Saying goodbye to the Surrey Field Study Centre was one of the hardest things we have ever had to do. Anna and I went for a final tour around the property to farewell our 'home' for the final time. Almost everyone got up early to see us off before Matt, Roxy and Abigail drove us to the airport. I still get sad remembering that morning. But alas, it was time to go onto other adventures.
Our first destination was New York City to visit Melissa, an old flatmate of Anna's, and her growing family (their 3rd child was born just one week after we left). We flew into Toronto, headed straight into town and caught an overnight bus to New York. Sadly, in my confused semi-asleep state, I left my Hawaii cap behind on the bus :(.
We couldn't have hoped for a better way to recover from leaving the centre. We had heaps of time just relaxing around their house and looking after Natalie and Abel and talking church and theology. The timing of our visit could not have been better, with our hosts having been invited to dinner at Ben and Franci Hoyt's new pad in Brooklyn. We arrived at their place - it looked like we had entered the set of Seasame Street. I was wary of any lurking trash cans. It was great to catch up with some more friends from home and to have the rare opportunity to speak Kiwi. On Monday, Melissa's husband Nathan (the pastor of a Hispanic church plant) took us into the big apple to see the sites including: the Statue of Liberty (from a distance), the golden 'calf', Wall St, a huge book store and the highlight - Central Park. That apple is big indeed. Is it sad to say that my highlight of the New York trip was visiting Queens County Farm Museum with Abel and Natalie? It reminded me so much of home back in Canada.
Dinner at the Hoyt's
Central Park
Miss Liberty
Natalie checking out the sunflowers at the farm museum
After 4 days we farewelled the Ketchen's and headed back to Toronto by bus to stay with Paul and Jenny Abell and their daughter Victoria, whom we met at the A Rocha team retreat. It was great to catch up with them and see some of the A Rocha work Paul is involved in. We helped at one of the weekly(!) stewardship events he leads at Warden Woods, pulling out invasive weeds that were beginning to smother recently planted trees. They were super great hosts, giving up their bed for us and then even lending us their car!
Walking along Lake Ontario, pre-swim.
We cruised down to St Catherines for a few days, staying with the Stares. More chilling out ensued, punctuated with trips to the Niagara Falls, Fort George (with demonstration musket shows) and a walk up to Ball's Falls. The Stares are super tour guides. On the first night at St Catherine, we headed out to Lake Ontario to watch the sunset. Right on the lake front is a restored carousel (merry-go round) that was donated to the region on the condition they keep the price at 5c. This was my chance to finally ride the classic fair fare and ride we did. 
Sunset on Lake Ontario with a silhouette of Toronto
Niagara Falls
Table rock on the way to Ball's Falls
Al, Lydia, Rebecca and Anna at Ball's Fall
From St Catherines we headed back to Toronto via Hamilton, where we stopped to have lunch with Christina, a tutor from Anna's teaching college. We returned the car and farewell the Abells one last time.It was really special to be able to spend so much time visiting with friends in the East and a fitting way to finish our time in North America.
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