Category: Places

Washington

We spent 4 nights in DC, our longest stop of the trip so far. We stayed a bit north along a metro line (not as far as Maryland) in an AirBNB.

We expected a few days of rain so we spent the first day wandering from the Whitehouse down the Mall to the Washington monument and through the memorials dedicated to various famous people/presidents.

If you’ve been to DC you’ll know the Whitehouse is a bit of a let down, regardless of who occupies it. It’s not a very big building and it’s multiple fences to keep people away. I guess it’s Canada’s/Britain’s fault for burning the first one down. We went to the Washington monument but missed the day’s tickets to get to the top. It didn’t stop Moose from dancing in front of it!

The rest of the monuments were fantastic. We saw the Lincoln, MLK, FDR and Jefferson monuments. My favourite was probably the Vietnam Memorial with its haunting sculptures.

On the way home we stopped off at the local grocery store called “Save a lot”. It really highlighted the lack of access to fresh and nutritious food even in a large metropolitan area.

The next day we had a lazy morning before setting off to museums. Hanika went to the Newseum with Ollie and I took Moose to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. Neither of the kids were that impressed so we both dashed through without being able to take much in. We met up with an old friend of mine for a BBQ dinner.

Our last day was equally lazy. I took the kids to a park so Hanika could relax and she returned the favour by letting me go to the Air and Space museum by myself. There are two sites, one in DC and one in Virginia.

The downtown centre is much smaller and under a lot of construction. Still, they had a version of the Apollo lunar lander used to prepare the astronauts, a life size Hubble and a full size Apollo/Soyuz docking.

We headed out via Arlington National Cemetery. Unfortunately Moose spat the dummy so I took him back to the car and saw nothing. Our last stop was the Air and Space museum in Virginia. It’s connected to Dulles Airport so is both massive and able to take planes directly from the tarmac. Not only planes but also Discovery, the space shuttle! It was an overwhelming sight. So far, a highlight of the trip for me. It also had an SR-71, the Enola Gay and a Concorde.

The next destination is Nashville with two stops in Virginia and Tennessee to break up the drive.

Philadelphia

We decided to stay 2 nights in Philadelphia to break up the drive from NYC to DC. Originally I had booked us in a Motel 6 just outside Philly. Our experience in NYC made me cancel that and get an Air BNB instead!

We had an uneventful drive out of NYC after picking up some Hungarian baked goods and delicious coffees. We arrived to our Air BNB in South Philly and settled in. Now, I don’t know much about Philadelphia apart from what’s sung in the Fresh Prince theme song. I can only surmise that he didn’t sing about South Philly is because no one leaves! It’s certainly a gritty area and a quick Reddit search confirmed Hanika’s suspicions. On street parking wasn’t possible so I ended up finding an overpass to park under, 2km away, at night. Good thing I had clanging beer bottles to alert everyone to my presence! In all honesty though I’ve felt less safe in Joburg and Winnipeg.

Our full day was spent wandering around the historic downtown. We had Philly Cheesesteaks for lunch which were great despite not being from Gino’s. It’s a beautiful city full of history and beautiful buildings. I’d suggest a few days to soak it all in. On recommendation of Cathy in Ottawa we went to the Mutter Museum at the Philadelphia College of Physicians. It has an extraordinary collection of pathology specimens including Einsteins’s brain! Moose was oddly taken by the congenital deformities section. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures.

The next day we left to DC with a stop in Lancaster to visit an Amish farm. Moose had a blast petting and feeding all the animals. We grabbed some smoked ribs for dinner and set off for DC.

Boston

We set off from Chester to Boston for 3 nights. On the way we stopped at AT&T (see last post) and Springfield MA.

The Dr Seuss museum is located at the Springfield Museums. They’re a member of the Association of Science-Technology Museums so that meant our Montreal Science Museum card got us in for free! Nothing better than saving $60 before lunch! The museum was small but good. As to be expected it was highly interactive. They had a floor that was furnished with his furniture to remake his studio and living room, complete with both Emmys.

