Float Your Fanny

 Every spring, the town of Port Hope (about an hour and a half from Toronto) hosts a large community event along the Ganaraska River called Float Your Fanny Down the Ganny. It was started to commemorate the 1980 flood through the town. 

There's a few parts to the event. Along the river, on the edge of the downtown, is Fannyville. It's a great small town community event with a couple service clubs selling food, food trucks, community booths, an inflatable kids' section and bleachers to watch the finish line. 

Up river, there's a couple different starting points for the different events. You can walk, depending on the conditions, to the closer starting point which I think is where the Crazy Crafts start, and where the other competitors portage around a dam.  It's a nice walk along the river when the conditions are good but can be quite muddy.

The Crazy Crafts are the highlight of the event, but it was also great fun watching the canoe and kayaks. We had a perfect spot, where there was a large submerged rock that so many teams hit. That would get them turned around or off kilter, and then the next drop would often swamp them.  All in fun! Although, keep in mind....this was April 12 this year and it was about 5-10C and the water was probably not much above freezing.

The downtown is buzzing on the event day. It's one of the most charming downtowns in southern Ontario. So charming and nostalgic, it is used for filming many movies and TV shows! 

Last year we ended our walk around the downtown by me walking into a pole in the middle of the sidewalk. I got it square on the forehead and even my mouth. 

Last year OPG brought their robot dog. They were there again this year but the dog was now green.

Last year, we parked up by the dam, but were so early, we walked downtown, then back up to the dam...wait, we parked downtown...we stopped at the dam first then went downtown and walked back up to the dam and back downtown? Whatever, this poor guy in the kayak was the first to portage at the dam (or, they might have moved the starting point to there because the water level was very high and they made a few changes). He tipped, and through the charades we watched across the river, we think he lost his cell phone! Oops.

This year, we parked at the community centre, thinking we'd take the shuttle to Fannyville. We just walked instead. After, we decided to head out of town for the best pizza, at Bewdley Pizza.

I was surprised at how small, and not yuppy-fied Bewdley is. Many towns are being gentrified, but Bewdley looks kind of forgotten...in a good way though. 

As a teen, my brother worked for Corner Pizza in downtown Whitby. It was fantastic pizza and a branch of the family that owned it also ran this spot. The one in Whitby closed decades ago, but this one remains. I had been asking to go for years and finally, it was time!

Is there anything better than front seat pizza so hot your lap is burning? After the pizza, since we were even closer, we decided to go visit Megan at Fleming College. She was almost done in the shop, so we got a tour.

Nearly finished the second year summative project. 

She got a very low mark on this project, due to the design file, even though the end result was awesome.

We walked over to the dorm and she quickly packed up a bunch of stuff for us to take home as she had only a week left. Her two year program went so quickly! 

Day 15---Coming Home, Miami to Toronto

Last day of our trip! Virgin Voyages has later disembarkment, however, we were still off the ship pretty early.  Well, not compared to times we've been off at 7:30pm, but still....it felt too early.

The building with the cool roof is the terminal our Celebrity ship used in 2017. We were at the inside end of the island that all the terminals are on. 

Not sure what all this was....buffet for the Rock Stars?

Remember, you can click on any photo to open the picture viewer. I like taking pictures and seeing the changes every time we come because we're not there all that often.

We disembarked easily and grabbed a taxi. When we got to the airport (another crazy drive, though better than others), it was more than what others had told us it should be, Rob's credit card would not work, and he didn't want to tip and it was all awkward. 

This time we did not have to walk from one end of the airport to the other. We were definitely in the economy section this time. It was very different than our first time in Miami  and different than the last two times too! 

We found the Porter counter quickly and it said it would open at ....9:46 rings a bell. There were already a few people lining up, so after a bit, we joined them. We were maybe the third couple back. We were all in one line. Others joined behind. We heard the couple ahead of us talking about having trouble with the app too. 
Around 10:10 an airport worker, I think, asked why we were all lined up. We said the sign said they would open 20 minutes ago. He was like, no that's totally wrong cause we don't open until 2 (or 3?) hours before the flight, so they wouldn't be opening for another hour. There were some pissed Canadians!! Those at the back of the line did leave, but those of us at the front were like, well, we already waited this long, we're not giving up our spots now! 

While we were passing the time, chatting with other couples (Hi to the couple ahead of us from outside Calgary but she grew up in Norwood!), another airport worker came out with the stands and ribbon things that organize the lines you wait in. You know what I mean. We made so many jokes about it because we had already formed a nice line. He asked us all to move and we'd move 1 step LOL. He wanted the lines to go more side to side instead of straight back. He did have to make the Porter VIP line though, and I believe the couple ahead of us went to that line. Or they came from that line and we let them in front of us because they hadn't realized it wasn't the main line? 

Finally, they came and opened the counter. We were the third couple up and told them what had happened and that we weren't happy.  They were really surprised the sign had said it would open so early. Then Rob launched into his tirade about the app not allowing him to pay and how unhappy he was with Porter after these two things. The agent was so nice though, and she took off the checked baggage charge!! 

We went through security, where the roller conveyor belt broke off the tab of one of the zippers on the main compartment of my backpack :( 

Then we walked towards our gate.

Where were the restaurants?

There was a general store with a pizza counter, and a small bar with food. On our other trips to Miami, there were lots of food choices! We ended up at the bar. It was okay, and not too badly priced for an airport.

