It is Wednesday, August 3, we awoke earlier than usual for our trip to Toronto, Canada. The drive took 13 hours and 15 minutes including stops for lunch, gas, and restroom breaks, rain, hilly terrain, winding roads, and road construction. We traveled through the states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and then into Ontario, Canada. On our journey, we played games in the car like, “I spy with my little eye…” When it got to my turn I said, “I spy with my BIG eye…” and we all laughed.

The drive through parts of Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia revealed a beautiful aspect of the east coast and the country in general. It meant slower driving, at least for me, due to hilly and winding roads, intermittent rainfall we met on the way, and not having driven this side of the country before. It was an interesting cross-country trek and an opportunity to admire a picturesque part of America, but it was also a long and exhausting trip. But believe it or not, the children handled it well in spite of their saying from time to time, “This trip is long,” or “Are we there yet?”

On the journey, we also passed through Erie, Pennsylvania, for the first time. I had traveled to Pennsylvania on several occasions while studying in the Pittsburgh area for four years. Another interesting feature of the trip was that when we entered the state of New York, heading towards Buffalo, we saw a road sign marked 497 miles from New York City. We didn’t realize that the state of New York was so vast.

However, we arrived safely to our cousin’s home in Canada and as expected went to bed after an exhausting drive.