Footy Weekend in Toronto

We went to Toronto this past weekend to watch my daughter and the Columbus Jillaroos play Footy (Australian Rules Football) against a seasoned Toronto team. They don't have many scheduled games (I believe Toronto will be visiting them on Aug 27), and we'd never been to Toronto, so why not go?

My husband and I watched a few games last year (we went to the tournament in Louisville), so we kind of knew how the scoring went. I expected to watch more than just her game, though, since it was a weekend event for Toronto (apparently they have three Footy teams).

We drove up to Detroit on Friday night after work and arrived at our hotel around 10:00 pm. Not too bad. And the Garmin said it was 4 hours to Toronto. We got up at 6:00 am, had breakfast, and headed on out.

What we didn't plan was the half-hour wait to get into the country or the 45 minute delay in traffic (either construction or an accident – we never determined which). My daughter was to arrive by 1:00 pm for a 2:30 game. We thought we'd get there by Noon and watch the men play. Instead, we arrived at 1:00 pm. At least, we thought we arrived at 1:00 pm.

You see, my daughter was given the directions to the hotel and not the field. She had left several messages on Friday to make sure she had the right location, but heard nothing by the time we crossed the border. Not wanting to pay any international fees, we had all turned off our phones. Now she was forced to turn hers on (who knows what kind of fees will show up on that!). Luckily, there was a message stating where we should have been. I really have no idea what we would have done if she didn't have that message! We made it to the field by 2:00 pm.

Both teams were short players, so they shortened the field. Don't know if that worked, or if it was the fact the same girls who showed up for all the practices were the ones who showed up for the game, but the Jillaroos won their first Footy game, 65-24. I'm glad we were able to be there and see it.

After the game, we went back into the city and celebrated at Hard Rock Café (My daughter and I do collectibles. Me-magnets. Her-shooter glasses.). We also spent a little time walking around and took a few pictures. Had to show proof we were actually there!

If the Jillaroos go back to Toronto next year, we'll make sure to spend more time there. The city is huge – like visiting NYC or Chicago. And the signs are in English. They won me over!

We drove the four hours back to Detroit (no construction or accident delayed us this time), and headed to the Hard Rock there (again – we wanted our collectibles, we just didn't eat there!). Thank God for the Garmin. I'm sure we never would have ventured into the city (even at 10:30 pm on a Saturday) without it. Same goes for Toronto. Driving in a big city is confusing, to say the least.

Even though we spent most of our time on the road, it was a fun weekend and I'm glad we did it. Next mini-trip is to New Jersey for my family reunion (cousins on my father's side). I'm looking forward to that one, too!