Monday, November 24, 2008

Crossing Over/ My World

Lots of people are traveling this weekend, so I thought I'd explain what it's like to return to Canada after a few days with relatives in the U.S. (Traveling to the U.S. is a popular Canadian pastime.)

If you look at a map of Canada below, you'll notice that most of the major cities are in the southern areas of each province. In fact, Canada's three largest cities (Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver) are within easy driving distance of the U.S.

Ontario is yellow and that's the province in which I live. East Gwillimbury is a little north of Toronto. And Toronto is only a couple of hours from Buffalo in the United States.

So it should be no surprise that many Canadians including my husband and me visit the U.S. at least once a year...often more. Toronto area residents are no exception even though Toronto is a fabulous city with many attractions. But it doesn't include Florida, Las Vegas or Los Angeles.

However, every time Canadians go away, they eventually return. ;-) And this is a taste of what it's often like when my husband I return to East Gwillimbury from Upstate New York.

After we cross the Niagara River, the international boundary at Buffalo/Niagara Falls, we stop at Canada Customs. Sometimes the line is long but on this day it was short. HOORAY! Notice that the signs are in English and in French, as Canada is officially a bilingual country.

Once we've told the customs officer where we live, how long we've been away and declare what goods we're bringing back into Canada, we pay a toll and then drive pass this friendly sign:

Notice on the map that we're still south of Lake Ontario. Weird, according to my muddled brain. As we're driving back into Canada something inside my head expects the lake to be south of the highway. ;-)

After a few miles, the highway joins the QEW, which stands for the Queen Elizabeth Highway. Yes, Canada is a part of the British Commonwealth.

When we see this skyline (Mississauga just west of Toronto), we know we're just an hour away from home!

To visit other blogs celebrating That's My World, please visit http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful images on the road, as I like a lot they. I adore the Canada and good for the photos.


A regard from Italy

Anonymous said...

We used to "love" to go to Canada. And we went a lot in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s but then stopped. I think it was a problem in that we had 5 kids and they couldn't all sleep in one bed in a one room motel. So rather than spend a fortune on motels we stayed at home. LOL

When the kids were little and we had a Corvair, we drove it to Canada one year and stayed on Manitoila (spelling) Island. On the way we had to stay at a motel one night and we had one kid on the sofa, one in a chair, one between my wife and myself, one on a cot the manager dragged in and one in a blow up mattress. The back of the ?Corvair had that mattress in the back for them to lay on while we were underway.

judi/Gmj said...

The only thing I don't like about going home... Laundry. :D Your world is great and you did a wonderful job of showing how to get there!

Small City Scenes said...

Well thank you for the nice travelogue. Very interesting. I am about 2 hours from British Columbia and have been there many times. We don't have to pay a toll though. My sis lives in Kelowna, BC and lived in Lethbridge, Alberta before that. Her husbands hometown is Kelowna.
Kelowna is about 8 hrs away. Thanks again. MB

Anonymous said...

Thanks for taking us for a ride back to Canada. I'm pretty sure the moment you see the sign that welcomes you back to Ontario, you breathe a sigh of joy at being back home.

Lovely peek at your world.

Leora said...

Thanks for the tour! Your fun post reminds me of the many times I used to travel up to Montreal (my brother lived there for 4 years) and the one time my husband and I drove from Seattle to Vancouver (when he told them he was from New York, they said, with a bit of a sneer, so what's you doing all the over here?). I told them we were visiting my cousins (which was true).

Tanya Breese said...

I enjoyed the pretty tour! I hope to one day make it up there. My dads side of the family are from Quebec and I'd love to see the area :)

Daryl said...

I love Toronto .. and a company I once worked for had an office in Mississagua

:-Daryl

kbguy said...

Very nice and interesting post. Have a Happyy and wonderful day with My World today! Mine is at http://justmeNus.blogspot.com

Guy D said...

Great tour and wonderful pics. You gave me some great ideas, thanks for sharing.

Cheers!
Regina In Pictures

Jeanne said...

Cool view. We've talked of someday moving to Canada. If we did it would probably be to the Toronto area so that we could still visit family fairly easily. Thanks for showing how it's done. : )

Susan at Stony River said...

Wonderful photo visit, thank you!

We live on a border too; Northern Ireland is only a few miles away so whenever we go shopping north instead of south, we have to change currency and obey different traffic laws.

A little coincidence: at the service station on our side of the border, they serve Tim Horton coffee and donuts with 'a taste as big as Canada'. (They're wonderful)

Great road trip post!

Ralph said...

I haven't been to Canada in a couple of decades, but flew in on Air Canada. Toronto seemed to be a nice, if quite large city. I would like to take a driving trip up north someday, and just touch lightly in the largest cities (North America looks pretty similar in urban areas) but explore the countryside. In the summer only, of course!

Must remember how to convert MPH into kPH)

Rambling Woods said...

It all looked very familiar to me..LOL..I should document the trip the other way round coming back to Buffalo...Happy Tuesday..

New Rambling Woods Site

Anonymous said...

Some of my coworkers talk about the good old days when they could run across the border for lunch. You couldn't be sure you'd make it in an hour these days.

Anonymous said...

Neat pictures of the road home! Nice to see where you live in relation to Toronto.

Becky said...

Thanks for the tour of your world. I haven't been to Canada for a long time, but spent a good many summers there as a teen on Georgian Bay. They have the best fishing!

Carletta said...

It's nice to know more clearly where you are.I've only been to Canada once. We crossed over at Niagara Falls.
That skyline is something else!

indicaspecies said...

I've been to the Niagara twice from Toronto and this post revived those wonderful memories. Thank you.

My World is at:
http://indicainq8.wordpress.com
- celine

Outhouse Capital of Canada said...

Yes, we cross the line quite often, and we live only 20 mins drive from the border. We are going down Tomorrow to Seattle for a few days visiting a relative.
i like your post, explining how to cross the border

Dirkjogt said...

Nice story of your world, thanks for sharing

Suffeli kuvailee said...

beautiful photos and place!!
have a nice week!!

??? said...

Great pictures and interesting post. I always like the crossing borders-part of a voyage.

Catherine said...

I made the trip with you. Thanks to invite us in your World.
My children and I would love to see once in our life such signs. Hope that, at least, my children will make the dream come true. But it's not as easy as to take the car.
Commonwealth, yes, but you drive on right!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

EG: What a neat trip of your travel from USA to Canada.

Anonymous said...

I've never been to Canada. Looking at that map it looks like Canada cheated as is actually in the United States. :-D

Paul Godin said...

I use to head up to Ontario on a frequent basis. I have family that lives in Thamesville which is south west of you, heading towards Chatam.

Thanks for bring back some memories.

imac said...

Really enjoyed traveling with you across the boarder into Canada, with great info and photos.

The Good Life in Virginia said...

thanks for showing us how you get home from a trip to u.s. very interesting and informative...liked the photos too :)

Anonymous said...

What an interesting journey. And what a good idea for a MyWorld post.

Powell River Books said...

Tomorrow my husband and I are heading south of the border to visit my mother for a US Thanksgiving. I cross the border very often so your post made me think of those many trips. This is my first time at That's My World. I would like to introduce you to my town, Powell River, BC. -- Margy

antigoni said...

Excellent post!

Unknown said...

Very intersting guide to crossing the border thank you

Gaelyn said...

Excellent tour, both info and images. I really like the snow flakes.

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East Gwillimbury is a rural town less than an hour north of Toronto, Canada's largest city. My family calls me CameraGirl because I take my camera with me wherever I go.