Ladd Photos

From up on top of the CN Tower, which is currently the tallest structure in the Western Hemisphere, the view was pretty impressive. Back on the ground it was raining, so we explored the Toronto PATH, which is over 19 miles of underground passageways with shops and restaurants covering most of downtown.

When the rain stopped, we popped back above ground to check out Yonge–Dundas Square, which is kinda like their Times Square. Then we made our way back among all the buildings to the Rogers Centre, to watch the Blue Jays play. The boys caught one of the practice balls before the game!

I taught the boys about the Jacquard Loom and how it was an inspiration for the first programmable computers. We also learned about the extreme limits of the human body, explored a rainforest and coral reef, and played with a bunch of hands-on science experiments.

Skipping rocks into Lake Ontario to finish our evening:

This museum was huge! It covered natural history, the entire history of life on the planet, geology, archaeology, and lots of other stuff. We saw the entire thing, but had to rush through some of it.

The rain tried to ruin our day, but we just hid inside during the downpours. We enjoyed this zoo, but we were sad that the moose was off exhibit. The highlight was Puppe, the orangutan who loved to interact with the visitors while she washed the windows of her enclosure.

This giant castle was built in the early 1900’s by Toronto’s richest man. We had fun exploring on a self-guilded audio tour, including climbing its towers.

We learned all about Canada’s system of government by touring both the Senate and House of Commons. The Americans were shocked to learn that the British King still has veto power on any legislation passed in Canada, and his appointed Governor General needs to give final approval before it becomes law.

This giant museum covered the entire history of Canada, starting with the First Peoples and going all the way to modern times.

After driving to Montreal, we spent the afternoon at Saint Joseph’s Oratory on top of Mount Royal. Then we walked around the Jean Talon Market and the Little Italy neighborhood.

We didn’t let the rain stop us from walking around all of downtown Montreal. On our exploration we found a piece of the Berlin Wall.

Montreal’s “Space For Live” contains 5 museums: the Biodome containing different ecosystems, a planetarium, a giant botanical garden, an insectarium, and the Biosphere which covers environmental issues. We saw them all!

We started off with a tour of La Citadelle, which was built to protect Canada from a possible invasion by the USA. Then we spent the rest of the day exploring the beautiful old town, including the Château Frontenac and Rue du Petit-Champlain.

The Maine wilderness welcomed us back into the USA on our way to Boston. We stopped for a hike in the rain to see Moxie Falls, before continuing on to see the Maine State House in Augusta.

We saw so much history as we walked all over the downtown Boston area. Our day started off at the USS Constitution, one of the first 6 ships built for the US Navy, which is still on active duty. Then we climbed the 294 steps all the way to the top of the Bunker Hill monument. In the museum across the street, we learned all about the battle, which was the first real battle of the Revolutionary War.

Along a 1.5 mile walk, we visited Faneuil Hall, the Old State House, and the Old South Meeting House, all places where history was made during the Revolutionary War. We wandered around Boston Commons and downtown before having dinner in the Green Dragon Tavern, where Paul Revere, Sam Adams, and other Patriots hung out. On the walk back to our car, we walked past Paul Revere’s house and the Old North Church, where the lanterns were hung to worn Charlestown that the British were coming.

Today we went on a day trip to explore Connecticut. We visited the State House in Hartford and the Connecticut State Museum that was across the street. Then we drove to New Haven and walked around Yale University. After a good pizza dinner across from the university, we headed back to Hartford to watch a Yard Goats minor league baseball game.

We explored most of Rhodes Island, first visiting the Providence and walking around their capitol. Then we has a nice drive through Newport, viewing the beautiful New England coast and some giant mansions.

Then we headed back into Massachusetts to visit Plymouth Rock. It was much smaller than I expected, and might not have been the original rock. Then we drove all the way up Cape Cod and had dinner in Provincetown. The boys tried a lobster roll and enjoyed it.