Last Saturday was our last opportunity to visit a corn maze, one of those Canadian things you do during the autumn. We’d done apple picking, pumpkin picking and hiking to see the fall colours. Corn maze was last on the list. We gathered together the Aussies and a few Canadians, and set off at 9am.
Enter the Corn Maze
Ben, Dion, Pete, Royden, Glen, Julian and I were in one car, while Phil, Lyndal and Dylan took their own car. Unfortunately Sophia and Katelyn couldn’t make it. We went to Hane’s Corn Maze, which is about an hour and a half outside Toronto. We arrived first and had a bit of a look around, cuddling the three gorgeous kittens that were hanging around and looking at the very small horses. About 15 minutes later, Lyndal, Phil and Dylan arrived and we set off into the maze.
Rather than just head into the maze and try to find our way out, the maze builders had set up things for us to find. The ultimate aim was to find the 17 or so signposts which each had a code on them. We had to collect the codes, get out of the maze and then decipher the message. Glen set off in a very determined fashion, the rest of us straggling along behind as we chatted.
Lyndal and Phil’s four-year-old son Dylan had an awesome time and didn’t let up with the exploration for the whole roughly two hours we were in there. This was helped by Royden bursting out of the corn, but rather than scare him (as he did for a number of us), Dylan just laughed up a storm. Even though we had a map to follow, we quickly became disorientated and instead just meandered around the maze with two of the kittens following us. We found just over half of the codes before deciding, at about 12, that we’d walked far enough and headed to the exit.
Even though we didn’t have all the codes, we were able to decipher the message (Lettuce Eat Healthy) and got to choose a prize. We then had some photos, looked at the animals again and then declared we were hungry and in desperate need of food. We chose yum cha.
In some ways it was the perfect choice, in others not so much. We hit traffic on the drive back in so we didn’t get into Chinatown until 2. We went to Rosewood, our favourite yum cha haunt because it’s quick, easy and cheap, and then proceeded to wait for a while for the food to come out. We were starting to flag, all of us except for the four-year-old. Still, we stuffed our faces and rolled out of there at about four to go home for a nap.
I think I may have got about 15 minutes before I was up and out, heading off to collect Dad and Helen from the airport. I’d hired a Zipcar to make the whole thing easier. Their flight had been delayed a bit, but I didn’t have to wait long once I got there. I shoved them into the car, drove back into Downtown, dropped them at their hotel, returned the car, and raced inside to find people in our house, waiting for me so we could go to Glen and my bachelor’s party.
Celebrating Our Supposed Bachelorhood
Showered, dressed and primped, Ben, Dion, Alastair, Julian, Glen, Royden, Peter and I caught the Subway to Dundas. We’d settled on Joey for dinner as they provided private dining rooms with set menus and a bar all for a reasonable price. We had about 30 people in attendance, and when we rocked up, it was the first time we’d seen a number of them as they’d only just flown in.
We said hello to people, they ordered drinks at the bar and then we were shown into the room, where we quickly and efficiently ordered our food. The staff were excellent, taking all sorts of changes that were thrown at them. The food was really good, drinks were great too, and the night went off without a hitch (although Dad and Helen got lost and showed up an hour late. At least they made it there in the end.).
I had a great time meeting up with people that we hadn’t seen for more than a year. We had photos with everyone (which we must remember to get from Lyndal and Phil as the photos are on their camera), and then, all too sudden, it was 10:30. People began to leave and the next part of the night began.
After a bit of disagreement, we eventually settled on going to Woody’s for some drinks, then to Buddies. There were only about 12 of us by that stage, which was a good number to have traipse around Toronto in search of fun and frivolity. Woody’s didn’t do much for us, but the good thing was Albert came to find us. He arrived from Melbourne at 10ish that night, checked into his hotel, showered and came out to meet us. He managed to last until 2 I think, which was a tremendous effort.
Buddies was next, the music really hit and miss. Kevin got the DJ to make an announcement about our impending marriage, which was very sweet of him. Glen drank a bit much (because people kept buying him drinks) and left at about 1:30 with Bec. Most of us kicked on to Fly 2.0 which had excellent music (and we really should have gone there in the beginning). We managed to last until 3:30 or so, the club having mostly emptied, and we went for food at Hero Burger.
As soon as I’d finished eating (which was about two minutes after getting my food), tiredness hit me and I couldn’t wait to get to bed. We walked as a group for a little way, going past Kevin and Nico’s place and then we dispersed. It was an excellent night, but I was so glad to get to bed.
Travels with Dan 
What do you say, eh?