Reports from the trip East:
We had a great time. Definitely wound up being the party vacation - next week will hopefully be the relaxing one! I'm heading to S'toon tonight and Kamsack tomorrow before rolling into GV on Sunday. I have to plan a two-day excursion to Dauphin. I'm hoping either to bike there and back with an overnight stay or do a day trip out and back to Wasagaming from Dauphin (the highway is better through the Park). Have to pick up the rental car at Avis after work today and FLY! I'm also missing Shawn and Jeanette's Jack and Jill party on Saturday night....another missed social engagement...
Saturday night, Sept. 20th. Met up with Greg and Marion at Spulombo's in Kensington for dinner. Had a great visit there and during intermission at the Ballet. They even gave us a ride home! 'The Four Seasons' started slow but became more and more active to the end. Ended up with a standing ovation - the first I've seen at the Jubilee. How could you not give Rex Harrington a standing ovation anyways - he's SO sexy! 'The Firebird' was what I would call a 'mega production'. The costumes were so flourishy and huge - colors flying everywhere. It was a great show, if only for the settings and costumes. No, the ballet itself was really good too, if not a bit complicated when there are 30 dancers on the stage at one time. We made it home, changed quickly and headed to Sean and Nancy's for the birthday party. Most people left as soon as we got there, around 11:30. The rest stayed until Nancy kicked us out around 1:30. Doug stayed the night at the apartment.
Flew into Toronto on Sept 21. Rented a car at Pearson and went to Bob's place. We got ready, stopped for dinner and drinks at a few places on College (Diplomatico and ???) and went to Lotus for the new 'Boys Life' night. very cool bar - crowd wasn't very big or beautiful. Apparently the crowd was MUCH improved on the 28th, according to Bob.
It rained all day Monday. Bob, Juan, Joe and I went for brunch at a greasy spoon in CabbageTown. Joe and I drove around town, just doing some sightseeing through the windows. We stopped at a comic book store, etc. among other places. Checked out the renovations at 5ive - Bob's brother is co-owner. I ran from Bob's place to the Lakeshore in the evening. Still raining - ripped up my nipples through the wet shirt. Next time I wore the UnderArmour lycra shirt underneath - much better *mental reminder*.
Monday night we hung around Bob's place with beer and Absolutely Fabulous.
Tuesday Bob, Joe and myself headed to Niagara Falls. Had a great day walking around. Bob and I went on the Maid of the Mist. Then we hopped in the car and did the Wine Country tour. Finally stopped at one Joe wanted to check out around 5:07 (Stoney Creek) and they were already closed, so we hurried back to Cave Springs winery and did some taste testing - bought a bottle of Ice Wine for ourselves, and a bottle of Late Harvest Riesling for both Sean and Nancy and Bob.
Got back to Toronto - went to a Lebanese diner on Bloor for dinner with Bob and Juan. Headed down to the Village. Met Natasha at Zelda's and went to club (name?) across the street for the remainder of the evening.
Left TO around 11am on Wed morning heading to Quebec City. Got caught in rush hour on the #40 in Montreal. Lost a few minutes there but we had to stop for gas anyways. Rolled into QC around 7pm. Got a room at the Best Western and spent the evening in the room - ordered in, sex in the whirlpool tub all night....definitely needed some downtime. We talked to Jerome tonight and he informed me the gay QC clubs were all centralized on St-Jean. Not too far away, and we did see where they were in the morning, however we were exhausted.
In the morning I got up for a run. Ran up to the Old City and worked my way down to the riverbank. Had to run the stairs back up at the west end of the Plains of Abraham - that put any stairs in Calgary to shame! Did a walk/run around the old city before returning to the hotel to get Joe up and check out. We walked around the Old City for a few hours before it started to rain again. Left QC around 2:30 pm. Rolled into Montreal around 6-6:30. Went up to the top of Mount Royal for a few minutes, then met up with Jerome at his place around 7pm. We sat around for a few beers and Joe and I headed to the Village around 10pm. Ended up at Parking in the later hours. We sat at Le Stud for a few hours as well watching the strippers. Beautiful Mathieu from 'So Gay TV' was there with a bunch of his beautiful friends - didn't see the boyfriend around anywhere though. The crowd at Parking was eclectic. Very weird mix - lots of women as well.
Friday we went shopping on Ste-Catherine - hit Simon's - bought new jeans, pants, lycra shirt. New shoes at Stoneridge. Joe bought a new clothes at Simon's and Mexx. Headed to the Village. Tried a new rubber suit at Northbound Leather. It fit perfectly, but was $500. For that amount I'm going to special order what I want! I've decided the next big purchase is another bondage balloon or vacuum bed anyways. If I'm going to spend that amount of money, I want my rubber to be encasing! Joe was pretty pissed at me over this, since it took nearly and hour to don and doff the suit. It was worth it though!
Friday night Jerome, Joe and I met up with Karen Connolly, her friend from Calgary Camille, Jorge and Miguel at Laika. We had a lot of fun there before heading back downtown to Unity II for some dancing. It wasn't very busy on the main floor but the room upstairs was PACKED. We basically shut the place down.
Saturday Jerome, Joe and I walked down St-Denis to the Village. Joe stopped at Woodstock to get gifts for Amber and Allison. Stopped at Cafe Europeen for food - checked out some more men's clothing stores. Didn't buy anything though.
Saturday night we headed back down to the Village. Sky sucked, BackTraxx blew, so we ended up at Parking again - not too bad, a little older shirtless crowd. The most gay crowd we'd seen all week.
Went to the Pines for the third brunch there since we'd been in Mtl on Sunday morning. Got the 'Merman' painting wrapped up and paid for and said goodbye to Jerome around 2pm. Headed into Toronto and got to Natasha, Erin, and Laura's around 7pm. The entire household was sick with the cold, so we hung out with them for the evening and smoked some of the ganja we picked up in Montreal.
Monday Joe and I went shopping again. Paid our parking tickets, bought some underwear at the Bay, checked out stores on Yonge, Queen (including Mallabar for costumes/dance clothes - there's NOTHING there anymore!), and Church. Bought some shoes at the Aldo Factory outlet, gifts for Sean and Nancy at Urban Outfitters, toured around Eaton Center.
Met up with Bob and Juan, went to Le Petit Liban on Church for Joe's b-day dinner. Great meal, they even presented Joe's baklava with a sparkler for his b-day. Took Joe home. Bob, Juan and I smoked the last joint and went to Woody's.
Got up in the morning, said our goodbyes to the girls, promising them a night out in Calgary when they come out for Christmas. The checkin at the airport went very smoothly. I slept the entire flight home. Spent the rest of Tuesday unpacking and checking email.
Things with Joe went okay. He's a horrible passenger and navigator on long trips, so I've discovered. We got really bitchy at each other once in awhile, usually when hungover and/or tired. Definitely a better experience than the last few months have been.
We've decided to renew our apartment lease for another year so I guess things are staying the way they are for the time being.