Trip to CANADA!

First of all, that trip was AWESOME!! Although my primary reason was my cousin's birthday I took all the chances I had to freaking enjoy my trip.

So instead of flying up to Canada, I only did up to Buffalo, NY. It was too expensive and plus it is only 2 hours to drive and might as well enjoy the joyride. I had my first plane landed at Detroit, and I realize that they are one hour advance than where I lived. Shoot. I looked at the local time and it is 1:10, my flight was at 1:50. Great, I saw where my next flight and it was all the way to the other side of the airport. I ran and ran, I felt really hot since I did not consider taking off my jacket and my scarf. Well it was honestly a big airport, although Chicago is bigger. Anyway I made it like 5 minutes before boarding time, phew...

On my second plane I got a window seat (woohoo!). All the fun started when my plane landed. I can see flurries coming down already. I looked at the sky and according to my instinct of midwest weather, there is a high chance this is gonna be bad. By the time I got to meet my cousin, we were waiting for my luggage. Guess what? My luggage was 2 hours late! That was the worst start. So we talk to the airline representative and she said the earliest it can arrive would be the tomorrow maybe around lunch time. Great, no clothes for the night and probably the whole day. So my adventure got more interesting... Snow storm.

As you can see, it is considered zero visibility and it just got worst. My cousin's GPS took as all the way to the back roads and it was really bad. We were so glad my cousin just changed his tires to winter, if not I am probably holding my chair really bad. 

When we finally re-routed and got to the highways it was getting better until we reached the place where there were no traces of snow falling down.

Throughout the trip I dozed off a lot, especially after we got through the border. It was a long drive, I thought, then we hit Toronto traffic. Wow, I've never been to that kind of traffic. I wish I took photo of it :/.
I crashed after I got to my aunt's house. I was so tired and still feel the pressure on my ear. My other cousin pick me up early in the morning to start my adventure throughout Toronto. The city looks like any other city but for me, it is more diverse. It was a cold day, my cousin keeps on telling me temperature using Celsius and I have to convert it Fahrenheit to have an idea how cold it is exactly. 

Part of Toronto that looks like Time Square.

CN Tower

Toronto is a big city and considering it was too cold to walk outside, my cousin bought day passes. It was the best idea. I did went outside to see the CN tower, which is btw very pretty with the lights on during night time. We didn't really went inside though.

We met with another cousin for lunch and they let me choose whatever I want. So on the picture was all our food. We made it a family style :) I was so full until like 11PM.

We were supposed to go to the Museum but my cousin decided to go to the Aquarium first. Either or was fine with me. Anyway, this aquarium is huge and pretty. I wish I have a better camera than my phone. The aquariums they have are big and could really see different kinds of fishes. I also love how I can be lazy and just chill while walking under the tunnels. Oh and I touched a "kabuto" like crab, I forgot what it's called but it was sick!. I thought it would be slimy like a others but no, until I discovered it is a crab species lol.

We went straight to the museum afterwards and I've learned some interesting things about Canada, like why they use a maple leaf for their flags.
The museum does not only contain history things but also some interesting field, like minerals. I've never seen one of this before and it was really cool. I saw the names I only saw on the periodic table. They also have a place for precious minerals turned to very expensive, like diamonds. Ooh, I saw a lighter and a compact mirror made with gold. I honestly thought to myself who would want to use that. I mean, really, you are only asking to be rob by someone when you use that out in public. We got home and cousin said he received quite few phone calls and text messages from people. I told him how popular he was, but he said "actually you are," which basically means, my relatives were looking for or asking. We went to my uncle's house afterwards and ate super late dinner. I also met my other cousins who I haven't seen in years, and other cousins who went to the states last summer. It was quite a crowd. It was actually funny how we only have few boys here in the US but up in Canada, we're only few in numbers...
The next day was bummer. We planned to go to the mall but it was ruined by the freaking winter storm. My aunt just decided to went to this other mall and got few things. She bought me a new boots, cause my feet was killing me because of my boots, and a pretty chiffon dress. We got home like an hour before we are scheduled to leave for the party. The snow was still falling like crazy and we expected probably only few people are coming. We left like 2 hours before the party to give us enough time, but we were still 30 minutes late because we got lost. My aunt was worried because she was suppose to lead the prayer. Yet, as expected there were only few people and the snow was crazy. I live in the Midwest and we don't usually get this kind of snow. Also, I asked my cousin if it's cold/ snowing and he said no. So, I wasn't prepared, my boots were also not the best idea to bring for the trip. The party lasted until 1AM and by the time we went home, we were worn out. 
After 6 hours of sleep, my cousins picked me up with my younger girl cousin to start another day of adventure. We drove all the way to Niagra falls for an hour. On our way, I saw how many cars flipped. Gosh, I wonder why the roads weren't cleared. Also, apparently this is not unusual, my cousins' were like "there goes another one" or "that's the 5th one" They were pretty calm about it. Inside I was like, I wonder how the driver was doing. 