We arrived in Boston (Forest Hill) and checked into our Air BNB. It was a lovely 3rd story suite with 1 bedroom, full kitchen, futon for Moose and off street parking for the van. I headed out to meet up for dinner with Arun who I met during orientation at McGill and have remained close to ever since.

The following day we headed out to to explore the harbour side. We stopped off at the Boston Tea Party Museum for a dry scone and sub par coffee (should have tried the tea!). Next we went to the highly recommended Boston Children’s Museum. I know there are only so many things that can keep a young child entertained but I must say that this was almost a repeat of the Ottawa museum! Moose didn’t seem to care though and had lots of fun running around.

That night we got a babysitter (another online agency) and I took Hanika to Legal Seafood. I ordered what turned out to be an platter clearly meant to feed a family! It did come with a appetiser of chunky clam chowder though. Hanika still isn’t sold on clams though.

The next day was slightly less productive. We made a late start after our traditional Sunday morning pancakes. After we wandered around the harbour and caught up with Arun and his family for a drink. Moose had a go on the carousel and was insistent on riding the grasshopper.

The highlight of the trip from Hanika, as far as I can tell, was finding coffee that was finally up to par with Australian standards! Clue, it wasn’t Dunkin Donuts.

We made good time packing up and set off for NYC.

Vermont

After Montreal we spent 3 nights in Chester Vermont. Why Chester? No reason really. It seemed half way to Boston and the Air BNB was the right price.

We left Montreal and headed straight for the Ben and Jerry’s factory for a tour and tasting. They had an informative propaganda film that exalted the values of being bought by Unilever. Saying that, they must be better than Nestle! We had a couple of ice creams before getting back in the car to find Chester. We were without cell phones at this point (more on this in another post) and arrived after dark to our little cabin in the woods.

In the morning we were greeted by wild turkeys running around and beautiful tree covered mountains. We spent the day getting groceries (beer) and walking around the forest. The next day we had a 1 hour train ride through the hills and got treated to some early foliage.

On our last day we did a self guided walking tour through Chester. We stopped at a local cafe for lunch, a tasting flight of beers and picked up more at a local beer shop. Vermont is famous for its selection of craft breweries and we weren’t disappointed.

Our cabin was fantastic. Nestled amongst the trees, completely secluded. It had a full kitchen with a washing machine and oven. It was almost completely baby proof and even had baby gates. The finished basement had a ping table which occupied Moose for hours.

After Vermont we went to Boston to catch up with more friends!

Montreal

Back to my second home! I’ve always loved Montreal and it’s still the only place I’d move back to Canada for. We spent 3 nights here.

We stayed downtown at an Air BnB apartment. It had a late check in at 1630 so I risked it and arrived at 1600. It was a self check in process and I found the door open with the keys inside as promised. I also found the place in a tip. The sheets were clearly used, all the towels were piled up and there were still dishes in the sink! I grabbed the keys and sent a message to the host to let them know. In fairness they had 30 minutes before I was supposed to check in. We used that time to get some groceries. We arrived back closer to 1700 to find the cleaner at work! I thought I was well prepared for Montreal being functionally bilingual. What I didn’t prepare for was trying to speak Spanish! Luckily I took one year in high school… The poor cleaner looked surprised to see us in the apartment and worked as fast as he good. Hanika sat in the hallway with the boys while I shuttled our bags out of the van. Our babysitter arrived (we were due out for dinner) to find the kids crawling around the halls! We managed to get the kids dinner and settled before we darted off to join friends 30 minutes late!

We ate at a delicious French restaurant called “Grenadine” in the Latin Quarter. 3 of the group ordered the 6 course degustation. Much to my surprise we were all given different meals for each course! I had a mouse foie gras creme brulee, horse and a rum and sorbet pallet cleanser. Other people had rabbit and deer.

