About a week ago Paul suggested that we plan a tiny little roadtrip to get away from Ann Arbor - a little distraction from our workweeks, perhaps. Chicago was suggested as a potential destination, but Paul was determined: Toronto or bust. So with Annah and Cookie, we set off Friday on a five-hour drive up to Canadialand to party our faces off. And, of course, we promptly get pulled for inspection at border control for looking like young punks. Let me just say, interactions with State authority figures are almost always scary - and this was no exception. Paul was a lil sweaty throughout the endeavor. We took this lovely photo after border control cleared us for entry into Canada:

Don't they look scared! Anywho, despite an undeclared bottle of champagne, we entered into the country unscathed. After what seemed like eternity, we rolled up in Toronto around 9 PM and checked into our hotel. We all got pretty, Paul had a walk-off with... himself, and then we were ready! Here we are, all dolled up:

We met up with Paul's friend Vicky and her friend Tony, who happens to also be studying masculinity / gender for his PhD in Toronto. What a coincidence! We set off at once looking for a cocktail, and happened upon a bar called Slack's that was having a queer women's night. Cookie had been itching for some queer ladyfun, so we had a cosmo and danced to some fab tunes (including Mariah's "Fantasy," omg!) and generally made a ruckus.

From Slack's we headed to Nu for what we thought was gay night. We should have been suspicious when 1) the line was made up solely of South Asian / Indian folk and 2) we were bumped to the front of the very long line. The bouncer assured as it was gay night, but after paying a ridiculous CD$15 cover, it quickly became clear that it was in fact a very straight Indian night. We were bounced to the front, it seems, because most of us were white - that's the only reason we could figure out, at least. So we demand our money back, and surprisingly, the doormen give it to us.

Then to Woody's, one of the most famous gay bars in North America even before it became the cast's hangout spot on Showtime's series, Queer as Folk. It was kind of cute, but my Red Bull + Vodka was CD$11.50! Honestly! We had our drink, saw some of the evening's drag offerings (including the host's cliche / racist ramblings during the "Best Ass" contest), and promptly made a move across the street to a club called Crews for some very sweaty dancing in the back room. Here's a lovely photo of Cookie (barely) / Paul / Vicky / Tony / and me on the dance floor, working it out.

That's the hotness! Sadly, the night came to an end, and after some greasy food at a diner called "Fran's" (with some decidedly shitty service), we crashed in our hotel room around 3:30 AM. We woke up around 10:30 AM, got our free breakfast for 2 (that we made work for 4!), and did a bit of sightseeing before rain encouraged our return to the hotel - and departure.

The trip was fabulous. I'm going back as soon as I can find time. I heart Toronto!!!!!