Oh, Canada… 1,551 Miles Later

Home! Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. Ontario and Quebec. Niagara Falls, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal and New Baltimore. Lots of adventures. Many great people! 1,551 miles. A bit of a whirlwind, but lots of fun.

One of the highlights of the trip was looking at local architecture in each of the places I stayed. Some was good, some was ghastly, and some places had a selection of both.

I had gone on the trip with the intention of buying on both sides of the border, but I didn’t actually buy anything! There were plenty of things I could have purchased, like these amazing huge demi-johns for dirt cheap, but I couldn’t imagine lugging them around for the next 1,000 miles, and then the logistics of storing and shipping them left me cold. I actually saw a lot of these from late 1800’s versions up to contemporary versions.

Here are some of my favourite shots from the trip.

Practically the only place at Niagara Falls without tons of people!

So many new buildings and so much construction in Toronto, but some wonderful little places tucked in-between.

Abandoned steel-hulled ship

The Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto. Stunning exhibit on Japanese textiles.

Literal front-row seat to the Hare Krishna parade in Toronto.

Driving the Trans-Canada Highway.

Canadian House of Parliament in Ottawa

Marking the 150th Anniversary of Canada with porcelain roses, fleur de lis and feathers representing the English, French and First Nations people who lived in Ottawa at the time of the nation’s confederation.

I remember seeing this on other trips and I call them “The Butter People.”
It is meant to represent the flow of man’s emotions through time.

Expo ‘67 exhibition at the McCord Museum.

Combining business and pleasure, visiting the Rare Book and Architecture Collections at McGill University. Such fun!! (Such a dork!)

Making a pilgrimage to visit the resting place of Sir William Osler, MD. And his massive book collection. I published a book about him a few years ago, from a 1934 manuscript we found in our archives, so I feel a special bond with him.

Street performers in Montreal.

Visiting the Centre of Canadian Architecture to see a book about Hall Pleasants Pennington, who designed the house I recently wrote about. More on this later.

Long stretches on the open road with gorgeous scenery.

Very excited to go to Hudson, NY again, but very disappointed that NOTHING was open! And no hours listed.

Hard to tell, but Figue was really excited to have me home. She’s been a Velcro baby for the past few days.

All in all, the trip was great and I had a lot of fun. I don’t mind long drives, so the hours spent sailing along good roads through beautiful country, contemplating life, were just what I needed to do to decompress.