Wednesday, September 13, 2017

End of Summer In Canada ~ Highlights of Our Road Trip

We transitioned into September with a short and sweet road trip to Canada. We left a day before Eid, celebrated the festival there, visited some cool places, and with the grand finale at Niagara Falls headed back home with lots of beautiful memories in our hearts and a tonne of pictures in my camera!

The road trip to Canada was smoother than I'd expected. I kept the last minute packing list as short as possible so I woke up that morning with hardly any stress. I focused instead on dolling up in a really girly coral and pink dress which I paired with black jeans and a black floral jacket. My scarf matched and I threw in a black brooch, a couple funky colorful rings, and a pair of funky bangles too. Surprisingly we were able to load our stuff in the car and leave perfectly by our planned time (like seriously, how'd we even do that?). This was the first time we had planned on traveling directly to Canada (we usually spend the night somewhere halfway) yet it was pretty smooth. I sat in the car with my mind set on breaking my diet brutally and so I did; I stuffed my face with munchkins from Dunkin which bro got us, chips (Utz Barbecue and Funyuns - my favorites!), and Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies. We stopped at a Subway to walk, washroom, and eat. I had fun playing with Gubby while we were there. Since we both were tired of sitting for so long we ran around and played ring around the roses. It was fun! On the rest of the ride to Canada Gubby stole the show. She had her road trip mode on complete with sunglasses and a cap. She looked so adorable! We were also gifted adorable stickers by Gubby which we used to make our iPhone chargers prettier. I got a rainbow, Abbie a lion, and mama a watermelon! Finally we reached Canada at night and after a delicious Nihari, Biryani, and Kabab dinner from Bar BQ Tonite we retired in that heavenly hotel bed!

We woke up the next day to a fresh Eid morning. Eid Mubaraks were wished all around (I updated my Facebook status!!!) and then we spontaneously planned that we needed to go and have breakfast somewhere. Denny's was chosen as our breakfast spot for the morning and I dolled up in a gorgeous electric blue slash turquoise long dress with some stunning bangles, bracelets, and rings. As soon as we reached Denny's we spotted something fun. They had these souvenir cups with their very own headbands. I instantly grabbed my darling Gubby and along with Abbie Bua we went over to make our pick. Gubby chose two: the donkey from Shrek and the purple alien from Home (which I have yet to see!). We gifted her both as Eid presents and she was delighted! Abbie and I stuffed our faces with their Loaded Veggie Omelette which was so good. It really was loaded and lay over delicious hash browns. SO GOOD! Bro got this super sweet and sinful overly loaded pancake dish - the name of which I have forgotten ... I stole a bite to taste them! They were delicious! Again, my enjoyment was with my darling Gubby who sat with me and blessed my Eid morning with lots of adorableness!

After spending the afternoon and early evening at bro's in laws' place for a super late lunch (I was starved!) we decided to head to Ripley's Aquarium of Canada. I was really excited ever since I'd found out about the place before the trip began. Oh and rightly so because the place is awesome with a seriously giant capital A! I got to see some serious underwater beauty, the deadly sharks at Dangerous Lagoon, a fun play ground area for kids where Gubby was very excited, some mesmerizing Jelly fish, and lots and lots of really weird (I say that in a good way) sea creatures that I had never ever seen before!

I hereby admit that the Ripley's Aquarium was THE best part of our entire trip! It wasn't just me who enjoyed a lot but also my darling Gubby who couldn't understand which way to focus her eyes because there was just so so much to see and explore. I plan on doing a detailed show and tell blog feature about the awesomeness of this place so I'll keep my talks short for now (well as short as talkative me can manage). BUT HEY LISTEN UP PEOPLE ... I TOUCHED A SHARK AND A STING RAY! *laughs* It was a pretty cool experience and a pretty great deal! More on that later!

