| ly 23 and 24 my friend Leslie and I went on a | | | | Here totally opposite dynamics were at play: these |
| weekend adventure: a learn-how-to-kayak weekend | | | | were 2 couples who had been together for 5 and 8 |
| on the Ottawa River. We had a great time, | | | | years respectively, and one of the couples just |
| combining sports and relaxation on a weekend away | | | | recently found out that they are expecting a baby. |
| from the city. | | | | Definitely no mating help needed here... |
| As you know, wherever I am, I keep my eyes open | | | | After about 10 pm we joined Krista's "poise" |
| for interesting travel-related story ideas, and one | | | | performance on the middle campground which was |
| story idea decidedly hit me right in the face when we | | | | the home base of the Meet Market travel group. |
| started socializing with the other weekend | | | | Krista delivered 4 performances of poise, a martial |
| vacationers. There was a group of 36 people who | | | | art used by the Maori people that involves two wires |
| had all come on a bus from Toronto to go rafting for | | | | with a wick at the end that is set on fire. It was an |
| the weekend, and the trip was organized by a | | | | awesome performance, and the guys in particular |
| company called Meet Market Adventures. | | | | seemed to enjoy it since Krista is not only talented, |
| Their website says that Meet Market Adventures | | | | she's also a very cute-looking young woman. |
| promotes singles travel in Canada & the United | | | | As the evening went on, one of the single travellers |
| States for busy singles seeking adventurous singles | | | | declared himself the "leader of the tribe" and |
| travel vacations in Canada & the United States. | | | | proceeded to play the bongo drums that had |
| Apparently you can choose from over 30 adventures | | | | accompanied Krista's performance earlier. He certainly |
| for every interest in any month and enjoy the great | | | | had an interesting concept of rhytthm and style. He |
| outdoors with hiking, biking, sky diving, skiing and lots | | | | also delivered a graceful dance around the campfire in |
| of other activities. | | | | a towel and for some reason kept referring to my |
| At breakfast on Saturday morning we got to know a | | | | friend Leslie and me either as "the kayak girls" or "the |
| few people from the group and they told us that this | | | | sacrificial virgins" (yeah right..), but overall the tribal |
| singles travel company organizes everything from | | | | leader turned out to be a lot less obnoxious than he |
| after-work get-togethers in local bars to one or | | | | initially seemed to be. I was wondering who was |
| two-day weekend getaways, to week-long cruises | | | | actually going to get voted off the campground by |
| and other outings. | | | | the end of the night....;) |
| Well, I am solidly married woman, so I am not | | | | My friend and I had a great time socializing with a |
| personally concerned about finding a mate, but I | | | | few people from this group, jokes were flying the |
| have lots of single female friends who are | | | | whole evening, we even went down to the 3rd |
| experiencing varying degrees of frustration with the | | | | campground level (designated specifically for noisy |
| dating world and have tried everything from online | | | | campers...) where the local residents had the biggest |
| dating sites like Lava Life, to speed dating services, | | | | bonfire on the go that you can imagine. It was one |
| to more personalized match-making services, with | | | | of those evenings where you just feel giddy and |
| decidedly mixed success. | | | | laugh your head off, both Leslie and I unaided by |
| During the past weekend the hobby behavioural | | | | alcohol since neither one of us actually drinks. |
| scientist in me made an appearance and I tried to | | | | Mind-altering drugs weren't necessary, since this was |
| study the dynamics of this group as much as | | | | an evening of pure unadulterated, spontaneous and |
| possible. Friday night was a very rowdy night on the | | | | harmless fun. |
| campground and I can only conclude that this group | | | | Overall the single travellers seemed to have a great |
| (probably the largest group on the campground) as | | | | time. There definitely seemed to be more group |
| well as some other smaller groups took advantage of | | | | socializing going on than individual mating attempts, |
| a weekend away from home and really let loose. | | | | and overall it seemed to be a pretty respectable |
| There was lots of hollering, loud music, obviously | | | | way of connecting with other like-minded human |
| plenty of drinking, and from the sounds of it, people | | | | beings, male or female for that matter. |
| had a pretty entertaining time. | | | | Leslie and I headed to bed at around 1 am, but many |
| Saturday was the first day of rafting for these | | | | in the crowd were still going strong. The next |
| groups and since we went kayaking instead of | | | | morning the group had another day of rafting |
| rafting, we didn't have any interactions with the | | | | scheduled and some people had been on the go until |
| singles group during the day. In the evening we | | | | 6 am, when the cows made their wake-up calls and |
| headed down to a dock by the river front and | | | | daily inspection and paddie-dropping run through the |
| bumped into 6 members of the group: 4 males and 2 | | | | campgrounds. There were a few bed-heads and red |
| females who were chatting in a very orderly way | | | | eyes in the crowd and I didn't envy these folks for |
| and taking in the sunset. Everybody was very | | | | having to go rafting on whitewater for the whole |
| friendly and the ladies including us said goodbye after | | | | day after a night of hearty partying. |
| about half an hour to head back to the campgrounds. | | | | The crowd returned at about 2 pm, and there were |
| We had a nice chat with one of the ladies from the | | | | even more tired faces in the group. They were |
| singles travel group who said that she has | | | | safely packed into their bus, ready to go home to |
| participated in several major adventure events | | | | Toronto, until next time. All I can say is that an |
| organized by Meet Market Adventures and she quite | | | | adventure outing for a group of single adventure |
| enjoyed them, although her dating results to date | | | | travellers seems like a pretty decent alternative for |
| have been mixed. | | | | people who want to make friends with shared |
| Once back at the campground we briefly joined our | | | | interests. Whether it is a good mating venue only |
| white water kayaking colleagues at the campfire on | | | | time will tell..... |
| the top campground, designated for "quiet campers". | | | | |