I wrote in May that I had my first blogger date with Ann, a fellow Canadian blogger from the West Coast. Following that fun date, I reached out to Joanne, another fellow Canadian blogger in Toronto. We agreed to meet on a Friday in July for a walk along the waterfront. A heat wave derailed our initial plan and made us postpone our date to the following week. Our second attempt was a go!
Even though we’ve just recently followed each other’s blog, we recognized each other in person right away. The weather was sunny and warm so after our introduction hug and smiles, we started heading west, making brief stops along the way to explore some of Toronto’s gems:
By the time we reached Coronation Park, it was getting warmer and close to lunch time so we turned around. A quick consultation with Joanne prompted me to suggest Gonoe Sushi for lunch. Aside from its location being on our route, I had a good meal there before and both of us haven’t had sushi recently.
Gonoe Sushi interior was nice and cool with the air conditioning humming. We got a table right away. Our food orders arrived shortly after. I had a sushi and maki roll combo while Joanne went for a dynamite sushi combo. Her verdict: “This was a good choice!“.
After lunch, we walked to Union Station before saying goodbye. Altogether we completed five kilometers under sunny skies, chatted about our blogging experiences, blogger’s meet-ups, family, fitness tips, future plans, outdoor activities, travel stories, and solved our hunger with a nice sushi lunch…All within three hours 🙂
If you haven’t followed Joanne, I recommend that you visit her two blogs: https://mylifelivedfull.wordpress.com/ and https://followingaboldplan.wordpress.com/
My special thank you to Joanne for a fun walk and chat along the waterfront. I enjoyed sharing the trail with you. Talk to you soon!
Copyright © 2023 natalietheexplorer.home.blog – All rights reserved.
Natalie the Explorer 
I adore Joanne’s blog and wish I had the opportunity to meet with you both in person. Looks like you had a great day! Wish we had Sushi-like that in The Caribbean
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Hi Lisa – It would be great to meet you in person either in my city or abroad. I’m following your journey. I have a feeling that we’ll have an opportunity to meet up.
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It was such a pleasure to finally connect with you, Natalie. It doesn’t get much better than great company, great conversation, and excellent food!
In spite of the many times I’ve walked and cycled along the Waterfront Trail, I can’t believe how many new things you introduced me to – in particular Ireland Park which was very sobering.
Looking forward to a repeat in cooler weather 🙂
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It was so much fun to share some ‘off the main trail’ gems and a sushi lunch with you, Joanne. I definitely look forward to a repeat in cooler weather. BTW, ‘tobiko’ is the Japanese word for flying fish roe. I learned a new word 🙂
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It’s a new word for me too! Thanks for sharing.
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Fun, Natalie! What a treat that you met Joanne IRL. Lots to talk about, good exercise, interesting sites and sushi. Makes for a fun date. The Coronation Park photo is beautiful. The smiles on your face extra beautiful! Thanks for sharing:)
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It was a fun outing, Erica. I’m still smiling thinking about it 🙂 Thank you for stopping by. Happy Sunday!
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Hi, Natalie – I completely agree that it doesn’t get much better than great company, great conversation, excellent food…and seeing new things from someone else’s eyes. Looks like an awesome meet up.
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Hi Donna – It was a really fun outing. The heat wave is back for a few days so I’m glad I got in that time with Joanne.
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Hi Natalie, how lovely to be able to catch up with a fellow blogger and combine that with a beautiful walk and chat. Have a great week and visiting from #lifethisweek.
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Hi Sue – It was lovely. I appreciated Joanne’s time as we all have much to explore outside of blogging and blogger’s meet-ups. Have a great week!
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Hi Natalie, thanks for joining us for #MLSTL and yes there is much more to explore than just blogging when we meet bloggers. Although, I ‘m sure it is hard not to chat blogging at some point. Have a great week. x
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Thank you, Sue, for hosting. I look forward to following along your August posts on Ageing well. Have a beautiful week!
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What fun! And the sushi looks tip top!
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I’ve only had two blogger meetings so far and both have been great fun. Gonoe Sushi was pretty good. Thanks, Lydia, for stopping by.
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And back for #MLSTL
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Thank you, Lydia. Have a great week!
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I love meeting friends in my computer in real life! Seeing your photos reminds me of how much I love Toronto. I would love to go back!
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Hi Sammie: You’ve been to Toronto? If you re-visit, feel free to contact me. I love showing off my city 🙂
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I love meeting bloggy friends in real life – I think because you tend to use your “voice” in your blog so it feels as though you know and like the person already. It’s different to meeting author friends in the flesh, I’ve found because our author voice can be so different to our real voice. Does any of that make sense? Nice to meet you Joanne…
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Yes, it makes sense. Most of the time, the blog voice seems more conversational than the author voice to me.
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Absolutely. Especially when you’re meeting authors who write in completely different genres…
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I love Joanne’s blog too and it was so good to see you both catching up! Loved your snaps too 🙂 #Lifethisweek
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Thank you, Debbie. Joanne took a good selfie. I’d love to meet you in person one day, too. Have a great week!
