So!
Thursday
Thursday was a travel day for me. My SO had worked the night before and was just getting home and into bed, so we talked a bit in the morning, as per our new schedule. I left the house in time to walk to the station to catch the train into NYC. The trip was easy and the train crowded, but I'm glad I took the earlier train as opposed to waiting for the off-peak train 20 minutes later. I transferred to the bus to LaGuardia at the Harlem station. The bus ride was uncomfortable and much longer than I would have hoped, but I still made it to the airport right on time. I made it through security fairly quickly, save for choosing the wrong shirt (metal studs... why??), and the gate was pretty empty compared to the last time I'd been there. I got onto the plane without issue and we left almost right on time. This, for Air Canada, is a feat in and of itself. We arrived about 10 minutes later than anticipated due to backups at Toronto Pearson, but I'd built in plenty of time to get to the train, so no problem.
I arrived at Union Station with about an hour to spare before my train departed. There was a nice seating area right next to where my train was set to board. When the rest of the passengers and I went to get on the train, we had to go up an escalator to the tracks above and go get on the train there... and we did the logical thing and went forward when we exited the escalator, but this, apparently, was not the train we needed, and finally someone was sent out to direct us to the correct train-- BEHIND the escalator, and not on the track we were boarding on (which was under construction).
While I was on the train, I was absolutely STARVING, as I'd only had a granola bar, a pack of pretzels (courtesy of Air Canada), and a ginger ale (also AC) all day. I ended up seated next to a group of 5 people who proceeded to pull out the most delicious smelling breads as we departed, and I remember messaging Brendan about how hungry it was making me. As if they knew, the woman seated next to me turned to me and asked, "And how about you? Would you like a piece?" after they'd finished cutting pieces for themselves, and although normally I'd be too polite to accept, I was REALLY hungry and sheepishly said yes. They were so nice to me and gave me a couple slices and a cupcake throughout the trip. I said to Brendan, "I came to your country hungry, and I was fed." Go Canada.
I finally arrived at the station around 6:45 in the evening. The station was small, but larger than the other stops along the way. Brendan said he was waiting in the car, as he didn't want to pay for parking, but I didn't know where to go once I was in the station. I texted him, "Where do I go?" and he stopped responding. I kept looking at my phone waiting for him to answer, expecting him to tell me to leave through a certain door or something, but instead I heard a familiar voice say "Hello!" and I looked up to see my wonderful boyfriend coming towards me. We hugged for a little bit and then headed back out to the car, and then he took me to get some dinner at a Five Guys nearby.
Friday
Friday was one of our "free" days. Brendan made breakfast for us and we mostly just hung out all day. Unfortunately, Brendan wasn't feeling well for most of the day, in part because he was still adjusting off of his night schedule, and he ended up taking a 3 hour midday nap. We were able to spend the evening watching movies and cuddling, though, which was nice. We also went to the grocery store to get some cupcake mix for the 4th and some dinner (pizza).
Saturday
July 1st! Canada Day! Canada turns 150 this year, and EVERY store is selling something to commemorate it. Brendan's mom left some Canada flags, pins, tattoos, and glow sticks on my bed for me when I arrived, and Brendan and I did our best to dress up in the most obnoxious Canadiana we could find.
After a family breakfast, we met up with some family friends and headed out to London to go to the sesquicentennial celebration. The weather did not hold out and we ended up standing huddled together in the rain for nearly 3 hours while we waited in line for the sesquidome (link!). It was REALLY cool to see once we got in, though, and Brendan and I both got a little teary-eyed at some parts. The only thing we wish they would have done is varied the directionality of the film-- you wouldn't think this would be a problem in a 360 degree film, but there was usually a very clear "front" to everything, and Brendan and I happened to be positioned so we were facing the opposite direction, so we had to twist around to see the action in many of the shots. Still, it was a really cool experience, and it gave us an excuse to cuddle in public for a few hours.
As we left sesquifest, the skies started to clear up, and we ended up going out to dinner with the family friends. The food was great and they had some of the best sweet potato fries I've ever had. Then we went home to get changed into our beach-going gear and headed out to Grand Bend, right on Lake Huron, to watch the fireworks. Brendan took me up and down the boardwalk for a little bit, but the place was PACKED and we weren't so interested in going into many places at the time. He bought me an ice cream and we sat and talked for a little bit while I ate it. Then on our way back to the beach, he bought us smoothies and got himself a commemorative cup.
Being the person I am, naturally I spilled my smoothie all over my dress and chair as soon as we got back to the beach. Fortunately it wasn't made with anything more than fruits and some milk, so it wouldn't stain, but there were big globs of it all over me. I ended up basically showering with my clothes in in those places where you wash off the beach sand. I kept a good attitude about it, though, and I think Brendan and his parents felt worse about it than I did. We were able to save about half my smoothie and I finished it when I got back.
We put on the glow sticks that Brendan's mom had left for us and held hands as we watched the sun set to music from a band that was playing at the nearby stage. We all sang along as we waited for the fireworks. The lake was so calm and the horizon was filled with boats from locals who came out to watch. The fireworks show was pretty good and they made sure to end it with all red and white fireworks to represent Canada. All-in-all, it was quite a treat and I'm glad I was able to be there for it.