We finally reached our destination and I got to use my phone as my phone have signal on certain place. It was freezing outside! We walk out the van and gosh, the air just whooshed on you and I already want to go back inside. But we still walk and took a quick look of the other side of the falls. It was so pretty... 

We drove a little bit more where we finally reach the parking garage (thank goodness). We ate a little bit of breakfast and took our boiling hot coffee out in the cold and continued to walk to see the falls itself.

The walk was pretty much the same, it got colder and my coffee turned cold really quickly. Oh, I almost slipped twice lol. The four of us just talk, once in a while I was the last one, of course. 

We got near the water and I can hear the rushing sounds of water. The first thing I saw were the icicles, then I saw the trees covered in ice. Wow. The falls was breathtakingly amazing... It was a new experience for my 3 Canadian cousins as they have not really gone to the falls during cold season. 

I honestly don't want to go inside and you, just stay there and admire the falls but it was impossible. I couldn't feel my legs lol. We went inside, and we roam around the candy factory then went upstairs. There were some history things regarding the falls. Then, souvenir store! I already 2 items downstairs but this owl toys were also cute.

We went back to our city and had a quick lunch over at my other relative's house. We spent at least a good hour and took tons of picture with every body. I got to see my grandpa's sister whom I literally haven't seen for a long time. After that, we went to this amazing mall they call Pacific Mall. This is one of the places I want to go back to went I go visit them again. I bought  few Korean skin care and some few more souvenirs for my younger sisters. We had some Bubble Tea and an ice cream wrap with pancake (get the idea lol?) We were so full by the time we went outside and to our next destination.

Skating was our last activity for the night. I was starting to feel the anxious because this is the last time I would hangout with these peeps. I never skated in my life so I know for sure I am going to fall, which I did. It was really hard. My cousins tried to teach me and all, I was getting it but it was so cold that I have to give up :(. I didn't have the chance to take pictures but that's ok.

We ate some Vietnamese noodles on the way home but I was too full. I ate the amount I put on my bowl but man, I had too much food that day. I had to stop and stand up so I wouldn't throw up... (I know that was disgusting for some)

It was 11PM when they dropped us off and I said goodbye and hugged my cousins. I wished we live super close, like we are living in Buffalo, NY or just around there so I can just drive there and see them whenever I want to...

I packed my things like on the picture. I literally was so tired that I just care about closing my suitcase.

We left the house around 6:30AM. My cousin brought a friend with him as my other cousin can't come. He decided that he would go shopping after they dropped me off. I arrived fairly early at the airport. I get to have a window seats for all my flights back home. The only horrible thing I had to experience was the 4 hours delay for my last flight. Boy, I am a not impatient but that was really not a best time. I was already waiting for a 2 hours layover and that 4 hours delay added to that. I was so hungry and so tired that I just want to crash on my bed and sleep. I finally got home like around 11:45PM and rushed to the kitchen to find something to it. My ears were also bothering me because of the pressure from the plane.

This trip was so much fun. I hope I can go during the summer time to hike with my cousins and enjoy an amazing weather :)