We finished off our Toronto trip in style. We met David and Sandy, two very good friends at KI Japanese Restaurant (Bay & Wellington) for dinner and had an exceptional dinner along with the opportunity to get caught up, particularly in light of the fact that it was David that suggested Ajijic, Mexico as a possible option.

Thanks so much for a very nice dinner David – and the leftover sushi was appreciated as we pulled out of Toronto.

The check-in process went much better in Toronto that in Vancouver and we boarded the train without too much fanfare. At 22:30 and after a long day and a long drive from Tweed, we hit the bed early. We are finding ourselves now to be "seasoned" train travelers – we know where all the bags should go, the bed setup and the like – we dropped off to a very restful sleep – guess we just missed the movement to get us off to sleep. We slept so well in fact that we actually missed breakfast and had to settle for a couple of muffins and juice in the Park Car.

Our weather through Northern Ontario today was far superior to that during our trip east. The skies were blue and most of the snow appears to have melted during the recent eastern heat wave (Toronto 18 degrees Celsius on Tuesday).

We thought we'd call Marie from Hornepayne, just to check on her. Everything appears to be ok in Abbotsford and she’s apparently been laughing out loud with every blog that she reads.

We’ve met some very interesting people as well on this trip, but it’s starting to have an effect on Deborah. She’s getting sick of my repertoire of the same stories. It seems that I have a standard that needs to be reviewed for the next few table encounters or Deb may just get up and leave.

Ontario as you know is a huge province, it will take us about 30 hours of running time before we head into Manitoba. I’m now quite sure what the situation is as far as lumber supplies, but I can’t think that we can ever run out – there is tree after tree after tree here.

INTERESTING FACTS ON CANADIAN GEOGRAHPY

1. One little known fact is that ONTARIO lakes hold over 25% of the entire world’s fresh water supply.

2. Canada is the largest country in the world after Russia.

3. Canada has the longest coastline in the world.

4. Highest mountain in Canada is Mount Logan at 5959 meters.

We’re scheduled for a 30 to 40 minute stop in Sioux Lookout tonight, so I’m laying here (10:00 p.m.) waiting for us to arrive so that I walk the platform one last time, for it is very unlikely that I will ever make it back to the center of the Van Deventer summer vacation spot ever again in my lifetime.

After that we’re scheduled for a 06:00 a.m. arrival into Winnipeg tomorrow, so I think we’ll be able to get off – post the blog updates and have a quick look around the downtown core.

While we were a little early for Christmas, except for Hannah ripping open a few presents, Deborah and I celebrate those who matter the most to us – you all know who you are.

TO THOSE NEAREST

TO THOSE DEAREST

TO THE ONES THAT HAVE BEEN THERE

TO THE ONES WHO WILL BE THERE

TO DROPPING EVERYTHING

TO SAYING ANYTHING

TO NO JUDGEMENTS

TO NO DOUBTS

TO NO FILTERS

TO LOYALTY

TO FAVOURS

TO LIFELONGS

TO BEEN TO LONG

TO NOTHING’S CHANGED

TO HAVING HISTORY

TO GOING WAY BACK

TO GROWING UP

TO SETTLING DOWN

TO OUR SECOND FAMILY

And most of all

TO OUR FRIENDS

Thank you !

And to those who took us in or had time in their busy schedules to take us in while we were in HOGTOWN – THANKS