The 7 hour bus ride from Montreal back to Toronto wasn't as bad as we thought it would be, and I think we both managed a little sleep on the bus. We stayed at the Canadian Backpacker's Inn for one night in Toronto, and got a newly done room which was much nicer than the first one we stayed in. I still think the Canadiana is the best (and cleanest) hostel I've ever stayed in. We went back to Sushi Time restaurant where we went when we were staying in Toronto. For about 20 dollars we got buckloads of great Japanese food, so we were desperate to go back.

The next morning we picked up our rental car, a Chevy Cobalt. It was a tiny car that somehow still got worse than 30 mpg during our trip despite its size. The traffic was horrible in Toronto, and it took forever to get out of the city, even on the highways. We drove up north to the Georgian Bay on Lake Huron, where we discovered that all the provincial parks in the region were fully booked for camping for the weekend (it was a Friday when we arrived). Luckily we called around and found a private campground called Wasaga Dunes near Wasaga Beach (the longest freshwater beach in the world apparently) which had some spaces left.

We went to the beach that afternoon but just to eat some food rather than swim or anything. That night we thought we had the perfect campsite with sand to sleep on, etc. However we didn't count on noisy neighbors arriving at 9pm and never shutting up until 2am. They did get quieter after I went and asked them to, but it was still annoying. There was a fire ban because the region had not had any rain in a month, but several people just seemed to ignore it. Luckily they had someone from the camp patrolling. We were also awakened by a scratching sound that I thought was a raccoon trying to get into car. It turned out to be a mouse that was trapped inside the hood of the car. I guess he was there from the rental place's parking lot. He escaped from the car on Saturday, running right past me which gave me a fright. Victoria was worried it was a bear, despite my assurances that it was highly unlikely a bear would a) make that little noise, and b) be in such a developed area.

On Saturday we went to the beach in the morning. It was very crowded, but still nice. We made sure to wear lots of sunblock as it was quite hot that day. I went into the water to go swimming, but found it was actually very shallow. It was only up to my shoulders about 500 meters into the water. It must have gotten deeper though as there were boats past that point. We had a nap that afternoon to catch up on some sleep. Then that evening we went to a drive-in movie theatre, which was a lot of fun. They showed two movies, License to Wed and The Bourne Ultimatum, which meant it didn't finish until 12:30am. They were both pretty good, though the latter was better.

Saturday's sleep was disturbed by a large growling sound outside of the tent. It seems our noisy neighbors left out lots of food on the table and raccoons were fighting over it or something. It was a bit scary, and Victoria slept in the car for a bit after that.

Sunday was spent driving down to Lake Erie in the south of the province. We were going to stay at a campsite but it rained all day, so we found a cute motel about 45 minutes from Niagara Falls instead. It took awhile to find one though as a lot of the region on the lake is not that developed until you get close to the falls.

Monday we walked alot around Niagara Falls. It was a nice sunny day and the crowds were out in force. We didn't do any of the falls touristy things like the boat ride to the falls, or the journey behind the falls, partly because of the 3-4 hour wait they required. We did decide to cross the Rainbow Bridge on foot and go to the USA. We had to pay 50 cents to cross the bridge, but it ended up being free as the change machine gave me extra money. I put in $2 and got back $2.50. We still needed another 50 cents for the machine so I put in a dollar and got back a buck fifty. It was very strange, and didn't work when we tried it with another dollar. So we went over there, saw the falls on that side and had a huge brownie sundae at Hard Rock Cafe. In the end we were in the US for about 2 hours or so.

We found a nice campsite called Jordan Valley Campsite which was amazingly pretty and the facilities were really good. There were not many people there so we choose a campsite close to the amenities. Unfortunately one group nearby was really loud so we decided to move to the far end of the campsite where we would be alone, though far from the toilets, etc. It ended up being the best night's sleep we had when camping.

Tuesday was our last day so we drove back (through more traffic) and returned the car. There was one problem with the car besides the mouse. The front left tire had a screw in it, but it didn't lose any air so the emergency assistance people told us to just keep driving it. I don't know if we ran over the screw or if it was already there, as it looked worn down and Victoria spotted it on the first day of the rental. In the end it didn't cause us any trouble but they made us fill out an incident report form, and seemed to be implying that they might want us to pay for it, which seems ridiculous. We spent most of the rest of the day going to the airport and waiting around, playing yahtzee (which along with poker and rummy kept us entertained throughout the trip) until we could check in to our 9pm flight. The flight was pretty uneventful, though it showed the movie Blades of Glory which I thought was hilarious. I had to keep from laughing too much and waking everyone up around me.

I slept a couple hours on the plane, which is unusual for me. Then we had the long trek back to Sheffield, barely missing the direct train by 3 minutes, meaning we had a more difficult way back, and had to change trains in Manchester. Of course the weather on arrival was cool with a light rain, typical of Sheffield. Can't say I missed the weather. We took a nap and hopefully I won't be too crazy with my sleep tonight as I am going to work tomorrow.