Toronto - Day 4

A lot of us attended the pageant of the newly installed Imperial Potentate, Imp. Sir George Mitchell. It was an extravagant affair.

Carrie and I finally were able to take some time and visit Casa Loma, which was built in the early 1900's by a local millionaire, who was able to live in the castle for less than 15 years prior to losing his entire fortune.

The History Channel was on the grounds filming scenes for an upcoming miniseries about The Kennedy's (starring Greg Kinear and Katie Holmes). It was very cool seeing the actors dressed in early 1900's clothes. They actually had the genuine 1924 v-16 Cadillac that Joe Kennedy had custom ordered and shipped to England. A local car enthusiast had the car in his collection for many years and allowed the movie to use the vehicle. What a beauty.

The Castle was gorgeous with its underground tunnels, incredible gardens and even an unfinished indoor pool, that looks eerily familiar to the one at the Masonic Temple in Detroit (both ran out of money prior to finishing the pools).

After all that walking and returning to the hotel, we both chilled for a while, I actually got a leg massage from the spa to rejuvenate my soaring legs (Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!).

In the evening, there was a large group who had previously made plans to attend The Jersey Boys and they departed around 5 P.M. Carrie and I purchased tickets to the Blue Jays/Minnesota Twins game and left to attend. The Rogers Centre is about 2 miles from the hotel and a decent ballpark. The attendance was less than 15000 people, and we had great seats behind home plate. Of course we were rooting against the Twins, and they ended up losing to the Jays, and the Tigers beat the Orioles, so we are 1 1/2 games in the lead this morning.

Did I mention that we saw an inside the park home run by Jose Bautista, it was great. This is the 2nd time I witnessed the feat and both times have been outside of Detroit. The first time was Dave Hulse of the Milwaukee Brewers against the NY Yankees at the old Yankee Stadium. So I at least got that to add to my list of baseball achievements.

We returned to the hotel to find many of our guests coming back from their many ventures, all in good spirits and all appearing to have had a great time. I turned in early, since I knew I was driving back to Detroit today.

Thursday: Attend the final portion of the Convention, taking care of a few pieces of legislation, checking out of the hotels, packing/loading and Departing. However, the final piece for many of us will be a stop between Toronto and London at a small castle that has been transformed into a restaurant, for a lite dinner. Then back home.

I was talking to Carrie last night about her thoughts, and both her and I are elated over the outcome. We had three dedicated Nobles who worked very hard to ensure a great hospitality room, including the truly Best Chief Aide any Potentate could ever be blessed with having on board. I had many of our guests share their thanks for the great week and for all the information and efforts that were done to make their lives as easy as possible. I truly believe that we have shown all the other Temples who visited how gracious and how proud we are to be part of Moslem Shriners.

As we prepare to depart this beautiful city of Toronto and look back at all the preparations, which began in March 2007 with our first site visit, I am so proud of all our Shriners, and am very happy for the results. I look forward to Carrie and I attending next year's Convention, which will be held in Denver, Colorado. I know that the Imp. Council Team are working very hard to make it even a better success, which they will have no problem in accomplishing.