so comfy and even has a secret little pocket in the front for your iPod. As you can see, my focus was on clothes and Rich's was on hockey.

We made it home late Friday night to find our child sleeping peacefully (what a treat!). And when I wore my Finland hoodie the next day, Ian squealed and meowed at the big lion on the front. That kid loves him some kitties.