Categories
Travel

Montreal in a Day

Hello everyone!

Happy Wednesday! We are in the middle of the first full week of August. At the moment, I’m on vacation with my family, it’s a well-deserved break for all of us and we are making some quality memories together. I’ll be sharing more of my trip in the coming weeks, but until then, I have another travel post to tide you over. One that I couldn’t wait to share with you all! 

Several weeks ago, my boyfriend and I took another one of our crazy day trips. My boyfriend is a great trip planner, especially ones that are affordable and unique too. We also like to do our trips in a day, even if it means being up for more than 24 hours. 

Last summer, we did NYC in 13 hours, you can read about it here. We also did Toronto in a day, which you can read about here. 

This summer, we did Montreal in a day! It was one of our furthest destinations, but we packed a lot in, and I fell in love with the city and the culture. 

Here’s a recap of our trip.

We left in the evening and drove to Burlington, Canada where we caught a train into Toronto. The car ride was about 2.5 hours and then the train was about an hour. After making our way to Toronto, we hopped on an overnight bus into Montreal.

Arriving at the border
Arriving in the bus station the next day

We arrived bright and early before 6:00 in the downtown area, since most of the city was still asleep, we freshened up and dropped off our bags. My boyfriend discovered a gym that you can store your bags for the day, this was a huge help to us. We could still pack what we needed for our travels without having to worry about carrying them during the day.

After getting ready, we started exploring the downtown, metropolitan area and then ventured into the Old Port and historic Montreal.

This was one of my favorite parts of the day. The sun was rising, the city was quiet, and we could just take in the city.

We got breakfast at a little bakery and ate in the town square.

Between the French signs, old architecture and French being the most common language spoken there, I truly felt like I was in a different world, and I loved it.

We walked down by the pier and then made our way back to the old part of the town to tour the Notre Dame Basilica.

More views from our walk

It was a gorgeous church filled with vibrant colors and details. We went when they first opened so there were no lines. 

After our tour, we made our way towards the downtown area where we climbed up Mount Royal.

A look at what we had to climb

We walked everywhere through the day, so we definitely got our steps in. The hill was daunting and climbing up flights of steps was challenging at points, but the view was worth it.

The view from the top

We could see the entire city from the top. It was breathtaking, especially in the sunshine. 

After enjoying the view, we made our way to a park in Mount Royal where we rented a rowboat and enjoyed some time on the water. It was picturesque and VERY dreamy. I felt like I had my own “Notebook” worthy moment.

Such a beautiful park!

We spent some more time in the park and then made our way down the steps and hill, the walk down was much easier.

The homes were gorgeous!

We stopped for lunch at a little shop and enjoyed our food in a nearby park.

Lunch in a park

 We walked back down to the water and enjoyed some more time in the city.

A look at the city from the water.

We also popped into a few shops, bought some souvenirs, and enjoyed some music in a town square too.

All the shops were so cute and quaint!

 We grabbed our bags and then made our way back to the bus station where we began our journey home.

Back at the station

Here’s a look at our final stats of the day when it comes to the mileage. 

There were some delays for the return trip, but that was all a part of the adventure. We got back very early in the morning and took the day to catch up on sleep and get our lives back in order. 

Although there was a lot of travel involved and many different modes of transportation, it was so worth it. My boyfriend and I love exploring new places and traveling, especially on a budget. He does an incredible job at planning and truly thinks of everything. I’m not sure where our next adventure will be, but I’m sure it will be a whirlwind. 

Until next time, Montreal!

Tell me: where are some of your favorite places to travel to? Bonus points if they can be done in a day! Although, I will be still away, I will have  a Friday Favorites post for you! I hope you are having a great week! See you back here on Friday! Happy August!

Categories
Currently

Currently #44

Happy Wednesday! I hope you are having a great week! Remember how I felt like July went by in a blink of an eye? Well August went by even faster. This month has been a whirlwind between traveling, big work projects, back to school, and wrapping up summer fun! 

As one month end and another one begins, I’m recapping this past month and all the memories and adventures that came with it.

Here’s a look at this month’s Currently.

What I’m Up To: This past month has been all about soaking up the final days of summer, from hiking in new places, completing bucket list items, and traveling to new places, I have been busy but in the best way possible.

It’s local festival season!
And local farm show season!
Plus, no summer event isn’t complete without a funnel cake!

