St. Pete Beach, Florida

Located on Florida's west coast along the Gulf, St. Pete Beach is a popular tourist destination just a short drive from St. Petersburg (and just across the bay from Tampa). The surrounding visuals are straight out of a Spring Break movie, and peppered with upscale retreats like the very pink Don CeSar Hotel on the south end of the beach.

Don CeSar Hotel

Crossing the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

VIA Rail Adventure: Ottawa to Toronto

As a Western Canadian who really has to go out of his way to find passenger rail service, I find there's still a lot of novelty in traveling by train. Sure, it's slower than flying and more limited than driving, but there's just something relaxing about watching the world roll by and then pulling into a big train station right in the centre of town.

On a recent visit to Ontario, my friend Tyler and I thought it would be fun to catch the train in Ottawa for a quick excursion to Toronto. For efficiency sake this also worked out well because we were staying at the Royal York, one of Canada's grand railway hotels, which is just across the street from Union Station in downtown Toronto. Here are a few visuals from riding the rails. 

Sunset over Lake Ontario seen from the train.

Union Station in Toronto, Ontario.

Eaton Centre Christmas Tree in Toronto, Ontario

The Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto, Ontario is one of North America's busiest shopping malls. Originally named after the now defunct Eaton's department store chain, the complex is Toronto's most visited tourist attraction. During this year's Christmas season the atrium of the Eaton Centre boasted Canada's largest Christmas Tree at 100 feet tall.