matt.heitto

Tomorrow, I’m off for a quick over nighter to Thunder Bay. The reason is to celebrate my dad’s 50th birthday (Happy Birthday if you’re reading this). Also, if he’s reading this, I guess the element of surprise is all but gone.

I was fortunate enough to jump on a seat sale at Air Canada for a $250 round trip flight. It would have cost me $160 in taxes just to use airmiles, so I opted to keep them and purchase the ticket. One thing I like about Air Canada (which isn’t a lot, BTW) is that you can customize your trip. You’re able to opt-out of certain value-added services such as collecting aeroplan points, checking baggage or the ability to change your flight. All in all, you’re generally able to save about $11 each trip.

Now, don’t get me wrong, WestJet is still my favourite airline from everything from the day-to-day prices and of course, general friendliness, but I must say that the opt-out abilities are kind of a nice feature.

Well, this is a little past due, but here it is.

Despite having some last second thoughts about a last minute seat sale WestJet started, Laura and I still drove our butts up to Dryden.  When it comes down to it, the drive wasn’t actually all that bad.  Heading up, we stopped in Longlac for the first night, which was about an 11 hour drive.  We stayed with my aunt and uncle, who invited us over to some of their friends for a party, which ended up going into the early hours of the morning.

Our second day was delayed a bit by our ensuing hangovers, but we eventually made the rest of the 7′ish hour drive to Dryden.  The next few days were spent visiting friends and family.  I was also able to sneak in a couple rounds with friends and my dad and his crew of friends.  I’ll be sure to post the course reviews separately.  The last day we were there, Laura and I also went fishing at “government dock”.  Fortunately, we had some luck catching some walleye keepers, which we had for lunch later that day.  Laura seemed to have caught a trophy pike, even though she originally mistook it as a snag.  Unfortunately the Ugly Stick and 6lbs test was no match and it was only a matter of time before it snapped the line.  For anyone who was interested, we were using pink jigs and medium sized minnows.

We soon embarked on our 2nd leg of the trip, back east to Thunder Bay, where we went to see my college buddy Josh and Christine get married.  It was great to catch up with everyone there and meet another couple who actually lives close to us in Barrie.  The day of the wedding, I was also able to fit in a quick 9 holes at Thunder Bay Golf and Curling Club with the guys in the wedding party.  We were also able to spend some time with my grandmother (Mummu) as she made us some Finn pancakes for breakfast after the reception.  It’s tough to get in and try all of those homemade delicacies, but we made the best of it.

Saturday night was also intended to be a party night, however Laura and I just seemed partied out.  We ended up convoying back to southern Ontario with the Barrie couple.   Initially hoping to make the trip in one attempt was an afterthought when bouts of pouring rain west of Sault Ste Marie ended our night.   Luckily, it wasn’t hard finding a little motel to crash for a few hours before concluding our journey.

Even though we found ourselves home a day early, it wasn’t all that bad.  Within an hour of getting home, I found myself playing in the semi-finals and eventually winning the finals of the Slo Pitch league I play in throughout the summer.  So the vacation ended on a bit of a high note!

The drive is nice every once in awhile, but not something you want to do on a regular basis.  It’s just too long, and too boring.  However, it’s hard to argue considering the convenience of having all of the luggage, clubs and misc crap with you.