‘Canada’ Articles at Sweetnicks

Visit: Niagara Falls Butterfly Conservatory {Niagara Falls, Canada}

August 1, 2019 · Narrative, Travel

“A quiet little oasis and the perfect spot to become one with nature and learn more about butterflies. Let’s visit the Niagara Falls Butterfly Conservatory!

Since this was our second time visiting Niagara Falls, as I was compiling my list of things to do, I concentrated on finding new things that we missed on our first go around, and this is how I discovered the Butterfly Conservatory. I’ll be the first to admit, my kids weren’t entirely interested in going and needed a bit of coaxing, but some things focus 100% on what they want to check out, and sometimes I get to choose. The fact that it was a wee bit like a sauna inside the conservatory probably didn’t help, but once we left, they both admitted they enjoyed it.

Alright, let’s get to it.

It was very easy to find, and really not far from the floral clock and the Centennial Lilac Garden. There was a reasonably sized parking lot that, although they had only opened an hour before we got there, was filling up fairly quickly. We stopped at the snack shop right outside the entrance and grabbed a few (overpriced) glass bottles of water (it was hot!), and made our way to the entrance. Admission is reasonably priced, between $13-15 for adults and $8 for kids under 13, and surprisingly about the same cost as our aero car adventure, and once inside, you are free to wander on a self-guided tour, which is pretty much our favorite was to explore.

There were literally hundreds of butterflies freely flying around the conservatory, and even landing on many guests. Maddie was desperate to have one land on her, and even proclaimed that she wasn’t leaving until one did. Sadly we gave up that objective after an hour of unsuccessful attempts. I did read this tip after we left > “Visitors are encouraged to wear bright clothes, wear perfume or cologne and move slowly if they wish to have butterflies land on them.” > so we might have to make one more visit for her to try again.

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Stay: Kimpton Saint George Hotel {Toronto, Canada}

July 26, 2019 · Narrative, Travel

Heading to Toronto for a getaway? Check into the Kimpton Saint George Hotel, and you will not be disappointed.

Ever since I got my drivers license a million years ago, I have always loved road trips. My kids kinda sorta love them (depends on the destination, duration, and mood).

And so that’s how we found ourselves driving to Toronto at the end of May. We had been to Canada a few years ago, and loved our Niagara Falls visit, so when we went back to visit the Falls again this past Spring, we wanted to venture a little bit beyond that area.

In the grand scheme of things, I would have liked to stay a few days longer in Toronto, but we just did one overnight this time. When I was looking for hotels, I picked the brain of a friend who had recently gone there with her family for Spring Break, and she mentioned how much she loved the Kimpton. I had never even heard of the hotel chain until then, and now that we’ve been, we are all smitten.

Any time I’m booking a hotel room, I like to stay under a hundred bucks a night. Because, let’s be real, I am looking for a safe area and a clean bed, anything after that is a bonus (swimming pool and room service check my kids’ boxes). I sometimes find great deals through Groupon or Living Social, and scour all the travel web sites, and the hotel’s own web site as well. Kimpton is not exactly an inexpensive brand, but I got lucky and because I had flexibility with my arrival date, and with the US/Canadian conversion, our gorgeous room ended up being around $75/night.

SCORE!

We pulled up right to the front door and splurged the extra ten bucks for valet parking, because even if I didn’t, I still would have had to pay for parking, and it would be in a separate lot and a bit of a schlep. We were greeted warmly as soon as we walked into the lobby and checked in quickly. Adjacent to the lobby is a comfortable sitting area, with lemon water, a few books, and a fireplace.

We walked down the hallway to the elevator so we could dump our bags and start checking out our room.

To say the hotel is very Instagram-worthy would be an understatement. There was a photo opp literally around every corner.

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Visit: Whirlpool Aero Car {Niagara Falls, Canada}

June 2, 2019 · Narrative, Travel

Visiting the Canadian side of Niagara Falls? Put the Whirlpool Aero Car on your list – it’s not to be missed!

We visited Niagara Falls (and Toronto) for a few days over the Memorial Day weekend and, since we’ve been there before, I wanted to make sure we had new things to do this time around, and this Whirlpool Aero Car was one of the stops that made our list, and I’m glad it did.

I cannot properly express in words or photos how seriously amazing this is. I am honestly not a big fan of heights, but usually the opportunity for a photo opp will trump that fear, and this was no exception. That being said, as I approached the Aero Car to get on, I almost didn’t. It doesn’t look like much is holding you up over the water, and you are up really high, so I absolutely hesitated, but I ended up getting on.

