Okay, this is going to have to be a quick one because I have a lot to catch up and we owe a lot of people a lot of thank yous!

Adrian and I know like zero people in the states (notable exceptions, you know who you are), so the 6 weeks we spent there consisted of a lot of us being lonely and wondering where we were going to stay and what we should do. It wasn’t bad lonely aimlessness. In fact, it was exactly that which led to some of our best adventures. But as soon as we got to Ontario, we became overwhelmed with the sheer amount of friends available to us.

Friends Part One: Kingston

Upon arrival, we did not know a single person in Kingston, but after 20 minutes of facebook in the Tim Hortons where we had a long overdue iced capp, we had a place to stay, contact info for a handful of friends of friends to party with, and a very long todo list that mostly consisted of WOLFE ISLAND WOLFE ISLAND WOLFE ISLAND!!!!

Here are the thankyous for Kingston…

1. To the residents of The Bey Hive. Thank you for letting us temporarily destroy your already mostly destroyed living room. It was SO COMFY. Nick, thanks for doing the coordinating with us stuff and making sure we were all set all the time. Sarah, thank you for letting us in the house on those two very odd occasions. To Meryl, thank you for that excellent piece of foam. Seriously, I’ve never experienced foam so excellent before. And finally, to Adam… we didn’t get to talk much, but you’re lovely and I hope you make it out sailing soon, if not sooner. 
2. To Oliver and Rachael. Thank you for taking us out on the town and showing us a good time. Sorry we didn’t end up seeing you again.
3. To the Kingston Yacht Club. Thank you for not noticing that Nick was letting people he just met and had never seen actually sail before take out one of your boats unsupervised. We really, really appreciated that. It was a sweet time. 
4. To the guy who befriended us on the street and took us to a really cool antique store. Thank you for being awesome. 

Friends Part Two: Unionville

Since we had an extra few days before Way Home festival, Adrian decided to indulge my nostalgic desires and we made a stop in the Toronto suburb that was briefly my home when I was a very small person.

I met my very first best friend in my backyard in this place. Shortly after moving in, my mom and I were out playing when Chris, Dan and Erin showed up. Ever since then, that beautiful family has been there for me and my family. On this occasion of my return, nothing had changed. Adrian and I were welcomed into their home with salmon steaks and a bed to sleep in that looked like it belonged in a hotel… a few steps up from the tent and smelly sleeping bags. Basically every room in their house was the fanciest room we’d been in for months and the food was absolutely outstanding the entire time. 10/10- Would stay again!

They even lent us bikes so that I could ride around Main Street and see all my old favourite spots.

Erin and her boyfriend took us to their favourite bar, where I saw an entirely different side of my old home and where we caught up on years and years of missing details.

Friends Part Three: Huntsville

We decided to visit Denby the morning of the day before we left for Huntsville and decided to tell her that we were coming right before we went to bed that night, realizing that might be a good idea. To everyone we’ve stayed with, including Denby, we are so sorry that we cannot possibly alert you to our inevitable arrivals with any reasonable amount of notice. Thank you for dealing with our shit.

Our friend Denby is a total sweetheart and has this badass job collecting zooplankton via canoe in the Huntsville area this summer, so she was always a part of what is loosely referred to as ‘the plan’ and the visit did not disappoint. From the sunset we watched overlooking the whole town with fresh picked raspberries, to pitching our tent behind her super cool home at the Summit Center, the visit lived up to its hype.

Highlights included a hike in Algonquin Park with this killer view

this epic google hangout

and I guess also this festival we went to called Way Home…

Credit to the Way Home facebook page!

…but that’s for the next post. This ended up being not-all-that-quick. As usual. The next one will be a lot more story and a lot less me being overwhelmed by the awesomeness of my friends. But yeah, all you people mentioned here and more. You know who you are. Make sure you know how awesome you are.