In January of this year, Aaron and I went on a vacation – just the two of us, to a place that we both hold very dear to our hearts. Toronto! Aaron has a love for the city because he served his two-year mission there – almost 15 years ago! And me – well, truth be told, anything Canadian is held dear to my heart!
So let’s back up just a little bit – to Christmas of last year. In trying to think of the best gift Santa could get for Aaron, I came up with this crazy idea that it sure would be fun to combine his love of Toronto with his love of hockey! My crazy thought then grew when I realized that this really could become a reality. Besides – it’s only a plane ride, a hotel stay, and a little planning. Right? Shoot, that’s what I do for a living! So I began working on the details …all while trying to contain my excitement and keeping the secret of the century!
First, I had to make sure we could leave our little boy behind – because, even as much as we love him, I knew we’d enjoy our time so much more without him tagging along! I had a quick chat with Aaron’s mom and she was more than willing to keep her grandson for several days. But even with that in place, I knew the longer I let myself think about things I’d probably think up some pretty good reasons not to go. So I moved fairly quickly and purchased the flights – might as well get the biggest commitment set so it’s harder to back out, right? I set things up for us to leave on a Wednesday and come back the following Sunday … leaving us plenty of time to relax, enjoy a hockey game, and see the city!
I was very fortunate to take advantage of working for a global company who happens to have season tickets to the Maple Leafs and nabbed their 2 seats to the Coyotes vs. Maple Leafs game. In Air Canada Centre!! The only problem (if there had to be one) was that the game was in January … the coldest part of the year in Toronto! But, to my credit, January is also the coldest time of the year in Arizona … it just happens to still be 50 degrees warmer than Toronto in January! They don’t call it the Great White North for nothing! But I knew it would all be worth it – even if we did turn into icicles!
For Christmas morning, I printed out some mocked up Air Canada tickets and put them in an envelope with the hockey tickets. I also purchased a little Phil Kessel lego figurine (combining yet another two things that Aaron loves – legos and his favorite hockey player!) and placed it on top of the envelope. When we all ran into the room to see what Santa brought, I have to admit my attention was all on Aaron’s gift and didn’t pay much attention to mine – at least at first. But it was so worth it! He had absolutely no idea – nor would he have ever thought I’d pull something like this off without his knowledge!
Knowing my husband as well as I do, I knew the first thing out of his mouth (beyond the excitement of going on a fun trip, of course) would be, ‘It is going to be so cold!’ And, sure enough, it was the first thing out of his mouth! And he was right! I think the forecast for one of the days we were going to be there was -16*C – which is colder than any weather I’d ever been in! So, for the next several weeks, we had to buy everything that would keep us warm – because even on the coldest day here in Arizona, nothing more than a sweater is needed! We bought jackets, gloves, a toque for Aaron, a scarf for me, socks, shoes (that would keep our feet warm and keep us from slipping in the snow!), under garments that would keep us warm – truly, we had nothing!
But we did it. And we were so excited! Because of all this preparation, January flew by and we were boarding the plane and on our way in no time at all!
The trip truly was wonderful. We had such a great time – if for no other reason than getting to spend time just the two of us. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget how worthwhile one-on-one time really is!
I’ll break the pictures out into two posts – this post being the pictures taken with the real camera. We ended up taking many more pictures with our phones as they are just so dang convenient – and the big, beautiful camera is simply, well, not!
One of the first things we did was head down to the Hockey Hall of Fame! I had been once before (on a choir trip back in 1998) and Aaron had never been. Oddly, Aaron and I both thought it was a little underwhelming after walking through it, but just to be able to stand next to the Stanley Cup was cool enough to make it worth it!
I have a picture holding onto this very same guy’s stick back from my choir trip 17 years ago … which made me feel really old! But not old enough to not take another picture with him!
The Hockey Hall of Fame dumps you into the souvenir shop – but you can also enter the shop from the street, which is what we did. The store is full of all different kinds of hockey knick-knacks and apparel, as you would imagine. And Aaron loved every piece of it! It was so fun to walk through the store and see him get excited about all things hockey!
Part of the underwhelming part is the entry, for sure. It is as if you’re walking into a department store in the mall … which just seemed odd. Especially since we’re talking about the mecca of all things hockey!
Every Canadian knows that there is truly only one Maurice Richard – not 5 against 5 others! – and it was pretty neat to walk past his ‘locker’. (For any American friends reading this, you’re welcome to check out ‘The Sweater’ on YouTube to catch the reference, if you’re curious.)
And then there was the cup! Or – one of the three cups! The original cup was across the great hall from where we were standing in this photo – in a walk-in vault. And the other cup was still at the All-Star game. But this one was quite good enough!
On the coldest day we were in Toronto, we decided to make it a ‘let’s be in the car as much as we can so we don’t have to be outside’ kind of day and drove around to a bunch of places Aaron remembered from his mission. The first being this awesome, little, old chapel. It was tucked into a busy strip of homes, unassuming as could be. I forget how spoiled we are in Phoenix with all the space we have! Aaron spent many hours at this chapel teaching english to anybody who wanted to come and learn – mostly Chinese people, but anybody was welcome.
This, believe it or not, is another chapel! And before it became a chapel, it was a car dealership! Aaron spent about half of his mission attending Sunday services in this building.
This building is where he spent the other half of his mission attending Sunday services – and where he gave his farewell talk.
Aaron had told me he was going to take me to the biggest Stake Center I would ever see – telling me it was a 3 story building with a parking garage underneath. I had no way of truly imagining what he was describing – especially seeing how all the Stake Centers I had seen looked much like the chapel in the picture just before this one. So, when we pulled up to this building, I was amazed – sure enough, it is a 3 story building (with a spire, even!) with an entrance to the parking garage just to the left. It was meant to have two chapels inside but they ended up having just one, with the mission home established on the third floor. And the gym – it is huge! The ceilings are two stories and there is a loft/walkway on the second story that you can watch what’s happening in the gym but it also leads you into classrooms. This building is epic!
We then went around trying to find the different places Aaron lived. Aaron didn’t move too often while on his mission – in fact, he only got transferred twice and ended up with only 6 companions (with the help of being in a set of three at one point). This home (above) is where he spent the bulk of his time – one year. They had the basement apartment, entering through the door under the house number. I had heard all about this place many times before as they had a Jamaican landlady who would often give them some pretty serious Jamaican home-cooking leftovers! It was fun to drive past it and take a few pictures as Aaron reminisced in his time there.
And this apartment was where he spent his last 6 months or so – a basement apartment, entering through the door just down the driveway. I really did enjoy seeing all these places he had lived and visited – his mission is such a big part of his life and it made me feel a part of it all in some small way.
I’ll share a few more tidbits about our trip in the next post. But the trip was so worth it! Every bit of what we did and saw made for some pretty precious memories we’ll reflect on for years to come … and yes, even the snow and the cold!
My Quirky Life 
