Phew! My team of young girls and I got quite the crash course in Toronto and its landmarks this weekend as we took part in the Amazing Race: Toronto. This event was a girls only scavenger hunt organized by a local Ryerson grad.
The morning of the race, we arrived bleary eyed and uncoordinated at Union Station to discover teams who showed up in matching outfits from purple stripey legwarmers to colour coded headgear. We and another group of friends formed 2 of the youngest teams there. Our team also had the slight disadvantage that their chaperone (me) aint exactly street savvy when it comes to downtown Toronto.
Anyway, armed with a transit pass, street maps, our dying Tom Tom and my dear husband's smart phone we were off interpreting clues and rushing from one landmark to another . Some of our pitstops were Toronto's first post office, St Lawrence Market, the Hockey Hall of Fame (well the food court part) as well as Platform 9 3/4 on the Spadina University subway line. Weird and wonderful activities at each point included handling chocolate eggs with chopsticks, solving logic puzzles and downing a whole can of whipped cream. We rose to 3rd place despite 'team red headscarf' jumping into a taxi ahead of us at one point.
Our downfall was (the chaperone) misreading a clue that took us to U of T instead of the 'other' great institution, Ryerson. Nevertheless we were enthusiastically cheered on by the winning teams and the awesome organizers at Nathan Phillips Square as we trudged into last place. Our friends in the other tween team had made it ahead of us. So as we headed home on the train, our limbs were weary but our spirits were not: determined to 'bring it' for the next Amazing Race!
