Canada Vacation Ending

 

While it was way too quick the kids and grand kid only had a few days to spend with us old guys in Canada. We had done a bunch of neat things with them over the week and as they were to leave from Toronto we thought we'd go back to the African Lion Safari about 20 miles to the west of Toronto, and then they could go to the airport from there.

 

We had taken Leighanne there when she was young and so it was fun to go back when she now has her own young one.

 

As we came into the park we hit their signature area of the animal safaris and spent a bunch of time gawking at the expanse of African creatures grazing as they would be in their homeland savannah. While we spent a bit of time doing this, which was of interest to the adults at a leisurely pace, grandson Ev quickly bored with the slow pace and was ready for more.

 

So we took another train ride which was really great through the forest and ponds on the park and fortunately went by the elephant venue and said, "hey let's go for a ride."

Once there we were loaded up on Maggie's back by the very patient handlers and helpers and took off on the ride.

This was a first for all the passengers and Maggie plodded along the path with the handler giving quiet comments to the beast, which she obeyed almost immediately ... really cool ... even pausing when he said, "picture time Maggie," and she stopped and posed.

The park was vastly improved over the last 30+ years, including an awesome water splashpark, animal shows, train rides, and much more. The water part of the park is worth the entry fee alone if you come prepared with suits and all the water stuff.

Earlier during the visit we also celebrated niece Danni's birthday with a Bar B Q at the Waterford where great g'pa Bill lives. They let us use a very private room which really looked like a private dining room/kitchen and they supplied the decoration and service and we supplied the meal.

And then a really neat dialog between Ev and great g'pa. We had brought out an album of Ev baby pictures and leading up to about a year ago and it was neat to watch.

There's about 90 years between these two as the younger explains to the elder who everyone in each photo is including himself as a baby. We hadn't seen him go through photos like this and maintain the concentration and story telling with someone older ... priceless!