Our third day in Canada was what I call the 'all you can eat' day! *laughs* We literally just ate all day. Ate, ate, ate, ate, ate. All day until it was night time when we were so tired we decided to spend the night in and instead of hitting the Falls had a play date with our Gubby ensconced in that heavenly comfy hotel bed. In the morning I woke up and treated myself to some chocolate chip cookie and Royal Dane deliciousness. Next we headed to some aunty's place whom mom knew (I have trouble keeping track of all the relations so let me just skip that conveniently!) where we had a delicious lunch. The highlight was that super yumm chocolate cake which I guiltlessly dived into. When we got back from there we rested, changed, and left for another party invite (something SIL relatives related!). I stuffed a gallon full of Haleem in my mouth  there before heading back to our hotel. Some instant Maggie shared with Abbie and my Gubbling Gubble Gum and chai concluded my night!

Finally I awoke to our last day of fun in Canada. Today's agenda had a sweet breakfast, a lunch invite from SIL's relatives, and our Niagara Falls plan! I dolled up in a gorgeous black lace dress, black jeans, and a hot pink jacket. My floral black scarf was stunning too and I embellished with some funky bracelets and rings. My morning was super sweet. We headed to Tim Hortons where Abbie and I shared a double chocolate donut and a cheese croissant. It was some sight watching Gubboo eat her donut! She eats it in a special way - she only eats off the frosting part and then hands over the poor boring donut to her mom! It's hilarious! After the breakfast was done we went over for the lunch invitation where I got to devour seriously good Biryani! It all concluded with a nice cup of chai after which we were finally ready to head to Niagara Falls!

It was chilly near Niagara but beautiful. I find the Falls as equally scary as I find them magnificent and grand. The seasonal illumination was on while we were there and the Falls looked gorgeous in all the colors. A bonus for photography was that beautiful full moon shining over the Falls. Simply stunning! When we reached the Falls we first spent a good load of time at the visitor center where we bought a souvenir magnet and a super cute moose stuffed toy for Gubby. At first sight the Falls were illuminated a bloody red - it looked really creepy in a beautiful sort of way. We stayed there for quite some time so we got to see the Falls under all the colors. My absolute favorite though was the rainbow illumination. It stole my heart! I took some beautiful pictures ... here they are!

The Falls in a royal purple color!

The Falls in a cool blue! It looked like a snowy mountain of some sort!

My favorite - the rainbow illumination! So beautiful and so very cool!

Even though a staff member told us there were no fireworks happening that night we still waited till ten at night because the website had told us otherwise. It was a wise decision because at exactly ten there was a spectacular fireworks show on the US side of the Falls. Gubby loved the show and said it was glitter coming out of the sky! She even pointed out how one looked like a spider in the sky! *laughs* I stood up on a rock wall to capture the gorgeous show in my camera above everybody's heads! I love watching fireworks because I think they're very pretty so this was literally a treat for me that night just before our little holiday in Canada came to an end.

Gorgeous!

Tired after all the fun we'd had we ended the day with a cheesy veggie loaded pizza, fries, and a veggie burger (we saved that for the next day's breakfast because we were so full!). Gubby enjoyed licking the ketchup cups! *laughs*

A hot chocolate from Tim Hortons completed Abbie and my night! We shared the deliciousness!

The next morning we woke up with our bags all packed and ready to be loaded in the car. I started the day off with half of the veggie burger from last night after which I loaded the last minute stuff and was ready to go back home. On our way back home Abbie and I enjoyed watching Beauty and the Beast (FINALLY!) on my laptop which was such a fantabulous movie I wanted to sing and cry at the same time. IN LOVE! We stopped at Popeyes and got some yummy crunchy juicy chicken, fries, and onion rings for lunch. It was a really really long road trip back home and by the time we reached it was around eleven at night. We'd grabbed some Nihari and Kababs for dinner on our way which we happily devoured once back home before showering, freshening up, and going to bed!

It was a short and sweet road trip to Canada and back! It may have been rushed up and all but we were able to do all that we had planned. Gubby enjoyed a lot and returned with three new stuffed toys! She was happy, we all were happy, and we'd made hundreds of lovely memories! I'd eaten my heart out and now sadly it was time to get back to working out and being on a diet!

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