This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
When in Canada
Jul
5
2023
We just got back from a family vacation to Canada, visiting Montreal and Toronto. Due to our family size, we stayed in rental places for a couple days each. In our vacations, we usually end up doing that because most hotels don’t like to accommodate a family of 6. And in general we use both VRBO and Airbnb. Just watch out for the cleaning/service/security fees.
Anyway, here are some things I noticed or learned in visiting our neighbors to the north. If we had visited Windsor, that would have been our neighbors to the south.
- Canadians drive just under the punishment, not the speed limit. Like most places, the freeways there have a posted speed limit, usually 100 kph. But they also have other signs, more like billboards, that list the punishment for speeding: 120 kph is $X, 130 kph is $Y, and 140 kph is $Z. And another one that said 20 over is 2 points, 30 over is 3 points, etc. It seemed to me that the punishment for speeding didn’t start until 120 kph, even though the limit was officially 100. Because everyone was driving about 118 kph.
- Toronto has the worst traffic of anywhere that I remember driving If you though Canadians were nice and friendly, try driving in Toronto. Chicago has bad traffic, but it’s bad in that it’s just clogged and slow. New York has aggressive drivers, but Toronto seemed ruder and more of a get-ahead-at-all-costs attitude.
- Canadians don’t like locking their bathroom doors. In the places we stayed, there were a total of 5 bathroom doors. Only one of them had a lock.
- The toilets were very low. I’m sure families with small children would appreciate that, but we’re out of that stage now and would like adult-size toilets. Everything else about them seemed normal, I don’t know if that’s the style in Canada.
- Not since our trip to Seattle have I been exposed to so much marijuana. Oh, and the college football game I attended two years ago. The public square in Montreal would have been nice to linger in, but I was worried about second-hand effects. We were in Canada during some of the time when the air quality alerts were active due to the wildfires up north. But the wildfire smoke was negligible compared to the weed. Toronto was even worse, as there was a cannabis store just about every block whenever we walked anywhere.
- In Canada, milk comes in bags. We went grocery shopping the first day. Normally we pack a bunch of food and then buy some more, but to avoid any complications crossing the border, we brought as little food with us as possible, so we had to buy a bunch in Canada. We bought a bag of milk, and it was always very awkward trying to store and pour a floppy bag. I still don’t know how you’re supposed to do it.
- If a place says “bar and grill” or “pub and grill” then don’t take the kids. All the places in the USA that say “bar and grill” means there’s a resturant with a bar area. Anyone can go in the restaurant area but only adults in the bar area. Canada must have different rules, because they did not let us in. We chose it because it was the only place where we were staying that had poutine on the menu. So we went without on this trip.
- Stores don’t give you plastic bags at checkout. At both the grocery store and the dollar store, we had to buy the reusable bags to be able to carry our stuff. On the plus side, we have some cheap bags at home we can use for whatever now. One says “Dollarama” on it and the rest say “Real Canadian Superstore”.
Then He called out to me and spoke to me, saying, “See, those who are going to the land of the north have appeased My wrath in the land of the north.”
Zechariah 6:8
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 11:09 pm and has been carefully placed in the Travel category.
July 6th, 2023 at 8:59 am
My aunt and uncle used to get the bagged milk in Caseville, You put the bag in a pitcher, snip the corner and pour from the bag. Or if you have a pitcher with a lid, pour all the milk into the pitcher. Seems to me an overly complicated milk delivery system.