Good Times in Thunder Bay
Last weekend my family went to Thunder Bay to attend my cousin’s wedding. My Dad spent the majority of his childhood growing up in Thunder Bay. I think the last time we were there as a family was in 1986 on the way back to Ottawa from Burma. I was up twice during my undergrad to play basketball against Lakehead University in 1998 and 1999. That’s where the fans sang “Cecilia” while I tried to shoot a foul shot during a game. I missed.
The journey started on Wednesday afternoon when Dad and I drove up to Vancouver from Seattle. On Thursday morning we conveened with Alli, Nic and Matt in the Vancouver airport for the trip to Thunder Bay. Our routing was geographically inefficient since we first flew to Toronto and then flew back westward to Thunder Bay. As I recall we couldn’t get a good connection through Winnipeg which would have made more geographical sense. We arrived in Thunder Bay and headed strait to my uncle’s house to join the rehearsal dinner. Things were winding down by the time we arrived but we still managed to take the largest Cotton Cousins photo ever taken. It includes all 6 cousins with the surname Cotton and a couple of significant others but it still missing one branch of the family. Maybe someday we’ll find a really large staircase and get everyone together!
The wedding was on Friday afternoon and it was lovely. As often happens, we had some time to kill between the wedding ceremony and the wedding reception. First we took a bunch of family photos at the church. Then we went to a local sporting goods store in downtown Thunder Bay to buy Alli a new softball glove. The store was probably 90% full of hockey equipment but did have a good selection of gloves. The salesperson who helped us seemed surprisingly unphased by us showing up in all our finery. In the end Alli did get a glove (that matched her dress) so the trip was a success.
After the softball glove shopping we drove through town to see the houses where Dad lived when he was a kid. Then after some down town (and Olympic watching) it was off to the reception. One of my favourite moments was when Trish thanked her Dad for coming out of the Bush for her wedding (see: The Wabakimi Project). Cindy, Alli and I also managed to not catch the bouquet. That’s a tradition I’m just not all that into. Cake, however, is a tradition that I’m into and it was delicious.
On Saturday morning I went on a 14 mile run. After a nap (and more Olympic watching) we headed over to Trish and Glenn’s place for an open house. I don’t know how they had the energy to have 100 people over the day after their wedding but it was great to have more time to visit! On Sunday we began the long trek back home. The rest of the photos from the weekend are here.
Congratulations Trish and Glenn!