When the Guide saw me hesitating, she reassured me that I would be fine. One of the things she said was that they only need two cables to carry the car over the water, and they actually had six cables, and everything had been replaced recently. I still moved very slowly and held on tightly, both to my phone and to the railing, but I’m so glad I didn’t let fear hold me back from this opportunity. In fact, I liked it so much that I debated momentarily, turning right around and paying to go on it again.

It was that amazing.

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Weekend Photos in Review

May 28, 2019 · Photos, Travel

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Visit: Journey Behind the Falls {Niagara Falls, Canada}

March 15, 2018 · Narrative

When you’re visiting Niagara Falls, you want to dive deep into all things Falls-related, and that’s exactly what we did. Let’s Journey Behind the Falls.

In the interest of getting all the Canada photos off my phone, and because Spring Break season is coming up and readers may be venturing to Niagara Falls, I figured I would continue some of my blog posts from our visit last Spring.

There are several different touristy things you can do when you’re visiting Niagara Falls, and I really debated about which ones we should do. I, along with the rest of the world, am obsessed with the Falls itself, so I wanted to get up close and personal. But … within reason.

The Maid of the Mist, the boat that actually takes you out on the water, was tempting. But I’m not gonna lie, seeing it tossed around a bit on the rough water made me think of the little boats of survivors that jumped from the Titanic. And the people coming off the Maid of the Mist were WET. See the below photo.

So we did the next best thing and signed up for the Journey Behind the Falls excursion instead, which was perfect.

It was walking distance, even in the chilly rainy weather, from our hotel, so we hit the streets.

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Visit: Skylon Tower, Niagara Falls, Canada

March 10, 2018 · Narrative

A chance to dine up in the clouds? There was no way I would miss making a reservation at a restaurant that promised that! Come join me as we visit Skylon Tower in Niagara Falls, Canada.

Any time we are visiting a new area, I always make a list of “things to do, places to visit, food to eat,” and I compile this list by doing two things:

1. Googling the “top ten things to do in xyz,” and changing the google search to cover food and things to eat that the area is known for.

2. Ask locals! They are your best resource, particularly for food suggestions, and have led us to some of our favorite stops when we travel, and when asking locals, I ask where THEY GO, not where they send the hordes of tourists.

These two exercises never fail to leave me with a pretty good list of things to do, and we, of course, leave a little wiggle room to go where the wind takes us as well. I don’t want to be so regimented with an itinerary that we forget to have fun too!

And so, I, of course, did the above when we visited Niagara Falls in Canada for Spring Break last year, and through my searches, I discovered the Skylon Tower.

Billed as a revolving dining room in the sky, how could you not immediately put it on your list??

A fine dining experience, reservations are strongly suggested. The restaurant seats just under 300 guests for their dinner service, and 165 for their buffet (check their site for details because the buffet is not every day). Luckily when we were there during Spring Break, it’s not really a busy season for them, so we had no problems getting the reservation we wanted for our large group.

To be honest, what they were serving for dinner didn’t really matter, because you know I was just there for the view! Despite it being rainy and quite foggy when we were there, it did nothing to dampen the experience.

The outer rim of the tower, where the dining guests sit is a little over 13 feet wide, and that’s the part that rotates. So, when you enter the restaurant, the hostess stand, bar area, and kitchen don’t rotate (that’s the center core of the restaurant), and then you step onto the dining track that rotates. It rotates so slowly that unless you’re paying attention to the changing view, you might not even notice, but it completes one full rotation every hour.

The Falls from 775 feet in the air!

It was seriously so cool.

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When in Canada, Eat Poutine {Potato Heads}

November 6, 2017 · Narrative

Warm gravy, melted gooey cheese, crispy fries … let’s dig into some traditional Canadian food and have poutine!

Once of the (many) perks of participating in National Blog Posting Month, where bloggers post daily for a full month, is that I can tackle many of the topics that I’ve had on a running list on my phone for the past … um … few years. The good news is, I have no shortage of topics; the bad news is, sometimes I get a little more behind than I’d like.

So let’s go back to Spring Break this year, when we visited Canada!

When it comes to visiting anyplace new, I always make a point to seek out the “must eat” food items of that area, to really get a taste, no pun intended, on what it’s like to be a local. And when I started searching the food items that were not to be missed in Canada, poutine kept coming up.

And with good reason.

Poutine is a popular French-Canadian dish that is comprised of french fries, hot brown gravy, and melty, gooey, cheese curds. I mean, really, what’s not to love? The dish has been around since the 1950s, and legend has it that besides being a great hangover cure dish the day after a bender, it was a popular meal amongst truck drivers because it’s hearty and not as greasy as you’d expect.

