From Toronto

In Toronto, everything is expensive, but we can rationalize our purchases by remembering the exchange rate. We're living in the lap of luxury on the 7th floor of the Sutton Place Hotel, from which I'm updating.

There's more glamour here than what I see in Austin usually, where anything goes, but maybe that's just a product of my location.

Yesterday was filled with airports and jet fuels and hurry-up-and-waits, but we came out of the experience with $300 travel vouchers. I'm not sure where those will take us on our next trip -- maybe Vancouver this time.

Our eventual flight put Sarah and me in center seats, one behind another. I hate giving up window priveleges, because I enjoy watching the cloud formations we pass. In the brief time the window -was- open, I could see thick clouds below us at 33,000 feet, like a blanket of snow over a prairie. As we approached Toronto, the clouds stacked up in bands of pastels, ethereal striations that resembled sedimentary rock. It was painfully beautiful, and I ached for my camera, which was out of reach in an overhead compartment bin several rows back. My camera will be in my lap on the way home, regardless of my seating arrangement.

Many pictures to come when I get home.