Pan Am Games ~ After Our Event

As we left our venue we walked outside to a light rain falling.  There were lots of activities at the venue we were at and we decided to enjoy them in spite of the rain!  We passed these large Muskoka chairs and stopped for a photo op.

By this time the rain had picked up and it was coming down pretty hard.  Silly me had trusted the weather forecast that said it wasn’t supposed to rain before 5:00 so I’d chosen to leave our umbrellas in the car.  At this point I was regretting this decision a bit lot! LOL!  Oh well, we decided it was all part of our adventure and made the best of it.  That’s the way we roll!  I could see numerous people wearing rain ponchos advertising 2 different locations so we went to each of them but unfortunately they were both out.  Oh well, we did pick up a free t-shirt to share with a friend. 

When it started to pour we decided to hang out in a vendor’s tent…with 200 of our newest friends.  People were in a festive mood and it was still a fun place to be in spite of the weather.  There was a great band that continued to play across the way and Hannah decided it was dancing time!

The rain would come and go but what it also meant was that many people left and we were able to enjoy the activities with little to no wait.  (That’s one thing we have experienced a couple of times this past year.  When we’re willing to wait out the rain it means we have opportunities to enjoy outdoor activities with smaller crowds.   The same thing happened at Blizzard Beach last year.) 

The neat thing is that the events that were available in this location were free as are many things throughout the city in celebration of the Games.  Quite a treat!!  While we waited out the rain Hannah enjoyed a free ice cream

and then we waited in a short line at a Coke kiosk that was giving away personalized cans of Coke that we labelled ourselves.   There was still a bit of a line for this in spite of the rain so I asked the guy helping us what the crowds had been like at other times when the weather was nice.  He shared that on the weekend their line-up averaged 2 hours!  Yikes!!  I know we wouldn’t have waited 2 hours in spite of the neat treat at the end.

We had the opportunity to pose with a Pan Am torch.

While I took advantage of a phone charging station and watched the games on a big screen,  Hannah played in their kids activity area below the screen

and then coloured for as long as she could.  She was here for more than 30 mins and would have stayed longer if we hadn’t wanted to catch an upcoming train.

(LOL – funny story here!  At one point Hannah had to go to the bathroom so we made our way to the line-up of porta potties.  After she went I said we needed to go outside to use the portable sinks that were set up there.  Her comment was, ‘Mommy, we can just use that sink behind you!’  NO!   I had to quickly let her know that that wasn’t a ‘sink’.  You can tell she’s never had a dad to take her into the men’s room.  Heh…sure am glad I didn’t send her in there alone!!!)

We had a great time at the CIBC Pan Am Park and created many wonderful memories during our dance in the rain!

Since we hadn’t had much for lunch and it was almost suppertime we decided to hop off the train after 1 stop and go to one of our favourite restaurants for supper.  Mmmm…Lone Star!

When we left the restaurant I snapped a picture that just made me giggle.  You need to know that due to the games traffic routes and parking changes are in place all over the city, and I think they’re taking these changes really seriously.   This is a Brinks truck that I watched be given a ticket by a local law enforcement officer because they were in a ‘no stopping’ zone.  I thought those things could stop wherever they wanted but I guess I was wrong!  At least we know they have the cash to pay the ticket!

We took a round about route back to the train station as I’d heard the Pan Am flame was located somewhere near the CN Tower.  Sure enough it was! 

As we began our walk back to the train station a local pedi-cab was offering free rides, another promotion being offered by the Pan Am organization.  We decided to take advantage of this fun treat and ride in style the few blocks back to the station.

We had a great day from start to finish and loved all the time together.  Our ride home on the train was one filled with reliving the day and sharing stories together with my sweet, amazing girl!  We are loving our vacation time and all the together time it offers.  So thankful for my job which allows me lots of time off with my girl!