But if you’ve been a visitor to my site for any length of time (or especially if you follow me on Instagram or Snapchat), you know I was in as soon as I heard cheese.

Because #cheeseismyhappyplace.

Poutine’s popularity, of course, traveled beyond the Canadian borders, and if you’re in the US, particularly in the New Jersey area, an adaptation of poutine is more commonly known as disco fries. The biggest difference between the two dishes is that disco fries features melted mozzarella, as opposed to the original cheese curds of the Canadian version.

Now that we’ve covered the what, onto the where.

Just as I’ve said before, if you want to know where to find the best local eats, ASK A LOCAL.

And so when we were in the middle of a downtown grocery store, I asked a store clerk where to go for the best poutine. Not where she sends tourists, but where SHE would go.

Which is exactly how we found ourselves a few miles away, hunting for the bright orange Potato Heads food truck in a grocery store parking lot.

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Visit: Bird Kingdom {Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada}

July 20, 2017 · Narrative

A sweet little place to stop when you’re visiting Niagara Falls in Canada … let’s pop into Bird Kingdom.

Any time we’re traveling, I always keep my eyes open for places where we can visit animals. Whether it be a zoo, aquarium, sanctuary, or something completely different, it’s something both my kids like (especially the nine-year-old who is still aspiring to be a vet when she grows up!), so when I spotted references to the Bird Kingdom in Niagara Falls, I added it to our Spring Break list.

Bird Kingdom was located just a few miles from where we were staying, slightly on the outskirts of the major touristy area, and boasts the world’s largest free-flying indoor aviary. It was easy to find, and they have their own parking garage (albeit small), and will validate. The fact that it was a covered and attached parking garage was a bonus because it was pouring when we visited.

We checked in at the front desk, got our hands stamped, and started our self-guided tour. As much as I love the information a tour guide can impart, I equally love the go-at-your-own-pace of a self-guided tour, especially since we were a group of 8.

The name “Bird Kingdom” is a bit of a misnomer because while the majority of the animals ARE birds, there are other animals there as well (including turtles, bearded dragons, pythons, and more). We toured all the different areas, reading information on the different species as we went, but there were two areas that I was most looking forward to … one spot was where we could hold a parrot, and another was when we could enter a large enclosure, and feed birds as they swarmed around you and landed on you. I love these types of activities because it’s what sets this place apart from other places, and it’s something completely different for the kids.

Because, really … how often do you get to hold a small cup of sugar water and have birds swarm all over you??? I swear it was like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, but in a completely fun and OMG way. And totally worth the extra $2 per person charge (you can go in the room for free; the extra $2 was if you want to hold the sugar water and feed the birds). Maddie was a little reticent to do it at first (I don’t blame her!), but usually after I say I’ll do something, she’ll do it … because I’m the biggest scaredy cat of them all! (And it’s totally why I was the one petting the tarantula when we visited this place, and this past week, I was the first to pet a chinchilla because YOLO!).

Outside of these two special and different experiences, Bird Kingdom reminded me a little of RainForest Adventures, a similar place we visited when we were in Tennessee a few years ago. Similar set up and vibe, but different animals.

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Spring Break 2017 {That Time We Visited Canada}

July 10, 2017 · Narrative, Travel

Usually when I say I’ve never been somewhere, my mom usually replies, “Oh, you were there when you were little.” And I totally don’t remember much before age 8, except for some scant randomness, so if I don’t remember it, it can’t count, right?

But this time I was right … I really have never been to Canada, and it was high time to correct that.

Visiting Niagara Falls has been on my bucket list forever, and I finally crossed it off during our Spring Break trip this year, and what a fun trip it was!

I plan to cover some of the specific places we visited during our trip in separate, follow-up blog posts, but today it’s more about visiting Canada overall.

I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous about Border Patrol. I told the kids ahead of time that they weren’t allowed to make any jokes with the Border Patrol officers, no sarcasm, and they weren’t to offer additional information. Just answer their questions in a polite, straight-forward manner, and all would be fine. Just like at the airport. You just never know when an offhand comment will be taken the wrong way, and I didn’t want to find ourselves denied at the border. And, of course, all was fine.

Phew.

The part that surprised me the most about crossing the border? That it only cost three dollars! I don’t know what I was thinking it WOULD cost, but only three bucks to cross the border into another country seemed like a veritable bargain, and it totally was.

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