After dinner we went to Benelux which was our old regular brew pub where I worked after graduating for a few months. We had a great night going through some old and new beers and catching up.

The next day Alex hosted brunch at his place, complete with Cesars (which is a Bloody Mary with clam juice added). I seem to remember the metro to be much easier to ride when I was single and childless! The metro system is not very pram friendly, especially after using Toronto’s subway. I had originally planned to take the family to Tam Tams but time got away from us and we headed for a quick nap before dinner with family friends (I first met them in Thompson in the early 90s).

The follow day we went to the Science Museum to pick up our memberships. The exhibits were alright and kept Moose occupied but I don’t rate it as highly as the one in Ottawa. As a bonus we got free parking for being members which saved us $30! We had St Viateur bagels for lunch, a superior bagel as compared to any we’ll get in NYC! We had a classic poutine dinner at La Banquise to finish off the day. It was dreary and raining all day so that limited our time outside. I walked around McGill with Ollie but the whole campus is covered in scaffolding.

What we’ve learnt so far is that we need about twice as much time as we had planned to do things. That means we should be spending a week or so in each city. We’ve booked the next few major cities already but I think this will influence how long we spend in places after that. Also, packing is terrible! Hanika’s made it her goal to make us more efficient at short stays instead of dragging all our belongings out of the van every night.

Kids and busy days don’t lend themselves to long transits on public transport. We drove a lot more than I had planned but found parking easily enough. There’s no way the kids would have tolerated a 40 minute journey plus walk at 8pm!

Ottawa

After Toronto we made a quick one night stop in Ottawa to catch up with my uncle, cousins and second cousins. Despite multiple attempts we couldn’t get a nice photo of all the kids (mainly because mine can’t/won’t sit still).

The following morning we went to the Science and Tech museum to burn the kids out before the quick drive up to Montreal. We bought memberships to the Montreal Science Centre which gives us reciprocal entry to lots of museums. Even though we hadn’t picked up our cards yet I was able to show them the online receipt and we were waved in!

The museum had lots of interactive exhibitions covering transport, mining and even medicine. Moose wasn’t nearly excited enough to see a stethoscope that belonged to William Osler. He did however like smashing a hockey helmet with a hammer.

We had a quick drive to Montreal until we hit the construction. I didn’t trust Google maps and followed the sign posts and ran right into the worst congestion ever!

Toronto

We spent 2 nights in Toronto to catch up with friends and be tourists.

We managed the CN tower and Ripley’s aquarium in a day. We pre bought tickets to both places online the day before, both kids were free. We arrived at the CN tower at 11am and managed to walk straight onto the elevators without any waiting! The views from the CN Tower are absolutely amazing. I hadn’t realised how big Toronto is, from that height it feels much bigger than Sydney. There was a bar with a special CN Tower lager that I just had to drink! We went to the glass floor level and struggled to persuade Moose to walk on it. Another poor kid was dragged kicking and screaming so the parents could get the iconic shot.

After we went to the aquarium which may end up being a highlight of the trip. It’s got a great collection of animals but what stands it apart is the the layout and design of exhibits. Each seemed to have their own music. The underwater tunnel had a travelator so you could easily move through without bumping into people.

After the kids had a quick nap so we stopped at the Steam Whistle brewery for a beer and pretzel. Much deserved after all that walking!

That night we got a baby sitter from an online agency and went out with friends for dinner and drinks. Toronto has no shortage of unique small bars. Interestingly the ones we went to offered little snacks as well. We had spicy ribs, duck hearts and sweet potato pie.

Our Air BnB was well located, at a good price but damn small and not Ollie proof. Any time we wanted to clean or pack one of us would have to take him out for a walk. Not bringing a portacrib is proving to be short sighted!

We met Cara, my old nanny, for a play date on the way out to Ottawa. Turns out the drive was quite a bit further than I had realised. It took us close to 5 hours with 2 pit stops. For now that seems about the limit the kids can put up with. If all goes to plan that will be the longest drive though. We bought some towels to put under Ollie’s seat to change the angle. He’s in a bucket seat in the van and he’s rear facing so he flopped forward when he slept.

