Lisa and Valerie's Excellent Adventure

My friend Valerie, of broken arm fame, was here for the week. She wanted to experience some winter and I always enjoy company so it worked out well for both of us. Now the last time she came to visit it was 3 weeks after we moved here and the visit was not ideal, one of us ended up in the emergency room. Our vow this time was to avoid any hospitals! We succeeded!

Victory!

Since Valerie really did not get to see much except an hour at the ski hill and the road between our house and the hospital last time I felt obliged to show her ALL the sights. We started on Monday, it was bright and sunny so we drove straight to downtown Toronto for lunch. I wanted her to see the city on a nice day and in winter they are few and far between so carpe diem! We had a lovely lunch at Dinni in Yorkville and walked around a bit before heading back to Mississauga. We ate at home that night and relaxed.

I was working Tues., Wed. and Thurs. at noon each day so our mornings were spent at the house being quiet, working on our computers and just getting ready for the day. On Tuesday after my meeting we had a late lunch and went to see the Shopaholic movie. Mixed reviews. Two thumbs down from Valerie, she could not wait for it to be over and I was mildly entertained but will admit it was poorly developed and shallow, still liked the clothes! That night we stayed home again. We are so fun!

Wednesday was a gross day as far as weather. It was gray and rainy. We visited with Linda for a bit and then went back downtown for an early dinner and then to the theater to see the Sound of Music. Great dinner and great play. The set design was absolutely first class, the star of the show!

Thursday was Niagara Falls day. Always a fun thing to do. When we left here it was sunny with clouds, the closer we got to Niagara the worse the weather got. It was a white out at some points, foggy, windy and freezing. Perfect weather to sight see....outside! When we drove up to the falls all we could see was fog.....I know the falls are there somewhere, they are right over there Valerie, really they are, you just can't see them. We drove all this way for this?! Then Moses parted the fog and we could see. It was amazing how it cleared up and the sun broke through and there they were, Niagara Falls in all their splendor. It was still cold and windy but at least we saw the falls. Niagara-on-the-lake was dead so we went to one winery and headed back home. We had a great dinner with my friend, Janet, and talked the evening away.

On Friday, (how did it get to be Friday so fast anyway?) we headed to Caledon Ski Club. We were determined to undo the bad luck from last year. We had nice weather, a beautiful drive and yes, a great day skiing. I have posted a video and a few pictures for you to enjoy. The good thing about Caledon is that you spend minimal time on the lifts and no time waiting for the lift, most of your time is spent skiing! We skied every run at least twice and many more than twice. It was a good day. We ended the day eating Greek food with TJ who was back home from his business travels.

Valerie brought me a real treat from Texas....6 cans of Rotel tomatoes. A key ingredient to any good southern dish and nowhere to be found in Canada. Ahhhh! We also spent many hours working on a treat for our book club. I hope they like it, we had fun making it. Can't reveal what "it" is until Tuesday. Don't want to ruin the surprise.