I can’t believe over a month has passed since my trip to Toronto! In some ways, it feels like just this past weekend – but when I think about the gorgeous summer weather we enjoyed, it feels like it’s been an eternity.

Toronto is a city I feel gets overlooked a lot. New Yorkers seem to go to Montreal for their Canada fix. From Phoenix, the trend was to visit Vancouver. While I still hope to visit those cities someday, I’ve always wanted to travel to Toronto. Why is that? I grew up hearing tales of my mom and her girlfriends driving up there from Cleveland for long-weekend getaways, much as I always drove to LA from Phoenix. She loves the city so much that she and my dad went there on their honeymoon – and he loved it so much that they went back a few years later! As I inherited the “city girl” gene, I always knew I wanted my first trip to the Great White North to feature Toronto.

My favorite part of traveling is sampling local cuisine, such as poutine!

I was lucky enough to make friends from this amazing place while I was traveling in Europe this spring, and seven of us from that trip gathered over Labor Day weekend for a mini-reunion! We only had about 36 hours in the city, but as we are all seasoned travelers, we really crammed a lot in. And left plenty for me to see next time!

We found a bar with board games, and I won my first-ever round of Bananagrams!

Brunch is my favorite meal no matter the country.

The timing of our trip meant we got to see the Yankees play the Blue Jays – and the Jays won!

We had to dine at Amsterdam BrewHouse – it’s named for the city where we all met!

A stop at Niagara Falls on the way home was a must.

We joke that I only take pictures of the sights, so here’s some evidence that I was actually there.

It was a fantastic weekend getaway and I already can’t wait to go back!