Tales & Trails of a Traveling Wiseguy

Canada travelog #32
Retrospective

"Wait, did you just go to Canada?" you might be wondering from the title of this trip. No, we didn't just go. This is the trip we got back from literally a month ago! Yeah, it's taken that long to get around to writing a trip retrospective. Why? Well, first of all, I was backlogged a week pushing out blogs from the trip. Then I got busy with other trips. Now I've caught up with all my September trips, so it's time to clear the August backlog! (Who knows how long it will take to clear the March/April backlog, though. 😰) So, here are Five Things:

1) First, on the whole, I'm glad we went. I fretted ahead of the trip about whether there'd be enough things to do to fill 9-10 days. Ultimately there were not enough things— though that was a case of unexpected conditions, not poor planning— and we cut the trip short, coming home a few days early.

2) Two days could've been enough time to visit family. Visiting long-lost relatives was the original reason for the trip. We spun it into a larger trip, adding in hiking a bunch of waterfalls, because we figured if we're going all the way to Toronto, we need to stretch the trip longer than 2 days to make the travel time worth it. (Not to mention, we really like hiking waterfalls. 🤣) Well, the trip would've worked at 2 days. I remember thinking Sunday afternoon, "If we had to head back to the airport now, I'd be satisfied with this trip." A key part of what made a weekend trip as distant as Toronto— similar in travel time to flying to the East Coast— palatable was flying first class nonstop on the red-eye out there. Getting even 4 hours of sleep on the overnight flight made it possible to have a mostly normal day Saturday. On trips where I've had to spend half of Saturday recovering from a sleepless night flying coach, leaving on Sunday seems too soon.

3) The ability to call an audible was important. We decided Tuesday, in the middle of our trip, to change plans and fly home two days early. Why? Because our plans to hike a bunch of waterfalls fell apart when we discovered that many were dry. I've remarked before maintaining flexibility in plans is important. In this case the flexibility allowed us to recover from unexpected adverse conditions. And we made satisfying use of the days we reclaimed. We spent all of Labor Day weekend at home, lounging by (and in) the pool.

4) I'm glad we kept hotel changes to a minimum. We stayed in once place for the family-visit part of the trip and another for the waterfalls-hiking part. Two hotels for 6 nights (originally 8 nights was the plan) seems kind of stay-put for me. So many times in the past I've quipped about staying at 7 hotels in 8 nights. This time I was glad we kept changes of venue to a minimum. Though I did fret at first when I saw how much driving, in traffic, we had to do to get to/from some of the waterfalls each day, I quickly realized it was easier to add a bit of freeway driving on each end of the day's journey than to have to deal with packing up our suitcases, checking out, locating the next hotel, checking in, and unpacking. It enjoyed the comfort of making a temporary "home away from home"— that wasn't just a spinner suitcase.

5) An easy pace was a good pace. Across the whole trip, both the family part and the hiking part, we under-scheduled our days. I fretted a bit about this a few times early in the trip, worrying that failure to plan aggressively enough would leave too much idle time and I'd regret missing opportunities. It turned out that only happened one day and it was because of crummy weather, not poor planning. The rest of the days we filled up to a comfortable level. The key was while we under-scheduled our days we also kept a list of things we could add in as time permitted. That flexibility let us find the right balance between taking it easy and taking advantage of things to do.

Canada travelog #29
Maple Leaf Lounge, YYZ Terminal 1 · Fri, 29 Aug 2025. 2:30pm.

Getting through the airport shuffle at YYZ today was... well, I won't say swift, because par for the course at YYZ it felt like we had to walk to Mississauga and back, but it was at least uneventful. There weren't really any lines....



Passport control had more agents than travelers. I've read that trips from Canada to the US are way down thanks to our bellicose president. I wonder if the lack of crowding here at the passport queue is due to Canadians choosing not to travel to the US, or just due to the time of day. I'm certain it'll be more crowded late Friday afternoon, but how crowded?

It was also quiet here at the lounge when we arrived just after 2pm. Access to partner lounges is one of the benefits I get from my United Airlines Gold status, and Air Canada is a Star Alliance partner. If there were a United Club lounge here I would not get in for free, because United does not consider Canada "international" for purposes of its international travel benefits. (United was waaaay out ahead of President Trump, years ahead, in verbally treating Canada as "the 51st state".)



