Backstory
This post is way overdo, but life has not been nice to me lately, so this is my first chance to sit down and not have the day over packed with commitments. I have four hours before our next commitment to tell you as much as possible and finally review some of our top stops on our weekend away. I'm going to break this post up into parts, and I'll post another part of our journey each Monday till this adventure run outs (Otherwise this will be one long ass post). So, let's begin with Shannon's Surprise Shindig: Part 1 - Our Crash Pad I had booked this trip six months before his birthday and if I do say so myself, I did a pretty damn good job of keeping it a secret from him. I had enough time in advance to not be obvious when I said he needed to get his passport renewed and went as far as packing for him before he got home from work and driving us to the airport before he started to get suspicious. When we finally parked at the airport, he still had no idea what he was in for until we took the tram and didn't get off at my normal terminal but stayed on to the international terminal. We got there with enough time to eat before we boarded and I handed over the below little pamphlet I made for him with our itinerary and the top attractions to do in the area because I couldn't hold it in any longer with the bombardment of questions coming my way. I will say it was just as fun planning this escape and seeing his surprise as it was exploring this new part of the world together.
First time to Canada and the beauty of the city made both my husband and I consider never leaving. This weekend was a surprise birthday trip for my husband and a week before our stay, Katherine Leonard, with Guest Services sent us a personalized email noticing that this was our first stay with the hotel and asked if she could arrange anything for us. Her email made me feel welcomed before we even left the states. I responded back that this was our first time in Canada and my husband's birthday and she gave us a complimentary upgrade and had chocolate strawberries and champagne with a note waiting for us in our room on our first night. That started our weekend off perfectly. The hotel is in the perfect location and is beautiful. We went there for the Hockey Hall of Fame and my husband loved the hockey decor around the hotel as they were supporting the induction events happening that weekend. We had access to the club lounge and the food and views were both magnificent. There was not a bad seat in the lounge with the wrap around floor to ceiling windows. We toured the hotel and the swimming pool, sauna, outside deck, and bar was just a beautiful as the pictures portrayed. This was a very clean, spacious, modern, timeless hotel and I would love to come back here soon. It ended up being a ten minute walk to the HHOF, then the Aquarium, CN Tower, and Steam Whistle brewery were just across the street. Convenient commutes to many top attractions.