January 19, 2019

Today, the five of us were at the airport for our 6:15 a.m. flight to Toronto en route to Miami, Florida. The 4 a.m. temperature was -28°C (-18°F), southwest wind 17 kph giving a wind chill of

-40°C, also equivalent to -40°F. In contrast, the temperature was -13°C (+9°F) in Toronto, cloudy & snow predicted. Due to the cold weather, our plane needed to be deiced before takeoff.

When we landed in Toronto, there was light snow falling reducing visibility to less than two km. The flight was just under two hours. We easily found the connecting terminal for flights to the United States, then went up one level, cleared U.S. security, having to remove our shoes, before entering the Customs and Border Protection area which was not busy. Next, we went back down one level, to the departure gates and found a place to eat breakfast, just five hours after getting up this morning.

We had plenty of time to wander around the terminal to attain our daily step count. The snow and wind continued all day, as did the large snowplows clearing the runways. Flights to smaller southern Ontario airports were cancelled as were flights to major American Midwest and New England airports, like Indianapolis, Memphis, Columbus, Chicago, Washington, DC, New York-La Guardia, Hartford and Boston. There was a major Colorado Low passing through the region dumping from 5 to 30 cm of snow and predicted to hit the Maritimes and Newfoundland’s Avalon peninsula in the next few days.

We all ate lunch at the Wahlburgers restaurant. They have a good variety of burgers, salads and sandwiches.

The 4:25 p.m. flight to Miami was loaded 15 minutes early but we did not leave the gate until 4:30 and then plane needed to be deiced before takeoff. There were at least eight deicing stations with three or four deicing trucks spraying each plane with a pale orange spray that turned lime green when it touched the plane or the ground. The plane finally took off at 5:05 for the little over three hour flight to Miami. There was mild turbulence for the first half of the flight as the plane flew above the Colorado Low system which caused rain storms as far south as the Carolinas.

As we neared Miami the sky was clear and we could see the lights below in grids of reds, tinted oranges, pale blues and white as the plane flew over communities. The water just registered as black.

The luggage took a while to arrive at the carousel but it all arrived and we left the airport in a Mercedes Sprinter van to take us to the Springhill Suites hotel within 15 minutes. The temperature was a balmy 71°F (21.5°C). We had a room with two Queen size beds and a double size sofa bed. The bathroom is split into a room with the toilet and a small sink and a room with a large shower and a large sink.

Once we dropped off our luggage, Scott and Mia left to find a Taiyaki ice cream store which had unique cones and ice cream. The rest of us had a light snack in the hotel bar.

By 11 everyone was getting ready for bed. Daily step count. 15,771