OK, so I’m not actually in Toronto, but Orangeville, Ontario, covering the Pan American Games for COTH with my co-worker Lisa. The equestrian disciplines are being held at the Caledon Equestrian Park and it’s lovely, but we’re feeling a bit disconnected from the rest of the Pan Ams, most of which are held downtown.

I was a little hesitant leaving my horses behind for two weeks, but how could I pass up the opportunity to visit a city I’ve never been to? Who knew I’d be going to Canada twice in one year?

We arrived on Thursday July 9 and drove out to Orangeville, about an hour and a half from Toronto, to our AirBNB house. I’ve never used AirBNB before, but Lisa has, so I trusted her judgement! We actually met the family before they headed out the door so they could give us a tour. We’re in a neighborhood off the one main street in the town, but it’s quite a maze and both of us have nearly gotten lost when we go walking or running. Each house seems to have it’s own beautiful, unique landscaping too, so I can usually find my way back based on what flowers or sculpture they have in their front yard (is that normal for suburbia? Or is it just me?)

It is really bizarre living in someone’s home–sleeping in their bed, using their kitchen, sitting on their coach. I feel like I’m in an alternate suburban reality and I’m living someone else’s life, or maybe the life I could be living if I didn’t have horses (and in this alternate life, I also have a baby with baby proof cabinets. So annoying!)

When we come back to the house after a long day of work, we make dinner if we haven’t eaten out, do laundry, go walking through the neighborhood, watch TV…I can’t say I’m bored yet even with all that extra time I might be spending riding because of the mostly long days where we come home and want to crash.

Our first full day in Canada was spent finding the horse park, then driving to Toronto to get our press credentials validated at the MPC. It was sort of illogical to have to drive all the way back there because there was no satellite office near the horse park. We were advised not to drive into the city because of traffic, so we took a GoBus from a station about 45 minutes from our house. Well, the buses only run once every hour during the day and the trains only run at rush hour, so we had lots of waiting to do. It took about an hour on the air conditioned coach  to get to Union Station where we then hailed a cab to get to the MPC. Our cab driver was super nice and helpful, find of like every Canadian we’ve come across so far!

We stopped inside the MPC, which was inside a convention center with lots of food, space to work, air conditioning, journalists from other sports…that was our one and only look because we have our own media center on the grounds of the horse park. It would have been fun to talk to other journalists. Ah well, the people we did meet who gave us our photo vests and swag were very nice.

We had a quick bite and made our way over to the Rogers Center where the opening ceremonies were held. Our seats were so-so, but we had the 300mm lens so we took a few photos without totally whacking people in the back of the head! Cirque Du Soleil performed basically a world dance party, then the athletes came out. We stayed until the United States came out, cheered, then walked back through town to catch the bus so we wouldn’t be too tired in the morning.

Things at the venue for dressage went fairly smoothly. There were lots of complaints about no live streaming, no food for the media, and not being allowed to bring certain items in through security, but otherwise it was lots of fun to watch Steffen Peters and Laura Graves do so well. The U.S. team won gold!

We only had the eventing jog on Thursday, but I went out to check out the cross-country course. It was beautifulyl built with lots of little Canadian touches and you could see quite a bit from one place. The jumps weren’t that big, but they were technical.

Eventing dressage day on Friday was fairly uneventful and a little bit of a letdown after watching Grand Prix dressage. Cross-country day was hot, about 87, but the local weather made it sound like it was the apocalypse with heat advisories. There was a bit of a breeze and some occasional cloud cover that made it bearable, but the walk to the media center, which was so far out of the way in the most illogical place, was tough. It was a safe day of sport with not too many scary rides.

Show jumping day was full of tension and my heart was beating in my chest each time a U.S. rider came in. It was down to the wire, but we got gold and Marilyn Little got individual gold.

The press conferences have been a bit disorganized, but I got what I needed for my magazine story, which I worked on all today. We’ve got jumping starting tomorrow through the end of the week, so that should be exciting. I haven’t covered a grand prix in awhile and we’ve got some heavy hitters coming up. We’re hoping to get back to Toronto to do the tourist thing on Friday and home on Sunday!

It’s been going by so fast and I can feel my riding muscles wasting away, but it’s been lots of fun so far. Maybe a tad hot, but certainly better than at home. Everyone we’ve met has been super friendly and it’s been interesting seeing a slice of daily life in Canada.