O Canada

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've made a post. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I took an eight-day business trip to Toronto, Canada for the Prison Fellowship International World Convocation. It was a gathering of nearly 900 individuals from 130 countries to discuss reformation, freedom and hope for prisoners, their families and their communities. It was an amazingly inspiring conference. 

I actually returned home July 3, but I just haven't sat down to blog. I think the summer heat has made me lethargic! But, I'm back now. 

My trip to Toronto was a bit different than most of my business trips in that I actually had some free time to do a little sight seeing. Matter of fact, my colleague and I went a day early so we could take a side-trip to Niagara Falls. If you have never seen it in person, I highly recommend putting it on your bucket list. It truly is an amazing God-created wonder.

There are actually two different falls, the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls. We were fortunate to see the Canadian side of the Falls first, which I must say, has a better view than the American side. 

I was amazed at not only the roar, but also the mist that accompanies the Falls. Matter of fact, when first arrived, we came along the side of Horseshoe Falls. All of the sudden, a drizzle began. I thought it was rain until I realized that it is a constant drizzle from the Falls. Luckily, I had brought a rain jacket. 

The power of the water was amazing ... 150,000 gallons per second.

If you are a fan of "The Office," you might recognize that little boat at the bottom. It's the "Maid of the Mist" on which Pam and Jim were married. If you aren't a fan of the show, you might just be aware of this famous boat. It takes tourists each day to the base of the Falls. We didn't splurge on this, but I can only imagine how amazing it is.

The American Falls is much smaller than the Horseshoe Falls, but equally as beautiful.

We thought while we were at the Falls, we would go ahead and walk over the pedestrian bridge to the American side of the Falls. 

As I mentioned, I didn't enjoy the American side as much, but it does give a different perspective. We only walked to the American Falls, since we were getting tired and hungry.

After a little walk in the National Park, something I did miss about the Canadian side (which was all concrete), we made the walk back to Canada. It was well-worth the trip and something I'm very grateful to have seen.

After our trip, it was back to Toronto. We spent most of the remaining time at our hotel, but I was lucky enough to have been put on the 40th floor, so this was the view from my room.

 

We were able to see a little bit more of Toronto and even had the fun of experiencing Canada Day, which is the celebration of the unification of the Canadian provinces. Having a free lunch, we chose to enjoy it at the CN Tower, which is the third tallest tower in the world. 

We ate in the revolving restaurant, which gave us a full 360-degree view of the city.

Also, the Toronto Blue Jays were playing that day, so we were able to get an aerial view of the game.

 And one of the neatest aspects of the tower is the glass floor observation deck.

Overall, it was a great trip, but after eight days, I was very happy to come home.

What about you ... have you been anywhere fun this summer?