I’ve attended community fairs and festivals, been spending lots of time outside and have been reading lots of fun, summer books. 

My trip to Toronto was a highlight for sure!

What I’m Wearing: I have been continuing the trend of shorts and graphic tees.When my family and I went on vacation to San Diego, California, I wore a lot of neutrals to mix and match and keep it simple for travel. Here’s some of my favorite summer outfits. My shorts are from Old Navy and so are some of my shirts too.

A few of my looks from vacation.
Lots of color coordinated outfits.
And some bright colors too!

I have also been doing my best to wear all the bright colors for my dresses for work. I only have a small window to wear in the warm months, so I’m doing my best to wear them all. 

Bright blue for work!

What I’m Reading: This past month has been such a good month for reading for me 

 Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch follows the story of a young girl who loses her mom and her mom’s dying wish is for her daughter to go to Florence and reconnect with people from her mother’s time when she lived there. This book checks all the boxes for a cute rom com book. Dreamy city, beautiful description, incredible Italian food and desserts, and a little romance too. I blitzed through this book and was so sad when it came to an end. 

The sweetest summer book!

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune tells the story a young woman who takes over her mother’s resort on the lake. She plans on making some changes when she gets some unexpected help from someone from her past that she always wanted to forgot. I really enjoyed the story and finished it within a week. I’m also excited that it’s going to be making its way to the screen as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be working with Netflix to turn it into a movie.

 

Better than Fiction by Alexa Martin and it combined two of my favorite hobbies, reading and hiking! This book follows the story of a young woman who inherits her grandmother’s book store. As she tries to manage this new project, enter a fan-favorite author. He’s visiting her small town for inspiration for his new book and they make a deal. She shows him around the area and he teaches her how to love books. 

Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler follows the story of a young woman who makes it her mission to deliver her neighbor turned best friend’s ashes to her long lost lover. However, the journey to get the ashes delivered does not go smooth. She ends up traveling with someone from her past and they endure all sorts of detours. The book goes back and forth between the past and present and there’s so many twists and turns, you will question if they will ever make it to their final destination.

What I’m Watching: As summer winds down, I’m finishing up my summer shows. I finished season two of the Summer I Turned Pretty. Overall, I thought the season was pretty good. I definitely enjoyed the first season more but I thought the second season had some great storylines and the finale left a lot of questions for season 3! If you watched, what did you think of the finale and Belly’s choice?

I also finished the first part of Outlander. This was another show that had a lot of ups and downs this season. There were some major plot twists with characters that I did not see coming. I’m anxious to see where it picks up and how things get wrapped up when it returns. 

I also finished season two of “And Just Like That”, it was such a good season. I loved the callbacks to earlier seasons of the show, the fashion and the friendships. The finale was really good, especially with the surprise appearance by Samantha! I was also excited to see that the show was renewed for season 3! I already can’t wait for next season!

And last but not least, I finished the new season of Sweet Magnolias. Although, there was some drama this season including some fights, fallouts and relationship shakeups between characters, I really enjoyed seeing the characters come together in the end.

What Inspires Me: I have been enjoying all the summer salads with fresh fruits and vegetables. I hate wasting food, so I have been enjoying salads and bowls with lots of food that I already have in the fridge. Here’s been some of my favorite salads. 

A spinach and strawberry and pecan salad. This is the perfect blend of fruits, veggies and some crunch too. 

Strawberry and spinach salad

A steak salad on top a bed of veggies keeps you full and gives you lots of flavor.

A steak salad
A peach and chicken salad

Speaking of fresh vegetables, I have been so inspired and proud of my garden. Although, I have lost some plants, I’m so happy with the ones that have grown and flourished. I’ll be doing a bigger blog post on this later in the season, but seeing seeds turn into bright, red tomatoes is certainly inspiring. 

My baby tomatoes
The fruits of my labor
Four fresh tomatoes

What I Accomplished: August was a busy month. I kicked it off by attending our local National Night Out. 

My boyfriend and I did a day trip to Toronto, you can read about our adventure here. 

The iconic Toronto sign

My boyfriend and I also went blueberry picking for the first time which was so much fun and I made some tasty muffins too!

Our haul
The best way to use blueberries!
Soaking up the end of summer with nighttime concerts.
Summer S’mores!

My family and I took our family vacation to San Diego which was so fun! We packed a lot in and made a ton of memories. It was the best way to spend time together before we all went our separate ways from school to work.

