We set off on Wednesday 29th at around 8:30am and took a steady drive to Boston. We stopped off a few times en route and had dinner before entering the Boston area. We reached our hotel at about 7pm and checked into our king room which was very nice.

The following day was our anniversary so we set off in the morning for Boston. As promised the hotel provided a shuttle bus to the local T station which is the subway into Boston. It took ten mins to reach the station, then we waited five minutes for the train and then another 15 mins into Boston. Very easy journey.

We had decided to try to get a ticket for the Duck Tours to get an overview of the city before trying to get around ourselves. The Duck tours are amphibious vehicles that drive you around the city then enter the water and become a boat. We had to get tickets from the Museum of Science and got there at 9:50 am and managed to get tickets for a Duck tour at 10:30.

We waited outside for the tour where several ducks were waiting. When the time came we had our photos taken and boarded the duck. There are about 30 different ducks and we were on one called Arbourway Alex a white flowery one. Every duck is captained by men and women who act our different personalities and themes. We had Jason the Argonaut who dressed in a short white toga.

Jason was a very funny and entertaining guy who narrated throughout the tour pointing out all the sights. Every so often someone on the street would quack at us and we quaked back. The tour took us all around the city from the commercial district, financial district, Copely Square, USS Constitution, Prudential Centre, Boston Common and then into the Charles River.

Once we got into the water Jason let some of the children on board drive the duck and took pictures of them driving. The tour lasted 80 minutes in total and was fun and entertaining.

When we got back to the museum we decided to go back to the Copley Square area as it looked nice from the duck, we also wanted to go up the Prudential Building to get a view from the top. As it was so hot we decided to get the T to Copley. Once we got there we wandered around, took photos and then strolled round to the Prudential Building.

The Prudential has a shopping area on the ground floor, but on the 50th floor there is the Skywalk where you can see magnificent views of the city and many miles surrounding it. Take a look at my photo album to see the views.

We spent the rest of the day wandering round Boston and trying not to get too fried by the sun. We had dinner at the Beantown Pub which was awful and definitely to be avoided.

On Friday we decided to minimize our walking as our feet still ached from the day before. We got in the car and drove down to Providence in Rhode Island. We did not know the city so took pot luck in where we parked which ended up being in a shopping mall. We had a coffee there and then took a stroll along the river which was lovely. After a hour or so just wandering we decide to go back to the mall for lunch and then we left and drove down to the coast. We intended to drive into Cape Cod, but at one intersection the traffic going onto the only road which goes into the Cape was absolutely at a stand still, so we decided to change our plans and turned round and went up the Atlantic coast towards Plymouth instead. We forgot it was July 4th weekend and everyone in the area seemed to be travelling to Cape Cod!

We drove without too much traffic to Plymouth, found somewhere to park and wandered down to the beach. Here they have a replica of the Mayflower called the Mayflower II which you can tour. We had done this in 2004, so didn’t do it again but we still got some pics of the ship.

Once again the weather was stunning but very hot, so we wandered along the coast then went into town to see the shops. After awhile we got hungary so went into a restaurant called the Lobster Pot. It was not what we had expected but instead more like a fast food restaurant for fish. However we ordered our food and it was very nice – haddock & chips for Chris and fried shrimp and chips for me.

Afte wandering the town some more and having some very nice ice cream from a local vendor we decided it was time to make our way back to the hotel. By this time our feet were really killing us from all the walking we had done over the two days.

On Saturday we decided to have a driving day to save our feet a little, so we headed north this time. We went into New Hampshire and drove round a large lake they have there called Lake Winnipesaukee. The views were lovely, lakes on side and mountains the other. We stopped off at a place called Wolfboro which is a quaint little town.We had lunch at the Wolfboro Diner and it was very nice. We then strolled round the town and had ice cream whilst looking out across the lake.

Once we finished in Wolfboro we decided to travel across to Maine and drove down the coast. We then entered New Hampshire again then Massachusetts and drove to Gloucester, then after stopping for dinner here we drove back to the hotel.

Unfortunately Saturday night was our last night and in Sunday we had to drive home. Overall we had a great few days in and around Boston. Now back to reality….

More photos can be viewed in my photo album.

Here is a pic of the bridge which goes from Belleville to Prince Edward County.

And some more of the waterfront area.

Last night I happened to be looking out of the window into the garden when I spotted the male grosbeak and his wife. Then I noticed another male and then another on the feeder. This is the first time we have spotted more than one male at the same time. So now we know we have at least three males and two females although I suspect we have three pairs. They all seemed to get on okay with each other, no bickering etc.

In this pic you will see two males in the tree and one on the feeder with one female also in the tree.

Here are the two males and one female.

And the third male on the feeder.

They all have slightly different red chest markings.

