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Every once in a while, our family sets out to explore something, or somewhere new-to-us, and this day - our spontaneous day's event turned out to be spectacular!
This year, our big event timetable was most interesting as it was an impulsive idea during my husband's vacation timing (what shall we do today, our one and only day no one has some other commitment) , and happened to end up being the morning after most of southern and central Ontario had the most alarming and dangerous lightning show, with several tornadoes touching down in the tornado warning's wake across an entire lower province span of many, many miles.
The day was going to be great. The weather was supposed to be warm and sunny, except for the occasional black, passing, and spitting cloud. We knew though if rain fell upon us, we could quickly dip into one of the many buildings and allow it to pass. No matter, the activity would be trying if it didn't meet with success by all.
Sitting areas were a must, distances away from parking lots had to include an easy walk to the event gateway, something of a challenge seeing how we had not yet been to this two week summer event before. Still, we were hoping all would be just fine.
A few very dark clouds never ruined the day, just a wee bit of rain was all, misty and very light.
It was a fine day. It really was delightful and very fine.
Off we traveled towards downtown Toronto to attend the 133rd birthday anniversary of the great "CNE" (Canadian National Expedition), an event we had always heard of but weren't all that eager to experience unless we could convince our children the rides weren't the only part of the festivities while there.
Having "Wonderland" so close by to this expedition, rides were plentiful there if one only wished to partake of those. And we've already been there before. So, on the horizon this day was the CNE.
There were rides, and then there were also plenty of other assorted interesting items we all very much enjoyed.
He's getting quite bold, shown here on the "Zipper", a ride which his sister would not accompany him.
But, she did accompany him on almost every other single ride, boarded here and there all during the day and evening ahead. They were quite a pair this brother and sister, both having an incredibly great and memorable time together. We had fun watching them, and the best part overall were barely any lineups at each ride. Probably the storm the night before deterred many folks.
One security guard told us he had videotaped lightning hitting some of the rides and of course the CN tower many times. He said he and fellow colleagues had counted some 1500 lightning bolts per minute, up to 20,000 on their afternoon shift alone. The skies lite up and it appeared as though daylight was at hand, very freaky was the expression of the night.
And the sun shone the rest of the day...
We attended a magnificent ice skating show with performers galore; vocalists singing all the songs live, skaters performing to the tunes, and even some aerial acts combined with the skaters. Wow, almost akin to the "Cirque to Soleil", no doubt.
This gal was smitten by the Royal Horse Show Palace where once each year, a famous agricultural fair and horse show worthy of worldwide attention is held here called "The Royal Fair".
Although it wasn't opened to the public this day, the doors were unlocked and with others doing the same thing, we helped ourselves to a tour inside. :)
After hearing so much in the way of horse loving hoopla about this fair, at last, the "Royal" will be here again in just three weeks, so our girls very much hope to get there for the first time this year.
Other tidbits;
- The "Food Channel" had a booth, and those real live chefs featured on their shows were there cooking live.
- A half hour "Super Dogs Show", and then meeting all of the dogs afterwards.
- Several buildings were linked featuring; an International Market, live entertainment from around the world, a fabulous food court, displays galore, and a luxurious (ohhh-la-la) 20 minute shiatsu back massage and foot reflexology was mine compliments of my hubby.
- All of the crafting entries were interesting, and it was here our youngest daughter took note of the possibilities of entering our local fall fair next month. She is going to show her bunny, very sweet.
- The agricultural and animal buildings were loaded with live animals, and many interesting exhibits.
- The Mardi Gras parade was so much fun, short as it was. We ended up with six necklaces which had been tossed in the air us to catch.
- Live entertainment was plentiful. When darkness fell, my hubby and I took our seats to watch an up and coming country entertainer who was going to be assisting in the CMT awards. For some reason I simply cannot remember his name! ugh... He was a great musician and wonderful singer playing a large genre filled playlist. The audience rewarded them with rounds of clapping.
The evening ended with a clear sky, and warmth enough to see us comfortable. As the children continued again towards the rides, all agreed it had sure been a stellar day.
The adventures for our family "in the east" continue with fond moments of goodness and fun pleasures. This day afforded us all the action of the CNE. And now that this has already been experienced, we'll just stick with our little country fall fair in the future. We came, we saw, we had enough and then happily departed with many memories to remember this day always.