Sunday
On Sunday we decided to go to the Pinery Provincial Park, a campground/nature reserve with great trails and beaches on Lake Huron, right next to Grand Bend. We packed a picnic lunch and left it in the car for the first hour or so while we walked around the park and visited the gift shop and visitor center. Brendan and I talked as we went and he showed me the different trees in the area. Once we were done, we grabbed our lunch from the car and sat at a picnic table under the pavilion near the gift shop and ate together. Then we (I say we, but Brendan was pretty obviously biased towards this one) picked a short trail to go for a walk afterwards before we stopped by the beach. The trail was very nice and peaceful with only a few people on it-- really, it was more of a boardwalk along a marshy area, and Brendan is a dork and I love him for it. The beach afterwards was gorgeous! It was really busy and there were lots of dogs, but it was quite sandy with lots of smoothed rocks on the shoreline. Brendan and I found a few shells/fossils among them and gave them to each other as we stuck our feet in the water.
Afterwards we headed back to Grand Bend, which was still crowded but not nearly as crowded as on Canada Day. We walked along the shops looking at things. Our first stop was at the Beaver Tail shop, where I tried my first Beaver Tail (basically fried dough with some kind of topping-- I had the maple/chocolate one). Then we looked at shirts at a shop Brendan liked for a while and I bought a Canada 150 shirt to commemorate the day, as well as a big, comfy long-sleeve shirt that says "Great Lakes" on it, "Unsalted" on the arm, and has a depiction of the great lakes, all labeled, on the back. Brendan's family loves it (and I do, too). Then we went and got ice cream from an ice cream shop and walked down to the beach so I could use the bathroom (sorry, "washroom"), which had a massive line, and then we headed back home to conclude the day.
Monday
Monday was another "day off" for us-- we had another family breakfast and then made our "America Day" cupcakes with the cupcake liners and toothpick flags I'd gotten from the dollar store at home. They came out really cute and we were really excited to share them with everyone. I wanted red velvet for the red, cream cheese frosting (because what goes better with red velvet?), and blueberries on top for the blue.
We spent the rest of the day hanging out together and looking at pictures of Brendan from when he was a kid. We also played a few games-- we played Trouble and then I taught him how to play a card game called Castle that I'd learned in high school with the new deck of cards I'd brought for him. Later in the afternoon we were invited over to the neighbor's house for some drinks on the porch. This neighbor apparently is someone who holds nothing back, but he was apparently quite tame for me that day and I didn't have any trouble with him. We invited them over for dinner and had a lovely rack of ribs and dinner conversation.
That evening when we were deciding what to watch, Brendan said we needed something patriotic since the next day was "America Day," and I jokingly suggested Team America. Brendan thought it was a great idea and we ended up renting it and watching it for the evening. Unfortunately, the ribs didn't agree so well with Brendan and he wasn't feeling very well after it, but we still had a nice night.
Tuesday
AMERICA DAY! We dressed up in the most obnoxious Americana we could find-- I brought a tank, shorts, and a pair of sunglasses from the states with me for Brendan to wear, along with some of my own America-themed things. It was also Brendan's grandmother's birthday, so the family had invited her over to celebrate with us for the day. We went out to lunch for some burgers and fries, then spent the afternoon playing... I don't know what it's called, Brendan's dad just called it "toss the testicles". It was a fun game and Brendan's grandmother and I got along really well. Then we had wings for dinner, which Brendan grilled for us, and we had the cupcakes that we made the day before for dessert. Everyone loved them and I have to agree, they turned out really good. We spent the evening just cuddling and watching shows, enjoying some of our last time together before I had to leave.
Wednesday
Sad day.
Time to go home. Brendan made breakfast for us and then I packed up my things. He took me to the station and came in with me and sat with me until they called boarding for my train. I was a little teary-eyed, but he kept hugging me and kissing me and reminding me that he'll try to come in late August. I waved goodbye to him from the train line as he headed out to the parking lot.The trip home was not very good. The train to Toronto was okay, and the UP express was fine, but everything after wasn't so much fun. I had trouble with one of the border control preclearance kiosks-- first it wouldn't scan my passport, and then when it finally did, the kiosk didn't print a receipt for me. The attendant told me to go to another machine. I did, and I completed it successfully, but it gave me a slip with a big X on it. I was then directed into a line that literally DID NOT MOVE for 20 minutes. Everyone in line was getting agitated. Eventually I just said fuck it and ducked into another line. When I got up to the officer (in about a minute), he told me I was in the wrong line, which was my mistake... but they just directed my to the next open border control officer, where he asked me ONE question ("do you have any checked bags?"), and then sent me on my way. That's IT! That's all it would have taken to send me on my way! I don't know why that particular line was not moving-- the couple who had initially been behind me in the same line skipped over to the one to the left of us and were already through preclearance about 15 minutes into waiting.
Then Air Canada decided that this, my fourth trip with them, was finally the time to demand that I check my bag, which isn't that big of a deal, just annoying. I'm lucky that I didn't have somewhere to be right after the plane landed, though. The plane was delayed about 20 minutes after we boarded due to congestion, and we arrived about 15 minutes late. When I went to get my ticket for the bus, I discovered that somehow my metrocard had gotten demagnetized or something and kept reading as "invalid" when I went to pay, so I had to buy a new one. The bus ride was really... scary. Definitely a New York driver. :/ I ended up getting off a stop early and walking the extra 2 blocks to the train station. Thankfully the train ride was fine, and the walk home from the station was uneventful. I made it home around 8pm and was finally able to relax.
Overall I had a great time in Canada and I, of course, can't wait to see my SO again. My mom is planning a family vacation in late August and we are hoping that he will be able to get some time off from work (he is part time anyway, not a big deal for him) to come visit for about a week around that time. Fingers crossed!
I hope he gets the time off so you can see each other again soon <3