On Saturday we decided to go for day out to Algonquin Park. We hoped we would be able to see a moose or two but unfortunately we saw pretty much nothing. Oh, we did see a heron – which we can see anytime around where we live, but at least we saw something.

All the lakes were pretty much frozen over still and it was considerably colder “up north” than we had where we live. They still had quite a bit of snow on the ground.

Back home we are still getting the deer wandering through the garden. From past experience this will soon stop as once we get towards the end of April we see them less and less.

Lots of chipmunks about now along with the usual squirrels.

On Wednesday we stayed in for a rest, other than taking the hire car back to Avis. On Thursday we drove up to Ottawa. We set out nice and early and too highway 7 as it is far more scenic than going along the 401 etc. We stopped off in Perth for a Tim’s and got to Ottawa late morning. Although we couldn’t check into the hotel that early we left the car there and got the bus into the city. The hotel is outside the main city area so it cost us just $3 each to bus in.

Once in the city we walked to Parliament Hill which looked great. The sun was shining it was 25C and everything looked beautiful.

The views across the Ottawa River were great too.

Once we had done the sightseeing on Parliament Hill we went to the Byward Market area to look around the stores and the stalls. We also went into the main shopping centre.

After all this we were hungary so we took Judy & David to the Hard Rock Cafe as they had never been to one before. They really liked it and we had a great meal. After this we headed back to the hotel and checked in. We met up an hour later in the bar area for a couple of drinks and a chat then went to bed exhausted.

Next morning we decided we didn’t want to shop and decided to visit Gatineau Park on the Quebec side of Ottawa. We found it quite easily but also found than many areas were still covered in snow and some were inaccessible.

Some of the lakes were stunning however!

After a few hours at the park we drove back home.

Saturday we didn’t do much and Sunday we sat on the deck in the morning as the weather was so nice. In the afternoon I took my aunt to a couple of local open houses. We are still tentatively looking and she was really interested to see the different styles of house, so we have a good couple of hours house hunting.

In the evening we went to Montanans for dinner and then relaxed in the evening.

Today they return to the airport for the journey home and it is poring with rain and thundering, so could be an interesting drive!

BTW, both have decided they love Canada and want to live here – is this what happens to everyone when they visit this country?

As I mentioned we went to Presqu’ile Park on Wednesday. Here are some of the pictures I took.

As you can see the weather was great.

On Thursday we were going to Charleston Lake and 1000 Islands area, but at the last minute we decided to take them across the border to the USA as neither had been before. Judy was so excited she could hardly sit still in the evening.

We set off in the morning and drove to the border crossing at 1000 Islands and managed to get through customs etc pretty quick with visa waivers in hand. They were very excited to get a USA stamp in their passports. We drove down to Watertown which is only a few miles over the border and stopped at the mall as it was a convenient place to stop. We had a coffee in the book shop and then spent quite a while in the book shop as both Judy and David and indeed myself all love books. Contrary to what we are led to believe the books are still cheaper in America.

We wandered round the mall for a while and drove through the town then decided to drive back over the border to visit the 1000 Islands whilst we were there. The views over the river when you cross the border are truly spectacular. We drove down by the riverside and took some more pics.

As you can see the temps were even better than the previous days – they certainly brought the Spanish weather with them.

On the way home we stopped off in Kingston to eat at Kelsey’s as they fancied a burger. They ordered the peppercorn burgers and they loved them. We have been spoilt this week with David cooking as he is fantastic – me thinks I will have to up the ante when he goes home or Chris will be moving to Spain!

On Friday we were all flaked out so we spent the day at home relaxing on the deck. One again temps were in the high 20′sC and we just sat outside reading and chatting, it was lovely. J & D cannot believe the weather here, they expected it to be really cold and wet. They also expected us to live in an igloo, but that is another story!

On Saturday we took David into town so he could pick up their hire car to travel to Niagara in. He had ordered a Pontiac G6 which he thought was really cool, but ended up being upgraded to a Pontiac Grand Prix – he was like a dog with two tails. I drove home with him so he could get used to using cruise control and find the way home from the 401.

Here is the dog and if you look carefully you will see his tails wagging!

In the afternoon we drove down to Picton to show then around this lovely little town. Judy loved all the little shops so much I suggested we drive onto Bloomfield which is known for its quaint little shops full of all sorts of nic nacs. Although the men didn’t seem too impressed, we ladies loved it. After, we drove home and relaxed.

On Sunday they drove down to Niagara Falls in their new car and our sat nav which apparently came in very handy. They come back on Tuesday evening so we will catch up on their tales then.

We got to the park and after paying $8 for a day pass we drove round to one trail, but unfortunately it was closed and the other trail close by led to a canoe-launching place. We hung around and took some pics and then drove back along the track to another area of the park.

This area was where everyone was camping and was busier than the other area, although we still could not believe that on a beautiful weekend day there were only a few people wandering around.

