Lindystock 2012

A little late is better than never, my recap of Lindystock!

On the civic holiday in August, a group of lindyhoppers from Toronto and the surrounding areas trekked north toa round Hunstville where we spend 3 nights at a retreat-type lodge doing camping and dancing activities. This year the sign up was intense because the passes sold out in 117 minutes, less than two hours! Waiting on the internet for the registration was worth it because the weekend was a blast.

I drove up with Mark from Waterloo and we got in the craziest cottage traffic on the 400. Not being one to tolerate traffic, Mark had some choice words and was visibly perturbed like a caged squirrel. Eventually we made it, unpacked our bags (into very nicely kept log cabins). We were then greeted to dinner and the Charlie/Phil Hawaiian shirted duo running a tiki bar. Not sure how many cans of coconut milk or pineapple juice they went through but they were a really hilarious team.

Every night there was dancing on the top floor of the main hall, and man was it hot and stuff up there! Not only does heat rise, but people added to it on a weekend that was pretty warm to start with. The venue and atmosphere were great and that's why we continued to dance regardless.

The first day we had a chance to go on an interpretive hike, led by one of the people who lived at the lodge year-round. It was much of an ecology hike with a bit more story telling, so it was something new for me, and neat. A bunch of people walked out to Ragged Falls and climbed the rocks to get to the nice pools to swim in. Having wished I bought canoe shoes, I was pretty precarious with my walking in scandals. The water was deeper and faster than some people expected so we had some close calls of people getting too close to the edges of the falls area. My apprehension of moving water is thanks to my hydraulics course and Bill Annable's rule of thumb for water while surveying. The rest of the day could be spent however we pleased, so I believe I had my laptop to do some work, a lot of people had books, and some brought knitting supplies. Oh and we had a stream nearby to swim in, oddly enough I ended up swimming there mostly at night.

On the Saturday and Sunday nights I got to DJ for a while which was neat but I didn't know what kind of reaction to expect since I had never DJed for Toronto dancers before. I've danced with them enough peoples' preferences, but yes whatever I did they really liked. I ended up doing a gigantic shift from midnight until 3 am on Saturday of blues music because up until then it had been all fast lindy. This makes me laugh because I didn't consider my blues repetoire enough (though I found out later at the late night dance at the Kitchener Blues Fest that I could run a dance until 6 am on my repetoire no problem).

On Sunday morning I went for a run with Martha, Jaime, and Mark, though I didn't have my normal runnings shoes so I had to turn back early (they were doing a 20km half-marathon prep run). It was still really nice scenery to run by, though it was a bit damp/rained when I returned.

Oh I have to say, the food was really great but not only that, they catered to every food allergy, intolerance, and eating choice possible, it was unbelievable!

On Monday right before we left, we did gunnel bobbing (tradition form last year). This is where a person stands on the gunnels of the canoe on each end and jumps up and down. The first first to touch the water loses. I did my once but had to stop after because while the other person was setting up, I tumbled into the canoe, my knee landing on some rivets, so it was a little bruised and was kinda bleeding. But I still did it, darn it! and it was a blast.