Day 27: Sudbury

 Dear Gilles, 

Our destination today was Sudbury City Hall and Science North. We chatted with the clerk at City Hall for about 15 minutes, while she tried to reach a person who would be able to provide a city pin - no luck. I left our home address and perhaps three pins will come in the mail. 

(REMINDER: Open the mail, to determine if there's anything that needs immediate attention.) 

We had to pay $6 for Science North parking, but the admission was covered with our Saskatchewan Science Centre membership. 

Science North

The lego display was fantastic. It included the "how to" for building large structures including the steel supports and lego webbing inside.

It was the first time I had visited Science North - and now, that the Ontario Science Centre is closed permanently, it provides the fun, interactive activities that elementary school children need for wonder and entertainment.  

We spent 4+ hours in the centre - And then made a game plan to go see a movie and have some dinner. 

We watched Death of a Unicorn. IMDb 6.3 starring Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega. It's rated as a Comedy, Horror - which I guess was accurate for the gore portion. I liked the spin it gave on unicorn culture. 

Chicken on a bun dinner at Deluxe to finish the evening. 

Day 26: North Bay

Dear Gilles, 

We drove to Sturgeon Falls and North Bay - with snow packed roads from the accumulation from the day before. Both towns did not have any lapel pins. It was cold. It was windy. We didn't spend a long time in town. 

At the library, I asked a dad who was there with his elementary school daughters what there is to do. He looked at my boys - recommended an arcade eatery - Wacky Wings - and a good donut shop. Other than that, he recommended we come back on a weekend, in the summertime. 

Back to the house for lunch and another quiet day. 

I also enjoyed an afternoon walk. Here are some photos from my walk. It's flatter than my walks at home, but same country road conditions, with much faster drivers. 

Day 24 and 25: Sugar Shack

 Dear Gilles, 

We made it to your dad's place. It was a nice easy drive up Highway 11. 

It's spring in Northern Ontario. Which means that it's maple syrup time. 

Glenna knows the family who produce many barrels of syrup every year and they were kind enough to give us a private tour of the facilities and educate us on the finer details of syrup. 

I learned a few new facts:

A) Maple syrup is 40:1 ratio of water to sugar; birch is 100:1

B) There are reverse osmosis filters you can use to remove 80% of the water from the sap before it goes in the evaporator. 

C) Once the syrup is ready for packaging, it is put through a filter press to remove mineral sands - which are a waste product. We tasted them - they look like a creamy sugar - and the first taste is yum, but then a horrible after taste with very fine particles of grit. 

D) Maple syrup has a large number of good vitamins and minerals - six of which are only found in syrup. 

E) We will be bringing maple syrup to our home table in a more prominent way in the future. 

Watch the 37 minute video in this link: Seguin Sugarbush

It's the same tour we had, with better visual perspective. 

Then it SNOWED. Snow accumulated and heavy winds blew it all around. It was nice to be back and secure at the house. 

Card games after dinner. The boys taught the folks Beat the Sweed, and the folks taught the boys Spades, while I read a book. 

Day 23: Graffiti Alley

 Dear Gilles, 

Today, we had more adventures downtown. We started off with two separate meet ups for Facebook Marketplace - Lug Bags. One is wheelie for our future train trip, the other is a smallish tote that will always be handy. 

Then we got together with Cindy and her doggo. 

We headed out towards Graffiti Alley - where Rick Mercer did many of his rants. 

https://www.destinationtoronto.com/leisure-blog/post/queen-street-west-art-crawl/

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/graffiti-alley-rush-lane

And then we went to Kensington Market where we found dill pickles that promise to be sour, and cheese. Purchasing good quality cheese is always a must-do from Kensington Market.  

Kensington Market

We ended up at the The Well. 

The website link doesn't do it justice. It's a large, very new, shopping centre - with an open air feel, but there's a glass roof - and it's built DOWN in to the ground. 

The food court was not the typical mall food court and had all sorts of fast food style fare - but different. A step up from the mall food court. I encouraged the boys to try a ramen bowl.  The broth was very roast pork tasting, which made for rich and delicious flavours. 

Then we went to Crumbl. I wish I had taken photos of the cookies. The cookie flavours this week include, cheesecake, chocolate chunk, red velvet and brownie. The actual cookies are bigger than the super large coffee mugs, and I split each in to 4 quarters for tasting the variety. 

A great day in a different part of Toronto I rarely see. 

The evening finished off with a sister night of dinner and drinks within walking distance on the Danforth. 

Day 22

Dear Gilles, 

It was a quiet day. During the day, we took Vixen for a walk to the park. The boys brought their gloves to a 'wall' and destroyed 2 tennis balls. They were dollar store quality tennis balls - so it wasn't surprising. Vixen benefitted from the broken balls for some off-leash time. 

In the evening, we went over to hang out at the cousin's house while Aunt went to book club. Pizza, video games and a movie. A perfect Friday night. 

Day 21: Because News

Dear Gilles, 

Today was a fun day. We did our second trip to the Ashbridges Bay beach - it was much less windy. We looked for sea glass, and cleaned the beach of worn sea glass as well as fresh broken glass to dispose properly. Pickings were slim, so we'll target a different beach section next time. The gumboots are coming in handy for this trip. 

We left the house at 5pm to head downtown to the CBC studios. 

Back in March, I had arranged for tickets to the taping of "Because News" podcast. We were well treated from CBC.  A) We were taken out of the line, and brought up to the studio in the first elevator. B) We had reserved seats in the front row. C) We were given CBC swag in the form of sunglasses and a fanny pack. 

That day, the TTC had a significant incident AND many audience members were unable to make it to the studio - including Uncle. The podcast release is: April 4 episode. All transit was stopped - north east south and west. 

By the time the show was over, the TTC had resolved its difficulties and we made it back to the house smoothly. 

It will definitely be an experience to remember. 

Day 20: Eaton Centre

Dear Gilles, 

It was a pretty quiet day. Except that there was a ridiculous amount of snow. Which turned to rain. Which encouraged us to wear rainboots to downtown Toronto. SOOO WET. 

We connected with a 'guy' on facebook marketplace who had Magic the Gathering cards for sale. So, we met him at Yonge and Queen. Then we had some Eaton Centre food court food for supper - and took the TTC back east bound, where I picked up an MEC down vest from another FB marketplace connection.

The boys got to see the iconc geese from the Queen Street entrance.