Sunday, June 11, 2023. “Daddy, I’m hungry.” Hmm…there’s no food in this condo. I guess we better fix that.

After briefly discussing our options, we settled on something that should have been obvious. Our first truly Canadian experience: a trip to Tim Horton’s for breakfast! Yes, the same one where we picked up our condo key, only this time we went inside and placed an order. Amber and I each got a breakfast sandwich and a donut, and we both agree: the sandwiches were fine, but the donuts were pretty tasty, especially their sour cream glazed.

Now fully fueled, our next stop was Loblaws for some early trip snacks and breakfast items. As we explored the store and overloaded a small shopping basket, I wondered to myself: Are these prices any good? Who cares! We’re on vacation. We left the store to discover it had started raining steadily. Luckily we didn’t have too far to go to get back to our condo building.

The main item on our agenda for the day was a Toronto Blue Jays game against the Minnesota Twins, but it wasn’t until the afternoon. We decided we had enough time for a trip to Ripley’s Aquarium which was also convenient because it’s right next to the Rogers Centre. It’s a pretty modern place with a lot of fun displays, but the best part for me was the glass tunnels that take you through the main tank on a moving walkway. They also had a tank where guests get to touch stingrays, at least in theory. In reality, most of the rays swim too deep for anyone to reach, but we did each get to cop a feel at least. (I didn’t feel too bad about the abbreviated attempt, as this is something we did get to do in Chicago not that long ago.)

After the aquarium it was time to cross the plaza for the baseball game, but not until after we grabbed a humorous picture for the CN Tower virtual cache. We were supposed to take a picture of ourselves at ground zero, with the observation level of the tower (but not the needle) and something to prove today’s date visible in the photo. How did we do?

While I didn’t love that the tickets were handled through TicketMaster, I much preferred the entry experience of NFC readers rather than scanning barcodes like we’re used to at American Family Field in Milwaukee. Once inside the stadium, we decided to keep lunch simple – chicken strips, french fries, nachos, and of course, poutine! We used the people mover ramp to get up to the 500 level and find our seats about a third of the way up in the top section on the third base side of the infield. Not bad seats for a spur of the moment purchase a few months ago.

Now what about that poutine? The fries were fine, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with gravy on fries. But the addition of the fresh-not-fried cheese curds that were slightly warm…well, we didn’t love it. Perhaps poutine is better when it’s not served from the concession stand at a baseball game? Or maybe it’s just not for us. Either way, we made up for it with popcorn and ice cream later in the game, and those were a hit.

Amber decided she wanted to score the game, so she bought a program and did the first inning or two. Then she asked Mackenzie to to give it a try, and I think that really helped her stay interested in the game. The three of us took turns scoring, though we missed a little bit in the middle while we at our ice cream. Ellie didn’t seem that interested in the game, but she was happy with the steady supply of baseball snacks. Though she did protest a bit about how long it took for us to get some popcorn.

As for the game itself, it turned out to be a pretty good one. We’re not exactly Blue Jays fans, but it was fun to root for the home team in their own stadium. Unfortunately, that was a bit challenging early on. The Jays starter had a rough first inning, with the first six Twins batters reaching base safely before a strike out and a double play ended the inning. By that time they were already down four runs. Both teams traded runs during the middle innings, and the game entered the bottom of the eight with the Twins up 6-4. The Jays must have decided they really didn’t want to get swept in the series, because they led off the bottom of the inning with two singles before a big fly gave them the lead for good and ultimately sent the hometown fans home happy.

Once we got back to the condo, we decided to keep it simple for dinner and make another attempt at the restaurant in the adjacent building. This time I made a reservation, but I don’t think we really need it. The food was pretty tasty, and I got to watch the winning putt on the fourth playoff hole of the Canadian Open. A Canadian won it for the first time in nearly 70 years. This may be the only time in my life I ever found watching golf to be exciting.