We walked along a few trails and followed the lakeshore. The lake is quite large and is overlooked by high cliffs and is quite pretty. We still thought Algonquin was much better and will go back there soon.

After spending a few hours there we drove back and in the evening sat outside in the lovely evening warmth. I sat talking to some of our squirrels – well it would be rude to ignore them and managed to get a chipmunk to take several peanuts straight out of my fingers. I also had an incredibly tiny and tame chickadee sitting on my hand for ages whist it tucked into the nut feast I held.

The robin chicks are growing and starting to get feather pins through.

They will be a week old on Monday and apparently stay in the nest for a couple of weeks, so they must grow very quickly.

We had heard quiet a bit about the city, located north of Toronto on Lake Simcoe, so drove there via the scenic route of Highway 7 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway) rather than the quicker route along the 401 and 400.

When we got there we walked along the waterfront which was reasonably busy with people in boats, jet skis and others lazing on the beach. The weather was glorious about 25C and it made wandering around a pleasure.

We walked all along the coast of the lake and into the main town. There were fairs going on and the local radio stations were out entertaining everyone. Barrie has a strange monument on near the harbour, which reminded us of the Angel of the North in the UK.

After spending a few hours here and trying the local ice cream, we took a steady drive back and stopped off in Peterborough for a meal at Kelsey’s. All in all it was a great day out.

On Sunday morning I spoke by phone to my aunt and uncle in Spain. They were surprised that we were having such nice weather. I think they believe we live in perpetual snow!

On Sunday afternoon I started to get a really bad pain in my lower abdomen, but tried to ignore it, but had a restless nights sleep. On Monday it was no better, but I tried to work through it, but again had a very rough night, so on Tuesday morning after being badgered by hubby, decided I should go to the ER to find out if it was anything major. I have already had my appendix out, so knew it wasn’t that, but it was very painful.

We got to the ER at 8.20am and paid for the parking ($3 per hour) and almost immediately got seen by a triage nurse. She took my blood pressure, temperature and medical history and then told me to wait in the waiting room. There were a few people about, but not too many. We ended up waiting until 12.30 when I was called to go through to see the doctor. They would not let my husband through, so he had to wait again.

I was asked to put on a gown and wait. I ended up waiting only about five minutes for the doctor. She asked me some more questions about my medical history and various other things and then examined me. She said she thought I had an ovarian cyst and that she would get me on an IV drip and get x-rays etc done.

After she left I waited for about five more minutes and a nurse arrived to take some blood and set up my IV containing a litre of fluid, painkillers and anti-inflammatory. About ten minutes later I was wheeled to X-ray and a woman there took x-rays of my chest and abdomen and I was then wheeled back to emergency.

About ten minutes later then bought my hubby round to see me and we chatted for about twenty minutes before he was kicked out again. After about an hour my IV had stopped and the doctor came back to go through my results. She said she was 99% sure I had a cyst and that I did not have an infection as my white blood count was good.

She discharged me with some painkillers and said she would also refer me to a gynaecologist for follow up. I told her that I was actually still waiting for a referral from the walk-in clinic for a gynaecologist relating to contraception and she was staggered that I had waited so long. She said she would get their gynaecologist to contact me to speed things up. Then I was on my way at about 3pm.

Felt much better after I left as the pain had reduced considerably and last night had a good nights sleep. So, apart from the initial wait I received excellent service from the hospital.

The hospital phoned at 7.30 this morning asking me to attend for an ultrasound scan tomorrow morning, so looks like I’m back there then. Still in some minor pain, but bearable.

On a lighter note we saw the first hummingbird of the year today, so hopefully we will see many more in the coming months. Also, the killdeer chicks are really growing fast and will soon be flying as their wings are much longer now.

The robin has laid three eggs in her nest and is now spending a lot of time sitting on them whilst the male forages around for food in the garden. We can see the eggs through the deck slats and I took this pic, which you can just make them out.

We also seem to have a very crafty raccoon. Ronnie as we call him seems to have realised that if he comes early in the evening he can get all the left over bird food before the other raccoons arrive. He has started turning up in broad daylight anytime after about 7.30pm. He then eats everything from the ground in the back garden, goes up the tree and eats everything from the feeders and then wanders round the front to do the same there. He is obviously very savvy!

When we were first looking at places to settle in Ontario, Bancroft had been a contender, but for whatever reason we dismissed the area, cannot remember why now!

We took a scenic route to Bancroft and saw many places that looked really nice. The closer to the town we got the hillier the surroundings. When we reached Bancroft we found it to be a really nice place which reminded us of some small American towns we had visited. We were a little peckish when we got there so found a Timmy’s for a coffee and muffin – well you have to, don’t you!

We wandered around Bancroft for a short time then decided, as it was still early to venture further north. Looking at the map we realised that we were reasonably close to Algonquin Provincial Park, so decided to drive there and take the road which runs through the south of the park – Highway 60.

