Visiting Toronto

The last stop on my Canadian adventures was Toronto, in the province of Ontario, to visit with MapleLeaf and her family. We had a lovely visit, and I made a very special new friend!



That's Jasper the hamster. I want a Jasper! He was plenty adorable and fuzzy.

Here's my Toronto album. I really enjoyed hanging out with Jess and Molly and going to one of my fave places, the library!

I learned some things about Toronto while I was there. It is not only the capital of Ontario, it is Canada's largest city. Situated on the north shore of Lake Ontario, indigenous people have been living in the area for 11000 years, since the last Ice Age! Europeans arrived in the 1600s and established the city of York, which was renamed Toronto in 1834. The name apparently comes from the Mohawk phrase 'tkaronto,' which means "where there are trees standing in the water." The city experienced an immigration boom after WWII, and today Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, with 152 spoken languages and dialects!

There are no polar bears here but Toronto is home to the world's tallest building, the CN Tower. We didn't visit but then again, I'm not sure I'd want to go up that high, even if dolls do bounce!

Toronto is a really pretty city. I hope I have the chance to go back one day!

For now, I am home and glad to be with my friends again. Not sure where I'll go next year, but I sure do love traveling! Thanks to all my great Canadian friends!

More Adventures in Winnipeg

I know, I know, you're wondering where I've been, right?

Well, I'm still in Canada, actually. I have been having so much fun that I didn't have time or energy to update my blog! So finally, here is an album of my adventures visiting Kym and her family. Like my last host JeanieD, they are residents of Winnipeg in the province of Manitoba.

Further Winnipegian Adventures

As you can see, I had a great time! I'm actually in Toronto Ontario now, but am heading home soon. I'll post more later about my adventures in Toronto.

Birthday Celebrations!

This past week included two birthdays - Felicity's, and Molly's. Here are the three of us ready to celebrate.

Went to look at the Red River rising...

...and my goodness, it is a very big and very high river! There are still some pieces of ice floating north (the Red flows north to empty into Lake Winnipeg, and eventually into Hudson's Bay), and some areas of the city (not where I am staying, thank goodness) are having to put up big sandbag dikes to hold back the water.





We also took some pictures at the Tourist Information building - there are sled dogs, a bison, a huge polar bear, and an inukshuk (a stone figure created by the Inuit in the Arctic):

My new friends in Winnipeg

Here is a picture of me with all my new friends, getting ready for bed. It takes a long time for us to settle down!



But my hostess got another picture after we were finally all asleep:



And once again, Finnegan the cat needs to investigate:



By the way, the snow is almost all gone now, and the big news is about the flooding from the Red River. Don't worry, we live far away from the Red! Yesterday was nice and warm - 18 degrees Celsius, which is the same as 64 Fahrenheit. Winnipeggers are very happy!

And it's on to Winnipeg!

Here I am in Winnipeg, and although it is spring, there is still snow. But yesterday we went to the Assiniboine Park Conservatory, where Mia and I found the most beautiful flowers, in full bloom.



We are having lots of fun (although the giggling late into the night is making some of us a bit sleepy during the day).

I'll post again soon.

Calgarian Adventures

I'm about to hop in my traveling cardboard sarcophagus and head east to Manitoba, but I wanted to do a quick blog highlight first. I've been so busy here. Marcyleecorgan and her dolls really know how to show a girl a good time!

Look at this! Calgary gets tons of snow!



It is really beautiful here.



However, it's always nice to come inside where it's warm. I liked snuggling with this bear from 1905. Samantha might have played with him!



The other day, I got to go back to the Calgary Zoo and see some more animals. Then, we visited Fort Calgary, the start of the city. You can see all my adventures in this ALBUM. Fort Calgary was founded in 1875 where the Bow and Elbow rivers meet. Forts are often constructed at very strategic defensive locations like the meeting of rivers, just like Fort Pitt is at Point State Park in Pittsburgh. Fort Calgary was run by the North West Mounted Police, whom we know today as the Mounties, the national police force of Canada. Here's a picture of a lady Mountie from Calgary in the distinctive red uniform and hat:



I think I might like to be a Mountie.

Anyway, Fort Calgary was built in only six weeks and living conditions weren't very good for the soldiers. It was rebuilt eight years later, then torn down in 1914 when the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway bought the land. Railways sure changed a lot of things. It was really neat to tour the museum and see replicas of the fort offices and other historical Calgary places. I saw a lot of things that reminded me of the historical American Girls' collections! See if you can spot them all in the album.

On my last night in Calgary, marcyleecorgan and I read this amazing book:



It had really cool photos of all kinds of Arctic animals, which you can see HERE.

I've really enjoyed my time in snowy Calgary. Thanks to all the dolls here and to marcyleecorgan and her husband for making it such a great trip!

Now, back to the box....