A day in Barrie

Today began quite relaxed, we were in no rush to get into the town of Barrie so everyone was free to sleep in for a little while. This ended up being great timing because the heavy rain from the night before pounded on the indoor roof very late into the night, keeping many people awake. Around 11:00, we shuttled cars into Barrie to take the teams to the lakefront craft festival. There, we enjoyed Canadian delicacies such as maple syrup, beaver tail (a sweet desert item), and poutine (french fries covered with gravy and cheese).  The US team had just enough time to stop at a small restaurant for salads and drinks before heading off to 5-pin bowling at 2pm.

Luckily we had shifted our campsite indoors for the night!

 We, like the Kiwi’s and the Aussie’s, had never tried the 5-pin version of the common 10-pin American game. Just as the name hints, the game has 5 smaller pins instead of 10 and the ball used is considerably smaller with no finger holes. Luckily, the rest is pretty much the same! All teams enjoyed the fact that it was much easier to throw the ball and nobody’s fingers were sore by the end of the game.

Team USA in front of Lake Simcoe.

Finally, we headed back to the farm where we were pleasantly surprised to find that the power had returned– which meant cell phones could be charged and showers/toilets could be used.

The hosts cooked us a fabulous dinner and the teams are settled back in for the evening. At dinner, each team gave the hosts their presents as a huge thank you for all the hard work they have put forth to making this exchange possible!

Happy Team USA

Tomorrow we look forward to returning to Barrie for the beach and then heading to the Blue Mountain resort where we will spend the next few days. We plan to explore the outdoors with some hiking and look forward to zip lining on the ecotour. To wrap up the week, we head back into Toronto and St. Michaels and do some more touring of the city before our scramble competition on Saturday!