Our “Readers Digest” condensed version of one of the best Tim Hortons Briers we attended!
It all began in March 2013 while Laurie and May were attending the Tim Hortons Brier in Edmonton. It was announced the 2014 Tim Hortons Brier would be held in Kamloops, B.C. During the two hour drive back to Crossfield/Airdrie we discussed how much fun it would be to do a road trip to B.C. and that’s how it all started…..
Laurie and Cal live in Crossfield, so the plan was for them to pick May and Don up in Airdrie on Thursday, March 6th at 4:00 a.m., which allowed plenty of time to get to the afternoon draw. However, Cal forgot about a previous commitment; therefore, only the three of us left and drove to Kamloops with Cal flying to Kamloops on Saturday.
Laurie arrived as planned with a loaded car and barely enough room for May, Don and all their stuff. After carefully getting everything and everyone packed in, we were off. It was a calm pleasant drive to Canmore and then it started to snow. Big, white fluffy snow and it kept getting thicker the closer we were to Banff. Thankfully we had a vehicle in front of us and could just make out their taillights. We followed this vehicle until they put the signal light on to turn right and we thought what’s going on as we were not turning anywhere, we were headed to Golden. The snow was so thick and hard to see we had actually followed this vehicle up the ramp to go to Banff. After a good laugh, we proceeded across the road and down the other side. We were in a downright blizzard but still Laurie managed to keep a steady speed and us on the road, albeit a couple of times I do believe we may have hit a snowbank or two. We eventually made it to Golden, stopped for gas and the lady at the counter said she didn’t think we would be going anywhere soon as they were doing avalanche control, and the highway was currently closed. After a relatively short wait we were on our way to Revelstoke. It was a slow drive due to traffic, weather and snow removal happening. At one point we were stopped but we were not worried as we had enough food and booze to open up a roadside stand. Once we finally made it to Revelstoke, we were again stopped as more Avalanche control was being completed. Along with a mass of other people, we sat and waited at McDonalds. When word came that we could now leave, it was like the Indy 500…..start your engines and GO! Thankfully we made it through in the 30 minutes it was opened as the highway was then closed for the entire weekend.
We finally arrived in Kamloops late in the afternoon, which was well beyond our intended arrival time. We did not make it in time for the afternoon draw but after checking in and getting our luggage into our hotel room, we were off to the evening draw. As always, the atmosphere and curling were awesome. Too tired for the Brier Patch tonight so we headed home for some much-needed rest.
On Friday, March 7th we were up early to be at the morning draw. We had tickets for seats, which were on the sidelines. We typically look for unoccupied seats to check out the view from different angles. We found some at the away end; however, it was at the home end, we met a group of people and one of the ladies had earrings on that were wooden curling rocks. Our feat was to try finding the store as she could not remember the name. Between the first and second draw for the day, we had some time, so we set off to find the earrings. We went into many stores; however, it was in one store, Jeff Stoughton’s wife and friends were shopping. Don wondered over and it was then he got into his salesman role. The girls were deciding whether to buy them or not, but Don kept insisting they would be sorry if they didn’t. In the end they all bought boots, and the clerk offered Don a sales position. We eventually found the store selling the earrings and are now proud owners.
Saturday was the big day……Laurie mentioned people would come dressed up to the Brier, so she had a plan. We were up early, went for a continental breakfast and during this time May, who had not washed her hair because she would be wearing something on her head all day, decided that it wouldn’t end well. So back to the room we went, Laurie and Don sitting and chatting while May washed her hair. It was while she was blow drying, her hair a huge flame came out of the hair blower causing her to throw it in the sink. The smell of singed hair was awful, so we opened the door and windows to get the smell out. Housekeeping was called, and a new hair blower was provided. May’s been known as “Sparky” ever since.
Finally, we were dressed and ready to go. A cab was called; and the look on the drivers face when 2 nuns and a guy got in was priceless. We arrived at the arena to the astonishing looks of many people. An announcement was made that Jacob’s team, who won the Olympics, were there to sign autographs. Laurie and May quickly got in line along with all the other fans. It was when one woman came by, walked in front of us and said, you are not nuns as they do not wear makeup. Then May looked and saw Laurie had eyeliner on. I’m like what? She said I can’t leave home without it! Anyhow, we stayed in line, got our autographs and pictures taken with Jacob’s team. Then we were off to find our seats and settle in for the first draw. It was at the 7th end break during the second draw of the Manitoba versus Quebec game Stu came to interview us. The very first thing in Stu’s interview he said I see you nuns are drinking beer and we were embarrassed as we were told and sold the Brier Holy Water and corrected Stu. The entertainer at the 5th end break and the Brier Patch was none other than Trevor Panczak. We saw Trevor and Stu watching the game before the 5th end break as the media was taking photos of the two of them. We agreed that both had a great sense of humor. A few ends later we saw Trevor sitting on his own watching the game. Sister Laurie and Sister May sauntered over to meet Trevor and have our photo taken with him. We asked the lady a few rows back to come take our picture. We seated ourselves on either side of Trevor, however we neglected to tell our photographer that we were going to kiss Trevor on his cheeks. She was not very quick and missed several opportunities to catch the famous moment. Later while at the Brier Patch the Sociables complimented us on our 7th end break interview. They had a hard time deciding if we were really nuns or not. We had people lining up for confession and sharing of the Brier Holy Water……… Peace be with You!
On Sunday we ran into Jeff and his team, and he thanked Don for helping his wife buy her boots. Jeff recognized Don from the great description his wife provided.
The final between Kevin Koe and John Morris was exciting. Our boys from Alberta won the tankard that year. So happy we could be there to cheer them on.
Another awesome Brier comes to an end. We truly had the most fun ever, met some incredible people and look forward to attending many more Briers.
It was mentioned earlier the highway was closed for the weekend…… we were forced to take the ring road through Jasper to get home.
We are currently planning, preparing and finalizing our Montana Brier 2025 adventures to Kelowna, which is only three weeks away.
This story can be verified by Stu Brown, Trevor Panczak, Jeff Stoughton and his lovely wife and the Sociables.
This is how Sister Laurie and Sister May became famous
Two Nuns drinking the Brier Holy Water at the 2014 Kamloops Brier
Good Friends & Good Times