Day 4: Buffalo to Toronto

Stats:

Odometer start: 13354

Gas:

  • Tops, Hamburg NY ($3.63/gallon, 3.2 gallons, 86.1 miles)

Meals:

  • Breakfast: Peg’s Place, Hamburg NY. French toast, sausage, 2 eggs scrambled, iced tea. $19.41 for two.
  • Lunch: Tim Horton’s, St. Catherines ON. BLT and donut combo, 7-Up. About $7.
  • Dinner: The Tulip, Toronto. Turkey dinner, carrots, mashed potatoes, stuffing, salad, pumpkin pie. About $20.

Sleep: Grange Hotel, Toronto.

Notes:

Breakfast with Sarah at an old Howard Johnson’s that’s now called Peg’s Place. Drove around a bit more and then came home, said goodbye to Sarah and Brad and the puppies, and headed out.

The camcorder I bought yesterday was defective (it wouldn’t focus) so I traded it in for the same model. Much better.

Crossed into Canada about 1:30. No real trouble at the border but I had to go inside to the immigration desk due to my permanent resident visa and answer several questions that were not really all that much more intense than the usual border set. Entered with no problems and headed into Fort Erie searching (unsuccessfully) for an HSBC branch to get money. Finally found one in St Catherine’s, where I also had a predictably uninspiring lunch at Tim Horton’s.

I get so squishy excited when I’m driving into Canada listening to Jazz.FM or CBC Radio. Arrived in Toronto about 4:30 and checked in at the Grange Hotel. Room small and spartan and not as fresh-smelling as it could be, but it’s fine and clean and has cable. The location is amazing. Walked around the Annex in the early evening looking for Thanksgiving dinner and finding none. Went for a drive after knowing I’d find turkey at the Tulip in Leslieville (where Mark and I ate our first night in Toronto in 2006) and I was right. There were many assorted homos and hipsters there having their holiday meals. Most of the city seemed closed for the holiday.

CBC News, Family Guy, email, and bed afterward.

Photos (flickr link):