Living Outside The Lines: “Spring Break Canadian Style”

Our hotel room overlooked the falls, and the view never failed to cause us to pause and stare with awe.

Becky J Miller | Exclusive to Corridor News

Spring break, according to Merriam Webster is a vacation from classes at a school usually for a week in the spring; especially such a vacation at a college or university.

One’s view of spring break likely differs according to current life stage. Below I’ve taken the liberty of defining those stages and the related spring break perspective that accompanies each:

• Newborn – 4 years: Spring break? What’s that?
• Parents of Newborn – 4 years: Spring break? What’s that?
• K – 12: Spring break? Yaaayy, no school!!!!
• Parents of K – 12: Spring break? Oh, dear. What are we going to do with the children?
• Teachers of K -12: Spring break? Yaaaayyy, no school!!!
• College Students: Spring break?? PARTY!!!
• Parents of College Students: Spring break?? Dear, God, please keep them safe and out of trouble!
• College Faculty & Staff: Spring break?? Where can I spend this week AWAY from students?

Personally, I have experienced several of the aforementioned stages, but the last; college faculty and staff, is by far my favorite. Spring 2017 was my first official spring break since high school.

I was a non-traditional college student, so even when classes were out, I still had to work. No spring break fun for me. #boo Last year my husband and I were still transitioning from San Marcos to Beeville, so my break was spent packing boxes. #moreboos

Spring 2018 was incomparable. Since my job affords me the luxury of one week off, with pay, it makes perfect sense that I should make good use of that week, right? Right.

Being off was the easy part, deciding where to spend it, not so easy. My first choice is always the BEACH, but since I work with college students five days a week, I have no desire to vacation with them too.

Where do 99.95% of college students spend spring break? You got it! The beach. We considered them all; Port Aransas, South Padre, Destin, Florida, Cancun, then concluded that any place with sand and surf was a big fat, NO!

We aren’t just talking Texas colleges either. March is National Spring Break Month meaning chances of landing near any student-free waves are slim to none.

Given these particular circumstances, what do sane, rational adults choose? Head north, of course!! Many of our friends questioned our sanity in leaving balmy 80-degree South Texas temperatures for much colder 30-degree Canadian temperatures, but why be predictable? Plus, I actually enjoy winter!

We spent seven luxurious days split between Niagara Falls and Toronto, Ontario. The whole city, state, nation thing was a bit confusing for me at first, but eventually the light bulb was illuminated. Canada is a country. Ontario is a state within Canada. Niagara Falls and Toronto are cities within the state of Ontario, country of Canada.

It snowed every single day, but unlike snow in Texas, the flakes seemed to disturb no one or no thing. Silently they fell to the ground, beautifully decorative in their accumulation.

In Texas when temperatures drop into the 30’s someone, ahem, no names mentioned, refuses to go outdoors for a run, but somehow those same temperatures in Ontario did not deter any of our plans. Not only did we put in exercise miles each morning, we left our rental car parked and walked to all our daily excursions.

The Canadian side of Niagara Falls is absolutely stunning, the New York side, not so much. Our hotel room overlooked the falls, and the view never failed to cause us to pause and stare with awe. Several mornings and evenings, we just sat by the window enjoying the magnificent view.

Toronto is a bustling, young and vibrant city. We enjoyed the energetic atmosphere. It was a bit daunting however being a Dallas Stars fan at a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey match in Toronto. The game was exciting, the Stars lost in a shoot-out, but we had a great time nonetheless.

Want to know the best thing about Canada? It’s a foreign country whose citizens speak English, so no language barrier! Now to plan Spring Break 2019!

Until Next Time,

Becky J Miller

“Warrior Princess”

Becky J Miller is a contributor and is exclusive to SM Corridor News. You can read more of Becky’s columns in Lifestyle.