On Wednesday May 13th I picked up my son, Ashton, from school and we drove a few cities over to Kamloops, BC for a father/son getaway for his birthday. We had thought about doing a birthday party, but in the end he just wanted to spend some time with me. I rented us a room at the Maverick Motor Inn and for the next day and a half we played video games, watched raunchy cartoons and ate junkfood!
The Maverick is a cool place with wall to wall VHS movies lining the first 20 or so feet of the ground floor hallway. It was almost like being transported back into a mom and pop video rental store in the 80s. In addition to the plethora of entertainment they have an indoor waterslide, pool and hot tub. We checked in after a couple hour drive at around 6pm and then had a swim. After the swim we dried off, ordered some Papa John's and watched the 3rd period/OT of the game 7 series between the Capitals and the Rangers.
I had hoped to get one of my various NES machines working consistently enough that I could bring our favorite carts with us but in the end we brought my laptop, two USB controllers and my emulators. This decision meant we were able to play NES and SNES games! We played through a bit of Zelda 2, some Megaman 2, River City Ransom, and even threw in some Earthbound for good measure. I honestly thought I'd be teaching my boy the finer points of retro gaming, but it was he that schooled me (on Earthbound). He showed me his "walk-thru-walls" hack and a speed up hack that made the game move at breakneck speeds.
We chuckled and chowed down. It was nice to be without distractions, but by 11pm we were both zonked. Our pact to stay up 'ALL NIGHT' and play video games was short-lived and we crashed early. I will say that we made up for it though because we got up about 6am the next morning and enjoyed a cup of coffee together before playing some more games and watching several episodes of Family Guy!
We got in another swim before the 11am checkout time and then packed up and went for lunch. On the way back home we stopped at four retro game and collectibles stores and even managed to pick up a few game-related treats! Back home the girls weren't quite ready with the decorations and preparations ahead of our return so I took Ashton to Scandia Golf & Games and we played a round of Jungle Golf. I hope it was as rewarding a trip for Ashton as it was for me. Getting to spend quality time with him was awesome and it felt like it was MY birthday. We pulled into our driveway around suppertime on Thursday (his actual birthday) and he was showered with hugs, gifts and a gluten-free, homemade cake.
The 5 or so hours we had spent travelling there and back and hanging at the hotel gave way to a lot of fun conversation and more than a few spontaneous Bon Jovi and Metallica karaoke sessions. There were times when he was in the pool that his enthusiasm to show me his underwater skills "watch this dad, watch me dad" transported me back to a time when he was much younger. I am so glad we took this trip before he gets a little older and doesn't want to hang out with his old man anymore.
