first part of US/Canada trip...

It has already been quite a while since I left Minneapolis...

Carole and I started in Chicago where we spent the first three days of our vacation. I invited her to the Cité restaurant on the Lake Shore Tower where we enjoyed a delicious dinner on the 70th floor with view of downtown during dusk. We then went to Michigan City where we spent time in an Outlet Mall - I did already my shopping so it was her turn ;-). In Detroit we visited the African American History Museum which was absolutely great! Detroit did not offer much more and a planned tour through the F-150 Ford Truck factory did not work out since it was already sold out that morning... bummer! Nevertheless, we enjoyed american Car culture by watching a movie at a drive-in cinema. Next, we crossed the boarder to Canada and went on to te Niagara Falls. They are just great and very impressive. The following day we went over Niagara On the Lake to Toronto where we stayed at the Sheraton - Thanks to Hotwire for 59 USD instead of 209 USD :-) well, we enjoyed the jacuzzi, steam room and the pool :-) Toronto is pretty neat, especially the old part. After this two day stay in Toronto, we travelled alongside Lake Ontario to Kingston where we spent the night in a shabby motel... just the opposite of the room at the Sheraton ;-). The day after, we travelled alongside the Lawrence River on the 1000 Island Parkway - just great Canadian landscape... until we reached Ottawa, Canada's Capital. It is a cute city that offers everything in walking distance. We spent the last two days of our journey at the Algonquin Provincial Park at Bartlett Lodge - a beautiful Lodge withing the Park. It was a little above our budget, but the food (5 courses each night :-) ) and the spectacular location was worth it!

Today, we are in Barrie and relax a little. The remaining days will lead us to the 30'000 Island shore at Georgian Bay up to Sudbury and west to Sault Ste Marie where we enter the US again. After a visit to the Pictured Rock National Lakeshore we will drive south to Milwaukee and finally back to Chicago...

I uploaded a few pictures and I hope you enjoy (for facebook users; please see orginial post on my blog)....