Year Two

Raspberry picking, tulip sitting and ice cream eating

We have been in Wisconsin for two years now...whoa! This past Monday marked the day that Alana and I finished our drive from Texas to Wisconsin (along with my dad who accompanied us on the trip). Its always fun to think back and reflect on what brought us up here and what we have been up to. Check out the review of year one here!

We moved up here because this is where some good jobs were/are. We were both in the oil and gas industry and with the downturn we saw the inevitable and decided to jump. We were also over the Texas heat and its two seasons, hot and hotter. Was Wisconsin our top pick on location? Of course not, but it seemed to tick a lot of boxes.

Alana has spent more birthdays up here than she did in Texas which kind of makes me sad because I am a Texan and will always associate myself that way. When people ask where I am from I say I am from Texas but live in Wisconsin... Texan for Life! But Alana will most likely say she is from Wisconsin; when we practice our states I remind her that she was born in Texas and is from Texas, but, the reality is she only spent 16 month of her life there. We also correct her on silly Wisconsin pronunciations and will continue to do this all her life, lol, or at least until we move again.

Up here in the cooler weather I am able to run and enjoy it and not have to worry about getting a heat stroke or a syncope flair up. I have made a handful of amazing friends that share this love for running too so that helps on the long training runs! I even completed my first half marathon this past April in Nashville, TN.

Christmas feels like Christmas! Our first Christmas here we got really lucky and it snowed December 24th so we had a white Christmas. Christmas 2017 we had some ice and snow but nothing major. But there is snow on the ground, the fire place is on and its all just very cozy and wintery. So far, we like it. We also got to experience our first blizzard this past April when a crazy storm came through dumping over two feet of snow April 14th and 15th. We were just glad it was on the weekend and didn't have to try and drive to work in that!

April 2018 Blizzard

We have been fortunate enough to have family visit us often with my family and in-laws visiting 2-3 times a year (usually not at the same time). They come for Alana's birthday and Christmas and my brother and dad visit for the annual EAA air show.

EAA AirVenture: Airplane pictures taken by Zach Mayer

What do I miss about Texas? I miss the food and HEB. I miss having my family close and I miss our forever home we built and only lived in for three years...But, Wisconsin has been good to us these past two years, I like the lack of bugs and snakes and the soft green grass. They don't have the monstrous rain and thunder storms that cause severe flooding and power outages. I like the slower pace and lack of rat race and the fact there is no traffic. We get to go to farms and pick fresh fruits a few times a year and eat things right from the source! 

Did you leave your home state? How long have you been away? What do you miss? 

Girls Trip Toronto

St. Laurence Market, Union Station, Luna Moth, Gooderham Building

A few friends and I wanted to take a girls trip this summer. With a list of possible destinations we went with the cheapest one, Toronto. We were off without a hitch! Got to Toronto, checked into our hotel, freshened up and then headed to St. Laurence Market for some lunch. We didn't convert any USD to CAD but we should have. the market shops primarily only took cash. BUT they did take the US dollar too! They just didn't do any conversions for you. So if your meal was $6CAD then it was $6USD. My friends got something likely more flavorful and more ethnic than my simple ham and cheese croissant but I was getting hangry and didn't want to wait.

After lunch we headed to Eaton Center, a downtown shopping mall, to do some shopping. And on our way the most disgusting thing ever happened to me...we were waiting at stop light to cross the street and homeless man walked up to me, spit a louggie in my hair and shouted, "have a shitty day!" and then he walked into traffic (unfortunately he wasn't hit). I was pretty shocked that this had actually happened and just thankful that we had a water bottle and some napkins to get it all before we had to cross the street. Welcome to Canada! Here's mucus in your hair!

After that fiasco and shopping we headed to Casa Loma, a 98-room castle in the middle of the city. Casa Loma was once a home to a very wealthy man who, not too long after building his castle, went bankrupt and had to sell the residence and everything inside. Its now a museum and filming location for MANY Hollywood blockbusters including the X-Men series and Chicago.

Casa Loma

We grabbed some ice cream on the way back to hotel before we decided what we were going to do for dinner. We finally decided on the waterfront Amsterdam BrewHouse. We ordered some drinks while we waited and our first round was not very good, we ordered mojios. Once we were finally seated after a lot of confusion as to what was considered "bar seating" or not we ordered our food and second drinks, the peach bilini was much better. We all ordered some version of a hamburger and I think we were all satisfied. After we walked to the Toronto sign which is located near city hall.

The next morning we wondered around to try and find graffiti ally. I was using Trip Advisor and it wasn't being the most reliable so we finally just google mapped it and we found our way. It was an interesting few block of some amazing street art. Once we had had enough we headed to pick up our rental car and we headed to Niagara Falls.

Graffiti Ally

I was a bit disappointed in Niagara Falls. We visited on the Canadian side and it was VERY tourist with casinos everywhere and chain restaurants like Margaretville. This isn't really our style. We did go zip lining which is touristy but I had never done it and wanted to...so we did. While it was kind of cool, it wasn't over the falls and you cant bring anything of your own to take pictures while you zip line down. If you have been zip lining before, like in Hawaii or Costa Rica, this particular one might bore you. The falls themselves seemed a bit underwhelming to me. I don't know if its because I was seeing them for the first time as an adult (verse a kid who is just smaller in size) or if its because I have seen so many waterfalls during my travels. Maybe its sort of how people feel when they see Mt. Rushmore? We didn't spend too much time here, we probably spent more time driving there and back to Toronto, we found a place to eat in one of the casino/hotels on our way to the car and then headed back to the big city.

the falls

The next morning it was already time to head back. My final thoughts on Toronto...well... I didn't really like it. It was just another big city (remember I use to live in the suburbs of Houston, TX) and they really seemed to have a homeless problem. I have never seen so many homeless people just walk out into traffic have total disregard for their life. Matt and I were originally planning on visiting Toronto/Niagara Falls for a family trip in July of 2017 but after visiting I am glad we didn't. I don't t think I will be back to Toronto unless it was for work but I do see myself going back to Niagara, but the American side, so my daughter can see it. 

CN Tower, Toronto sign, yummy beaver tail

Have you ever been a little disappointed by a trip? Or have you ever been harassed by a homeless person?! lol