When we went to board, they were using face recognition at the gate. I failed! Rob is always worried about this because of his nystagmus (eye shaking). They just scanned my pass. 
The plane is basic. Rob's Coke was very warm. I can't even remember if there were seatback screens. It felt very, very cosy. It was cloudy all the way home; I think the first time that's happened. Disappointing!

We got in to Toronto, and it wasn't very clear about where to go for customs. There was a row of terminals in the hall but everyone was passing them. We realized it was customs pre-screening. Fast. Can't remember where we went after that, if there was customs as well. Funny how quickly we forget these little details.  Got our checked bag, and headed for the place to call for our ride. That was also a little confusing, but we managed and he showed up quickly. We had the same driver as on the way there (I think his name was Rob) and some of the conversation was exactly the same LOL. 

And with that...our big trip was over! What an adventure. 

 

Day 14--At Sea, November 9

The last day; the morning after Scarlet Night. Which is worse?  Oh, and guess what? The clocks also went back again! So not only had we stayed up late, we couldn't even sleep in and take advantage of that "extra" hour because your body has no clue it can sleep longer. Everyone said it would be easy with the time changes, no jet lag when we got to Miami. Maybe no jet lag, but we were pretty tired! 

In the day planner, I circled the Knit Happens, and I know I went! Chris the Charmer was hosting again, and at one point, he asked me what I was doing that night. Ummm? 

He handed me two cards, for a "secret event". I had heard about these from YouTubers and never thought shy me would get invited! I was so excited!! I was told to keep it quiet.

For some reason, all the furniture and decorative features (in the Dock House and Social Club at least) were glued down. He was curious about this little stool and while examining it, he managed to pop the top off. 

Can't take him anywhere!

I have no pictures from the afternoon. I believe we actually went in the pool, not just the round pool but the other one. It was finally warm enough. We probably packed, maybe I enjoyed another fig sour at The Dock? We watched a couple movies over the two weeks, maybe we watched another one. 

Dinner was at Gunbae again, same time as the other two nights. We were up on deck, and enjoying the sunset which we rarely get to see on cruises. We were hoping that if we were later to our reservation, rather than prompt, maybe we'd get a different "chef". While admiring the sunset, I spotted two large ships.

I checked the cruise mapper and indeed, that bit of land is Coco Cay (Royal Caribbean's private island) and the two ships were Allure of the Seas, and Oasis of the Seas. Having been there when there was just one Oasis class ship, I can't imagine two at the same time!

I had to really zoom in with my camera, but you can tell it's an Oasis class, and below, that it's Coco Cay. 

Finally we went in and....ended up at the same table with the same chef/server! How?! 

I feel funny taking food pictures, especially when there's others close by. I have nothing written down about this night. This might have been the night we the cool couple who had lived on a commune in northern BC during the 70s. This restaurant reminds me of the main dining rooms, where you meet other couples and it can either be really awkward, or a lot of fun. I wish I had taken more notes, and photos!!

At 8:00 we went to The Grounds club to await our adventure. Chris didn't show up, but The Foodie did only his fedora wasn't really yellow. We seemed to be a very big group. As we were walking towards the bow, we passed another large group coming the other way. The Foodie joked about them "not going to or from a secret event" LOL. We were led downstair and down the stateroom corridor past the spa. At the end of the corridor, we were told we were going into crew territory, and to stay very quiet as crew work and sleep at all hours. It was strangely smelly but so cool. We went down halls and to a little room. We were instructed that we had to put our phones into locked pouches, so no pictures! I did have my camera with me but it wouldn't fit. They said it was okay but that I must not take pictures. So I didn't! 

We were led into a little bar/club area with seats, right at the very bow of the ship! Like, there's the port side and the starboard side touching. Unfortunately we ended up at the back of the group and didn't get a seat. We stood at a bar table, and my ankle was starting to hurt!

Chris came out and put on a great magic show! It was so cool! I can't say more. I was just so thrilled to be there. At the end, they led us back to the Spa and we dispersed--we didn't walk back together like the other group. Maybe they were going to a different secret event?

I really wanted to go to the theater show--Persephone and it started at 9pm, so we didn't have a lot of time--but it is a small ship, with no crowds, and we only needed to go up a deck. We missed it earlier and heard that it was spectacular, and unique to Resilient Lady. This ship didn't have the Dual Reality show which I had heard great things about, but I hadn't heard about this show. 

We got to the Red Room and discovered it's a standing show. You actually stand IN the show, actually. 

It's a story about Persephone. It is an interesting show! Good vs evil, expectations vs destiny. Warning, like Lola's Library, the show is geared to an adult-only audience!!

Photos are actually in reverse order, so below was while we were waiting for it to start, I believe. 

Shows are not long on Virgin, but very action filled. My ankle was sore and I'm glad we didn't have to stand longer. It ended at about 10pm, and I was determined to go to Stargazers at 10:30pm.  We probably had pizza while we waited LOL.

I had wondered how this was going to work. It was at The Dock, on deck 7 and much of it is sort of covered. Up on the top deck is that giant day bed and the trampoline net. How would we see anything?

We got there early and got a lounger. This was the view looking up. I was actually surprised how much sky we could see looking out the back of the ship. I had sort of forgotten you could look "away" and not just up!

This is a cool event. The lights are all off, there's piped in nature noises, the two hosts are calm as they tell stories about the constellations. They don't actually point out the constellations, and I forgot to take my star map that I had made sure to pack so that we could see the different constellations while at sea!!

I know this doesn't show much, but we could see quite a bit. Well, Rob did fall asleep of course. I think we stayed out there for a while longer, it was such a nice way to end the trip.