Toronto, Final Leg of the ’11 Road Trip
Dateline July 30, 2011, the finale of my summer road trip, the big Caribana parade. Caribana is a three week festival held every July celebrating Caribbean culture. It ends with a humongous, a million plus, masqueraders dancing down Lakeshore Blvd. The parade runs about ten hours with “bands” split up in several sections. Each band and section have their own music and hundreds of “players” dancing in masquerade costumes. There is a rhyme and reason for the set-up, but in the end, thousands of people walking miles and miles, dancin’ with each other in formats that you will not believe.
Pre-parade events included an “all white” boat cruise around Lake Ontario. So glad I packed a white top/skirt, just need to buy the white shoes (found in Chinatown). Before the cruise, I had my first “trunk-orama” party aka “tailgating”. So funny, we went to the nearby grocery to pick up a few things, and we looked so “Miami Vice”. The food was de-lish, the drinks, well mix it up and drink it. Then we went to the boat for some bumpin’ and grindin’. Let me just say, I’m not a bump n’ grind girl, but it was a ton of fun. It was a long night, well early morning before we got home.
I got to do something fun on parade day, take a boat ride to the harbor, what fun! It didn’t take us very long to meet-up with the family and as usual, my aunt packed a great lunch (roti chicken) for us. The parade started somewhere around 11 am and we left at 5 pm. The day was really fun; eat, drink, eat, drink… and they sure like to see me drink (when they are not looking, the drink is poured out).
To wrap-up the trip, day 1- drove to Punxustawney, PA (900 miles), Days 2-4 NYC (200 miles), days 5-6 New Britain, CT (100), days 7-11 Toronto (500), day 12 back to Iowa via Michigan, Indiana and Illinois (900). I left at 4 am and was back in Ankeny at 6 pm with one pit stop, Michigan to pick blueberries. Not sure what I’m going to do with the berries, but for now, it’s in the freezer.
I got a lot accomplished in 12 days, saw a lot, did a lot, mended fences, secured a few fences all while thinking of Dad and wishing for just one more trip. Honestly, this trip was Priceless. Thanks everyone for cheering me along the 3000 mile journey.
Chat Later,
That Girl, Ann Marie
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