When we got to the East Gate I went into the ranger station to see if we needed to pay or anything. The guy told me that as long as we were only driving along the highway we didn’t need to. We were also ok to stop off and take photos etc. He gave me a info sheet and map and off we went.

The road runs for 54 km and as we travelled along almost immediately noticed several cars parked up for no apparent reason, so we stopped too. It turned out there was a moose at the side of the road. We saw our first ever Canadian moose. It was a female and she was a bit tatty as she was shedding her winter coat, but hey, we saw a moose.

We stopped off at quite a few vantage points to admire the scenery. Some of the lakes are stunning and we took lots of photos. We also managed to see a couple of deer, but as we get them in the garden most nights we were a bit blasé about them.

The guide sheet we were given gave details of the hikes you can go on in the park and also the best time to visit to see wildlife. It seems that the first couple of weeks of May are good, so we plan to return then, better equipped and do some of the hiking trails.

We left the park late afternoon and managed to spot a groundhog grazing at the side of the road on the way home. We stopped off at Timmy’s again for a coffee before travelling the rest of the way home.

We had dinner and settled in for a night of TV. Whilst watching TV we always have one eye on the window to see what is going on in the garden. As usual the raccoons paid a visit and then quite a bit later my hubby spotted something else in the garden. We thought at first it was a raccoon, but it was moving differently, so I got the scope out and could just make out a porcupine in the dark. I took some pics before it wandered off, but because it was dark they are not very good.

So, we managed to see a moose, a groundhog, deer and a porcupine, quite a day!

We started out in the morning after a hearty breakfast at Denny’s, then just followed our noses. There are some simply beautiful lakes around this area and we kept stopping off to take a look and take the odd picture.

It is really nice just to take a drive as you often don’t venture too far from home and miss out on many things, which are really close by.

We did this the other week when we went down onto Prince Edward County and visited the Sandbanks area. This is a stunning bit of coastline and we are thrilled to have a great beach so close. It will be a nice place to take my aunt and uncle when they come over next year from Spain – not sure if we can compete with Spain though?

Anyone know of any other really nice locations in the area?

Yesterday we booked flights for hubby’s daughter and her friend to come over in December. They are coming over on the 4th and staying till the 19th. They want to visit Niagara Falls, Toronto, New England etc. We are happy to take them to these places depending on what the weather is like at this time. If there is six foot of snow, then maybe not!

I am sitting looking out of the window and we have a sudden influx of American Robins in the garden. We had thought that they had all left for the winter as we hadn’t seen any for a while, but there are about 20 in the garden at the moment. We have also seen loads of Dark Eyed Juncos which a lovely little birds.

It is pouring with rain today – again, so probably won’t be going too far today. Hubby also wants to get the drywall for the basement but needs to wait until the weather is better to avoid it becoming wetwall.

We started off in Toronto and stayed there for four nights. We really loved Toronto. We have been to many other cities in both the UK and USA, but Toronto was by far the best. It was very friendly, everything you could want from a city was there, shopping – lots of it, attractions such as the CN Tower, lake views and even islands…what more could you want.

Whilst we were there it was pretty cold, but quite a lot of sun, so really nice. We stayed in a great hotel – Cambridge Suites which was within walking distance to pretty much everything, we didn’t use our vehicle the whole time we were there.

After Toronto we drove round to Niagara Falls, staying at the Embassy Suites Hotel. Wow, we had the most magnificent view of the falls from our room. Thankfully the hotel was right at the side of the Canadian falls and well out of the way of Clifton Hill which looked to us like a cheap and tacky version of Vegas. Shame to have this in such a naturally beautiful location. We spent two nights here and really loved it. It was very, very cold here – snow still on the ground, but it was beautiful.

After Niagara we then started our fact finding mission. We drove down to London Ontario and stayed at the Residence Inn in the city centre. We used this as our base to visit the surrounding area and towns. We had previously been in contact with a real estate agent who we met on our first day there. He had some properties to show us and agreed to pick us up from our hotel the following morning.

True to his word, he took us to about four properties which really gave us a good idea of the sort of properties that were available to us in our budget – a lot more than you can get for the same in the UK. Kevin, the realtor said he would pick us up the following morning to view some other properties. In total, he took us out for about five days house-hunting. We were not expecting this as he knew we could not buy at this time, but he went out of is way to help us and not only show us houses, the the area in general.

By the time we had to head home, we had been down to Post Stanley, up to Grand Bend and visited many towns in between and to the east & west. We decided that this was the area we wanted to settle in, although which area specifically remains to be seen.

Two weeks after we returned to the UK we received our Acknowledgment of Receipt (AOR) which is the first confirmation from Canadian immigration that they have received your application and that it at least contains the minimum required information. It stated that it could be at least 15 months before we heard from them again…..more waiting!