Vacation 2026 - Niagara Falls & Toronto

Well, vacation 2026 is over as quick as it began, but what a great vacation it was. It started on August 20 where Jodi and I got to attend the opening night of the new Ottawa music venue, History Ottawa and see The Wallflowers. We took the train down to the venue taking about an hour from the house to just across the road from the venue. The venue was nice open with lots of options for drinks and some food. The entrance/security setup was not ideal and I think they will need to make some changes for future events to have additional metal detectors to allow for a smoother entrance speed into the venue.

Once in we got ourselves a drink and moved into a good spot near the front of the stage and watched the opening act of Early James who performed a sort of blue grass southern rock. It was different for sure but they (two person band) sounded great with a nice beat.

Early James done about an hour long set before heading off, there was about a twenty minuet break before The Wallflowers took the stage. Their set was to preform the full album of Bringing down the Horse in its entirely in order.

We didn't see the whole show as we left after ~6 songs as I have a pinched nerve in my neck that was causing me too much pain. Though I don't feel we missed out on too much, Jakob Dylan (lead singer and son of Bob) seemed to be pushing hard to sound more like his father and straying away from how the songs were originally written, sung and he was seemingly more into himself and praise from the crowd then giving a great performance.

Friday night we had some friends in for a BBQ, drinks and a nice fire, sitting around and chatting.

Saturday we attended an engagement party for Amanda and Adrian. It was a gorgeous backyard party under a nice summer day/night. Served with some delicious food and drink options. Next up for them will be a nice southern wedding.

Sunday we got up early and hit the road in the direction of Niagara Falls with a couple of stops along the way. First up was a stop at Uncle Garry and Aunt Shirley's home in Stirling, ON. It was so nice to see them and catch up, Aunt Shirley even tried to pawn off Uncle Garry's parrot off to us. It was a hard pass from me but I know Paige would have took him in a heart beat. Aunt Shirley made us some tacos for lunch and had some rice pudding and date squares which was all delicious. We never got a picture and I am saddened that we didn't and I'll make sure we get one the next time we stop in.

Next up was to stop in to see some other family members and the girls got to see their big cousin Ryan. We stayed for the night and it was nice to catch up and see him and Perry.

Monday morning we got up, ready and hit the road to get to Niagara Falls, suffering our way through the 10km/hr Toronto 401 traffic in the morning. We arrived at our hotel in Niagara Falls around 12:30 and were able to check in right away. Once checked in we took to the streets of Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls to take in some of the many attractions to see and do. We purchased a Clifton Hill fun pass from COSTCO which allowed us to visit 6 of 8 attractions, costing about $135 for the four of us.

First up was the Niagara SkyWheel:

Next up was Toy Store 4d. I didn't get any photos of this but its a 3D "movie" where the chair moves and wind is blowing at you. It was quite enjoyable and fun. After that one we took in the Movieland Wax Museum.

Next was the Creepy Castle (no pictures) and then onto Wizards Golf. The golf was fun but they allowed too many people in and it was backed up, slow and very hot. We didn't take score but I'm sure I won.

Finally was Ghostblasters Dark Ride. This was much like the Toy Store 4D but you had laser guns that you needed to shoot the zombies, ghosts and things. It was a lot of fun and even came in 3rd place of 30 people and I was even on a class video call all while on the ride and shooting, Jodi came in 5th. But sadly no photos of this either.

Next up was a nice Italian dinner at Momma Mia's before heading to the Niagara Speedway for some go-kart action.

I was in first place for the whole race until Paige overtook me on the last lap before the end.

Following the racing we walked up to the falls to take in all the mightiness of the water over the falls.

Finally it was back to the hotel for the end of the night. There were fireworks too that we were able to take in from the comfort of our hotel room which was nice after all the walking we done this day. And that's a wrap for day 5.

Tuesday we got up and had a nice breakfast at the hotel before leaving Niagara Falls and making our first stop at Niagara on the Lake at the outlet mall so the girls could do some back to school shopping. After we proceeded into Toronto. We arrived around 3pm. Our friend allowed us to use their apartment in downtown Toronto while we were there for a couple of days. A beautiful place in downtown within walking distance of anything we wanted to do.

Tuesday evening we walked down to the Rogers Center hoping to score Blue Jays tickets, unfortunately we were unable to score any tickets at a decent price so it was an exercise day of getting our steps in. We headed back to the apartment after having a dinner at The Salad King, very good Thai food.

Day 7 would be our busiest of the trip, we got up, got ready and for lots of walking. We left the apartment and walked down to Front Street to take in the Museum of Illusions, we were a bit early for out 1:20 time slot so we walked over to The Lawrence Market. Once into the Illusion Museum there were some interesting exhibits to be seen though the price for what you got left something to be desired.

After we finished up with the Museum of Illusions we walked back to the Eaton Center where we had lunch at The Shake Shack then proceeded to walk around the Eaton Center so the girls could do some more back to school shopping. After which we headed back to the apartment to make some nachos for dinner. After dinner I managed to score some tickets to the Wednesday night Blue Jays game on SeakGeek in section 102B, row 2 to the left of the visiting team bull pen. So we laced up again and headed back to watch the game.

Blue Jays win 3-0

After this, it was a walk back to the apartment again and time for bed. 25,000 steps in this day, man we were pooped. As I sit here and write this, I'm glad we went this night as they lost on Tuesday and are currently losing 11-2 on Thursday night.

Thursday we got up, cleaned up and got ready to hit the road back to Ottawa but not before stopping in to see my sister, Sonia and Ken in Bowmanville, who happen to be here from Newfoundland. Great timing for us to get a quick visit in.

And that's the kind of vacation it was. A busy, activity packed week. Now back to work next week for Jodi and I and back to school for the girls (grade 7 and 10) next Tuesday.