Day 4: Toronto to Windsor, Ontario - Part 2

The big tourist attraction in Toronto is the CN Tower, the highest man-made structure in the world (for now), and the highest observation deck in the world (1465 feet). So, we walked to the base, detouring through a section or two of the PATH, an enormous network of over 1,200 underground stores and eateries (the largest in the world I'm told...or maybe Toronto just likes to brag about stuff?).

After heading through this high tech security system (which blasts you with air from every direction), we were heading up:

So, the whole experience was pretty cool, not necessarily mind blowing, but definitely not something you'll see in many (any) other places. Let's call it....awe inspiring? The land surrounding Toronto is uber flat, so you get incredibly long views (to the other side of Lake Ontario). And you get a great view of the Toronto Islands, the largest car free community in North America.

They have whole sections of glass floor up there. It's pretty hilarious, because as you'll see, only the children will walk out onto it. A bit scary for those of us with a sense of mortality though:

We could watch the rapidly approaching storm, with accompanying lightning (great time to be standing inside the worlds largest lightning rod, right?):

Waiting in line for the space pod (an observation deck another 300 feet higher) was maddeningly frustrating, mostly because you are already so high up, and crammed into a small space, then forced to wait another 30 minutes to complete the rest of the trip (that you have to pay a little extra for).

And, just for posterity, here are the official numbers on the tower's height:

By the time we finally arrived at the space pod, the storm had arrived, and it was too cloudy and rainy to see much of anything. :-(

Then, you had to wait in line again to get back down. :-(

By then, we were too tired to do much of anything that didn't involve sitting, so we figured it was a good time to skip town...and made it to Windsor just as the fireworks were starting. What day was it? Apparently they have a giant shared independence celebration along the border between the US and Canada this time every year. According to the woman at the Best Western (which was maddeningly expensive in comparison to our Priceline deal in Toronto), they spend millions of dollars and 5 million people come to watch? Can someone do the research on those numbers?

We got a room with a view, but sadly they were over before you knew it, with an underwhelming/non-existant finale.

Miles driven: 220.