Two weeks ago, I headed out early on a Friday morning for the long drive northeast to the Canadian city of Toronto.  I arrived in the early evening, with my allergies inflamed after an afternoon of driving through the wilds of Michigan.  After a quick trip to find a pharmacy, we settled in at the sports bar just around the corner from our condo for dinner before calling it an early night to recover from a day of travelling.

Saturday morning was spent walking around the lakefront, enjoying the views and trying to get a little lay of the land.  The afternoon was spent at Rogers Centre, where the Blue Jays easily handled the Orioles to keep their hold on first place in the AL East.  Eventually we ended up at the fancy Italian restaurant across the street for dinner and drinks.

Sunday was another day of exploring.  After a late breakfast, we ended up on a bus tour, which, due to street closures, was not following its normal path.  It managed to drop us off a few blocks away from the Royal Ontario Museum, where we headed to enjoy some culture, including a special exhibit on Pompeii.  Thankfully, the tour was back on its normal path afterwards, so we grabbed a ride back to the condo before heading out to the Molson Canadian Ampitheatre for the Oddball Comedy Fest, which I went into much detail here.  After the show, we eventually managed to catch a cab back to the condo.

Monday was time to bid a temporary farewell to Toronto, as we headed south to Niagara Falls, where we spent the afternoon.  After walking the entire length of the falls, we took one of the boat rides that takes you around the falls.  Sadly, my camera was not up to the challenge and succumbed to the misty environments halfway through the ride.  After a quick lunch, we headed back to the car and headed back to the good old US of A, towards Cooperstown, NY.  The only thing standing in our way was the fine folks manning the border, who seemed to have numerous questions of my travelling companion and her reasons for having previously visited the Middle East.  After a slight delay, we were back on the road, arriving in Cooperstown slightly after 9 PM.

The Baseball Hall of Fame beckoned on Tuesday morning.  After heading to the center of town and parking at fabled Doubleday Field, we headed in to the museum.  There aren’t enough words to describe all that was seen at the Hall of Fame.  All of the baseball history you could shake a stick at, except for the portion covering the 70s through the current day, which closed down for renovations that very day.  Finally, we entered the Hall of Fame Gallery, housing the plaques honoring each player voted in to the Hall.  My first destination, after the centrally located first class, was last year’s electees, where I found both Frank Thomas and Greg Maddux.

After leaving the Hall, we found out a sad fact of life in Cooperstown after Labor Day: absolutely nothing is open.  Restaurants, amusements, basically anything that we wanted to do was closed.  We ended up back in the hotel for the entire afternoon before attempting to head out to dinner, where again our first few choices were shut down.

Wednesday morning we checked out of the hotel and headed back to Toronto.  After the long drive, spent catching up on episodes of the Nerdist Podcast featuring Joss Whedon and Wil Wheaton, we rested for a bit before heading to the CN Tower for dinner, enjoying a 360 degree view of downtown Toronto from 1151 feet in the air.  We also found out that our Friday plans, enjoying the comedy stylings of Cameron Esposito, were cancelled.

Thursday had some slight wandering around town before heading to Downsview Park to see AC/DC, which I covered in detail here.

Friday started with a trip to Eaton Centre, the local giant mall, for breakfast/lunch.  While Hayley shopped for 2 hours, I headed out to kill time at the Hockey Hall of Fame.  Now I obviously had little to no attachment to the history of hockey, but it seemed like a way to kill a few hours while also spending my remaining Canadian cash.  After meeting back up with Hayley, who had somehow managed to purchase a ukulele, we headed back to the condo before going down to the Steam Whistle brewery for a tour, which included numerous free drinks.  Finally, we headed back to the lakefront for dinner, although we had to ditch the outdoor patio once the rain started, the first bad weather of the whole trip.  After dinner, it was time to head back to the condo one final time to start packing and preparing to leave for home.

Saturday morning, I piled back in to the car and, after dropping Hayley off at the airport, I headed back home.  Without her tainted passport, I had no issues re-entering the US and quickly traversed the Michigan countryside before hitting Indiana and, eventually, I was home.