On the Amtrak bus as I write this, making our way from Vancouver to Seattle on Highway 99 (you get a free ice-cream with a flake at each junction). I've got my 'travel bands' on, so hopefully no travel-related nausea! We had a great time in Vancouver, it's a beautiful city with loads to do, everyone was really friendly, and we're sad to be moving on. It's quite high on our list of 'places in which we could live, if we didn't love Liverpool so much!'. Toronto has...

We didn't sleep well, the first night on the train. Even though the beds were comfy, it takes a little time to get used to the constant movement, and I couldn't work out how to switch the lights off properly, which didn't help! We woke up early, and our cabin attendant, Robert ( or Fat Bob, as he was quite portly ) put our beds away while we ate breakfast in the dining car. It can't be an easy job for a corpulent man, the cabins are snug for normal sized people,...

Our last day in Toronto, and much stuff-to-do, but also lots of time to kill, as we were checking out of the hotel at 2pm, but weren't due to board the train until 8pm. Our hotel had been great, and the receptionist who worked the morning shift had taken a shine to us, and brought us some gorgeous pastries from her favourite patisserie, and gave us a hug when we left ( it seemed churlish to point out I was British, and therefore 'hug-averse'! ), we'd had a really...

Back to Toronto today, but first we stopped off at the scene of Lamby's 'accident', and managed to find enough chunks to glue him back together. He's back, Lamby fans! Battered, bruised, and bits missing, but he's BACK! Terrible weather this morning, and having been lucky enough to see the falls while the weather was good yesterday, there was no point in hanging around as the town of Niagara is monumentally grim, a lesson in how to spoil a beautiful place by let...

I hope you're sat down, for I have some sad news to report. Lamby has sustained serious injuries in an unfortunate accident at Niagara Falls. No, he didn't fall into the icy river waters, tumble down the gorge, or even plunge from the sightseeing helicopter. His demise occurred, ironically, at Niagara Falls Souvenir World, where I was taking his picture, and he *ahem* forgot to get back in the car, he subsequently fell off the car bumper, and sustained terrible d...