Hawk and I are sitting down now, enjoying a meal in the lounge. They've got a little buffet going that today has bulgogi, pesto pasta, and sauteed broccoli. It's an odd combination, but it works. And it's free and it's tasty.

Speaking of combinations, my beer in the photo is a combination. The lounge has a few beers on tap, including Smithwick's Red and Guinness Stout. I poured myself a Blacksmith.

Update: By the time I left the lounge around 6pm I'd eaten another plate of food and knocked down a Manhattan and 3 Gin + Tonics. 🥃🍸😋

Canada travelog #27
Back at the hotel · Thu, 28 Aug 2025. 4pm.

Today we visited one waterfalls, Felker's Falls. Well, we tried to visit others, but they were dry. Even though it's been raining today. Yeah, this is like the worst combination of conditions for waterfall hikes: the waterfalls are dry while we get soaked. 👎

Felker's Falls is in a city park in Hamilton. It's such a low key area. It's behind a children's playground in a suburban neighborhood. We parked by the trashcans, walked past the jungle gym, and to the hiking trails at the back.

"Are we in the right place?" we wondered. Then we saw fences everywhere and knew we were. 🤣



We followed once fenced path a short distance around the falls where the view was poor then doubled back to hike another fenced path on the other side.

We briefly entertained the question Can we hike to the bottom? It would be too steep going down the side of the canyon from above. The maps and a description on AllTrails imply we could partly hike an established trail, partly rock-hop up the creek from the bottom; but the weather was darkening and these falls just weren't big enough to be worth it. We decided to content ourselves with this view.



It's good we decided to be content here, because on our (short) walk back to the car it started to rain. And I don't just mean a drizzle or misty rain. We were dressed for that. No, it started to pour. We got to the car, hung our rain jackets to dry over our seat backs, and drove on to the next location.

I don't even remember now what the name of the next falls we visited was. It was out past Devil's Punchbowl— or, as I've been calling it since visiting there on Monday, Devil's Dustbowl. It was dry. We decided to pack it in for the day, ate lunch down the hill in town, then drove back out to the hotel.

Now we're back at the hotel. We figure we'll chill here for the rest of the day. We've kind of run out of things to do since dry balls cut short our list of activities. We're petered out at this point.

At least there's one more falls we can visit tomorrow before we go home, when the weather should be better again. Hawk put that falls near the bottom of the list because it charges a hefty entrance fee and has a reservation system. But we're scraping bottom here, so it's what's left on the list.

Canada travelog #25
Niagara Falls, ON · Wed, 27 Aug 2025. 3pm.

For our visit to Niagara Falls today we planned three activities. One, we'd do a boat tour into the mist of the falls. Two, we'd do the "Journey Behind the Falls" tour. Three, aside from the first two which required tickets, we'd do general sightseeing. for free. Well, we arrived early and did some of #3 right off the bat. Then we boarded and earlier sailing for the boat tour and completed #1. That left us with just our later-in-the-afternoon tickets for #3. It was getting to around noon so we decided to grab some lunch first.

One of the things I remember from visiting Niagara Falls as a child years ago— really, decades ago— is the debate between, "Which side is better, the US or Canadian side?"

As a child, my parents warned me that the US side would be full of honky-tonk while the Canadian side would be beautiful parks. My actual experience as a child turned out to be the complete opposite. On the US side we saw nothing but parks right up near the falls. When we crossed the Friendship Bridge to the Canadian side, it was nothing but an endless carnival midway of rigged games and overpriced kitschy crap.

So far today I've figured out that my parents were half right— there are parks on the Canadian side. Beautiful parks all along the edge of the canyon. Except right at the foot of the bridge, which is a tourist shit show that stretches several blocks. Well, that's where we went for lunch today. 😂 That's how I know it's still there. We walked around enough to find a relatively not-tourist-trap restaurant and then walked back down the hill to where the parks are.