From the palm trees
The hikes and ocean
Enjoying some iconic West Coast food.
The San Diego Zoo
Balboa Park

Goals from Last Month: I accomplished my goal of running my first 5K, you can read about my journey here. 

Finishing my first 5K!

I accomplished almost everything from my summer bucket list. There were a few things that I didn’t get done, but I plan to do them in the fall.

The best part of this past month was all the family time. The older I get, the more, I realize how important family time is and how much I try to treasure every moment I have with my family and siblings. This summer has been so special that we have all been home under one roof.

End of summer Lobster rolls!

Goals for Next Month: Even though it’s September, I still plan on enjoying the warm weather and soaking up the sunshine. I’m not ready to think about fall yet, but I know I will have to eventually, right now, I’m all about savoring every last bit of summer. I will also be sharing my fall bucket next week!

Enjoying evening walks after work can continue in the fall.

There you have it, another Currently in the books. Tell me, what were some of your favorite parts of August?

Let me know in the comments below! Have a great rest of your week and end of August! See you back here on Friday!

Categories
Travel

Canada Day Trip

Hello hello!

Happy Wednesday! I hope you had a great week so far! We are halfway to the weekend and I couldn’t be more ready for it.

I love to travel and visit new places, whether they are cities, state parks or the suburbs! This summer I have done a lot more traveling than in year’s past, mostly due to Covid. It’s been fun to return to old places or go someplace new. My boyfriend and I love taking day trips together, since our work schedules don’t line up whenever we take a day off for one another we try to really capitalize on it. So far this summer we have gone to Columbus, New York City and Toronto and the Canadian Falls to name a few spots. 

Our trip to Canada was our most recent trip at the beginning of August. We had such a good time and packed a lot in. Here’s what we did and how we did Canada in a day!

We left around 4:30 and made our way up north. We drove to Burlington, Canada and from there took a train into the city of Toronto.

Making our way across the border

We arrived around 8:30 to Union Station with all the commuters for the day.

Union Station

 Our first stop was Tim Hortons for some fuel, even through we have them at home, we knew we had to take advantage of the Canadian staple. 

Fuel for the day!
The city in the morning!

We walked around downtown for a bit and checked out some of the tourist spots, like the CN Tower and the big Toronto sign and then City Hall. We also saw the Rogers Arena where the Maple Leafs play! 

The CN Tower
The iconic Toronto sign
City Hall behind the sign
Home of the Maple Leafs

After taking in the downtown we took a ferry to Centre Island which was so fun! From the boat, you got a whole new perspective of the city and it was beautiful to be out on the water.

The city from the ferry
On the ferry!

On the island, there are trails to walk and bike, a beach, lots of food stands, a little amusement park and lots of green space along with boating clubs.

There were so many green spaces
A look at the amusement park

We walked around by the piers and rented bikes as we took in the island, we could have stayed there all day!

It was beautiful on the island

In the future we want to go back with picnic and spend more time there. It was beautiful! 

The ferry coming back to the island (my boyfriend snapped this photo)

We took the ferry back and then made our way to St. Lawrence Market for lunch.

A look inside St. Lawrence’s Market

There were dozens of different vendors , from fresh produce, to breads, meats, fish, vegetables, bakery items, and speciality goods. We both settled on sandwiches for lunch.

Lunch time!

After our meals, we decided to take the train back to our car in Burlington and then head to Niagara Falls. We have both been to the American falls, but this was our first time heading to the Canadian falls together. 

The falls!

If you have never been before, the Canadian falls is very touristy, lots of gift shops, fast food places, amusement park rides and very Americanized. We found it to be a little overwhelming, so we quickly made our way past the chaos and just enjoyed the falls.

America or Canada? It was hard to tell with all the American chains.

We decided not to purchase tickets to any boats or activities since we arrived late in the day and just decided to take in the falls. 

Up close of the rushing waters
The falls-both of them!

It was beautiful to see both the American and Canadian falls next to each other. After seeing them from many different spots and taking lots of photos, we decided to call it a day and make our way back home.

A rainbow to end the day!

It was a packed full day and we were tired. 

We had such a great time that we have already begun to talk about what we want to do the next time we go. 

Goodbye falls!

Tell me, have you enjoyed any trips this summer and have you been to Toronto or Canada, if so, what are your must do’s? 

Let me know in the comments below!

See you back here on Friday for another edition of Friday Favorites!