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What fun! A bit of exercise, beautiful scenery and food – what a great way to meet a blogging friend in real life!
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It was a fun outing. Thank you, SSG, for your comment.
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How lovely to catch up with a fellow blogger. Beautiful photos and the food looks yummy …#SeniSal
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It was very nice to meet Joanne and we had a fun outing. I’m glad you like my photos. Thank you, Bree, for stopping by.
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It’s always lovely to catch up with fellow bloggers. I had the opportunity last year to have a day in Melbourne with a blogger who I now count as a friend x
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That’s wonderful! Thanks for sharing your experience.
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How lovely to meet another blogger and enjoy a walk together 🙂 Thanks for sharing the sights that you found, too.
Your post rocks at ‘My Corner of the World’ this week!
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Thank you, Betty, for your comment and for sharing your photo from New Zealand.
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Thanks for the walking tour of Toronto Natalie! How lovely to have met up with fellow blogger Joanne. I always thoroughly enjoy meet ups with fellow bloggers. It’s so nice to have someone else who understands the blogging world to chat with. BTW – gee that sushi looks nice! Enjoy the rest of your week! xo
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Thank you, Min, for stopping by. I remember reading about your fun meet-ups with other bloggers. Hopefully one day I’ll meet you in Australia 🙂 Have a wonderful week!
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That would be fantastic to meet you if you come to Australia. You have many friends here! Happy 1st day of August – I hope it’s a wonderful month for us all. xo #TeamLovinLife
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I’m saving up for a trip to Australia. Happy August to you, Min.
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Isn’t it great when we meet fellow bloggers and it all just gels? It looks like you had a wonderful time together and it was a beautiful spot for a walk.
Thanks for linking up with us at MLSTL and I’ve shared on my SM 🙂
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Thank you, Leanne, for hosting. It was fun to walk, talk, and have lunch with Joanne. Now I look forward to my next blogger meeting.
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I plan to check out both links…thanks. Great photos of a fun day! #MLSTL shared on SM
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Thank you, Donna, for your visit and comment. I enjoyed reading your gecko short story and left a comment on your blog.
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Thank you, Natalie! I’ve had a hectic day with a puppy arrival (unexpectedly). Just now getting caught up on comments. Appreciate it!
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I hope your evening goes well, Donna. I’m intrigued by your unexpected puppy arrival.
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I will be posting a blog update later tonight or tomorrow morning. Just got home 8 hours of driving. Beat!
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A bloggy catch up is the best. You already know about each other if you have been reading the blog. I have been fortunate to meet up with quite a few bloggers in person and hope to meet more.
Thanks for linking up for #lifethisweek. Next week’s optional prompt is 31/51 Gratitude 5/8/19 I hope you can come on over and join in. Denyse.
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Thank you, Denyse, for hosting. It was a fun outing with Joanne. I look forward to meeting more bloggers. Have a great day!
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What a great time you have had with follow bloggers. Thanks so much for sharing them. #MLSTL
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What a great time you have had with follow bloggers. Thanks so much for sharing them. #MLSTL
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Thank you, Patrick, for your comment. I enjoyed my fun outing with Joanne.
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You’ve described two of my absolutely favorite things to do — a walk & talk and then get sushi! What a fabulous meet-up.
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We did alright 🙂 Thank you, Pat, for stopping by.
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Hi Nathalie, looks like a fun dayout. I’m sure the laughs you had more than a few belly laughs with Joanne.
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Thank you, Suzanne, for your visit and comment. I was smiling a lot and had a few good laughs.
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You pictures and descriptions make me want to visit Toronto again… apparently I missed a few things. I had the pleasure of meeting Joanne IRL a couple of years ago and enjoyed reading about your walk along Toronto’s beautiful waterfront. A walk, meeting a fellow blogger, and sushi… can’t get much better than that!
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Hi Janis – It would be great to meet you IRL in Toronto whenever you plan a re-visit. I love sharing some of the gems that I know from my discovery walks all over the city. The ‘walk, meet a fellow blogger, and sushi’ formula is a win 🙂
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How fun to meet a fellow blogger in person. I have never met any of my blogging friends but someday I hope to!
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Hi Michele – I hope to meet more blogging friends, too. Thank you for stopping by.
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What a delightful day. A walk, the company, the sushi lunch. Perfect activities. Would enjoy a stroll through the Book Garden, myself. And the sculptures of the famine victims is so moving. I am sure your conversation never lagged with all of that food for thought.
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It was a delightful day, Leslie. I’ve been to the Toronto Book Garden a few times, and each time I still look at the paved stones with the author’s name and book title. The names of the Irish Famine victims are engraved on the sides of the limestone walls behind the trees, very moving indeed. I also saw the Famine statues in Dublin, by the same sculptor when I was there a few years ago.
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