Then we walked toward the Horseshoe Falls to Table Rock. That's where the Journey Behind the Falls tour is. We swapped our later-in-the-day tickets for a tour departing earlier and waited in line. Here's a video of the highlights from the Journey Behind the Falls:



Overall this tour was interesting but not really worth it. When we were actually behind the falls, peering through two large "windows" in the underground tunnels, the water was pounding so hard we could barely anything. And the lines to get to the front were ridiculously long. The view from the outdoors platform near the bottom of the falls was nice, but given that we'd already done the Maid of the Mist boat tour it didn't really add anything.

Canada travelog #23
Niagara Falls, ON · Wed, 27 Aug 2025. 10:45am.

Today we're visiting Niagara Falls in Canada. Both Hawk and I have been to Niagara Falls before, but it was a) on the US side and b) when we were kids. She visited with her family when she was 18. I visited with mine when I was... 10, I think. It was a long time ago!

We've blocked the whole day to spend visiting the falls. We even got up early and had a quick breakfast in the room so we could get out faster. Was that necessary? Strictly speaking, no. We got here with plenty of time to spare. But it's beautiful here so, yes, it's time well spent.

After a bit of circling to find parking once we got to the falls we found a primo spot in the park less than a block from the edge of the cliff. Better yet, the spot was just $24 for all day. Converting that from CAD to "real" money 🤣 it's just under $17.50.



The best part about where we parked was it was just steps to the edge of the canyon and all the views. The photo above shows the American side of Niagara Falls. The boat in the water is the Maid of the Mist, a ferry that carries passengers past both the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls (next photo).



The Horseshoe Falls are right here next to us, too, on the Canadian side. Having been to Niagara from both sides (US and Canada) now I can say that the Canadian side is way better. It's not a cultural thing; it's that the views are way better! It just so much easier to see everything from here. And the fact that there's basically a city park that stretches 1 km along the top of the cliff makes it so easy to appreciate the natural beauty.

Here's a short video of what you can see from a single vantage point in Niagara Falls, Canada:



The ferry you see in the mist of the Horseshoe Falls is not the Maid of the Mist, it's the Niagara City Cruise. What's the difference? Maid of the Mist departs from a dock on the US side, Niagara City operates from the Canadian side. How can you tell which is which? The colors! The US ferry operator gives everyone blue ponchos, the Canada ferry kits them out in red.



I remember fondly riding Maid of the Mist when I was 10. For me it was the high point of our family trip to Niagara Falls. And now Hawk and I are going to do it again, together. We've got tickets for later today, but since we're here early we'll see if we can join and earlier boarding and have more time later in the day for more sightseeing.

Canada travelog #21
Back at the hotel · Tue, 26 Aug 2025. 10:30pm.

Today finished on a good note, hiking-wise. We hiked two two-fers, for a total of 4 waterfalls: Albion and Buttermilk Falls, then Sherman Falls and Tiffany Falls. All was not good, though, as at the start of the day we had a problem with dry balls. And it wasn't just Ball's Falls that were dry but several others we had on our list to visit, too. While driving around during the day we decided it'd make sense to cut our visit to Canada short as we'll run out of things we want to do well before Sunday.

Tonight, after dinner and a soak in the hot tub, while Hawk was snoozing (she hasn't slept well recently) I rebooked our flights and shortened our hotel stay and car rental. The plan now is we'll go home Friday night instead of Sunday night.

What's the Cost?

Hawk agreed to leaving early provided the cost of rebooking plans wasn't significant. Cost was a major factor for me, too. If going home early is just a cost sink, we could figure out something to do in Ontario. The numbers work out such that, at worst, it's a wash, dollar-wise— but we still get two days of time back. And, best case, we save a few hundred bucks. Here's the math on the costs:

• Departing hotel 2 days earlier: $327 savings


• Returning rental car 2 days earlier: $104 savings


• Figuring the cost of rebooking flights is a bit tougher as I bought one on cash and one on points. Mine, paid with cash, cost $260 more than my original flight. Hawk's flight I got for 15,000 points, with a travel credit of $271 net she can use within the next 11 months.


• If Hawk can manage to use that credit before it expires, it's a great exchange for the 15,000 points we paid. $271 ÷ 15,000 = 1.8 cents per point (cpp), much better than the average value of 1.1cpp I value UA miles at.

Curiously, the numbers work out to a wash if Hawk's travel credit expires unused 11 months from now. If she can use it, then $271 is what we'll have saved by going home 2 days early.

