From the falls to the 6
The long weekend that follows has been eight years in the making.
At the end of June 2007, my sister came home from Syracuse to finish up courses there before completing her degree with classes taken at City Tech. Before that, she would be going on a road trip to Niagara Falls with family for Independence Day. The plans fell through though. The years would go by and the topic would come up in conversation of us and our cousins taking a trip together somewhere came up time and again but didn’t get anywhere.
Earlier this year, the both of us expressed our desire to take a short trip over a long weekend. It was decided that we would go and see the Falls and then visit Toronto. In mid April, the flights were bought, the accommodations booked and the car rented. In a rough moment of time, the fact that this trip would happen gave me life.
Before I could get the Falls, I had see out the work week. From the start of the day on Monday, I knew it was going to be a rough one. One of the donation pickups from Friday didn’t finish due to a full truck and I spent the day trying to fix my mistake. Tuesday was going well for the first half of the day, only to have one of the trucks go out of service. That meant having to call donors on that truck to reschedule their pickups. Add to that two more donors wondering where our truck was and our Refashion trucks being full for the week and at day’s end, I was visible shaking in frustration as I never felt so incapable of handling stressful situations. But there was a light at the end of the tunnel, in the form of a store tour with my managers boss. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know much about furniture as my job is on the administrative side. We started with one of our larger stores on Columbus avenue before heading to Hell’s Kitchen and then to the West Village. The overarching theme of the trip is that each store is different and that more attention should be paid to where the trucks of our donations are going. Around 3:30 PM, I had an idea. I was on the subway at West 4th Street and headed up to West 50th. I knew that my friend Jen’s bar, Tanner Smiths was nearby so I decided to go in and see if she was there. She wasn’t but the place is so beautiful I decided to stop and have a late afternoon snack and a drink. I did run into one of her friends that I met on Christmas Day that afternoon. Between seeing Ruby, the grilled meatball lollipops and the setting it was the perfect way to ease out of work mode and into vacation mode.
In the wee hours of Friday morning, it was time to head to LGA. Our flight to Toronto on Air Canada would leave at 6:35am so we had to arrive two hours early. In hindsight, we should’ve left on a later flight but by 8am, we arrived in Toronto. But before reaching the Falls, we had to make a brief detour back into the US. My sisters phone wasn’t working so we had to find the nearest Verizon store which is in Buffalo. For the detour, there are charming small towns along the way. My sister was able find a solution for her phone issues and we would make it to the Falls in the evening. After dinner, we took a twilight walk amongst the Falls as sunset doesn’t happen until 9pm. As it was Friday, the falls were illuminated and it brought a long day’s journey into night to a peaceful end.
As daybreak broke on Saturday, something unusual happened. I slept through the night and felt none of the stress of the week. I was ready for the main event, the boat through Niagara Falls. We went on the Hornblower cruise, red rain poncho included. It’s no exaggeration to say that you will get wet riding the boat but the sight of one of nature’s wonders in full roar is one to behold. On this day you could see forever as demonstrated by our visit to the observation deck of the Skylon Tower. It’s a contrast between the natural wonders of the falls and the Atlantic City meets Vegas hybrid of Clifton Hill. Before leaving for Toronto, we had a nice lunch in the Queen Street neighborhood, and out the window there’s a Shriner Parade going on. On that note, it was a two hour drive back to Toronto as the apartment we were staying wasn’t available till 4pm. After arriving, we took some time to relax before heading out to dinner. The neighborhood we stayed in is called West Queens West. It’s a nice place full of art galleries and plenty of places to eat and drink with many different options to choose from. The late sunset walk around the neighborhood closed out the day on the run.
For our full day of exploration in Toronto, we left the car behind. Sunday got off to a fast start as our first stop was Casa Loma. This residence is an actual castle where the business magnate Sir Henry Pallet and his wife lived before it became a tourist attraction. The castle is as grandiose as his life was, from his time in the military unit, the Queen’s Own Rifles to his businesses and charitable works. From the balcony, you could see the Toronto skyline and miles afterward on this clear day. The next stop was the Art Gallery of Ontario. With the strains of classical music in the background, we went to all five floors and see a mix of contemporary, African and Canadian artworks,Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker” and Andy Warhol’s “Elvis”. The next stop would’ve been the St.Lawrence Market but it was closed. After dinner, there was one last item on our list, the CN tower. It almost didn’t happen once we saw the price but we reconsidered it rather than not do it and regret it later. A trolley ride and a walk later, we found ourselves at the entrance to the tower with the Rogers Centre next door. As is the case with this monument, there’s a security line and a 90 minute wait due to the high winds. But when we finally got up there, our patience was rewarded with a beautiful sunset over the city and Lake Ontario. It was an exhausting day but a lot got done.
On this Monday morning, we’re on our way back to NYC. Despite the mishaps along the way and evidence that I’m a terrible adult with the fact that I can’t do basic functions by myself , I had a great weekend. I needed to clear my head. It was peaceful to have a positive environment to be in. If only I felt this good about myself all the time. I hope to make the good mood I’m currently in last for a while. Toronto and Canada itself is so beautiful that I hope to travel back to explore the city and country in greater detail. Although this journey is over, the next one will see me cross the Atlantic and back in Spain just under four months from now. The world is a giant place, and life’s too short to not explore as much of it as I can with the time I have on earth. After all, you only live once!