Niagara Falls

What a sight! It’s everyone’s first time here and it’s more stunning than people make it out to be.

We started on the American side given we were driving from Buffalo. We stopped at the state park, went up the observation deck and went on the Maid of Mist. We donned our cool blue ponchos (they’re red if you take the Hornblower from the Canadian side) and rode right past all 3 falls. The boat should be renamed the Maid of the Downpour. Thank goodness for the ponchos or we would have been soaked! Honestly though, it was a great experience and for $40 USD it was well worth it.

It was a beautiful day so we dried off quickly, had a snack and made our way across the boarder to Niagara Ontario. The boys slept so we drove around for an hour soaking up the sights. We checked into our hotel then explored around the area as much as Moose’s legs would let us. I think we’re going to buy a cheap foldable pram for him! We finished up by putting the boys in the pool before dinner with hopes of getting a solid nights sleep!

We stayed at the Four Points with a falls view room that didn’t disappoint! A big step up from the airport motel in Buffalo and probably the nicest accommodation we’ll have until Disney.

A note on Niagara Falls, it’s bloody expensive! Saying that, I wish we had a few more days there.

The next day we woke up early and headed for the Sky View ferris wheel for a lofty view of the falls. On our way Hanika took Moose to the toilet. While they were gone I heard the unmistakable sound of car vs pedestrian followed by screaming. I ran up the street to find a lot of people walking AWAY! I handed Ollie in his pram to some responsible looking people (what gives me any special ability to be a parent?) and ran to render assistance. It was a poor Australian couple who were hit crossing the road. A bit of blood and tears but no one seemed too injured. Within 10 minutes 2 fire trucks, 2 ambulances and a police cruiser showed up! Good to see the local tax revenue is paying for first rate emergency responders. We made it to the ferris wheel unscathed and enjoyed walking around Clifton Hill.

The hotel has a 12pm check out so we made our way to Toronto. We stopped in Oakville to see a very old friend and arrived in Toronto safely that afternoon.

Leaving Winnipeg

After a month it’s time to leave Winnipeg and start the road trip part of the trip. It’s been great catching up with friends and family and being “home”.

Since the last post we’ve been keeping busy. We went out to the Living Prairie Museum (a bunch of native grasses), the Forks multiple times, Go Kart racing and even made time for an escape room!

We played some street hockey to introduce Moose to even more Canadian culture. I grew up on a street full of families with children of overlapping ages. As we’ve all left the empty nesting parent’s haven’t moved so there’s been a glut of children around. Things are changing! It was a great multigenerational game with children, parents and grandparents all playing.

The escape room was heaps of fun! We went with Eric and Jenn (Eric and I met each other in grade 6). It was loosely based on the movie “Alien” and involved solving puzzles aboard an alien infested spaceship. There were lots of puzzles requiring different levels of communication. One involved talking Eric through a puzzle via an intercom while he was in a black room and we could see him with a nigh vision camera. The staff acted as aliens and worked hard to scare us. I believe Jenn was successfully terrified.

Tomorrow we’re flying to Buffalo NY to pick up our car and start our first road trip. We’re heading back to Canada through Niagara, Toronto, Montreal then down the east coast of the USA to Florida for 2 months. The blog posts should be more frequent from now on as we write about all the things we’re doing.

St Malo Provincial Park

Tucked 45 minutes south of Winnipeg is the town of St Malo and its provincial park. We were invited down for the day by my cousin. The weather cooperated by clearing up just as we arrived. We were treated to bright blue skies and a little in the way of wind.

It was a great day spent immersing Moose in all things Canadian. For lunch we had fire roasted smokies. Then we took him canoeing in a wooden canoe that was hand built by my uncle (no blood relation obviously). We finished off the day with Smores over the fire. We couldn’t convince him to go for a swim though, he’s still a bit precious about the temperature!