Canada travelog #19
Hamilton, ON · Tue, 26 Aug 2025. 4:15pm.

This afternoon we hiked Sherman Falls in Hamilton. It's the first half of our second two-fer today. After the bust with dry balls we found plenty of wetness over at Albion Falls and Buttermilk Falls. Now we're doing another two-fer with Sherman and Tiffany Falls. Except it's not quite a two-fer because although we could park once and hike both falls— the distance between the two is reasonable— why hike when we can drive? Especially when the trail between the two mostly just follows the road. And it's starting to rain.

The first bit of fun with hiking Sherman Falls was parking at Sherman Falls. If there's one thing the Hamilton region loves even more than putting fences around waterfalls, more than growing thorny vines over fences over fences around waterfalls, it's putting No Parking signs all up and down the streets near waterfalls. The damn things were growing wild like poison ivy in the summer. We parked in a designated lot almost 1/2 mile away. And we had to pay. Thankfully not $22.50 like yesterday, but also not cheap.



Although the sun is shining in this photo (above; you can see shade under the brim of my hat) it sure was dark as we hiked through the thick forest in the canyon up to Sherman Falls. Yes, this is finally a waterfall with a trail up the bottom of the canyon! Though honestly I think the reason the city hasn't fenced it off and forced us to view it only from safety above is that the land above is all privately owned. So it's already fenced— and the Parks & Rec people aren't allowed. 🤣



There was one other small family at the falls when we arrived. We hung back a bit as they were crowding the scene vamping with duck-lipped poses for Insta or whatever. Once they were gone we had the falls to ourselves for about 15 minutes, before the next small group arrived. Doing these waterfalls hikes midweek definitely changes the crowding equation vs. our normal of hiking on Saturday and Sunday because we're working stiffs.



Curiously there are two trails to Sherman Falls, one from the left and one from the right, and they do not join near the falls. If there was a footbridge over the stream in the past there's no sign of it now. Instead I found a place where the water was shallow a bit down from the falls and rock-hopped across. Hawk didn't want to chance getting wet feet and socks (we're wearing hiking sandals today; boots might have been a better choice) so we walked out opposite trails and met back at the road.

Up next: Hiking Tiffany Falls

Canada travelog #18
Hamilton, ON · Tue, 26 Aug 2025. 2:45pm.

The bad news today was dry balls. As in, we drove a long way to Balls Falls, and they were dry. Even worse, we found out a number of other falls we planned to hike this week are dry, too, and thus not worth visiting. At least we found that out before hiking all the way out to the falls. It's frustrating to hike all the way out somewhere just to get dry balls. And there are other falls on our list we can hike that aren't dry. Two we visited this afternoon back in Hamilton are Albion Falls and Buttermilk Falls.

Ironically for having bailed on Balls Falls because it was dry for the season, by the time we got back up to Hamilton for Albion Falls it was raining. At least it was a light rain and was already tapering off by the time we parked at the trailhead.



Albion Falls is part of a city park in Hamilton. There's no fee to enter, and even the parking is free. Bonus! Plus, you can see the falls from a pair of overlooks that are just steps from the parking.

(BTW I mentioned it had just rained when we startd hiking. This picture, showing some sunshine, is from when we got back to the car after finishing the hike. Yes, yet again it rained while we were hiking and became sunny once we were done! 😡)



From the parking lot we walked first around to the opposite side of the gorge. On the way we saw that there used to be a trail going down into it. "Can we hike up a trail from the bottom to see the falls?" has been a recurring question of ours this week. Falls are often much better appreciated looking up from the foot rather than looking down from above. But the Hamilton area authorities have been aggressive about closing off gorge trails. The gorge trail at Webster Falls was closed pretty hard. Here it's obvious there used to be an official trail. In fact you can even see the stairs on the other side of the fence. But the gate is now locked... and a vine covered with thorns has been grown over it. Hamilton's so serious about keeping people away from nature they've got a druid on the payroll!



We walked around to the other side of the gorge. There's a vista called "Lovers' Leap". Though really it should be called "Lovers Prevented From Leaping By A 5' High Spiked Fence". At least the Lawful Neutral druids didn't grow thorn bushes over it.

