Danny’s Thirtieth Birthday

I had a good chunk of this entry already written and then somehow I never saved the email. Woops? So I guess I’ll speed through some elements.

On Friday, Vero and I headed out on a road trip towards Barrie. We unfortunately left a little later than planned and ended up in rush hour in Ottawa. Not good! We then encountered snow storms along the way. Not good! Then we realized that the sun was falling. Not good!

To make this even worse, we had decided to take HWY 60 as we heard it was a nice drive. Now, if you are planning to drive a highway in the middle of the night during various snowstorms, it’s probably not the best idea to head down some highway you are not familiar with, as well as one that cuts through Algonquin Park which looked like Hoth. I was ready to cut open a wampa if the car broke down but we made it through unscathed.

We rolled into Barrie around 11PM and had a few beers with Ryan and Emilie. A few beers turned into us retiring for the night around 3AM.

In the morning, we headed out to the Flashback Diner which claimed to have ‘Barrie’s Best Breakfast’. When I first heard this, I figured the owner must have been ‘Barry’ and it was their best breakfast. It wasn’t until I go into the restaurant when I realized that we were in the town of Barrie!

Barrie is a nice enough place and it’s a good jumping point whether you want to go into the city (Toronto), or you want to do some outdoor activities (fishing, hunting, cabin). Ryan and Emilie seem to enjoy it and they have a sweet house with a lot of windows which Vero adores. Thanks for putting us up for the night!

On Saturday night after dinner, we hit the road to Meaford which was supposedly an hour away. Of course, luck would have it and we hit snow squalls along the way so with a wrong turn near Collingwood, the trip ended up being two hours.

We rolled up to the Kins Hall where the surprise party was being held. Vero and I honestly had a double take as we walked up to the place. There were four lone smokers tucked in a dark corner and beyond them were stacks of picnic tables stacked in a corner. Keep in mind that this area was still outside! Vero and I thought that the party was being held outside when we saw the smokers but we realized quickly that there were stairs in the back to climb up to the actual hall. Even getting the hall was random as the door was a little off axis and I had to haul on it to get it open. We saw Mike when we entered and then all I heard was Danny saying “Palmer?!”. Surprise, indeed!

Turns out that in a moment of surprise party planning brilliance, Carol managed to convince Danny that there was an engagement party for their friends being held in the hall. So when he showed up, he saw all his friends in the hall and they yelled ‘Surprise!’. He was a little confused and looked behind him wondering who they were yelling at. He then realized that there was no engagement party and the party was for him! It was a grand old time with his family who had come up as well as a few of his old buddies from back home.

The beers were a-flowing, wine was being spilled everywhere by Samantha and Carol and all in all, it was a good time. I also was introduced to a new beer…Mill Street Stock Ale which was AMAZING. I cannot rave enough about this beer and I’ve only had three so far. I shall be hunting for a case soon enough.

We headed back to Carol and Danny’s house which was amazing…they had this bar and a fireplace in their living room. I was quite impressed by it all and can’t wait to get back there. It was nice seeing the Losier Clan together. Happy birthday to you Danny!

The next morning we headed out around 10AM and I ended up at Canadian Tire in Collingwood to change a wiper blade. It wasn’t broken, but it wasn’t leaving Vero with a great view. Unfortunately for me, a pin had broken and I had assumed that it was part of the old wiper blade so I had to go in and buy a pair of pliers to rip it out. This process took me a good half hour and finally I got the other wiper blade on. Unfortunately for me (yet again), it turns out that the pin was part of the wiper arm and the wiper was hanging from a thread! It never flew off but I’ll have to fix it this weekend coming up.

The drive back was equally unexciting. A few snow squalls here and there and we could never find the German Settlement that Krista had told us about. I would like to recommend that people don’t bother with HWY 60 unless it is the summer and you can appreciate the scenery. Otherwise, it’s probably best to travel on the 400 or HWY 7 during some snowstorms.

I suppose I’ll get pictures of the event sent to me one day by Carol. I also need to remember to write an entry regarding fighting in the NHL. Turns out there was a faithful reader amongst the group on Saturday night and I said I would write on any subject he wished for. Mike, if I forget about it, let me know.