After No-Leaping-Past-The-Fence we doubled back past the parking lot and continued the trail in the other direction. There's actually one very long trail, the Bruce Trail, that connects numerous waterfalls along the Niagara Escarpment. We hiked it only as far as the next falls over, Buttermilk Falls.



The water is falling gently at this time of year, making Buttermilk Falls more of a Bridalveil Falls type of view. How do they come up with these names? I mean, bridalveil I totally get. But buttermilk? What about a waterfall makes people think, "Mmm, curdled milk?"



As we headed back to our car I spotted a short side-trail that led to another view of Buttermilk Falls. It doesn't lead to a trail to the bottom of the falls. With the steep canyon here any trail down would be one of those "Watch the last step" deals. 😅 But it does give a perspective that's not quite as on top of the falls as the main viewing area.

After this we walked back to the car. It was awesome to see these two falls on one short hike, and right in the middle of town, too. But we're not done for the day. No; there's more to come!

Keep reading: Next we hike Sherman Falls, then Tiffany Falls.

Canada travelog #16
At the hotel · Tue, 26 Aug 2025. 8am.

We've been driving around in Ontario, Canada, for 3 days now. I figure it's time to write about our ride. On this trip we rented a car and were assigned a Kia Seltos.

If you're like me, you've probably never heard of this car. I mean, we all know about Kia (or KN, as their new logo of a few years ago appears to read). But a Seltos? I think I heard that name once before, at another car rental depot, where the attendant offered to assign me a Kia Seltos or something else. I was like, "A Kia whatnow?" and picked the something-else, whatever it was. 🤣

The Seltos is a subcompact crossover SUV. Ours for this trip came in a dull teal/turquoise color.



I was concerned that this car might be too small when I reserved the subcompact SUV category. The Seltos impresses, though, by making very effective use of its small footprint. I would not call this a five passenger car, even though that's the what the specs and the number of seatbelts show, but it'll get the job done for 4 adults for a short trip. Cargo room in the back is plenty for 2 adults making a week-long trip. I could see doing a long trip with 3 but I wouldn't want to put 4 people and all their stuff in here for a week.

In US/Canada spec the Seltos has a 4-cylinder, 2.0L engine rated for 146 hp and 132 lb-ft of torque. Those are weak specs on paper for 2025. In the real world the car performs better than its engine specs might lead one to expect. With its continuously variable transmission (CVT) the car's acceleration is snappy and responsive around town. It also doesn't get out of breath on the highway. The suspension is tuned well. It's tight going around corners but not harsh over potholes or on bumpy roads.

The car, even in relatively basic trim for rental duty, has a satisfying number of creature comforts. For example, it has Apple CarPlay that works. Consistently. And it has heated seats— a huge win for Hawk. The controls are all easy to find and use. Yes, there's a touch-sensitive screen in the middle of the dashboard, but thankfully the secondary controls are not routed through it. There are sturdy, old-fashioned knobs and buttons for things like HVAC mode, temperature, fan speed, wipers, etc. The old ways remain the best.

We've driven a few hundred km with this car and so far I'm very satisfied. It's one of the better rental cars I've had the past several years even though it's also one of the smallest. As I noted above, it's big on the inside... and it being small on the outside was very handy when we were driving around Toronto and having to parallel park on the streets. It also has AWD. We haven't had need for that yet, but some of our hikes the next several days might take us on dirt roads to get to remote trailheads.

Canada travelog #14
Hamilton, ON · Mon, 25 Aug 2025. 4:30pm.

We're getting toward the end of the day, here. And it has been a busy one, including hits and misses. We decided to cap it off something mellow, a walk along the shores of Lake Ontario. We found on the map that Confederation Park in Hamilton looks like a good place for such a visit.

Confederation Park has huge parking lot and bath houses and a lot of other facilities... which, this afternoon, are all practically empty. Some of them even look closed for the season. It's still August! Of course here in Canada it's already kind of Autumn. The high temperature in this week's forecast range from the high 60s to low 70s (20-22° C). Not exactly beach weather.



Fortunately I didn't come here wanting a beach today, just a mellow stroll along the lake. Confederation Park delivers. I was surprised to see off in the distance across the lake I could see the downtown Toronto skyline. (And I could tell it was Toronto and not Mississauga because of the CN Tower.)